Tuesday Jan 30, 2024

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

San Juan The

Star

DAILY 50¢

With Help from Kenyan Police Blocked, Haitians Ask: What Now?

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‘A Crucial Time for Our Industry’

Photo: Luis Santiago

Study Finds Rising Revenues in Restaurant Sector, But Operating Costs, Including Energy, Are Up as Well P3

OIG: Guaynabo Schools Found in State of Decay After Millions in Public Funds Invested P5

NOTICIAS EN ESPAÑOL P 16

Proposed Amendment Would Allow PR to Cancel ‘Irrelevant’ Presidential Primaries P4

2 Tuesday, January 30, 2024

The San Juan Daily Star

GOOD MORNING 3

January 30, 2024

The San Juan Daily Star, the only paper with News Service in English in Puerto Rico, publishes 7 days a week, with a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday edition, along with a Weekend Edition to cover Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

ASORE study finds revenue increase in restaurant sector

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At the same time, operational & energy costs are on the rise

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Wind: From E 8 mph Humidity: 71% UV Index: 3 of 8 Sunrise: 6:55 AM Local Time Sunset: 5:56 PM Local Time

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he Puerto Rico Restaurants Association (ASORE) presented its 2024 Projections report on Monday, an exhaustive study conducted in collaboration with the firm Inteligencia Económica analyzing the challenges and economic impact faced by the restaurant industry and its suppliers.

The study was led by economists Chantal Benet and Gustavo Vélez of Inteligencia Económica.

“At ASORE we are committed to anticipating and preparing for the future challenges of our industry,” ASORE President Carlos Budet said in a written statement. “With the presentation of the Projections 2024 study, we seek to provide our partners and the sector with a clear and strategic vision to navigate in a constantly changing market.”

Among the findings of the report for the restaurant industry in Puerto Rico are: a significant increase in sales, with 5% growth in the second half of 2023 compared to the first half, and a 57.4% increase compared to the second half of 2022. The observed constant increase is an indicator of the recovery and strength of the industry, the report noted.

The study also found an increase in operational and energy costs: 7% of restaurants experienced a significant increase in energy costs, ranging between 10% and 20%. The increase represents a significant challenge to restaurants’ profitability and operational efficiency, ASORE added.

There are currently some 2,609 vacant positions in the industry, underscoring the need for effective personnel recruitment and retention strategies.

To carry out the study, the Inteligencia Economica team surveyed 209 participants representing 1,069 establishments, including 39 distributors and 170 restaurants, ranging from casual dining and fine dining to quick service, coffee shops and bakeries.

Budet said of the report’s findings that “these results motivate us to continue strengthening our strategies and seek creative solutions to overcome obstacles, always with the objective of ensuring healthy and sustainable development for the entire restaurant industry in Puerto Rico.”

Other significant findings were: * A general profit margin for restaurants ranging from 5% to 16%, with most between 8% and 12%. * Although 5% of respondents have increased prices (3%-5%) in the past year there has been a decrease

compared to 91% the previous year, reflecting a stabilization in price adjustments. * About 63.5% of respondents indicated that more than 50% of their transactions are made with credit cards, highlighting the importance of digital payment solutions in the industry. * The study found that the increase in labor costs and the minimum wage is seen as the main current challenge for businesses. * Despite caution in the broader industry, 76% of respondents have a positive outlook for their businesses in 2024.

Vélez, one of the economists, pointed out that “these findings highlight both the challenges and opportunities for the industry.”

“It is crucial that restaurants continue to adapt and respond to these trends to thrive in the current economic environment,” he said.

Budet also called on the government and other entities to unite as allies in fostering an equitable and sustainable business ecosystem that benefits the entire restaurant industry.

“We are at a crucial time for our industry, and we must work together to ensure that our restaurants not only survive, but also thrive in 2024 and beyond,” he said.

In its more than two decades, ASORE has maintained a firm and constant commitment to developing and strengthening the restaurant industry in Puerto Rico, Budet said. Over the years, the association has gained strength and relevance, adapting to changing challenges and emerging with new achievements and greater reach. ASORE’s focus on guiding the industry toward a prosperous and sustainable future reflects its ability to evolve and its unwavering dedication to defending the sector’s interests, he added.

Carlos Budet, president of the Puerto Rico Restaurants Association

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The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

AAFAF chief explains distribution of CARES Act program funds

By THE STAR STAFF

F

iscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority (AAFAF by its Spanish initials) executive director and Puerto Rico Secretary of State Omar J. Marrero Díaz offered information Monday on the distribution of around $2.2 billion under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES).

The CARES funding progress report in Puerto Rico revealed an impact on the island’s 78 municipalities as well as 189,355 self-employed workers, 25,198 small businesses, 1,258 midsize businesses, 181,206 students and educators, 1,110 hotels and businesses Omar Marrero Díaz, executive director of the Fiscal Agency & Financial Advisory Authority dedicated to tourism and 58 public and pri- and Puerto Rico secretary of state vate hospitals, as well as 72 diagnostic and treatment centers (CDTs), according to data from the AAFAF. Inspector General.

Puerto Rico,” said Marrero, who clarified that “We are pleased and proud of the work The AAFAF chief also provided an update there is an additional item within the Amerwe have done at the AAFAF for the efficient on the disbursement of federal relief funds ican Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) that totals $1.6 disbursement of CARES Act funds and ensuring under the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery billion, which was distributed by the federal transparency in it,” said Marrero, who added Funds (CSFRF) program, which recently sur- government directly to the municipalities of that the agency contributed to the strategic passed $1.5 billion, out of a total of $2.47 the island. design and implementation of 25 assistance billion allocated to the central government Among the strategic priorities addressed programs to maximize the impact of program for distribution. under the CSFRF funds, around two-thirds funds.

“This places us in a leadership position focus on public health and quality-of-life During the awarding and disbursement of among the other states and jurisdictions of projects, especially for disadvantaged comCARES funds, Marrero said the agency main- the United States as we continue with the re- munities, and ensuring the sustainability of tained 100% compliance in financial progress sponsible and effective disbursement of these government operations, the official detailed. reporting to the U.S. Treasury Offiace of the funds that are so important for the recovery of Other priorities are aimed at stimulating

economic development, particularly in the tourism sector, and providing continuity to transparency, compliance and accountability measures in government affairs, he added.

In 2023 alone, the AAFAF channeled the approval of several CSFRF funding items, including over $65 million in incentives and increases for first responders, $30.7 million to address landfills in several municipalities, $21.1 million for sporting events and facility rehabilitation from the Department of Recreation and Sports, $15.3 million for Aqueduct and Sewer Authority projects in several municipalities, and over $15 million in funds for infrastructure repair and improvements in government services in several agencies.

Additionally, $10.3 million went to address infrastructure issues in several municipalities, $7.5 million to the Infrastructure Financing Authority to address various infrastructure rehabilitation initiatives, $5 million to address coastal erosion according to Executive Order 2023-009, and an additional $3.6 million to the Department of Justice for the rehabilitation of the witness shelter, among other items.

“To date, the impact areas of the $1.53 billion that has been disbursed include more than 26,000 school repairs, almost 68,000 “Premium Pay” incentives for hospitals and CDTs, some $125 million in tourism investment and perhaps more,” Marrero said.

Proposed amendment would allow PR to skip ‘irrelevant’ presidential primaries

By THE STAR STAFF

R

ep. José “Conny” Varela Fernández filed legislation Monday that would allow the State Election Commission (SEC) to cancel the presidential primaries if a candidate has already obtained the required delegates to secure his nomination 30 days before the date set for the primaries.

In 2020, on the date set for Puerto Rico’s presidential primaries, the presidential candidates had already secured enough delegates to guarantee their respective nominations.

Despite this, it was necessary to use SEC resources to hold the primaries in Puerto Rico, since the law did not provide a cancellation mechanism. The current Electoral Code does not address the situation, but House Bill 2008 would avoid that situation, said Varela, who is the deputy speaker of the island House of Representatives.

“The Puerto Rico Department of State has already announced who the candidates for the

presidential primaries on the island would be,” Varela said. “The primaries will be held on April 28, 2024. Of those candidates, Republican Ron DeSantis and Democrat Marianne Williamson have already left their campaigns.

There is still the so-called ‘Super Tuesday’ on March 5, after which more than 50% of the available convention delegates will have been elected. Given these circumstances, it is highly probable that both presidential primaries will become irrelevant.”

“With this bill, we create the opportunity so that the scarce resources of the SEC are not wasted on an unnecessary process,” the veteran lawmaker said. “At the same time, we establish the possibility for national parties to use an alternative method to select their delegates, an alternative that the law does not provide at this time.”

“The text of the amendment that we propose today has already been evaluated and agreed upon by all parties while evaluating amendments to the Electoral Code,” added

Varela, whose House district covers Caguas.

“Therefore, to ensure that we do not waste the limited funds of the SEC, we invite colleagues

Rep. José “Conny” Varela Fernández

from all delegations to support and approve this bill, and the governor to convert it into law as soon as possible.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

5

Millions in public funds invested for Guaynabo schools found in state of decay OIG investigation shows abandoned elementary school had been used as shooting gallery

By THE STAR STAFF

T

he Office of the Inspector General of Puerto Rico (OIG) on Monday revealed serious deficiencies in the management of school equipment and structures by the island Department of Education after an inspection at the Urban Elementary School of Guaynabo and the Superior Vocational School of Guaynabo.

The report highlights the abandonment of structures and the accumulation of useless equipment and debris showing years of inadequate management and lack of maintenance.

The facilities at the Superior Vocational School, which were to be used for educational purposes, have served as a warehouse for more than 15 years, with educational resources and administrative documents that were wasted and deteriorated.

The OIG, after detailed inspections the most recent of which took place on Sept. 13, 2023, documented a state of total deterioration and disuse, highlighting the need for urgent action for the maintenance and conditioning of the structures. Additionally, equipment with Department of Education property numbers was found scattered around and not properly used.

As part of the investigation, an inspection of the theater at the Urban Elementary School of Guaynabo was carried out, which revealed that the structure is in deplorable con-

Urban Elementary School of Guaynabo dition, which explains why it remains completely unusable in disrepair. The deficiencies detected in the theater were many, including areas that present obvious health risks, a completely destroyed security door, extensive leaks in the ceiling, various detached sections of the walls and ceilings, the need to completely replace air conditioning units, bathrooms in a state of abandonment with overflows and leaks, the presence of dead animals in states of decomposition, and unauthorized accessibility that creates health and safety risks

for the school community.

Furthermore, the presence of mattresses, clothing and traces of food showed that the facilities were being used at night by individuals without authorization.

Empty alcoholic beverage containers, paraphernalia related to controlled substances and a notable accumulation of waste were also found in the surrounding area.

Contract A-872, which stipulates shared responsibility between the Department of Education and the Public Buildings Authority (PBA) for the maintenance of the structures through 2036, has not been adequately fulfilled, noted the investigation report. Despite a damage report from Hurricane Maria assessed at $895,427, the entities involved have not claimed the funds necessary for rehabilitation of the school facilities.

The certified cost of the AP-8303 project of the vocational school amounts to some $23,529,792.36, not including the value of the land, and the total estimated investment reaches $27,183,410.70, with a significant budget impact and invoices pending payment by the Education Department.

The OIG urged the Department of Education and the PBA to conduct an immediate evaluation and take corrective measures to retrofit the facilities. It also recommends that the island health secretary evaluate possible legal or regulatory violations arising from the findings.

“Although the problems predate the current secretary of the Department of Education, there is confidence that under her leadership the persistent deficiencies will be effectively addressed,” the OIG said in a statement.

Jiménez Pérez says he would trim gov’t agencies as governor

By THE STAR STAFF

D

ignity Project (Proyecto Dignidad) President Javier Jiménez Pérez said Monday that if he is elected governor he would streamline government agencies and eliminate those that do no work.

The gubernatorial candidate for the conservative party who left the New Progressive Party last year said he would eliminate “the umbrella” of the Public Safety and Recreation & Sports departments, arguing that municipalities can take care of sports facilities.

Jiménez Pérez, who said he wants to reduce government interference in private business, said he would also support changing the permitting system to make it more efficient.

He also said he would consolidate the Women’s Advocate Office with other advocacy offices.

The mayor of San Sebastián was elected Dignity Project president during the party’s first general meeting, held in Guayanilla over the weekend. Jiménez Pérez insisted that he is prepared to engage in the “close” race looming ahead of the next general elections in November.

The party managed to certify 420 candidates for political positions, especially 45 mayors and their municipal assembly members, 15 senators and 30 district representatives per district, and two at-large legislators.

The founder and former president of Proyecto Dignidad, César Vázquez Muñiz, had ruled out running for governor again after Jiménez Pérez announced that he would make his own bid for La Fortaleza.

Vázquez Muñiz, a cardiologist, is instead running for a Bayamón District Senate seat in the next election.

“I remain as a member of the Government Council, and the decisions of Proyecto Dignidad are collegial,” Vázquez Muñiz said. “Javier is going to direct the electoral campaign, but the governing body of the party is still the Government Council. Besides, once the electoral process with reference to the governorship ends, I will once again be the president.”

Vázquez Muñiz said Jiménez Pérez’s presidency will put the party in a better position to succeed in the elections.

“There is a 20-year track record that no one can deny,” the Dignity Project founder said. “He is someone who knows the processes of government, the electoral processes. From that point of view, we have more chances of electoral victory with him as a candidate for governor and as president.”

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The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Police: Senate candidate not cooperating in shooting investigation at his residence

By THE STAR STAFF

T

he Puerto Rico Police Bureau (PRPB) said Monday that Eliezer Molina Pérez, an influencer and independent candidate for the island Senate, was not cooperating with an investigation of a shooting incident at his residence.

“The investigation into the incident at the residence of the political candidate, Eliezer Molina, is very well underway. The agents have been working non-stop since day one,” the PRPB said in a statement. “To protect it, we cannot provide details. The more data that is made public about an investigation,

the greater the risk that its outcome will be affected.”

“Given Mr. Molina’s refusal to cooperate with the agents of the CIC [Criminal Investigation Corps] of Mayagüez and Aguadilla, who in accordance with their ministerial duty professionally initiated the investigation, [Police] Commissioner Antonio López Figueroa reassigned the investigation to the Major Crimes Division,” the agency added.

“This case is being worked on with the same diligence that is followed in all processes of this nature,” the PRPB statement said. “We emphasize that, as required by the rules of criminal procedure in Puerto Rico, it

Eliezer Molina Pérez

is mandatory to collect admissible evidence that is sustained beyond a reasonable doubt before the Court. In our rule of law, to file a charge against someone, conjectures or suspicions are not enough.”

The events occurred last Thursday at around 11:27 p.m. in the Guatemala neighborhood of San Sebastián.

Molina Pérez was with his wife and two children inside the aforementioned house when the incident occurred.

At the scene, the authorities identified six bullet holes in a metal fence and two in the gray Toyota Highlander SUV owned by the couple.

In separate cases, feds arrest 2 men on child exploitation charges

By THE STAR STAFF

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wo men were arrested by federal Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents on criminal charges related to child exploitation, according to a report issued Monday.

Last Friday, the Puerto Rico Juvenile Crimes Task Force, led by HSI, arrested Elvin Jhohanie Molina Rosado, a 35-year-old man from Corozal.

A federal grand jury indicted Molina-Rosado last Wednesday on four counts of sexual exploitation of minors, sexual seduction of a minor, receiving child exploitation material, and possession of child exploitation material.

“We are committed to bringing the defendants in these cases to justice and protecting every child,” said W. Stephen Muldrow, United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico, in a written statement.

“I would like to thank the state and local agents and partners who are tireless in their pursuit of child predators,” he added.

According to court documents, from February 2020 to April 2022, the defendant used his computer, cell phones and social media applications to persuade and seduce a minor between the ages of 12 and 14 to engage in sexually explicit conduct. During the same period, Molina Rosado produced, received and transmitted child exploitation

Two men were arrested in separate cases late last week on criminal charges related to child exploitation.

material. He also possessed and accessed with the intention of viewing such material, which contained images of child pornography.

If convicted, the defendant faces a minimum sentence of 15 years and a maximum of life in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the United States Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) Jenifer Hernández Vega, head of the Child Exploitation and Immigration Unit, is prosecuting the case.

In a separate case, Edwin Martínez Ortiz, a 45-year-old man from Caguas, was also arrested on Friday by HSI agents from the Fajardo office.

A federal indictment and arrest warrant were issued last Wednesday against Martínez Ortiz for two counts of sexual exploitation of minors and possession of child exploitation material.

According to the indictment, from March 2016 to May 1, 2022, the defendant knowingly used a cell phone to induce a minor between 10 and 16 years old to engage in sexually explicit conduct, and to produce and transmit the representation of the behavior. During the same period, Martínez Ortiz possessed and accessed with the intention of viewing images of child exploitation material, including of a prepubescent minor or a minor who had not reached 12 years of age.

If he is convicted, Martínez Ortiz faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years

and a maximum of 30 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the federal sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. AUSA Emelina Agrait Barreto of the Child Exploitation and Immigration Unit is prosecuting the case.

An indictment is simply an allegation and all defendants are innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Rebecca González Ramos, special agent in charge of HSI San Juan, said: “Individuals who attack our most vulnerable will be prosecuted and brought to justice.”

“HSI agents will protect our children from these predators by dedicating every effort toward collecting evidence from electronic devices and our multidisciplinary team will assist victims and their families to ensure their mental health during these investigations,” she added.

The cases were brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a national initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the U.S. Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood mobilizes federal, state and local resources to locate, arrest and prosecute individuals who exploit children over the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue the victims. More information about Project Safe Childhood can be found at www.justice.gov/psc.

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

7

House Republicans release impeachment charges against Mayorkas

By KAROUN DEMIRJIAN

H

ouse Republicans on Sunday released two articles of impeachment against Alejandro Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, charging President Joe Biden’s top immigration official with refusing to uphold the law and breaching the public trust in his handling of a surge of migration at the U.S. border with Mexico.

Leaders of the House Homeland Security Committee laid out their case against Mayorkas before a Tuesday meeting to approve the charges, paving the way for a quick House vote as soon as early next month to impeach him. It would be the culmination of Republicans’ attacks on Biden’s immigration policies and an extraordinary move given an emerging consensus among legal scholars that Mayorkas’ actions do not constitute high crimes and misdemeanors.

The push comes as House Republicans, egged on by former President Donald Trump, dig in against a bipartisan border compromise Mayorkas helped to negotiate with a group of senators, which Biden has vowed to sign. House GOP lawmakers have dismissed the agreement as too weak and argued that they cannot trust Biden to crack down on migration now when he has failed to in the past.

The charges against Mayorkas, should they be approved by the full House, are all but certain to fizzle in the Democratic-led Senate, where Mayorkas would stand trial and a two-thirds majority would be needed to convict and remove him. But the process would yield a remarkable election-year political spectacle, effectively putting Biden’s immigration record on trial as Trump, who has made a border crackdown his signature issue, seeks to clinch the Republican presidential nomination to run against him.

The first impeachment article essentially brands the Biden administration’s border policies an official crime. It accuses Mayorkas of willfully and systematically flouting laws requiring migrants to be detained by carrying out “catch and release” policies that allow some to stay in the United States pending court proceedings and others fleeing certain war-torn and economically ravaged countries to live and work in the country temporarily. Immigration laws grant the president broad leeway to do both.

The second article charges Mayorkas with lying to Congress about whether the border was secure and obstructing lawmakers’ efforts to investigate him.

“These articles lay out a clear, compelling and irrefutable case for Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ impeachment,” Rep. Mark Green, R-

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas departs the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Dec. 12, 2023. The charges against Alejandro Mayorkas, should they be approved by the full House, are all but certain to fizzle in the Democratic-led Senate. (Kent Nishimura/ The New York Times) Tenn., the chair of the House Homeland Security panel, said in a statement. “Congress has a duty to see that the executive branch implements and enforces the laws we have passed.”

The Biden administration and Democrats have defended Mayorkas as having acted legally and truthfully, arguing that he complied with the GOP’s investigations fully even before they opened an impeachment inquiry. They have also slammed the impeachment as a political exercise, accusing Republicans of scapegoating Mayorkas as a favor to the hard right instead of working with them on bipartisan solutions to mitigate what leaders in both parties consider a border crisis.

Republicans “are abusing Congress’ impeachment power to appease their MAGA members, score political points and deflect Americans’ attention from their do-nothing Congress,” Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the senior Democrat on the panel, said in a statement, adding, “The House must reject this sham resolution.”

The charges are being rolled out as leading Republicans and Democrats labor to salvage the bipartisan border security deal emerging in the Senate, which would make it harder to claim asylum, increase detention capacity and force a freeze on crossings if encounters with migrants rise above an average of 5,000 per day over the course of a week.

Biden has pledged to “shut down the border” if Congress sends him the compromise, while

Trump has pressured GOP lawmakers to oppose it as insufficient. Speaker Mike Johnson has said that the deal is probably “dead on arrival” in the House, promising instead to put the impeachment articles against Mayorkas on the floor “as soon as possible.”

House leaders have been threatening for over a year to hold Mayorkas personally responsible for a surge of migrant crossings and drug trafficking across the southern border with Mexico.

Their efforts accelerated in recent weeks, after months in which Republican leaders seemed unable to muster enough support in their own ranks.

The shift took place after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., tried to force a snap impeachment vote, a move that fell flat when a group of more mainstream Republicans and Democrats voted instead to refer the matter to the homeland security panel.

The committee rushed through impeachment proceedings this month, holding only two hearings and interviewing no federal officials — including Mayorkas himself — before its GOP members unanimously recommended moving forward with the charges.

The articles seek to blame Mayorkas for the surge of migrants arriving at the southern border in recent years and trying to enter the United States without a visa. They accuse him of ushering even people with criminal records into the country and refusing to deport those with removal

orders, while misrepresenting the situation at the border by telling Congress his department had “operational control.”

Mayorkas has previously explained that Border Patrol agents use a different definition of “operational control” than appears in the law.

He has defended his policies by arguing that the department detains and removes unlawful migrants to the fullest extent that limited resources will allow, and uses parole authority to manage unprecedented pressure at the southern border humanely.

Republicans raced through the investigation without ever issuing a subpoena for Mayorkas to testify in his own defense, revoking an invitation for him to appear in person after a scheduling disagreement and instructing him instead to submit a written statement within 10 days of the final hearing on Jan. 18.

The GOP said that deadline would expire Sunday, but Democrats and representatives for Mayorkas argue that he has until Wednesday, the day after the panel is expected to approve the charges against him.

Democrats say the impeachment process has been riddled with corner-cutting by Republicans, whose witnesses consisted of grieving mothers of victims of brutal crimes committed by immigrants in the country without permission and three state attorneys general who are suing Mayorkas. And they reject the substance of the charges against Mayorkas, noting that legal experts argued during testimony to the panel that the complaints against him amounted to a policy dispute, not constitutional crimes.

“What is glaringly missing from these articles is any real charge or even a shred of evidence of high crimes or misdemeanors — the constitutional standard for impeachment,” Thompson said in his statement. “Republicans’ so-called ‘investigation’ of Secretary Mayorkas has been a remarkably fact-free affair,” he added.

House Republicans have rejected the criticism, contending that the Constitution’s instruction to impeach over “treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors” does not tie their hands.

“His lawless behavior was exactly what the framers gave us the impeachment power to remedy,” Green said of Mayorkas.

Should Mayorkas be impeached, he would become only the second Cabinet secretary in U.S. history to suffer that fate. The last one, William W. Belknap, the secretary of war under Ulysses S. Grant, was impeached in 1876 on allegations of corruption and taking part in a kickback scheme.

He was later acquitted by the Senate.

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The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Haley’s dilemma: How to diminish Trump without alienating Republican voters

By JONATHAN WEISMAN and JAZMINE ULLOA

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ikki Haley, searching for a message to dent Donald Trump’s appeal with Republican voters, took him to task Sunday over the $83 million verdict for defaming a woman he was already liable for sexually assaulting, saying she “absolutely” trusted the jury’s judgment for writer E. Jean Carroll.

Her defense of the jury’s verdict went against Trump’s claims that the legal cases against him amounted to a conspiratorial attack by Democrats determined to stop his political comeback, not legitimate legal claims of malfeasance. But she stopped short of saying the New York civil verdict and award disqualified him from returning to the presidency, leaving that judgment to voters.

Four weeks before what could be the decisive Republican primary in South Carolina, Haley is trying to navigate an extremely narrow and treacherous path, finding a way to diminish Trump’s hold on the party’s electorate without decisively turning conservative voters against her the way they have destroyed other Trump critics.

In her most recent campaign swings through South Carolina, she has continued to avoid dwelling on his legal troubles or criminal charges. But she has ratcheted up her criticism of his mental and physical agility, challenged him to debate her and argued he is spending more time in the courtroom than on the campaign trail.

“Donald Trump was totally unhinged — unhinged,” Haley said to cheers on Saturday in Mauldin, South Carolina, near Greenville, as she described moving up in the polls ahead of the New Hampshire primary. “He was a bit sensitive, and I think his feelings were hurt, but he threw a temper tantrum out onstage.”

Her jabs at him have endeared her to donors in both parties, swelling her coffers and keeping her in the race. But a string of different messages has so far done little to actually attract voters.

“This fires her up,” said Rep. Ralph Norman, the one South Carolina Republican member of the House backing Haley. “She’s in this thing.

The pundits say get out. Why? We’ve only had two primaries. Now, if she gets blitzed in South Carolina, do it, but she’s the candidate. She makes that call.”

Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Haley, a former governor of South Carolina and Trump’s first ambassador to the United Nations, continued her recent, more aggressive criticism of the overwhelming front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. She has taken the opportunity in the weeks since her disappointing losses in Iowa and New Hampshire to pair his age with President Joe Biden’s,

telling Republican primary voters that both men face cognitive and physical deficits. She also went directly after Trump’s “rants,” saying that a “distracted” president is exactly what foreign adversaries want to see.

Haley has furthermore sought to gently remind voters of the former president’s legal peril, without fully rejectingTrump’s repeated assertions that the civil suits and four separate criminal cases he faces are political “witch hunts.”

“I absolutely trust the jury and I think that they made their decision based on the evidence,” Haley said in her interview, as Trump continued to call for “complete immunity” from prosecutions and maintaining his innocence on his social media platform.

She added, “The American people will take him off the ballot. I think that’s the best way to go forward, is not let him play the victim. Let him play the loser.”

Trump’s attacks on Haley — mocking her clothing, calling her “bird brain” and saying she is “almost a radical left Democrat” — appear to have bolstered her fundraising, primed her willingness to stay in the race and won her some sympathy within the party.

The super political action committee backing her, SFA Fund, announced Thursday that it had raised $50.1 million in the second half of 2023, eclipsing the amount raised by the main super PAC backing Trump. That sum would keep Haley in for “the long haul,” said Mark Harris,

SFA’s chief strategist.

Haley on Sunday resisted even contemplating departing the race. While she said she needed to improve on her second-place 43% finish in New Hampshire after the South Carolina primary on Feb. 24, she did not say she needed to win her home state.

“I need to show that I’m stronger in South Carolina than New Hampshire,” she said. “Does that have to be a win? I don’t think that necessarily has to be a win. It certainly has to be close.”

Karoline Leavitt, aTrump campaign spokesperson, responded, “Once again, Nikki cannot name a state that she can win.”

Haley’s search for a message is proving to be extremely difficult with a Republican primary electorate inclined to giveTrump the benefit of the doubt, said Dave Carney, a conservative political consultant who watched her cycle through messages in New Hampshire.

Haley has been trying out a series of arguments for why she is a better candidate than Trump: She has raised his legal troubles, which are many; she has offered electability — she, not Trump, would beat Biden handily, as polls suggest; she has said it is time for a new generation of leadership, an end-run around his age, telling Republicans primed by conservative commentators to believe Biden has crossed into senility that Trump is no different; and she has paired both men as beltway players.

“Trump has become an insider,” she said

Former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, speaks to supporters in Des Moines following her thirdplace finish in the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 15, 2024. On “Meet the Press,” Nikki Haley said she trusted a jury’s judgment in Donald Trump’s sex-assault defamation case, while she tries to peel away the former president’s supporters. (Ruth Fremson/ The New York Times)

Sunday. “That’s what it comes down to. He is more interested in satisfying the elected class than he is in satisfying the people.”

Later that afternoon, Haley stuck to that theme at her rally in Conway, South Carolina.

She accused Trump of trying to pressure the Republican National Committee into announcing him as the presumptive nominee, and cast Gov. Henry McMaster, Sen. Lindsey Graham and his other top endorsers in her state as part of an old and broken Washington.

“You can have them, I don’t want them,” she quipped.

That “elected class” has shown no inclination to back away from Trump, who has now been held liable for sexually assaulting Carroll, been ordered by a New York jury to pay her $83 million in actual and punitive damages for defaming her, and next up, faces judgment on charges of business fraud that could cost him much of his New York real estate empire.

On Sunday, Trump was on social media railing against New York Attorney General Letitia James, “who sat comfortably and confidently in Court with her shoes off, arms folded, a Starbucks Coffee, and a BIG smile on her face” anticipating the next big decision against him, which he preemptively dismissed as a “hoax” from a “rigged trial.”

Tim Scott, the South Carolina Republican who was appointed to the Senate by Haley but is now backing Trump, allowed on ABC’s “This Week” that language such as “bird brain” may be “far more provocative than mine” but he challenged Haley’s attacks on Trump.

“Talking about someone’s age is inappropriate when especially they are competent, qualified and ready to go to be the next president of the United States,” he said, suggesting Haley had lost the vote of older Republicans with her attacks.

On Saturday night in Mauldin, South Carolina, Haley let her pique with Scott shine through, when she told her supporters, “I’ll let you all deal with Tim Scott,” prompting a round of boos for the state’s junior senator.

At her rally in Conway, a small crowd of Trump supporters wavedTrump signs outside, and a few hecklers interrupted her speech at times.

Her supporters drowned them out with cowbells and cheers of “Nikki, Nikki.” She turned down the temperature first by taking the high road, telling her attendees not to be offended because her husband and every other U.S. military member sacrificed for the right of Americans to protest.

Then, she also threw in some snark.

“That’s what Trump does,” she said with a smile. “He does disruption — that’s the only way he thinks he can win is by planting people like this. I think we’re getting under his skin.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

9

Illinois hearing officer, ex-GOP judge, says Trump engaged in insurrection

By MITCH SMITH

A

former Republican judge appointed to hear arguments on whether to disqualify former President Donald Trump from the Illinois primary ballot said Sunday that he believed Trump engaged in insurrection by attempting to remain in office after the 2020 election.

But the former judge, Clark Erickson, whose nonbinding opinion will be considered by the State Board of Elections on Tuesday, added that he believed the board did not have the authority to disqualify Trump on those grounds and that the question should instead be left to the courts.

The mixed decision was at least a symbolic setback for the former president, who has faced official challenges to his candidacy in 35 states and has been found ineligible for the primaries in Colorado and Maine.

Trump, the leading Republican candidate for president, is still likely to appear on the primary ballots in both of those states as the U.S. Supreme Court considers an appeal of the Colorado ruling.

In Illinois, at least five of the eight members of the Board of Elections would have to vote Tuesday to remove Trump for him to be struck from the ballot. The appointed board is made up of four Democrats and four Republicans. Their decision can be appealed to the courts before the March 19 primary.

The Illinois challenge, like those in other states, is based on a clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that disqualifies government officials who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” from holding office.

At a hearing Friday in downtown Chicago, lawyers for residents objecting to Trump’s candidacy accused the former president of insurrection and played footage from the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Lawyers for Trump denied the allegation and argued that, in any case, the constitutional clause in question did not apply to the presidency.

Trump’s campaign has described the multistate effort to disqualify him as partisan and anti-democratic. A spokesperson for the campaign and a lawyer for Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment Sunday.

In his written opinion, Erickson recommended that the board dismiss the objection

Supporters of former President Donald Trump in Nashua, N.H., on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024. But the hearing officer said the State Board of Elections should let the courts decide whether Trump’s conduct disqualified him from the ballot. (Doug Mills/The New York Times) to Trump, finding that Illinois Supreme Court precedent prevented the Elections Board from engaging in the “significant and sophisticated constitutional analysis” necessary to reach a ruling. But if the board disagreed with him on the jurisdictional question, Erickson said he believed they should disqualify Trump from the primary ballot.

The board’s general counsel is also expected to make a formal recommendation before the hearing. A copy of Erickson’s opinion was published by lawyers for residents who objected to Trump. The document’s authenticity was confirmed by Bernadette Matthews, the executive director of the Board of Elections.

Erickson, who reviewed the findings of the Colorado Supreme Court and the U.S. House committee that investigated the Capitol riot, laid out the 14th Amendment case against Trump in detail.

“The evidence shows that President Trump understood the divided political climate in the United States,” Erickson wrote, adding that he “exploited that climate for his own political gain by falsely and publicly claiming the election was stolen from him, even though every single piece of evidence demonstrated that his claim was demonstrably false.”

Erickson said the former president

“understood the context of the events of Jan. 6, 2021, because he created the climate” and that “he engaged in an elaborate plan to provide lists of fraudulent electors to Vice President Pence for the express purpose of disrupting the peaceful transfer of power following an election.”

During the hearing last week, lawyers for Trump emphasized that their client made social media posts calling for peace after the riot had started. Erickson said he found those posts unconvincing and believed they were “the product of trying to give himself plausible deniability.”

“Perhaps he realized just how far he had gone, and that the effort to steal the election had failed because Vice President Pence had refused to accept the bag of fraudulent electors,” Erickson added.

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Erickson, a retired Republican state judge from Kankakee County, oversaw the hearing Friday in a nondescript conference room in a government office. About 20 people, many of them lawyers or journalists, were in the room.

In an interview years ago with The Daily Journal, a newspaper in Kankakee, a small city 60 miles south of Chicago, Erickson said he tried to bring a nonpartisan approach to the bench.

“We are a political society, and the manner in which we choose judges in the state system is through political elections,” he told the newspaper, adding that “that’s a little awkward because clearly politics can’t have anything to do with our job after we’re elected.”

Ron Fein, the legal director of Free Speech for People, which helped bring the objections in Illinois and in several other states, called Erickson’s opinion about Trump’s conduct “highly significant.”

“We expect that the board and ultimately Illinois courts will uphold Judge Erickson’s thoughtful analysis of why Trump is disqualified from office, but — with the greatest respect — correct him on why Illinois law authorizes that ruling,” Fein said in a statement.

Illinois, a Democratic stronghold, is not expected to be competitive in November’s general election. But it is a delegate-rich state where the primary election could help Trump lock down the Republican nomination.

Many expect the U.S. Supreme Court to ultimately settle the question of Trump’s eligibility. Oral arguments in the Colorado appeal are scheduled for Feb. 8.

In the meantime, with primary season underway and Trump holding a commanding lead on the Republican side, challenges to the former president’s eligibility remain unresolved in more than 15 states.

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10 Tuesday, January 30, 2024

The San Juan Daily Star

Evergrande will be dismantled, a ‘big bang’ end to years of stumbles

By ALEXANDRA STEVENSON

M

onths after China Evergrande ran out of cash and defaulted in 2021, investors around the world scooped up the property developer’s discounted IOU’s, betting that the Chinese government would eventually step in to bail it out.

On Monday it became clear just how misguided that bet was. After two years in limbo, and with over $300 billion in debt, Evergrande was ordered by a judge in Hong Kong to liquidate, a move that will set off a race by lawyers to try to find and grab anything belonging to Evergrande that can be sold.

In a small courtroom on the 12th floor of Hong Kong’s High Court building, Evergrande’s lawyers pushed for a last-minute deal. They argued that a liquidation would hurt Evergrande’s business and not help creditors get their money back. They wanted more time to try to make a deal with Evergrande’s creditors.

But after 40 minutes of debate, Linda Chan, the bankruptcy judge presiding over the case, made her decision to issue an order telling Evergrande to wind up its operations, citing the company’s inability to bring a concrete proposal to the court for 1 1/2 years.

“I think it would be a situation where the court would say, enough is enough,” Chan said.

The order means that Evergrande, which has been limping along for two years, unable to pay its debts or function normally but still in operation, will now likely face a protracted period dismantling a massive business with projects that span hundreds of cities and unrelated businesses like an electric vehicle company.

The order sent shock waves through the company’s publicly listed shares in Hong

Unfinished construction by China Evergrande in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, China, Sept. 28, 2021. After multiple delays and even a few faint glimmers of hope, a Hong Kong court has sounded the death knell for what was once China’s biggest real estate firm. (Gilles Sabrié/The New York Times)

Kong, pushing the stock price down by more than 20% before trading was halted. The court decision is likely to reverberate through China’s beleaguered property sector and financial markets that are already skittish about China’s economy.

There isn’t a lot left in Evergrande’s sprawling empire that still has value. And any assets that are valuable may be off limits because property in China has become intertwined with politics.

Evergrande, as well as other developers, overbuilt and over promised, taking money for apartments that had not been finished and leaving hundreds of thousands of homebuyers waiting on their units. Dozens of these companies have defaulted, leaving the government frantically trying to force them to finish the apartments, putting contractors and builders in a tough spot because they have not been Automatizando su Hogar y Negocio paid for years.

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the unwinding of Evergrande will test the belief long held by foreign investors that China will treat them fairly. The outcome could help spur or further tamp down the flow of money into Chinese markets when global confidence in China is already shaken.

“People will be watching closely to see whether creditor rights are being respected,” said Dan Anderson, a partner and restructuring specialist at the law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. “Whether they are respected will have long-term implications for investment into China.”

China needs investments from foreign investors now more than ever in its recent history.

Financial markets in mainland China and Hong Kong — a city that has for years been an entry point for foreign investment — have received such a blow that officials are scrambling to find policy measures like a stock market rescue fund to shore up confidence. On Sunday, they moved to stop short selling, a practice that allows investors to bet against a stock.

China’s housing market shows little signs of returning to the boom days, in part because Beijing wants to redirect economic growth from construction and investment.

Rising diplomatic tensions between the United States and China, which have led to large outflows of foreign money from China, is not helping.

Investors are looking to the resolution of the Evergrande case to see how China will handle disputes over its deadbeat companies, of which there are dozens in the property sector alone.

Specifically, they will want to see whether the people who are now tasked with carrying out the liquidation will be recognized by a court in mainland China, something that historically has not happened.

Under a mutual agreement signed in 2021 between Hong Kong and Beijing, a mainland Chinese court would recognize the Hong Kong court-appointed liquidator to allow creditors to take control of Evergrande assets in mainland China. But so far only one of five such requests to local Chinese courts has been granted.

Monday’s decision had already been delayed multiple times over nearly two years as creditors and other parties agreed to adjourn to give the company more time to reach an agreement with creditors on how much they might be paid.

As recently as last summer, it seemed as though Evergrande’s management team and some of its offshore creditors that had lent the company money in U.S. dollars in Hong Kong were closing in on a deal. The talks hit the brakes in September when several high-level executives were arrested and, eventually, the founder and chair, Hui Ka Yan, was detained by police.

The court’s decision Monday was “a big bang,” Anderson said, that will “lead to something of a whimper as liquidators chase assets.”

Speaking to reporters outside the courtroom Monday, a lawyer representing the main group of creditors said they were not surprised by Chan’s ruling.

“We’ve been ready, willing and able for the entire process to reach a deal with the company,” said Fergus Saurin, a partner from Kirkland & Ellis, which is advising the creditors. “There has been a history of last-minute engagement, which has gone nowhere, and in the circumstances, the company only has itself to blame for being wound up.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

11 Stocks

Strong US economic outlook buffers stocks against rising yields A

strong economic outlook is helping U.S. stocks weather a rise in Treasury yields, though that could change if factors such as tighter monetary policy drive yields higher or if they move up too fast, Goldman Sachs strategists said.

The S&P 500 and 10-year Treasury yield had been negatively correlated - meaning they have moved in opposite directions - since long-term yields began rising last July, Goldman equity strategists led by David Kostin said in their latest weekly kickstart note.

The S&P 500 sold off sharply over that period as yields marched to a 16-year high in October, making stocks relatively less attractive. Equities staged a swift rebound when yields, which move inversely to bond prices, tumbled in the final months of the year.

In 2024, however, stocks have hit record highs even as the 10-year yield has risen about 30 basis points to 4.2%.

One reason for stocks’ resilience is the improving economic outlook, Goldman’s strategists said.

Since 1990, the S&P 500 has generated a median monthly return of 1.3% when the yield curve steepens, their data showed.

Returns have been substantially stronger when economic growth expectations are improving rather than weakening, regardless of whether the yield curve steepened or flattened, the strategists said.

“As investors worry less about the potential for Fed tightening, growth expectations should become a more important driver of yields, contributing to a less negative correlation between stocks and yields in 2024,” they wrote.

In a separate note, Goldman’s economists raised their fourth-quarter economic growth estimate to 2.4% from 2.1%.

Goldman forecasts the S&P 500 will end 2024 at 5,100, a gain of just over 4% from Friday’s close. “However, if rates rise substantially from current levels because of shifts in Fed policy or the balance of Treasury supply and demand, equities will likely struggle,” the strategists said. Moreover, equities will face pressure if Treasury yields rise more quickly than the recent pace, regardless of the reason, they said, noting that rates could be more volatile with the 2024 election.

U.S. stocks rose modestly on Monday, with few catalysts to spark much conviction before this week’s slew of megacap earnings, economic data and the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy meeting.

The Nasdaq Composite Index and the S&P 500 advanced, with the latter poised to eke out yet another record closing high.

BlackRock raised its overall U.S. stocks view to “overweight” from “neutral.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was essentially unchanged.

A spate of earnings from high profile tech and tech-adjacent momentum stocks waits in the wings, starting on Tuesday with Alphabet Inc and Microsoft Corp, Qualcomm Inc and Wednesday and culminating on Thursday with Apple Inc, Amazon.com and Meta Platforms Inc. “Investors are looking forward to 20% of the companies in

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the S&P 500 reporting earnings this week,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist of CFRA Research in New York.

“And with so many of the behemoths reporting this week, I think that will help investors to decide whether strong expectations will come true.”

Other closely watched results include General Motors Inc on Tuesday, Boeing Co on Thursday, with oil supermajors Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp wrapping up the week on Friday.

The Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) is scheduled to convene on Tuesday for its two-day monetary policy meeting, at which its voting members are widely expected to leave the key Fed funds target rate unchanged at 5.25% to 5.50%.

“The first question that investors will be trying to glean from the statement as well as press conference is whether the Fed will be cutting rates in March, May or even June,” Stovall added. “It’s our belief that rate cuts will be later and fewer that Wall Street is anticipating.”

Fed Chair Jerome Powell and other policymakers have warned not to expect interest rate cuts before inflation cools down to its average 2% annual target, but have also vowed to remain agile at they respond to economic data.

12 Tuesday, January 30, 2024

The San Juan Daily Star

Biden’s options range from unsatisfying to risky after American deaths

By DAVID E. SANGER

E

ven before the drone strike that killed three U.S. service members in Jordan on Sunday, the Biden administration was planning for a moment just like this, debating how it might strike back in ways that would deter Iran’s proxy forces and send a message that Iran would not miss.

But the options range from the unsatisfying to the highly risky.

President Joe Biden could order strikes on the proxy forces, a major escalation of the whack-a-mole attacks it has conducted in recent weeks in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. So far, those attacks have put a dent into the abilities of the Iranianbacked groups that have mounted more than 160 attacks.

But they have failed, as Biden himself noted 10 days ago, to deter those groups.

Biden could decide to go after the Iranian suppliers of drones and missiles, perhaps including inside Iranian territory, which poses a much higher risk. His first targets could well be members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, many of whom are based in Syria and Iraq. Depending on how these strikes are conducted, it could open another front in the war, with a far more powerful adversary, and trigger Iran to accelerate its nuclear program.

In short, it would force Biden to do everything he has been trying so far to avoid.

There are options in between, officials say, and strikes could be combined with back-channel messaging to the Iranians that they should absorb the hit and not escalate.

Such signaling has been successful before, including after the U.S.-ordered killing of Qassem Soleimani, the head of its powerful Quds Force, in 2020. Then, as now, there were fears of an all-out war in the Middle East that would pit the United States and its allies against Iran and its proxies. Both sides backed away.

But the brew of political pressures, military calculations and regional fragility is quite different today from four years ago, even though evidence suggests that Iran does not want to engage directly in war either, especially when its own economy is weak.

“There are no good choices, but the deaths and wounds of so many U.S. troops and SEALs demand a strong response,” said James Stavridis, a retired Navy admiral who now works for the Carlyle Group, a global investment firm.

“A multiday air campaign against all proxies, coupled with a ‘last chance warning’ to Iran is warranted,” he said.

“The Pentagon should be creating options that go directly against Iranian weapons production facilities, naval assets and intelligence systems in case the mullahs want to go another round. A strong offensive cyberattack would be another viable option, either alone or in conjunction with kinetic strikes.”

Because Iran has been an adversary for so long, across eight presidencies, there is no shortage of such options. The United States has identified the major drone-making factories, and their overseas suppliers, that are fueling the Russian attacks in Ukraine and supplying Hezbollah, the Houthis and other proxy groups. (It is not yet clear whether the drone, or drones, that killed the Americans in Jordan on Sunday were Iranian made, but that was the working assumption of U.S.

President Joe Biden delivers remarks at a Church in Columbia, S.C., on Jan. 28, 2024. “We lost three brave souls in an attack on one of our bases,” President Biden told a crowd in South Carolina on Sunday, adding, “and we shall respond.” (Kenny Holston/The New York Times). officials.)

U.S. forces have mapped out strikes on Iranian missile sites and air bases in case a conflict broke out between Iran and Israel. There was even a detailed cyberattack option against Iran, code-named “Nitro Zeus,” to disable Iran’s air defenses, communications systems and crucial parts of its power grid. That plan was shelved in 2015 after Iran and six other nations struck a nuclear deal. Israel has conspicuously practiced bombing runs, simulating attacks on the Natanz nuclear enrichment site and its deep-underground alternative site, called Fordow.

But no one pulled the trigger on these plans for a reason: Neither the U.S. nor Iran could see a way out of the cycle of strikes and counterstrikes once an all-out conflict began.

And while U.S. officials were certain the United States would ultimately prevail, the potential for damage done to U.S. allies, particularly Israel, seemed hard to imagine. Even President Donald Trump pulled back from a planned strike.

None of those considerations was reflected in the social media posts and news releases issued Sunday by Republicans who have criticized Biden’s responses so far as too calibrated. The Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, called for “crippling costs” for Iran, “not only on front-line terrorist proxies, but on their Iranian sponsors who wear American blood as a badge of honor.” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, demanded strikes on the Revolutionary Guard, its military elite — and the guardians of the nuclear

program.

“Time to kill another Iranian general, perhaps?” Rep. Daniel Crenshaw, also of Texas, wrote on social media Sunday, recalling the Soleimani attack. “That might send the right message.” Crenshaw is a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, where he lost an eye in a blast.

Such calls have an undeniable political appeal, especially at the start of an election year, and no one was more vocal than Trump — who made no mention of his own qualms about killing Iranians and escalating a conflict when he was in office. Even Biden’s own aides acknowledge that whatever they have been doing so far to “restore deterrence,” to use the military’s phrase about their effort, has failed at the objective.

But it is not yet clear who, exactly, Biden aims to deter.

U.S. intelligence officials say that while Iran provides weapons, funding and sometimes intelligence to its proxy groups, there is no evidence that it calls the shots — meaning it may not have known in advance about the attack in Jordan.

The Iran-backed militias that call themselves the Axis of Resistance claimed responsibility for the attack on the outpost in Jordan, saying it was a “continuation of our approach to resisting the American occupation forces in Iraq and the region.”

A spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, Nasser Kanaani, said at a news conference in Tehran, Iran, on Monday that the militias “do not take orders” from Iran and act independently. It is a convenient argument, one that preserves some sense of deniability for Iran.

But the speed at which Iran tried to distance itself from the strike, rather than embrace it, underscored that the downside of using proxies is the same as the upside: Iran will be blamed for everything the militias do, even acts the Iranians believe are too provocative.

“This is the inherent risk in Iran’s proxy-war strategy,” said Ray Takeyh, an Iran expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. “It has been brilliantly successful, but only if the retaliation focuses on proxies and not on Iran’s own territory.

Now there is a real risk of things getting even more out of hand in the region.”

Biden is running out of middle-ground options. Sanctions have been exhausted; there is barely a sector of the Iranian economy that the United States and Europe are not already punishing, and China continues to buy up Iranian oil.

He could approve “strike packages” against a variety of proxies, but that would embolden some of them, and give some of them the status they crave as legitimate U.S. enemies.

And, following Stavridis’ suggestion, it could look to cyberattacks, more stealthy, deniable ways to make a point.

But the lesson of the past decade of cyberconflict with Iran — in both directions — is that it looks easier in the movies than in reality. Gaining access to critical networks is hard, and having lasting impact is even harder. The most famous American-Israeli cyberattack on Iran, aimed at its nuclear centrifuges 15 years ago, slowed the nuclear program for a year or two but did not put it out of business.

And that is Biden’s challenge now: In the middle of an election, with two wars underway, he needs to put Iran’s sponsorship of attacks on Americans out of business — without starting another war.

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

13

After help from Kenyan police is blocked, Haitians ask: What now?

By FRANCES ROBLES

G

angs have taken over entire neighborhoods in Haiti’s capital, and killings have more than doubled in the past year, but for the organizers of the Port-au-Prince Jazz Festival, the show simply had to go on.

So while judges an ocean away deliberated on whether to send a contingent of officers to pacify Haiti’s violence-riddled streets, festival organizers made do by shortening the length of the event to four days from eight, moving the acts from a public stage to a restricted hotel venue and replacing the handful of artists who canceled.

As 11.5 million Haitians struggle to feed their families and ride the bus or go to work because they fear becoming the victims of gunmen or kidnappers, they also are pushing forward, struggling to reclaim a safe sense of routine — whether or not that comes with the assistance of international soldiers.

“We need something normal,” said Miléna Sandler, the executive director of the Haiti Jazz Foundation, whose festival took place over the weekend in Port-au-Prince, the capital. “We need elections.”

A Kenyan court Friday blocked a plan to deploy 1,000 Kenyan police officers to Haiti, the key element of a multinational force meant to help stabilize a nation besieged by murders, kidnappings and gang violence.

Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, has sunk deeper into turmoil in the nearly three years since the president was assassinated. The terms of all mayors in the country ended almost four years ago, and the prime minister is deeply unpopular largely because he was appointed, not elected, and has been unable to restore order.

With the deployment plan backed by the United Nations and largely funded by the United States on hold, Haitians are left asking: What now?

Kenya’s government said it would appeal the court’s ruling, but it was unclear if or when its mission would proceed. And with no other nation, including the United States and Canada, showing any willingness to lead an international force, there is no apparent Plan B. So for many Haitians, the Kenyan court decision has left it up to the Caribbean country to come up with its own solutions. If the court ruling suggested anything, experts say, it was that if there is any hope of preventing Haiti from complete state collapse, its government, police force, parliament and other institutions must be rebuilt.

“We no longer want to be a colony of the United States,” said Monique Clesca, a

A view of Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Sept.

10, 2021. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and has sunk deeper into turmoil since its president was assassinated in 2021. (Adriana Zehbrauskas/The New York Times) women’s and democracy activist who was a member of the Commission to Search for a Haitian Solution to the Crisis, a group that tried to come up with a plan to address the country’s problems. “That does not mean we do not want help. It means it must be negotiated with people who are legitimate and have the best interest of Haiti at heart.”

Clesca, a former U.N. official, said she hoped that the Kenyan court’s decision would lead the United States, Canada and France — countries that have long been deeply intertwined with Haiti — to rethink their policies.

She criticized the Biden administration and the leaders of other countries for supporting Haiti’s current prime minister, Ariel Henry, who took office after the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.

The commission she worked on came up with extensive proposals for an interim government that would set the stage for elections, but its work has been dismissed in favor of supporting Henry, who has pushed for international intervention, she said.

As a personal act of resistance and a sign that Haiti must march forward, Clesca braced herself against the unsafe streets and on Thursday attended the jazz festival.

“The place was packed,” she said.

Jean-Junior Joseph, a spokesperson for Haiti’s prime minister, declined to comment on the Kenyan court decision, except to say that Henry was “pursuing a diplomatic approach.”

A spokesperson for the United Nations, Stéphane Dujarric, stressed that SecretaryGeneral António Guterres had not picked Kenya to provide police aid — Kenya, instead, had stepped forward.

“We thank them for doing so when so many countries are not stepping forward,” Dujarric said. “The need for this multinational force authorized by the Security Council remains extremely high. We need urgent action, we need urgent funding, and we hope that

member states will continue to do their part eventually come through, but that Kenya’s govand then some.” ernment would probably require more financial In Washington, John Kirby, a spokesperson incentives. for the National Security Council, reminded “I’m sure the Kenyan government will send reporters that the Kenyan government was ap- the troops,” Laraque said. “I don’t know when, pealing the court ruling. but I’m sure it will happen as soon as this mon“We’re still very grateful for the govern- ey matter is resolved.” ment of Kenya’s willingness to participate,” he Joseph Lambert, the former president of said. “We still think that’s really important be- the Haitian Senate, said the need was critical. cause the gangs and the thugs and the criminals “It is time, more than ever, to understand are still causing a lot of chaos, mayhem, kill- that we must at all costs strengthen our capaciing, violence, and the people of Haiti deserve a ty both at the level of the police and at the level whole lot better than that.” of the armed forces of Haiti,” he said, “so that, While Washington was a strong proponent as a sovereign state, we can meet our security of the Kenya mission, it did not offer to provide needs from our own security forces.” any U.S. personnel.

Although Haiti has a history of disastrous The U.S. government did pledge $200 mil- outside interventions, Judes Jonathas, a consullion for the multinational mission, money that tant who works on development projects in the many Haitians say could instead bolster Haitian country, said many Haitians were disappointed institutions, including the police, which has by the court decision because, more than anyseen at least 3,000 of its 15,000 officers aban- thing, they long for the safety such a contingent don their jobs in the past two years. of police officers could deliver.

The U.S. State Department has already di“If you ask people in Haiti what they need, rected about $185 million to the Haitian Na- it’s security,” he said. “They don’t think about tional Police, which has helped finance equip- food or school. We don’t have food, because ment, but the force remains vastly ill prepared of security. People don’t go to school, because to take on the heavily armed gangs. of security.”

“Should we wait endlessly for a force to In fact, there are neighborhoods with no arrive?” said Lionel Lazarre, who runs one of cooking gas because gangs have blocked main Haiti’s two police unions. “No! We already thoroughfares. Farmers in rural areas often find have a police force.” it too dangerous to sell their goods in city marEduardo Gamarra, a professor at Florida In- kets. Even the national electric company had ternational University who follows Haiti close- to move its employees out of its headquarters ly, said that without international intervention, because of nearby gang activity. a more strategic policy by the United States Gangs have such a chokehold on Port-auand a long overdue and seemingly impossible Prince that they sometimes kidnap busloads of strengthening of the Haitian state, a less favor- passengers and demand ransom. able option was probably the most likely: the The gangs, Jonathas said, had grown emrise of someone such as Guy Philippe, a former boldened in the face of the government’s inpolice commander who led a coup in 2004 in ability to confront them in any significant way, Haiti and has recently been trying to mobilize and the legal roadblock to an international deployment had left Haitians to fend for thempeople against the government.

Philippe arrived in Haiti in November after selves.

“I don’t really think the international actors serving prison time in the United States and being deported. He has known ties to drug traf- really understand what is happening in Haiti,” fickers and has allied himself with a paramili- he said. “We just don’t see a future.” tary group in northern Haiti, but it is unclear whether he has the popular support and financial backing to lead the “revolution” that he has been publicly calling for.

“Somebody has to take ACEPTAMOS LA MAYORIA DE LOS PLANES MEDICOS some leadership,” Gamarra •MEDICARE ADVANTAGE • PLAN VITAL TIGER MED said, adding that preferably, it would not be Philippe.

Horario: Lunes a Viernes de 7:30 am a 4:00 pm Ashley Laraque, a leader Tel: 787.665.6570 of the Haitian Military Association, a veterans’ group, said Ave. Gautier Benitez Consolidated Mall Suite 70 Caguas, P.R. he believed that Kenya would

14

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Finland’s presidential election, first since joining NATO, heads to runoff

By JOHANNA LEMOLA

F

inland’s presidential election is headed for a runoff after no candidate secured a majority in Sunday’s closely watched vote, which came as NATO’s newest member faces the threat of an antagonistic Russia.

Alexander Stubb and Pekka Haavisto — both familiar faces with strong foreign policy credentials — were the top two finishers Sunday, when voters braved near-freezing temperatures and icy sidewalks to cast their ballots. With 99.9% of the votes counted, Stubb had garnered 27.2% and Haavisto 25.8%, setting the two men up to face off in a second round Feb. 11.

The victor will become Finland’s first new head of state in 12 years: The wildly popular president, Sauli Niinistö, has served two terms and is ineligible to run again.

Seen as a steadying force, Niinistö is considered the person most responsible for getting Finland into the NATO alliance, leaving whoever assumes the presidency with big shoes to fill.

While most European presidents occupy largely ceremonial roles, Finland’s drives foreign policy and serves as the commander in chief. That helped catapult Niinistö to global prominence after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and cemented his approval rating, which exceeds 90%.

“The most important decision of Sauli Niinistö’s presidency was to join NATO,” retired political journalist Unto Hämäläinen wrote in the current issue of the Finnish magazine Helsingin Sanomat. “His term will be remembered for that after decades.”

The president of Finland, Sauli Niinisto, during a meeting with President Joe Biden in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, on March 4, 2022. Alexander Stubb and Pekka Haavisto were the top two vote-getters in Sunday’s election to replace the popular Niinisto, who is near the end of his second and final term. A runoff is scheduled for Feb. 11. (Pete Marovich/The New York Times)

The incoming president will not only draw comparisons with Niinistö but will also be expected to build on his legacy, analysts said. First and foremost will be managing Finland’s integration into NATO amid concerns about potential Russian aggression and escalating tensions in the Baltic Sea region.

“The expectations are quite high for the successor,” said Juhana Aunesluoma, a professor of political history at the University of Helsinki.

Finland shares an 830-mile border with Russia, along with a combative history. The neighbors have fought numerous wars through the centuries, and Finns have strong memories of the 1939 Winter War and World War II, Dr. José B. Morales Claudio when their country fought Médico Generalista the Soviet Union and lost territory. With the war in Niños, adultos y envejecientes Ukraine continuing and Se acepta la mayoría de los planes médicos Finnish officials accu787.672.8209 sing Russia of efforts to destabilize their country, mdjmora579@gmail.com analysts say that security Urb. Paradis Calle Lope B-24 L-J: 9am-5pm is the main issue on voCaguas, PR 00725 V-S: 8am-12pm Alternos ters’ minds.

That is why, they say, voters are looking for a president with the broadest possible experience in foreign policy, which the candidate pool reflected.

Haavisto is making his third presidential run after losing to Niinistö in the past two elections. A founder of the center-left Greens Party, Haavisto first ran for Parliament in 1987 and has been a staple of Finnish politics since, serving as a lawmaker, a U.N. official and in several government roles. Most recently, he was Finland’s foreign minister from 2019-23.

Stubb, a prominent member of the center right, is also a former foreign minister and a former prime minister. He left Finnish politics in 2017 and swore he would not return but has said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine changed his mind.

The two candidates agree on most foreign policy matters, including NATO membership, securing the country’s border with Russia and how to handle Moscow.

That has made the differences in their personalities all the more important to voters, according to analysts. After the

campaign season got into full swing last summer, the candidates toured Finland to meet voters at schools, gas stations, shopping malls and markets. Stubb, an Ironman triathlete, often appeared at sporting events. Haavisto adopted the stage name DJ Pexi and spun records at student events to appeal to younger voters.

Finland faces a number of domestic challenges — a dismal economy, an aging population, labor market tensions and a ballooning national debt — that are the purview of the prime minister.

But that doesn’t mean the president won’t be asked to lead or weigh in on domestic issues, analysts say.

“Citizens want leadership in values,” Johanna Vuorelma, a researcher at the University of Helsinki’s Center for European Studies, said, adding, “It’s a constant dilemma in Finland where the president’s executive power ends.”

Both Haavisto and Stubb cast themselves as unifiers during the campaign, most likely because of expectations that the election would go to a runoff.

As the first-round results rolled in, both men leaned into the idea of values.

Of his competitor, Stubb acknowledged that “our views are similar.” But Finns were looking “for a president for a new era,” he told the state broadcaster Yle, and would vote based on candidates’ experience along with “what kind of values they want their president to represent.”

“The contest really starts now,” he said. “In the next 13 days, we’ll work like crazy, we’ll work humbly, and we’ll respect and honor our rival.”

Haavisto suggested that the candidates’ positions might diverge, telling Yle that “differences between the candidates will come out” as he declared “full speed ahead toward the second round.”

The voters “will not be looking at party politics” but rather at “who can lead Finland with a steady and secure hand,” he said.

Voter turnout in Finland, a country of 5.6 million people, has tended to be around or above 70% for presidential elections — and Sunday’s poll did not disappoint. Nearly 75% of Finns cast ballots in the first round, according to Yle.

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

15

Bidencare is a really big deal

By PAUL KRUGMAN

I

n 2010, at the signing of the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, Joe Biden, the vice president at the time, was caught on a hot mic telling President Barack Obama that the bill was a “big deal.” OK, there was actually another word in the middle. Anyway, Biden was right.

And in one of his major unsung accomplishments — it’s amazing how many Americans believe that an unusually productive president hasn’t done much — Biden has made Obamacare an even bigger deal, in a way that is improving life for millions of Americans.

As you may have noticed — as many Americans finally seem to be noticing — Biden has been racking up some pretty good numbers lately. Economic growth is still chugging along, defying widespread predictions of a recession, while unemployment remains near a 50-year low. Inflation, especially using the measure preferred by the Federal Reserve, has fallen close to the Fed’s target. The stock market keeps hitting new highs.

Oh, and murders have plummeted, with overall violent crime possibly hitting another 50-year low.

Biden deserves some political reward for this good news, given that Donald Trump and many in his party predicted economic and social disaster if he were elected,

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and that Republicans, in general, are still talking as if America were suffering from high inflation and runaway crime. (Trump, of course, has been dismissing the good jobs numbers as fake. Wait until he hears about falling crime.)

It’s less clear how much of the good news on these fronts can be attributed to Biden’s policies. Presidents definitely don’t control the stock market. They have less influence in general on the economy than many believe; I would give Biden some credit for the economy’s strength, which was in part driven by his spending policies, but the rapid disinflation of 2023 mainly reflects a nation working its way out of lingering disruptions from the COVID pandemic. The same is probably true for the plunge in violent crime.

One area where presidents do make a big difference, however, is health care. Obamacare — which arguably should really be called Pelosicare, since Nancy Pelosi (who is not, whatever Trump may think, the same person as Nikki Haley) played a key role in getting it through Congress — led to big gains in health insurance coverage when it went into full effect in 2014.

Trump tried but failed to repeal Obamacare in 2017, and the backlash to that effort helped Democrats win control of the House the next year. Trump was nonetheless able to create some erosion in the program, for example by cutting off funds for “navigators” that help people enroll.

That erosion has now been decisively reversed. The Biden administration just announced that 21 million people have enrolled for coverage through the ACA’s health insurance marketplaces, up from around 12 million on the eve of the pandemic. America still doesn’t have the universal coverage that is standard in other wealthy nations, but some states, including Massachusetts and New York, have gotten close.

And this gain, unlike some of the other good things happening, is all on Biden, who both restored aid to people seeking health coverage and enhanced a key aspect of the system.

Obamacare isn’t simple. Many of the health care economists I know would have preferred something like Medicare for All, if that had been politically feasible. But it wasn’t and isn’t, so what we have instead is a sort of Rube Goldberg device, a mix of gadgets designed to expand access to health care with minimal disruption of existing arrangements. Those marketplaces, in which insurers are forbidden to discriminate against people with preexisting conditions and buyers receive subsidies to help them pay premiums, are a key part of the system.

It’s not an ideal mechanism, but it’s vastly better than nothing. Originally, however, the

President Joe Biden addresses an annual event held by the League of Conservation Voters, at the Anthem in Washington on Wednesday, June 14, 2023. “As you may have noticed — as many Americans finally seem to be noticing — Biden has been racking up some pretty good numbers lately,” writes New York Times columnist Paul Krugman. (Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times) marketplaces were underfunded: The subsidies were too low, so many people still had trouble paying insurance premiums, and there was also a cutoff, with subsidies available only to individuals up to 400% of the poverty line.

Biden, as part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, largely resolved these problems, reducing maximum premium payments (net of subsidies) and eliminating the cliff at 400%. The result is to make health insurance coverage substantially more affordable, especially for middle-income Americans who previously earned too much to be eligible for subsidies. Hence the surge in marketplace enrollments.

I don’t know whether health care will be a big issue in the 2024 election. But it should be.

Biden has made health insurance coverage more accessible and more affordable for millions of Americans.

If Trump wins, however, he will try again to do away with Obamacare; he has said as much, and this time he could very well succeed. He promises to replace it with something “MUCH BETTER.” I guess this depends on your definition of better: In 2017, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that Trump’s health plan would raise the number of uninsured by 32 million within a decade; that number would probably be larger today.

So, one more reminder of how much is at stake this year.

16 Tuesday, January 30, 2024

The San Juan Daily Star

Alerta del alcalde de Isabela ante niveles de agua en Lago Guajataca POR EL STAR STAFF

I

SABELA – El alcalde de Isabela, Miguel ‘Ricky’ Méndez hizo un llamado a la población de los municipios que se sirven agua del Lago Guajataca, a que apliquen disciplina en cuanto al uso del recurso, toda vez que los niveles del Lago Guajataca continúan bajando. “El nivel óptimo de ese embalse es de 194.0 y el número más reciente que tenemos señala que estaba en 190.68. Si llega a bajar a 186.00, sin duda alguna comenzarán los ajustes por parte de la Autoridad de Acueductos y Alcantarillados (AAA), señaló el también ingeniero.

El Lago Guajataca suple de agua potable a cerca de 63,000 familias de los municipios de San Sebastián, Aguada, Aguadilla, Moca, Quebradillas, Camuy e Isabela, así como algunos sectores

de Rincón. “La semana pasada, el ex director de la Agencia Federal de Protección Ambiental (EPA), Carl Axel Soderberg expresó que Puerto Rico se enfrentará a fuertes sequías en el 2024, como consecuencia del fenómeno meteorológico de El Niño. Aunque Guajataca no ha llegado al nivel crítico, está bajando. Vemos que ya Carite está bajo observación. Para los de la zona metropolitana, Carraizo está cerca de entrar a observación”.

Actualmente, más del 50% del territorio nacional puertorriqueño experimenta condiciones atípicamente secas y el 39%, condiciones de sequía moderada, según informa el Monitor de Sequía de los Estados Unidos. “A eso se suma que la actividad de lluvia durante los últimos días ha estado entre un 50% a un 90% por debajo de lo normal.

Mi llamado a la ciudadanía es al control en el consumo de agua potable”, finalizó Méndez Pérez.

Arrestan en Corozal a cuatro, incluyendo un menor, en sepelio con armas y drogas POR CYBERNEWS

C

OROZAL – La Policía confirmó el lunes la detención de tres adultos y un menor durante un sepelio el lunes en el Corozal Memorial Park, ubicado en el barrio Palmarejo de Corozal.

Según la Uniformada, el incidente ocurrió cuando personal de la División de Inteligencia y Arrestos

Especiales de Bayamón intervino en el acto fúnebre.

A los detenidos supuestamente se les incautaron tres pistolas, un rifle y diversas sustancias controladas.

La Policía detalló que la operación forma parte de las estrategias de intervención para combatir el crimen y la posesión ilegal de armas de fuego y drogas en la isla.

En el lugar fueron arrestados Chars Clemente, de

21 años, Jeremy Fuentes, de 20 años, Yariel Rodríguez, de 21 años y se intervino con un menor de 16 años, a quienes los agentes les ocuparon tres pistolas, un rifle, municiones, cargadores, marihuana y dinero en efectivo.

Durante el día, estos casos se estarán consultando con el fiscal y procurador de turno para la radicación de cargos criminales correspondientes.

Falla el DTOP con varios municipios, prometen reparaciones de carreteras que no han cumplido POR EL STAR STAFF

S

AN JUAN – El presidente de la Asociación de Alcaldes de Puerto Rico, Luis Javier Hernández Ortiz, sirvió de portavoz a varios alcaldes que están reclamando al Departamento de Transportación y Obras Públicas (DTOP) por la reparación de varias vías públicas, tal como se había comprometido la secretaria, Ing. Eileen Vélez Vega.

“El compromiso fue de asfaltar al menos las tres carreteras que estén en peor estado, ya sea con la labor del DTOP, o mediante el mecanismo de convenio. En el caso de Guánica, el alcalde Ismael ‘Titi’ Rodríguez Ramos señala que quedan pendiente por asfaltar la PR116 y PR331”, detalló el alcalde.

De igual manera, en la ciudad de Guayama, el alcalde O’brain Vázquez Molina le señaló a Vélez Vega mediante carta del 19 de mayo de 2023, que el tramo de la PR3 de Guayama a Salinas require reparaciones, así como la PR478, hasta la intersección con la PR179, así como la PR7741 en la Ruta Panorámica en el Barrio

Carite.

La PR7710 de Barrio Pozuelo de Guayama es una muy transitada por su atractivo turístico, y requiere reparaciones, así como la PR7710 del Barrio Pozo Hondo que conecta a la PR54 camino al centro urbano y vertedero municipal. “Nosotros sabemos de las asignaciones federales de diversos departamentos y programas para la reparación de carreteras. Nuevamente, es la excesiva burocracia lo que atrasa las labores de repavimentación, y mientras más tiempo pasa, más se deterioran las vías y los costos aumentan”, señaló el alcalde de Villalba.

El 24 de febrero del año pasado, el gobernador Pierluisi anunció que el Departamento de Transportación de EU asignó $901 millones para carreteras en Puerto Rico para los próximos cinco años, bajo la Ley Bipartidista de Infraestructura. Esto representó un aumento de casi 10% de los fondos que se reciben bajo la Ley Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST).

“En el pasado año fiscal 2022, Puerto Rico recibió $173 millones de la Administración Federal de Carreteras para cubrir necesidades críticas de la infraestructura

vial de la Isla. Ahora, de esos $901 millones para los próximos cinco años, debe haber una distribución balanceada y en esa planificación el DTOP debe contar con los alcaldes para asegurarse de que las necesidades más apremiantes se atiendan primero”, finalizó Hernández Ortiz.

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

17

Leading museums remove native displays amid new federal rules

Visitors in New York on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024, at the American Museum of Natural History’s Hall of the Great Plains, which was to be closed over the weekend as the museum works to comply with new federal rules governing the holding and display of Native American cultural items. Museums around the country have been covering up displays as curators scramble to determine whether they can be shown under the new regulations. (Jeenah Moon/The New York Times)

By JULIA JACOBS and ZACHARY SMALL

T

he American Museum of Natural History will close two major halls exhibiting Native American objects, its leaders said late last week, in a dramatic response to new federal regulations that require museums to obtain consent from tribes before displaying or performing research on cultural items.

“The halls we are closing are artifacts of an era when museums such as ours did not respect the values, perspectives and indeed shared humanity of Indigenous peoples,” Sean Decatur, the museum’s president, wrote in a letter to the museum’s staff on Friday morning. “Actions that may feel sudden to some may seem long overdue to others.”

The museum was to close galleries dedicated to the Eastern Woodlands and the Great Plains over the weekend, and cover a number of other display cases featuring Native American cultural items as it goes through its enormous collection to make sure it is in compliance with the new federal rules, which took effect this month.

Museums around the country have been covering up displays as curators scramble to determine whether they can be shown under the new regulations. The Field Museum in Chicago covered some display cases, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University said it would remove all funerary belongings from exhibition and the Cleveland Museum of Art has covered up some cases. And the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York said Friday evening that it had removed roughly 20 items from its musical instruments galleries.

But the action by the American Museum of Natural History in New York, which draws 4.5 million visitors a year, making it one of the most visited museums in the world, sends a powerful message to the field. The museum’s anthropology department is one of the oldest and most prestigious in the United States, known for doing pioneering work under a long line of curators including Franz Boas and Margaret Mead. The closures will leave nearly 10,000 square feet of exhibition space off-limits to visitors; the museum said it could not provide an exact timeline for when the reconsidered exhibits would reopen.

“Some objects may never come back on display as a result of the consultation process,” Decatur said in an interview. “But we are looking to create smaller-scale programs throughout the museum that can explain what kind of process is underway.”

The changes are the result of a concerted effort by the Biden administration to speed up the repatriation of Native American remains, funerary objects and other sacred items. The process started in 1990 with the passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, or NAGPRA, which established protocols for museums and other institutions to return human remains, funerary objects and other holdings to tribes. But as those efforts have dragged on for decades, the law was criticized by tribal representatives as being too slow and too susceptible to institutional resistance.

This month, new federal regulations went into effect that were designed to hasten returns, giving institutions five years to prepare all human remains and related funerary objects for

repatriation and giving more authority to tribes throughout the process.

“We’re finally being heard — and it’s not a fight, it’s a conversation,” said Myra MasielZamora, an archaeologist and curator with the Pechanga Band of Indians.

Even in the two weeks since the new regulations took effect, she said, she has felt the tenor of talks shift. In the past, institutions often viewed Native oral histories as less persuasive than academic studies when determining which modern-day tribes to repatriate objects to, she said. But the new regulations require institutions to “defer to the Native American traditional knowledge of lineal descendants, Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations.”

“We can say, ‘This needs to come home,’ and I’m hoping there will not be pushback,” Masiel-Zamora said.

Museum leaders have been preparing for the new regulations for months, consulting lawyers and curators and holding lengthy meetings to discuss what might need to be covered up or removed. Many institutions are planning to hire staff to comply with the new rules, which can involve extensive consultations with tribal representatives.

The result has been a major shift in practices when it comes to Native American exhibitions at some of the country’s leading museums — one that will be noticeable to visitors.

At the American Museum of Natural History, segments of the collection once used to teach students about the Iroquois, Mohegans, Cheyenne, Arapaho and other groups will be temporarily inaccessible. That includes large objects, like the birchbark canoe of Menominee origin in the Hall of Eastern Woodlands, and smaller ones, including darts that date as far back as 10,000 B.C. and a Hopi Katsina doll from what is now Arizona. Field trips for students to the Hall of Eastern Woodlands are being rethought now that they will not have access to those galleries.

“What might seem out of alignment for some people is because of a notion that museums affix in amber descriptions of the world,” Decatur said. “But museums are at their best when they reflect changing ideas.”

Exhibiting Native American human remains is generally prohibited at museums, so the collections being reassessed include sacred objects, burial belongings and other items of cultural patrimony. As the new regulations have been discussed and debated over the past year or so, some professional organizations, such as the Society for American Archaeology, have expressed concern

that the rules were reaching too far into museums’ collection management practices. But since the regulations went into effect on Jan. 12, there has been little public pushback from museums.

Much of the holdings of human remains and Native cultural items were collected through practices that are now considered antiquated and even odious, including through donations by grave robbers and archaeological digs that cleared out Indigenous burial grounds.

“This is human rights work, and we need to think about it as that and not as science,” said Candace Sall, the director of the museum of anthropology at the University of Missouri, which is still working to repatriate the remains of more than 2,400 Native American individuals.

Sall said she added five staff members to work on repatriation in anticipation of the regulations and hopes to add more.

Criticism of the pace of repatriation had put institutions such as the American Museum of Natural History under public pressure. In more than 30 years, the museum has repatriated the remains of approximately 1,000 individuals to tribal groups; it still holds the remains of about 2,200 Native Americans and thousands of funerary objects. (Last year, the museum said it would overhaul practices that extended to its larger collection of some 12,000 skeletons by removing human bones from public display and improving the storage facilities where they are kept.)

A top priority of the new regulations, which are administered by the Interior Department, is to finish the work of repatriating the Native human remains in institutional holdings, which amount to more than 96,000 individuals, according to federal data published in the fall.

The government has given institutions a deadline, giving them until 2029 to prepare human remains and their burial belongings for repatriation.

The officials who drew up the new regulations have said that institutions can get extensions to their deadlines as long as the tribes that they are consulting with agree, emphasizing the need to hold institutions accountable without overburdening tribes. If museums are found to have violated the regulations, they could be subject to fines.

Bryan Newland, the assistant secretary for Indian Affairs and a former tribal president of the Bay Mills Indian Community, said the rules were drawn up in consultation with tribal representatives, who wanted their ancestors to recover dignity in death.

“Repatriation isn’t just a rule on paper,” Newland said, “but it brings real meaningful healing and closure to people.”

18 Tuesday, January 30, 2024

The San Juan Daily Star

The Paris Olympics promise to be stunning. The prices already are.

By LIZ ALDERMAN

T

he opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics promises to be spectacular: On the glittering waters of the Seine, a flotilla of barges will carry about 10,000 athletes to the foot of the Eiffel Tower, as nearly 500,000 spectators line the 4-mile route to cheer on the event of the century.

Good luck, though, getting any one of the 100,000 ticketed seats to be front and center at the party. Those are mostly sold out — and the few left cost an eyepopping 2,700 euros (about $2,930) each. Tickets to watch another popular Olympic event, 10-meter men’s platform diving, are now only available through special-service hospitality packages starting at 875 euros, or women’s artistic gymnastics finals, a perennial crowd pleaser: around 1,799 euros.

Paris Olympics organizers set a lofty goal for what they have called the People’s Games, promising to make the world’s most iconic sporting event equitable and accessible.

But get ready to pay up.

Seven months before the Olympic torch casts a glow in the City of Light this summer, the cost of getting into the most in-demand sports competitions, not to mention the price of accommodations and transportation, has risen — sometimes by Olympian proportions.

Many hotels and rental apartments have doubled or tripled their typical summer rates (think an average of 1,000 euros a night instead of 300 euros), and some have even quintupled them. Airfares are rising fast. The cost of a Paris Metro ticket is temporarily doubling. Even the Louvre Museum and Palace of Versailles have ratcheted up admission fees.

Still dreaming of making the Olympic rendezvous? Don’t be too discouraged if you haven’t booked yet. The Games, which run from July 26 to Aug. 11, still have some ticket deals for large-crowd competitions like soccer and basketball.

Spots also remain available for the Paralympics, from Aug. 28 to Sept. 8. And some prices could start to come down closer to the Games.

Paris will be its own extraordinary

Signs for the upcoming 2024 Olympics at Hotel de Ville in Paris, where many well-known monuments are being transformed into sports and entertainment venues, Dec. 17, 2023. (Joann Pai/The New York Times) attraction, transformed into a giant outdoor arena with competitions like break dancing at Place de la Concorde and beach volleyball at the Eiffel Tower. And President Emmanuel Macron will make cultural performances of all kinds free for two months in summer to fete the Olympic spirit.

Still, exactly how you experience the Games will depend on your budget.

Here are some tips on what to expect.

Finding a place to stay Paris is like a jewel box: dazzling but compact. With about 15 million visitors expected, and just around 85,000 guest rooms, hoteliers are taking full advantage of outsize demand. So are Parisians: Many are planning to flee the city, and are renting out their apartments at top dollar. Average Airbnb prices for Olympic dates have surpassed 500 euros a night.

At a typical Ibis hotel, a chain similar to Holiday Inn, expect to pay 400-700 euros a night for a fairly basic double room with Wi-Fi and breakfast, compared with 90-200 euros normally. A double room at the more upscale Hotel Ducs de Bourgogne near the Pont Neuf is priced

on Booking.com at 1,500 euros a night, compared with 300 euros normally in summer.

Consumer associations, including UFC-Que Choisir, a French advocacy group, have denounced price increases that they say risk making the Olympics unaffordable to some.

The French government has said it won’t regulate prices, but will step up inspections of hotels and apartment rentals.

“It’s essential that French and international tourists get their money’s worth,” said Olivia Grégoire, the minister in charge of tourism.

With the Games still months away, travelers can find less expensive accommodations that average closer to 450-550 euros a night, mainly at the outer edges of Paris or beyond the city limits, said Christie Hudson, a travel expert for Expedia. com.

But even there, the average cost of a one-night stay in the Île-de-France region that rings Paris is about 700 euros during the Olympics, compared with 169 euros last summer, according to the Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau.

That trend could reverse: Some hotels haven’t released all their room inventory, and prices could come down as they seek to fill up their calendars. The downside of waiting is the risk of finding little available at the last minute — not ideal if you’ve already gotten your hands on event tickets or booked air travel.

Airbnb prices for Olympic dates have already cooled a touch, with rates for all listings, including private and shared rooms, now averaging around 542 euros a night, after surging to 746 euros in December, according to AirDNA, which tracks Airbnb booking trends. Tens of thousands of new listings have come online around France, and more supply is expected in the Paris region, a factor that should keep prices “affordable,” said Emmanuel Marill, the Europe, Middle East and Africa regional director at Airbnb.

If money is no object, hospitality offers via the Paris Games’ official partner, On Location, guarantee booking through all-inclusive packages that include tickets to select sports events and accommodation in three-, four- and five-star hotels.

The options include 8,660 euros per person in a three-star hotel for eight nights and tickets only to rock climbing competitions, or 21,105 euros for a deluxe five-day package at the Waldorf Astoria in Versailles that includes the opening ceremony and equestrian events.

Travelers may need to watch out for sudden price jumps by hotels and rental hosts even after a booking is confirmed.

Booking.com said it would compensate consumers for the cost difference in such cases. Airbnb said that hosts who tried to increase prices or cancel reservations after booking would face fees and penalties, and that the company would provide most guests with an instant credit to rebook immediately if their stay was canceled within 30 days of arrival.

Scoring tickets to events If you’ve already gotten reasonably priced tickets, count yourself lucky. About 7 million have been purchased since sales began nearly a year ago on the official Paris 2024 ticketing website. But you can still get into a variety of events, especially team sports at venues outside Paris, including soccer at the 80,700-seat

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

stadium in St.-Denis.

Tickets priced from 90-250 euros also remain for volleyball, handball, archery, badminton and weightlifting, mostly for non-medal competitions.

But blockbuster sports have become all but inaccessible, unless you are willing to splurge. Tickets to events like gymnastics and diving are currently unavailable on the official website. Prices topped 600 euros before the blocks that had been made available sold out.

Tony Estanguet, president of the Paris 2024 organizing committee, has defended prices and said that tickets are cheaper than those of the 2012 London Olympics.

Bundles of new tickets are released every so often, and organizers urge visitors to check the website frequently or sign up for alerts. More spots will become available April 17, when the official, and only authorized, resale platform for ticket holders goes online.

At this stage, though, much of the only remaining access to very high-demand events is through On Location’s pricey “hospitality packages,” with options like men’s springboard diving tickets starting at 695 euros and opening ceremony access ranging from 5,000-9,500 euros per person.

On Location offers a “wide variety” of packages, said Will Whiston, the company’s executive vice president for Olympics and Paralympics, adding that its prices were “in line with and, in some cases, lower than previous Games.”

Getting to, and around, Paris Round-trip airfares to Paris are already starting to creep up. Nonstop flights on Expedia.com from New York to Paris start at around $1,300 the weekend before the Olympics, up from an average of

$1,000 last summer. Generally, travelers can get the best airfare by booking 60 days out. But “prices are expected to increase as the travel dates get closer, so it’s smart to book sooner rather than later,” said Hudson, the travel expert at Expedia.

If you’re willing to travel light, consider using a discount carrier such as French Bee, which flies round-trip from New York to Paris-Orly Airport for $975, without checked baggage, or Icelandair, requiring a stopover in Reykjavik, Iceland, starting at about $800 round-trip, also without checked bags. Another option is to fly into an alternate airport, either in France or a nearby country like Belgium, Britain or Germany, and take a train.

Once in Paris, brace yourself for getting around. Olympics organizers want to slash the Games’ carbon footprint, and swaths of the city will be closed to cars.

Organizers are placing a premium on walking, cycling and public transportation.

While Metro prices are jumping to 4 euros per ride, tourists can buy a Paris 2024 pass costing 16 euros a day, or 70 euros per week, allowing travel across the Île-de-France region, including to and from Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports.

Paris has added about 55 miles of new cycling lanes to the more than 270 miles already carved out in the city, encouraging visitors to use them. The Velib rental program is being expanded to add 3,000 more bikes to the current 22,000-strong fleet.

Despite all the potential hassles, Estanguet, the head of the organizing committee, has promised that the Games will be worth the trip. “Let me convince you to come, because this moment is unique,” he said. “You won’t see it again, and you won’t be disappointed.”

19

TRAVEL

Want a prime spot to watch 10,000 athletes float by on the Seine or to catch beach volleyball in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower? Get ready for sticker shock.

(Joann Pai/The New York Times)

•Pre-Arreglos Funerales • Cremaciones • Siempre con panteones disponibles •24 Horas • 7 DÍAS Búscanos en Facebook

Llame 787.743.2688 • 743.8668

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20 Tuesday, January 30, 2024

The San Juan Daily Star

We are in a big COVID wave. But just how big?

By FRANCESCA PARIS

T

he curves on some COVID graphs were rising steeply until just recently.

Reported levels of the virus in U.S. wastewater this winter have been higher than any time since the first omicron wave, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, though severe outcomes still remain rarer than in earlier pandemic winters.

This latest surge appears to have reached its peak around the start of the new year, but high levels of transmission have continued.

The CDC’s National Wastewater Surveillance System still categorizes every state with available data at “high” or “very high” viral activity.

Hospitalizations and deaths have remained far lower than in previous years.

There were around 33,000 weekly hospitalizations reported in mid-January — down from 38,000 a year earlier — and 1,700 weekly deaths as of late December, down from 3,300. (At the same time in the winter of 2020-21, there were more than 110,000 hospitalizations and 23,000 deaths each week.)

Many of the metrics used early in the pandemic have become much less useful indicators of how widely the virus is spreading, especially since federal officials stopped more comprehensive data tracking efforts when they declared an end to the public health emergency last spring. Higher population-wide immunity has meant fewer hospitalizations even with high virus spread, and the sharp decline of COVID test results reported to authorities has made case counts far less relevant.

Wastewater testing remains one of the few reliable instruments still available to monitor the virus. It can signal the start of a surge before hospitalizations begin to rise, and it includes even people who don’t know they have COVID. For many who remain at higher risk from the virus — like those who are older, immunocompromised or already have a serious illness — it’s become a crucial tool helping them understand when to be particularly careful.

But it’s an imperfect metric, useful primarily for identifying if there’s an acceleration of virus spread, not for telling you

exactly how much virus is circulating.

The data is often reported as normalized viral copies per milliliter or per gram, a number that is nearly impossible to translate into precise case counts, experts say.

It’s also hard to know how comparable two different surges are: A peak in the data may not mean exactly the same thing this year as it did last year.

That’s why many scientists who study the data will say only that it shows the nation is in the middle of a large wave, not whether the surge this winter is bigger than previous ones.

(The CDC doesn’t show the actual concentration levels — its dashboard instead shows how much they have increased relative to when spread was low.

Above eight standard deviations is considered “very high.”)

Wastewater testing works at all because “everybody poops,” said David O’Connor, a virus expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Samples of wastewater are captured at or on the way to treatment plants and tested for viral RNA in a lab. But no two samples are perfectly comparable. The amount of RNA in the sample will fluctuate depending on many factors, including the local population at any given time — think of a holiday influx into Miami or a college town emptying out for summer — and how much other material, such as industrial waste, is in the system.

What experts really want to know, said Marisa Eisenberg, a professor at the University of Michigan who runs a waste-

water monitoring lab for five sites, is how much virus there is relative to the number of people around — the wastewater equivalent of the per capita case count.

Some labs “normalize” the data — that is, they adjust the denominator — by looking at the number of gallons flowing through the plant, Eisenberg said. But many sites use something called “pepper mild mottle virus,” a virus that infects pepper plants.

“People have studied this in human sewage and found we shed pretty consistent levels of this pepper virus,” she said.

“So that’s a measurement of how many people went to the bathroom in the sewer shed today.”

Once Eisenberg’s team normalizes the results, it sends data to the state and to the CDC, which collects information from sites across the country that together account for about 40% of the U.S. population.

The CDC then aggregates its data and publishes state, regional and national trends. (Two companies that analyze wastewater, Verily Life Sciences and Biobot Analytics, also aggregate data from hundreds of sites and offer national and local pictures of virus spread.)

But those nationwide estimates can be tricky.

The sample population the CDC looks at largely excludes people with septic tanks and cities with no wastewater testing.

There can be data lapses, as when the CDC switched contractors last year. Existing sites can stop testing, and new sites start up, as the network changes and expands.

And while Biobot and Verily can use the same methodology and normalization across all their sites, the CDC has to determine trends from data that arrives from different sites with a variety of methodologies.

Finally, there are changes to the virus itself that could make comparisons over time more difficult. Scientists who track those changes say there are hints that this latest variant, JN.1, may be able to better replicate in the gut.

It’s still just a hypothesis, O’Connor said. But it’s possible the virus is “a little more cozy in the gut” than it used to be, he said. If the hypothesis proves correct, it could mean that infected people shed more viral copies than they used to. In the wastewater data, the same number of infections could look like a lot more COVID. All of that together creates significant uncertainty about how comparable the data is from year to year.

Michael Mina, a public health researcher and chief science officer for eMed, estimates the real amount of COVID spreading could be quite a bit higher or lower than this time last year. But there’s no doubt that there’s a lot of virus, he said.

And far more now than just a few months ago.

Many experts who study this data recommend dropping any notion of precision and just squinting a little at the line’s recent trajectory. And look at your city’s wastewater if possible, since data for a single site tends to be more reliable over time than a national estimate.

“If you have vulnerable people in your community or family, you want to be particularly aware when cases are going up, and take more precautions,” Mina said.

“And when cases are going down or at a lull, relax those precautions.”

Those precautions include wearing a high-quality mask, getting vaccinated, testing and staying home if sick — and if someone at high risk is infected, taking Paxlovid.

Even in this new pandemic phase, people are still dying and can still get long COVID, said Maria Van Kerkhove, the technical lead on COVID for the World Health Organization. “While the crisis of COVID is over, the threat is not,” she said.

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

21

Phones track everything but their role in car wrecks

By MATT RICHTEL

C

ellphones can track what we say and write, where we go, what we buy and what we search on the internet. But they still aren’t being used to track one of the biggest public health threats: crashes caused by drivers distracted by the phones.

More than a decade after federal and state governments seized on the dangers that cellphone use while driving posed and began enacting laws to stop it, there remains no definitive database of the number of crashes or fatalities caused by cellphone distraction. Safety experts say that current estimates most likely understate a worsening problem.

The absence of clear data comes as collisions are rising. Car crashes recorded by the police rose 16% from 2020 to 2021, to 16,700 a day from 14,400 a day, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA. In 2021, nearly 43,000 Americans died in crashes, a 16-year high.

In 2021, only 377 fatal wrecks — just under 1% — were reported as having involved a cellphone-distracted driver, according to the traffic agency. About 8% of the 2.5 million nonfatal crashes that year involved a cellphone, according to the highway agency’s data.

But those figures do not capture all cellphone distraction; they include only crashes in which a police report specifically mentions such distraction. Often, safety experts said, cellphone use goes unmentioned in such reports because it typically relies on a driver to admit distraction, a witness to identify it or, in still rarer cases, the use of cellphone records or other phone forensics that definitively show distraction.

Police can access cellphone records, but that is a cumbersome process that requires a subpoena to guard driver privacy. Even then, further analysis must be done to link the driver’s phone activity with the timing of a crash.

“That analysis is expensive, and unless the police really think there is a criminal case, they don’t do it,” said Dr. David Strayer, a cognitive scientist at the University of Utah and an expert in the science of driver distraction. He added that “unless someone fesses up to using the phone, the police don’t consider it to be a factor.”

Safety experts said the current data were effectively unscientific and inaccurate.

“It’s almost certainly an underestimate, because people don’t like to admit things like that,” said Jake Nelson, director of Traffic Safety Advocacy & Research for AAA. “It’s very frustrating to me that we don’t have access to better data, especially now that we’re at a 16-year high,” he added, referring to traffic fatalities.

The NHTSA conceded that there was significant underreporting of distraction when it came to crashes. In a statement provided to The New York Times, the agency said it was “actively engaged in studies to examine the ability to measure the prevalence of distraction on the roadway.”

Drivers may not admit distractions to the police, but they do admit to the behavior in anonymous surveys. In a na-

tionally representative survey in 2022, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that about 20% of drivers said they regularly scrolled social media, read email, played games, watched videos or recorded and posted them while driving.

The data, published in the Journal of Safety Research, found that 50% of drivers admitted to having engaged in device-related distraction in the last 30 days. Research also shows that drivers who engage in such tasks face increased risk of a crash by taking their hands from the wheel and their eyes and attention from the road; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that “at 55 mph, sending or reading a text is like driving the length of a football field with your eyes closed.”

“People who regularly use their devices are downplaying the risks,” said Aimee Cox, a research scientist for the highway safety institute who was a contributing author on the paper in the Journal of Safety Research. She added that the public might find it relatively easy to downplay the risks when there is no clear database or information source that makes it clear how many crashes and fatalities the behavior causes.

“I wonder if that is feeding the downplaying of the risks,” she said.

Technologically, phones are capable of connecting the time of a car crash and the way the driver was using the

phone at the time, Strayer said. That is because phones are equipped with sensors and other tracking and surveillance technology that is typically used for marketing, measuring steps and other functions.

“Your phone leaves lots of breadcrumbs, but nobody is looking at them,” he said.

Strayer, who consults on criminal and civil legal cases involving distracted driving, said that in the last two months, he had consulted on two cases involving fatalities in which the police did not do cellphone forensics, “but I could use the existing phone data to show definitive use.”

Privacy laws limit the cellphone data that can be collected on crashes, even as the phones collect all kinds of other information on their users, Nelson said.

Several ideas are being floated that might help curtail distracted driving without stepping on civil liberties. One idea, Nelson said, would involve using roadside cameras that identify drivers who are looking at their phones or are otherwise distracted and automatically alert police officers farther up the road. Roadside and highway cameras are already used to identify drivers who are speeding.

A study published in October by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that cameras “are reasonably accurate approaches for measuring the prevalence of cellphone distractions on the road.”

In a multiple-exposure image, A highway sign near Nichols, N.Y., encourages drivers to stop at a rest area for safe texting, on April 24, 2016. More than a decade after federal and state governments seized on the dangers that cellphone use while driving posed and began enacting laws to stop it, there remains no definitive database of the number of crashes or fatalities caused by cellphone distraction. (Brett Carlsen/The New York Times)

22 Llanos de Gurabo del Barrio Navarro del término municipal ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO de Gurabo, con una cabida de DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU- 300.00 metros cuadrados. En NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA lindes por el NORTE, en 12.00 SALA DE CAGUAS metros, con el Canal Tributario BANCO POPULAR DE (Tributary Creek); por el SUR, en 12.00 metros, con Calle PUERTO RICO número 1 de la Urbanización; Demandante V. LA SUCESION DE JESÚS por el ESTE, en 25.00 metros, con solar número 10 del Bloque MANUEL OCASIO “F” y por el OESTE, en 25.00 CRUZ COMPUESTA metros, con solar número 8 del POR FERDINAND III Bloque “F”. Enclava una casa.

OCASIO VELEZ Y VICTOR Finca número 15,523, inscrita al folio 73 del tomo 411 de GuARMANDO OCASIO VELEZ; LA SUCESION rabo, Registro de la Propiedad, DE LUZ IRAIDA ALVAREZ Segunda Sección de Caguas.

Que con el importe de dicha FIGUEROA COMPUESTA venta se habrá de satisfacer a POR JOHN DOE Y la parte demandante las canRICHARD ROE COMO tidades adeudadas, según la POSIBLES HEREDEROS Sentencia dictada en el caso de epígrafe, por el Tribunal de DESCONOCIDOS; Primera Instancia, Sala SupeEL HONORABLE rior de San Juan. La subasta se SECRETARIO DEL llevará a cabo el día 15 de FEDEPARTAMENTO DE BRERO DE 2024 A LAS 10:15 HACIENDA DEL ESTADO DE LA MAÑANA.La venta de la propiedad será realizada para LIBRE ASOCIADO cubrir el importe adeudado a la DE PUERTO RICO demandante, el cual al momenY EL CENTRO DE to de la Sentencia ascendía a RECAUDACIONES DE la suma de $142,989.55 por INGRESOS MUNICIPALES concepto de principal, más in(CRIM) tereses que se acumulen hasta Demandados su total y completo pago, más Civil Núm.: ECD2016-1037. las costas, gastos y honorarios (802). Sobre: COBRO DE DI- de abogado, más los cargos, NERO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE recargos y/o cualesquiera otros AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE adelantos que se hagan y se DE LOS EE. UU., EL ESTADO acumulen. La deuda reclamada LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PR, SS. por la parte demandante emaAVISO DE VENTA EN PÚBLI- na del Pagaré suscrito por JeCA SUBASTA. Yo, EDUARDO sús Manuel Ocasio Cruz y Luz ALDEBOL MIRANDA, ALGUA- Iraida Alvarez Figueroa suscriCIL AUXILIAR, Alguacil del bieron y emitieron un pagaré a Tribunal de Primera Instancia, favor de BANCO POPULAR DE Sala Superior de Caguas, a PUERTO RICO, o a su orden, la parte demandada y al pú- por la suma de $132,570.00 de blico en general les notifico principal, intereses al 3.75% que, cumpliendo con un Man- anual y vencedero el día 1ro de damiento Enmendada que se abril de 2036, según consta de ha librado en el presente caso la escritura número #57, otorpor el Secretario del Tribunal gada en Caguas, el día 5 de de epígrafe con fecha 21 de marzo de 2015, ante el notario mayo de 2021 y para satisfacer Luis Valle Irizarry.Se le advierte la Sentencia dictada en el caso a los licitadores que la adjudide autos fechada 7 de julio de cación se hará al mejor postor, 2017, procederá a vender el quien deberá consignar el imdía 15 de FEBRERO DE 2024 porte de su oferta en el misA LAS 10:15 DE LA MAÑANA mo acto de la adjudicación en en mi oficina, localizada en el moneda de curso legal de los Tribunal de Primera Instan- Estados Unidos de Norteamécia, Sala Superior de Caguas. rica, y para conocimiento de la La adjudicación todo título, parte demandada y de toda(s) derecho o interés de la parte aquella(s) persona(s) que tendemandada se hará al mejor ga (n) interés inscrito con pospostor, quien deberá consignar terioridad a la inscripción de el importe de su oferta en el los gravámenes que se están acto mismo de la adjudicación, ejecutando, que los mismos en efectivo (moneda del curso serán eliminados del Registro legal de los Estados Unidos de de la Propiedad, y para conoAmérica), giro postal o cheque cimiento de los licitadores y el certificado a nombre del algua- público en general, y para su cil del Tribunal, sobre la siguien- publicación en un periódico de te propiedad: URBANA: Solar circulación general, una vez por marcado con el número 9 del semana durante el termino de Bloque “F” de la Urbanización

LEGAL NOTICE

@

dos (2) semanas consecutivas con un intervalo de por lo menos siete (7) días entre ambas publicaciones, y para su fijación en tres (3) lugares públicos del municipio en que ha de celebrarse la venta, tales como, la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía, y se le notificará además a la parte demandada y a su abogado o abogada vía correo certificado con acuse de recibo siempre que haya comparecido al pleito.Si el (la) deudor (a) por Sentencia no comparece al pleito, la notificación será enviada vía correo certificado con acuse de recibo a las últimas direcciones conocidas.Se les advierte a todos los interesados que todos los documentos relacionados con la presente acción de ejecución de hipoteca, así como la de la subasta, estarán disponibles para ser examinados en la Secretaría del Tribunal. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titulación y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere al crédito de ejecutante, continuarán subsiguientes entendiéndose que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Y para conocimiento de la parte demandada, de los acreedores posteriores, de los licitadores, partes interesadas y público en general, expido el presente Aviso para su publicación en los lugares públicos correspondientes. Librado en Caguas, Puerto Rico, a 3 de enero de 2024. EDUARDO ALDEBOL MIRANDA, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE CAGUAS

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante V.

Tuesday, Januar 30, 2024

DOS, ESTADO LIBRE ASO- principal de $48,000.00, con CIADO DE PUERTO RICO, intereses al 9.80% anual, vencedero a la presentación, consSS. tituida mediante la escritura A: PUBLICO EN número 142, otorgada en JunGENERAL. El Alguacil del Tribunal que cos, Puerto Rico, el día 23 de suscribe anuncia y hace cons- agosto de 2006, ante el notario tar: A. Que en cumplimiento del Carlos Manuel Rivera Corujo, Mandamiento que me ha sido e inscrita al tomo Karibe de dirigido por la Secretaria del Caguas, finca número 20,022, Tribunal de Primera Instancia inscripción 11ma., como Asiende Puerto Rico, Sala de Ca- to Abreviado, extendidas las guas, en el caso de epígrafe, líneas el día 18 de agosto de venderé en pública subasta 2017, en virtud de la Ley númey al mejor postor de contado ro 216 del día 27 de diciembre y en moneda de curso legal y de 2010. (Fue presentado el corriente de los Estados Uni- día 25 de septiembre de 2006, dos de América y cuyo pago se al Asiento 20 del Diario 1,128). efectuará en efectivo, giro pos- E. Dicha subasta se llevará a tal o cheque certificado a nom- cabo para satisfacer a la parte bre del Alguacil del Tribunal de demandante el importe de la Primera Instancia, todo dere- sentencia que ha obtenido ascho, título o interés que tenga cendente a la suma principal la Parte Demandada en el bien de $82,821.89, más cargos por inmueble que se describe a demora y otros cargos, que se continuación: URBANA: Solar acumulan diariamente hasta número quince del bloque “S” su total y completo pago, más de la Urbanización Villa Nueva la suma de 10% del principal, situada en el Barrio Turabo del por concepto de costas, gastos término municipal de Caguas, y honorarios de abogado. La Puerto Rico, con un área de PRIMERA SUBASTA se celetrescientos treinta y uno punto brará el día 12 DE FEBRERO veinte metros cuadrados. En DE 2024 A LAS 10:15 DE LA lindes por el Norte, en veinti- MAÑANA en la Oficina del Alcuatro punto cero, cero metros, guacil del Tribunal de Primera con el solar número catorce; Instancia de Caguas, por el por el Sur, en veinticuatro punto tipo mínimo de $100,00.00. cero, cero metros, con el solar De declararse desierta dicha número dieciséis; por el Este, subasta se celebrará una SEen trece punto ochenta metros, GUNDA SUBASTA el día 20 con el solar número diez y por DE FEBRERO DE 2024 A LAS el Oeste, en trece punto ochen- 10:15 DE LA MAÑANA, en el ta metros, con la calle número mismo lugar antes mencionaveintitrés. Enclava edificación. do. El precio para la segunda Inscrita al folio 80 del tomo subasta lo será 2/3 partes del 613 de Caguas, Registro de precio mínimo de la primera, o la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, sea, $66,666.67. De declararse Sección Primera de Caguas, desierta dicha segunda subasfinca número 20,022. Dirección ta, se celebrará una TERCERA física: S15, 23 ST. VILLA NUE- SUBASTA el día 27 DE FEVA DEV. CAGUAS, PR. 00725. BRERO DE 2024 A LAS 10:15 B. Que los autos y todos los DE LA MAÑANA en el mismo documentos correspondientes lugar antes mencionado. El al procedimiento incoado están precio para la tercera subasta de manifiesto en la Secretaría lo será 1/2 del precio mínimo de del Tribunal durante las horas la primera, o sea, $50,000.00. laborables bajo el epígrafe de Y PARA QUE ASÍ CONSTE, y este caso. C. Que se entenderá para su publicación en un peque todo licitador acepta como riódico de circulación general y bastante la titularidad y que las por un término de catorce (14) cargas y gravámenes ante- días en los sitios públicos conriores y los preferentes, si los forme a la ley, expido la presenhubiere, al crédito ejecutante, te bajo mi firma y sello de este continuarán subsistentes, en- tribunal, hoy 11 de enero de tendiéndose que el rematente 2024 en Fajardo, Puerto Rico. los acepta y queda subrogado EDGARDO ADEBOL MIRANen la responsabilidad de los DA, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR.

JUAN CARLOS MENDOZA GARCED T/C/C JUAN C. MENDOZA GARCED, GRISELLE BUFILL FIGUEROA T/C/C G. BUFILL Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES, mismos, sin destinarse a su LEGAL NOTICE extinción el precio del remate.

COMPUESTA POR ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO La propiedad a ser ejecutada AMBOS DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUse adquirirá libre de cargas y

Demandados Civil Núm.: CG2023CV01814.

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(787) 743-3346

Civil Núm.: MZ2023CV01879.

Sobre: EXPEDIENTE DE DOMINIO. EDICTO. EN LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.

A: LAS PERSONAS IGNORADAS Y DESCONOCIDAS A QUIENES PUDIERA PERJUDICAR LA INSCRIPCIÓN DEL DOMINIO A FAVOR DE LA PARTE PETICIONARIA EN EL REGISTRO DE LA PROPIEDAD DE LA FINCA QUE MÁS ADELANTE SE DESCRIBIRÁ Y A TODA PERSONA EN GENERAL QUE CON DERECHO PARA ELLO DESEE OPONERSE A ESTE EXPEDIENTE. Por la presente se le notifica que comparezcan, si creyeren que les conviene, ante este Honorable Tribunal dentro de los veinte (20) días a partir de la última publicación de este edicto, a exponer lo que a sus derechos convengan en el expediente promovido por la Parte Peticionaria para adquirir su dominio sobre la siguiente finca: “RUSTICA”: Solar marcado “C” en el plano sito en el barrio Guamá de San Germán, Puerto Rico, con una cabida de DOSCIENTOS CINCUENTA Y CINCO METROS CON DOSCIENTOS QUINCE MILÍMETROS CUADRADOS (255.2150 M/C); en lindes al NORTE en veintitrés punto cuarenta y siete metros (23.47 m), con el remanente; al SUR, en cuatro punto ochenta metros (4.80 m), con la carretera trescientos sesenta y dos (362) del barrio Guamá; al ESTE, en treinta punto treinta y nueve metros (30.39 m), con tierras de Otilio Sánchez; y al OESTE, en quince punto setenta y seis metros (15.66 m), con la carretera trescientos sesenta y dos (362). Contiene una casa de concreto de tres (3) cuartos dormitorios, sala, cocina, comedor, laundry, un (1) baño y medio, marquesina, balcón y bajos sin cerrar; y está dedicada a vivienda. Catastro: 56-310-079303-05-001. Debe presentar el original de su escrito a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired. ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su escrito en la secretaría del tribunal; y notificar al Lcdo. Or-

The San Juan Daily Star lando Joshua Nazario Morales, Ave. Universidad Interamericana #143 Ofi.1-C San Germán, Puerto Rico 00683; teléfono: (787) 234-8143, email: lcdo. ojnazario@gmail.com, abogado de la Parte Peticionaria, con copia de su escrito. Por la presente se le apercibe que, de no haber oposición alguna dentro del término antes expresado, la Parte Peticionaria podrá obtener que se apruebe el Expediente de Dominio y el Tribunal ordene la inscripción de la finca en el Registro de la Propiedad correspondiente.

Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, hoy 11 de enero de 2024. Lic. Norma G. Santana Irrizary, Secretaria. Aracelis W. Camacho Acevedo, Secretaria Auxiliar Del Tribunal.

en el BARRIO MAMEYES del término municipal de RÍO GRANDE, Puerto Rico. Tiene un área superficial TOTAL de MIL NOVECIENTOS VEINTIDOS PUNTO VEINTE (1,922.20) PIES CUADRADOS, equivalentes a CIENTO SETENTA Y OCHO PUNTO QUINIENTOS SETENTA Y OCHO (178.578) METROS CUADRADOS, de cuya cabida MIL OCHOCIENTOS VEINTITRÉS PUNTO OCHENTA Y SIETE (1,823.87) PIES CUADRADOS, equivalentes a CIENTO SESENTA Y NUEVE PUNTO CUATROCIENTOS CUARENTA Y TRES (169.443) METROS CUADRADOS, son del área en el SEGUNDO PISO y NOVENTA Y OCHO PUNTO TREINTA Y TRES (98.33) PIES CUADRADOS, equivalentes a NUELEGAL NOTICE VE PUNTO TRECE (9.13) MEESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO TROS CUADRADOS, son del DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU- área de TERRAZA cubierta en NAL DE PRIMERA INSTAN- el Tercer Piso (AZOTEA). El CIA SALA SUPERIOR DE RÍO área del SEGUNDO piso COLINDA por el NORTE: en una GRANDE distancia de dieciséis punto cinMICHAEL cuenta y siete (16.57) metros MANZANO RIVERA lineales, con elementos exterioParte Demandante Vs. res; por el SUR: en una distanISRAEL MERCADO cia de quince punto ochenta y SANTOS Y OTROS cuatro (15.84) metros lineales, Parte Demandada con elementos comunes, área Civil Núm.: RG2023CV00128. de escaleras y elementos exteSala: 303. Sobre: EJECUCIÓN riores; por el ESTE: en una disDE HIPOTECA. AVISO DE SU- tancia de trece punto catorce BASTA. (13.14) metros lineales, con A: ISRAEL MERCADO elementos exteriores y el AparSANTOS, SYLVIA tamento Número 201-E; y por el COSME GARCIA, BANCO OESTE: en una distancia de doce punto setenta y cinco DE DESARROLLO (12.75) metros lineales, con ECONOMICO PARA elementos exteriores y pared PUERTO RICO, ABC medianera que separa balcón BANK, JOHN DOE Y del Apartamento Número 201RICHARD DOE. D. Contiene tres (3) dormitoEl que suscribe, Alguacil del Tri- rios, dos (2) baños, dos (2) clobunal de Primera Instancia. sets, un walk-in-closet, Sala Superior de Río Grande. vestíbulo (“foyer”), sala-comehago saber a la parte deman- dor, cocina, “laundry”, corredor, dada, ISRAEL MERCADO medic band, balcón y terraza SANTOS, SYLVIA COSME cubierta. Su puerta principal de GARCIA, BANCO DE DESA- acceso se encuentra localizada RROLLO ECONÓMICO PARA en su lado SUR. El área de TEPUERTO RICO, ABC BANK, RRAZA CUBIERTA localizada JOHN DOE y RICHARD DOE, en el TERCER PISO (AZOque en cumplimiento del Man- TEA); colinda por el NORTE: damiento de Ejecución de Sen- con Área abierta hacia abajo tencia expedido el 22 de no- y/o hacia el Segundo Piso y viembre de 2023, por la área de terraza descubierta; Secretaría del Tribunal, proce- por el SUR: con área de escalederé a vender y venderé en pú- ras hacia el Segundo Piso; por blica subasta y al mejor postor el ESTE: con elementos comula siguiente propiedad: URBA- nes; y por el OESTE: con área NA: Propiedad Horizontal: de terraza descubierta. Esta CONDOMINIO COSTA DORA- área de terraza cubierta, contieDA I de Río Grande. Aparta- ne un medio baño. Le pertenemento: 202 DE EDIFICIO E ce además a este apartamento CALLE 8. Cabida: 1,922.2 Pies el use y disfrute de un área de Cuadrados. Ubicado en el SE- TERRAZA DESCUBIERTA loGUNDO PISO y una TERRAZA calizada en el TERCER PISO en el TERCER PISO (AZOTEA) (AZOTEA), que tiene una cabidel Edificio del Complejo cono- da superficial de SEISCIENcido como CONDOMINIO TOS NOVENTA Y CINCO PUN“COSTA DORADA”, localizado TO CERO TRES (695.03) PIES

The San Juan Daily Star CUADRADOS, equivalentes a SESENTA Y CUATRO PUNTO CINCUENTA Y SIETE (64.57) METROS CUADRADOS; en lindes por el NORTE: con elementos exteriores; por el SUR: con área abierta hacia abajo y/o hacia el Segundo Piso, área de terraza cubierta y elementos exteriores; por el ESTE: con elementos exteriores, área de techo del Edificio, área abierta hacia abajo y/o hacia el Segundo Pisa y área de terraza cubierta; por el OESTE: con elementos exteriores. En esta terraza DESCUBIERTA se encuentra un área para dedicarse a futura cocina. Le corresponde a este apartamento en los elementos comunes generales, una participación de CERO PUNTO OCHENTA Y CUATRO (0.84%) PORCIENTO. Le corresponde el uso y disfrute de dos (2) espacios para estacionamientos para autos, marcados con los números 35 y 36 y, además le pertenece un espacio marcado con el número 18 para auto de “Golf”. Inscrita al folio Karibe, finca veintisiete mil ochocientos treinta y dos (27832), demarcación Río Grande del Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección Tercera de Carolina. El producto de la subasta se destinará a satisfacer al demandante hasta donde alcance la Sentencia dictada a su favor el día 2 de septiembre de 2023, en el presente caso civil, a saber, la suma de la suma principal de trescientos veinticuatro mil setecientos dólares ($324,700.00) por concepto de principal, los intereses al tipo pactado de cinco punto ocho siete cinco por ciento (5.875%) anual sobre dicha suma desde el día 1 de junio de 2003, así como los intereses acumulados y por acumularse hasta el total y completo pago de la deuda, más la cantidad de treinta y dos mil cuatrocientos setenta dólares ($32,470.00) para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado en que incurra el demandante. La venta de la referida propiedad se verificar6 libre de toda carga o gravamen posteriores que afecte a la mencionada finca, a cuyo efecto, se notifica y se hace saber la fecha, hora y sitio de la PRIMERA, SEGUNDA y TERCERA subasta, si ésto fuera necesario, a los efectos de que cualquier persona o personas con algún interés puedan comparecer a la celebración de dicha subasta. La adjudicación se hará al mejor postor, quien deberá consignar el importe de su oferta en el acto mismo de Ia adjudicación, en efectivo (moneda de curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América), giro postal o cheque certificado a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal. La PRIMERA subasta se llevará a efecto el día 6 DE FE-

BRERO DE 2024 A LAS 2:00 DE LA TARDE, en la oficina del referido Alguacil, localizada en el Centro Judicial de Fajardo, Puerto Rico. Que el precio mínimo de la PRIMERA subasta es de trescientos veinticuatro mil setecientos dólares ($324,700.00). Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una SEGUNDA SUBASTA, la misma se llevará a efecto el día 13 DE FEBRERO DE 2024 A LAS 2:00 DE LA TARDE en la oficina antes mencionada del Alguacil que suscribe. El precio mínimo para la SEGUNDA subasta será de doscientos dieciséis mil cuatrocientos sesenta y siete dólares ($216,467.00), equivalente a dos terceras (2/3) partes del tipo mínimo estipulado para la PRIMERA subasta. Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una TERCERA SUBASTA, la misma se llevará a efecto el día 21 DE FEBRERO DE 2024 A LAS 2:00 DE LA TARDE, en Ia oficina antes mencionada del Alguacil que suscribe. El precio mínimo para la TERCERA subasta será de ciento sesenta y dos mil trescientos cincuenta dólares ($162,350.00), equivalentes a la mitad (1/2) del tipo mínimo estipulado para la PRIMERA subasta. Cuando se declara desierta la TERCERA subasta, se adjudicará la finca a favor del acreedor por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada si ésta es igual o menor que el monto del tipo de la TERCERA subasta, si el tribunal lo estima conveniente. Se abonará dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si ésta es mayor. Todas las subastas deberán se acordadas y celebradas según lo ordenado por el Tribunal. Para conocimiento de la parte demandada y de toda aquella persona o personas que tengan interés inscrito con posterioridad a la inscripción del gravamen que se está ejecutando, y para conocimiento de todos los licitadores y el público en general, el presente Edicto se publicará por espacio de dos (2) semanas consecutivas, con un intérnalo de por lo menos siete (7) días entre ambas publicaciones, en un diario de circulación general en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico y se fijará además en tres (3) lugares públicos del Municipio en que ha de celebrarse dicha venta, tales como la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y Ia Colecturía. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes. Se entenderá que el remanente los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción por el precio de remate. Se les advierte a todos los interesados que todos los documen-

Tuesday, January 30, 2024 tos relacionados con la presente acción de ejecución de hipoteca, así como de la subasta, estarán disponibles para ser examinados en Ia Secretaría de este Tribunal, durante las horas laborables, todo esto en virtud del Artículo 102 de la Ley Núm.

210 de 8 de diciembre de 2015, mejor conocida como la “Ley del Registro de la Propiedad Inmobiliaria del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico”. Expido el presente Edicto en Fajardo, Puerto Rico, hoy 06 de diciembre de 2023. DENISE BRUNO ORTIZ, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR #266, ALGUACIL SUPERIOR, DIVISIÓN DE SUBASTAS, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA DE FAJARDO, SALA DE RÍO GRANDE. JORGE A. ORTIZ ESTRADA, ALGUACIL REGIONAL INTERINO #622. ***

archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 12 de enero de 2024. En Bayamón, Puerto Rico, el 12 de enero de 2024.

LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA. LUREIMY ALICEA GONZÁLEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

(Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 11 DE ENERO DE 2024, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido

CIVIL NÚM.: AR2019CV01902.

SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. UU. EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R. ss.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE MANATI.

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO DEMANDANTE vs.

LOPEZ FEBUS, FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANA DE TAL COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS Y/O PARTES CON INTERÉS EN DICHA SUCESIÓN BARRIO TIERRAS NUEVAS SECTOR TIERRAS NUEVAS, LOTE 2 PR 685 KM 3, MANATÍ PR 00674. DIRECCIÓN POSTAL: 17 Saint Martin Place, Toms River, NJ 08757; RR 1 BOX 14000, MANATÍ PR 00674 y 2218 STERLING BLVD. ENGLEWOOD NJ 07631

23

Demandante V.

ELGIN ROBERTO MORALES BERMUDEZ HEREDERO DE SUCN. ROBERTO MORALES SÁNCHEZ

Demandado(a) Caso Núm.: CA2023RF00605.

(Civil: 404). Sobre: DECLARACIÓN DE AUSENTE Y NOMBRAMIENTO DE ADMINISTRADOR. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. MYRNA E. LÓPEZ COLÓN, MYRNAELOPEZCOLON1984@ GMAIL.COM.

A: ELGIN ROBERTO MORALES BERMUDEZ HEREDERO DE SUCESION ROBERTO MORALES SÁNCHEZ.

A: JOHN DOE.

(Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 28 de agosto de 2023, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha 25 de enero de 2024.

En Caguas, Puerto Rico, el 25 de enero de 2024. LISILDA MARTÍNEZ AGOSTO, SECRETARIA. VIONNETTE ESPINOSA CASTILLO, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

SUCESIÓN DE füAN LÓPEZ SUÁREZ Y POR LA PRESENTE se le emSUCESIÓN DE INÉS para que presente al triMARÍA LÓPEZ MORALES plaza bunal su alegación responsiva (Nombre de las partes que se le T/C/C INÉS LÓPEZ notifican la sentencia por edicto) dentro de los 30 días a partir de MORALES COMPUESTAS la publicación de este edicto. EL SECRETARIO(A) que susPOR FULANO DE TAL Usted deberá presentar su ale- cribe le notifica a usted que gación responsiva a través del el 19 de enero de 2024, este Y SUTANA DE TAL LEGAL NOTICE Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, COMO HEREDEROS Administración de Casos (SU- Sentencia Parcial o Resolución ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DESCONOCIDOS MAC), al cual puede acceder en este caso, que ha sido debiDE PUERTO RICO TRIBUY/O PARTES CON utilizando la siguiente direc- damente registrada y archivada NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA INTERÉS EN DICHAS ción electrónica: https://unired. en autos donde podrá usted enCENTRO JUDICIAL DE BAYASUCESIONES; ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se terarse detalladamente de los MÓN SUPERIOR DE BAYArepresente por derecho propio, términos de la misma. Esta noMÓN SUCESIÓN DE JOSÉ ISLAND PORTFOLIO LÓPEZ MORALES T/C/C en cuyo caso deberá presentar tificación se publicará una sola alegación responsiva en la vez en un periódico de circulaSERVICES, LLC COMO JOSÉ ANGEL LÓPEZ su secretaría del tribunal. Si usted ción general en la Isla de PuerAGENTE DE ACE ONE T/C/C JOSE LÓPEZ, deja de presentar su alegación to Rico, dentro de los 10 días FUNDING, LLC COMPUESTA POR SU responsiva dentro del referido siguientes a su notificación. Y, Demandante V. VIUDA ROSE MARY término, el tribunal podrá dic- siendo o representando usted CHARLIE HERNANDEZ tar sentencia en rebeldía en una parte en el procedimiento FEBUS VEGA T/C/C LEGAL NOTICE su contra y conceder el reme- sujeta a los términos de la SenRODRIGUEZ ROSEMARY FEBUS tencia, Sentencia Parcial o ReESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO dio solicitado en la demanda, Demandado(a) T/C/C ROSEMARY o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, solución, de la cual puede es- DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUCaso Núm.: TA2023CV00731.

FEBUS TORRES, POR en el ejercicio de su sana tablecerse recurso de revisión NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA (Salón: 703). Sobre: COBRO SÍ; FULANO DE TAL discreción, lo entiende proce- o apelación dentro del término SALA SUPERIOR DE FAJARDE DINERO - ORDINARIO. Y SUTANA DE TAL dente. Además, se le apercibe de 30 días contados a partir DO NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENque conforme al Artículo 959 de la publicación por edicto de CIA POR EDICTO. RAUL EDUARDO COMO HEREDEROS NATALIE BONAPARTE SERVERA, del Código Civil, 31 L.P.R.A. esta notificación, dirijo a usted HERNANDEZ DESCONOCIDOS Y/O NATALIE.BONAPARTE@ORF-LAW. esta notificación que se consiRIVERA; ZULEYKA PARTES CON INTERÉS § 2787, usted tiene derecho a derará hecha en la fecha de la COM. aceptar o repudiar la herencia CARRASQUILLO A: CHARLIE HERNANDEZ EN DICHA SUCESIÓN en un término de treinta (30) publicación de este edicto. CoDEMANDADOS CACERES RODRIGUEZ. días. A esos efectos, de no pia de esta notificación ha sido rechazarla dentro de dicho término, se tendrá la herencia por aceptada pura y simplemente.

Representa a la parte demandante, la representación legal cuyo nombre, dirección y teléfono se consigna de inmediato: BUFETE FORTUÑO & FORTUÑO FAS, C.S.P. LCDO. JUAN C. FORTUÑO FAS RÚA NÚM.: 11416 PO BOX 13786, SAN JUAN, PR 00908 TEL: 787- 751-5290, FAX: 787-751-6155 E-MAIL: ejecuciones@fortuno-law.com En MANATI, Puerto Rico a 26 de enero de 2024. VIVIAN Y. FRESSE GONZALEZ, SEC REGIONAL. SARA Y SALGADO, SUB-SECRETARIA.

archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha 22 de enero de 2024. En Carolina, Puerto Rico, el 22 de enero de 2024. KANELLY ZAYAS ROBLES, SECRETARIA. MYRIAM FIGUEROA PASTRANA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

Parte Prticionaria

EX PARTE

Civil Número: FA2024CV00038.

Sobre: EXPEDIENTE DE DOMINIO; RECTIFICACIÓN DE CABIDA. EDICTO.

A: LAS PERSONAS DESCONOCIDAS O IGNORADAS A QUIENES PUEDA PERJUDICAR LA INSCRIPCIÓN SOLICITADA Y LOS QUE ESTAN AUSENTES.

sobre el asunto en consideración del Tribunal. URBANA: Parcela número cuarenta (40), de la comunidad rural Sardinera, del Barrio Quebrada del término municipal de Fajardo, Puerto Rico, con cabida de cero punto mil ciento dieciséis (0.116) cuerdas, equivalentes a cuatrocientos treinta y ocho punto setenta y siete (438.77) metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con la parcela número setenta y seis (76); por el SUR con la parcela número treinta y ocho (38); por el ESTE, con la parcela número treinta y cinco (35) y parcela número treinta y tres (33); por el OESTE, con la calle número dos (2).

Inscrita al Folio 145 Tomo 176 Finca No. 6,209 Registro de la Propiedad de Fajardo, Puerto Rico. POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro de los 20 días de la última publicación de este edicto Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://www.poderjudicial.pr/ index.php/tribunal-electronico/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente, sin más citarle ni oírle. Si compareciere a hacer alguna alegación, notificará copia de la misma a: EMPHATIA NOTARY & LEGAL ADVISORS, P.S.C. Lcdo. Pedro A. Crespo Claudio RUA Núm.: 17415 Urb. Villa Criollos Calle Corazón A-6 Caguas, PR 00726.

Tel. (939) 337-5550 pcrespo@emphatialaw.com En Fajardo, Puerto Rico a 23 de enero de de 2024. WANDA I. SEGUÍ REYES, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. KATHIA FERRER FIGUEROA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL I.

A: SUCESIÓN DE JUAN LEGAL NOTICE LÓPEZ SUÁREZ Y ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO SUCESIÓN DE INÉS DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUMARÍA LÓPEZ MORALES NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA T/C/C INÉS LÓPEZ CENTRO JUDICIAL DE CAMORALES COMPUESTAS GUAS SALA SUPERIOR DE Siendo usted poseedor de un LEGAL NOTICE POR FULANO DE TAL CAGUAS predio de terreno colindante del ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO Y SUTANA DE TAL PATRICIA MARIA inmueble objeto de la acción de DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUCOMO HEREDEROS SANTURIO GONZALEZ epígrafe, o un titular anterior o NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA descendiente de uno de ellos, Demandante V. DESCONOCIDOS SALA DE ARECIBO FIRSTBANK PUERTO de acuerdo a la Ley del RegisY/O PARTES CON ISLAND PORTFOLIO tro de la Propiedad Inmobiliaria RICO Y OTROS INTERÉS EN DICHAS SERVICES, LLC. COMO LEGAL NOTICE del Estado Libre Asociado de Demandado(a) SUCESIONES; AGENTE GESTOR DE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO Caso Núm.: GR2023CV00108. Puerto Rico, o persona que SUCESIÓN DE JOSÉ DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU- (Salón: 702). Sobre: CANCE- de cualquier forma o manera ACE ONE FUNDING, LLC. LÓPEZ MORALES Demandante Vs. NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA LACIÓN O RESTITUCIÓN DE tuviera interés en la finca que T/C/C JOSÉ ÁNGEL CENTRO JUDICIAL DE CA- PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. NO- se describe en este documento CRUZ RODRIGUEZ ROLINA SALA SUPERIOR DE TIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA se le notifica por este medio de LÓPEZ T/C/C JOSE MANTILLA que, si tuviere algo que alegar POR EDICTO. LÓPEZ COMPUESTA CAROLINA Demandado al respecto, puede y debe comPEDRO A. CRESPO CLAUDIO, SIBIA BERMUDEZ Civil Núm.: AR2023CV00863.

POR SU HEREDERA PCRESPO@EMPHATIALAW.COM. parecer por escrito a exponer lo Salón: 401. Sobre: COBRO QUIÑONES CONOCIDA VANESA que a bien tenga que expresar

24 DE DINERO. EMPLAZAMIEN- Sala: 802. EMPLAZAMIENTO TO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS POR EDICTO. UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL A: ELIEZER BAERGA PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTAORTIZ, FULANA DE TAL DOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIY LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL BRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO DE GANANCIALES RICO, SS.

A: CRUZ RODRÍGUEZ MANTILLA - SECT LAS ANIMAS 14 B CALLE BARITONO ARECIBO, P.R. 00612.

POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza por la deuda reclamada de $3,200.79 y requiere para que conteste la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), la cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:// unired.ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda o cualquier otro sin más citarle ni oírle, si el tribunal en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente.

El sistema SUMAC notificará copia a los abogados de la parte demandante, Lcdo. Edwin Serrano Peña cuyas direcciones son: P.O. Box 71418 San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-8518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 a la dirección edwin.serrano@orflaw. com y a la dirección notificaciones@orf-law.com. EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, en Arecibo, Puerto Rico, hoy día 21 de noviembre de 2023. En Arecibo, Puerto Rico, el 21 de noviembre de 2023. VIVIAN Y. FRESSE GONZÁLEZ, SECRETARIA. RACHEL VÉLEZ PEZZUTO, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

KM 8.3, NARANJITO PR 00719; BO LOMAS JAGUAS CARR 164 KM 7.8, NARANJITO PR 00719; PO BOX 294, NARANJITO PR 007190294.

COMPUESTA POR AMBOS - URB VEREDAS POR LA PRESENTE se le 441 CAMINO LAS emplaza y requiere para que AMAPOLAS, GURABO PR conteste la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes 00778.

POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza y requiere para que conteste la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), la cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: unired. ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda o cualquier otro sin más citarle ni oírle, si el tribunal en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. El sistema SUMAC notificará copia al abogado de la parte demandante, Kenmuel J. Ruiz Lopez cuya dirección es: P.O. Box 71418 San Juan, Puerto Rico 009368518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 a la dirección kenmuel.ruiz@ orf-law.com y a la dirección notificaciones@orf-law.com. EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, en GURABO EN CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, hoy día 21 de noviembre de 2023.

LISILDA MARTÍNEZ AGOSTO, SECRETARIA. ANA H. LUGO MUÑOZ, SECRETARIA DE SERVICIOS A SALA.

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

a la publicación de este Edicto.

Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), la cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:///www. poderjudicial.pr/index.php/tribunal-electronico, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda o cualquier otro sin más citarle ni oírle, si el tribunal en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. El sistema SUMAC notificará copia al abogado de la parte demandante, Kevin Sánchez Campanero cuya dirección es: P.O. Box 71418 San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-8518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 a la dirección kevin. sanchez@orf-law.com y a la dirección notificaciones@orflaw.com. EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, en NARANJITO EN BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, hoy día 22 de noviembre de 2023. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA. MARILYN COLÓN CARRASQUILLO, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

conteste la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), la cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:/// www.poderjudicial.pr/index. php/tribunal-electronico, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda o cualquier otro sin más citarle ni oírle, si el tribunal en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente.

El sistema SUMAC notificará copia al abogado de la parte demandante, Edwin Serrano Peña cuya dirección es: P.O. Box 71418 San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-8518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 a la dirección edwin.serrano@orf-law.com y a la dirección notificaciones@orflaw.com. EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, en ARECIBO, Puerto Rico, hoy día 10 de enero de 2024.

VIVIAN Y. FRESSE GONZÁLEZ, SECRETARIA. RACHEL VÉLEZ PEZZUTO, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

tencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha 25 de enero de 2024.

En Carolina, Puerto Rico, el 25 de enero de 2024. KANELLY ZAYAS ROBLES, SECRETARIA. MARICRUZ APONTE ALICEA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante Vs.

SUCESION DE ANIBAL ARROYO SANTIAGO, COMPUESTA POR SU HIJA AMARLETTE ARROYO GARCIA Y FULANO DE TAL Y ZUTANO DE TAL, COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; SUCESION DE MARIA CONCEPCION GARCIA MARRERO, COMPUESTA POR SUS LEGAL NOTICE HIJAS MARIA DE LOS ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO ANGELES DE JESUS DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUGARCIA Y AMARLETTE NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE CAARROYO GARCIA Y ROLINA SALA SUPERIOR DE FULANO DE CUAL Y CAROLINA ZUTANO DE CUAL, VAPR FEDERAL COMO HEREDEROS CREDIT UNION DESCONOCIDOS Y Demandante V. DESCENDIENTES DE ANGELA FIGUEROA YI LEGAL NOTICE SU HIJA MARITZA DE Demandado(a) ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO Caso Núm.: LO2023CV00145. JESUS GARCIA; CENTRO LEGAL NOTICE DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU- (Civil: 406). Sobre: COBRO DE DE RECAUDACION DE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA DINERO - ORDINARIO. NO- INGRESOS MUNICIPALES DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU- SALA DE ARECIBO TIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA (CRIM) ISLAND PORTFOLIO NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA POR EDICTO. LEGAL NOTICE Demandados ADELA SURILLO GUTIÉRREZ, SERVICES, LLC COMO Civil Núm.: SJ2019CV06213.

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO SALA DE NARANJITO EN BAADELA.SURILLO@GMAIL.COM. AGENTE DE ACE ONE Sobre: COBRO DE DIDE PUERTO RICO TRIBU- YAMÓN A: ANGELA FIGUEROA YI. (506).

ISLAND PORTFOLIO NERO (EJECUCIÓN DE HIPONAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA FUNDING, LLC (Nombre de las partes que se le TECA POR LA VÍA ORDINASERVICES, LLC COMO SALA DE GURABO EN CAParte Demandante Vs. notifican la sentencia por edicto) GUAS AGENTE DE ACE ONE EL SECRETARIO(A) que sus- RIA). EMPLAZAMIENTO POR RAYMOND ISLAND PORTFOLIO cribe le notifica a usted que EDICTO E INTERPELACIÓN. FUNDING, LLC L PAGAN ZAMOT el 25 de enero de 2024, este ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉParte Demandante Vs. SERVICES, LLC Parte Demandada RICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE Civil Núm.: AR2023CV00987. Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, REYNALDO COMO AGENTE DE Sentencia Parcial o Resolución LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. VAZQUEZ APONTE FAIRWAY ACQUISITIONS ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDIC- en este caso, que ha sido debiParte Demandada FUND, LLC DE PUERTO RICO. TO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE damente registrada y archivada Civil Núm.: NJ2023CV00058.

Parte Demandante Vs. A: FULANO DE en autos donde podrá usted enAMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. ELIEZER BAERGA terarse detalladamente de los CUAL Y ZUTANO DE EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDIC- DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ORTIZ, FULANA DE TAL TO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIA- términos de la misma. Esta noCUAL, HEREDEROS tificación se publicará una sola & LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. DESCONOCIDOS DE LA DE GANANCIALES A: RAYMOND L PAGAN vez en un periódico de circula- SUCESION DE MARIA DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ción general en la Isla de PuerCOMPUESTA POR EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIAZAMOT - URB VICTOR to Rico, dentro de los 10 días CONCEPCION GARCIA DO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. AMBOS ROJAS 2 134 CALLE C, siguientes a su notificación. Y, MARRERO, COMO Parte Demandada A: REYNALDO VAZQUEZ ARECIBO PR 00612-3051. siendo o representando usted DESCENDIENTES DE SU Civil Núm.: GR2023CV00223.

APONTE - BO LOMAS POR LA PRESENTE se le una parte en el procedimiento HIJA MARITZA DE JESUS Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. emplaza y requiere para que sujeta a los términos de la SenJAGUAS CARR 164

GARCIA.

POR EL PRESENTE EDICTO se le notifica que se ha radicado en esta Secretaría por la parte demandante, Segunda Demanda Enmendada sobre Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Hipoteca por la Vía Ordinaria en la que se alega adeuda la suma principal de $158,473.87, más intereses al 5.75% anual, desde el día 1ro de febrero de 2014, hasta su completo pago, más la cantidad de $19,700.00 estipulada para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado, más recargos acumulados, todas cuyas sumas están líquidas y exigibles. La propiedad hipotecada a ser vendida en pública subasta es: URBANA: Solar radicado en la URBANIZACIÓN EXTENSION DE VILLAS DE BUENAVENTURA, situado en el Barrio Aguacate del término municipal de Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, marcado con el número DD guión Diecisiete (DD-17) de la Calle número Tres (3), con cabida de TRESCIENTOS PUNTO TRESCIENTOS SETENTA Y CINCO (300.375) METROS CUADRADOS. En lindes por el NORTE, en distancia de trece punto cincuenta (13.50) metros, con el solar número DD guión Cero Cuatro (DD-04) de la Urbanización; por el SUR, en distancia de trece punto cincuenta (13.50) metros, con la Calle número Tres (3) de la Urbanización; por el ESTE, en distancia de veintidós punto veinticinco (22.25) metros, con el solar número DD guión Dieciséis (DD-16); y por el OESTE, en distancia de veintidós punto veinticinco (22.25) metros, con el solar número DD guión Dieciocho (DD-18).

Enclava una casa de concreto diseñada para una familia. La escritura de hipoteca se encuentra inscrita al folio 83 del tomo 311 de Monacillos Este y el Cinco, Registro de la Propiedad de San Juan, Sección Quinta, finca número 6,833, inscripción novena. POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro de los treinta (30) días de haber sido publicado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día de la publicación. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección: https://www.poderjudicial.pr/index.php/tribunalelectronico/, salvo que el caso sea un expediente físico o que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la Secretaría del Tribunal y notificar copia de la misma al (a la) abogado(a) de la parte demandante o a ésta, de no tener representación legal. Si usted

deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente.

Además, se le apercibe que, en los casos al amparo de la Ley Núm. 57-2023, titulada Ley para la Prevención del Maltrato, Preservación de la Unidad Familiar y para la Seguridad, Bienestar y Protección de los Menores, entre los remedios que el Tribunal podrá conceder se incluyen la ubicación permanente de un (una) menor fuera de su hogar, el inicio de procesos para la privación de patria potestad, y cualquier otra medida en el mejor interés del (de la) menor. (Artículo 33, incisos b y f de la Ley Núm. 57-2023).

Se le advierte de su derecho a comparecer acompañado(a) de abogado(a) en los casos que proceda. La información del (de la) abogado(a) de la parte demandante es la siguiente: Lcda. Adela Surillo Gutiérrez Bufete Collazo & Surillo, LLC P.O. Box 11550 San Juan, P.R. 00922-1550 Tel. (787) 625-9999 Fax (787) 705-7387 E-mail: asurillo@lawpr.com Se le advierte, además, a los herederos que conforme el caso de Banco BilbaoVizcaya Argentaria v. Latinoamericana de Exportación, Inc., 164 D.P.R. 689, 696 (2005) y a tenor con las disposiciones del Artículo 1578 del Código Civil de Puerto Rico (31 L.P.R.A. sec. 11021), deberá aceptar o repudiar la herencia de la causante María Concepción García Marrero, dentro del término de treinta (30) días. De no expresar su intención de aceptar o repudiar la herencia dentro del término que se le fijó, la herencia se tendrá por aceptada. Se le notifica también por la presente que la parte demandante habrá de presentar para su anotación al Registrador de la Propiedad del Distrito en que está situada la propiedad objeto de este pleito, un aviso de estar pendiente esta acción. Para publicarse conforme a la Orden dictada por el Tribunal en un periódico de circulación general. EN TESTIMONIO DE LO CUAL, expido el presente Edicto que firmo y sello en San Juan, Puerto Rico, hoy 24 de enero de 2024. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ. COLLADO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. FERNÁNDEZ DEL VALLE, LUZ S., SUB-SECRETARIA.

NOT INDIVIDUALLY BUT SOLELY AS TRUSTEE FOR FINANCE OF AMERICA STRUCTURED SECURITIES ACQUISITION TRUST 2018-HB1 Demandante Vs.

ABRAHAM GARCIA ROMAN T/C/C ABRAHAM GARCIA; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA

Demandados Civil Núm.: PO2021CV02482.

Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EDICTO DE SUBASTA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.

A: LA PARTE DEMANDADA, AL (A LA) SECRETARIO(A) DE HACIENDA DE PUERTO RICO Y AL PÚBLICO GENERAL:

Certifico y Hago Constar: Que en cumplimiento con el Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que me ha sido dirigido por el (la) Secretario(a) del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Ponce, en el caso de epígrafe, venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor, por separado, de contado y por moneda de curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América y/o Giro Postal y Cheque Certificado, en mi oficina ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Ponce, el 12 DE MARZO DE 2024, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, todo derecho título, participación o interés que le corresponda a la parte demandada o cualquiera de ellos en el inmueble hipotecado objeto de ejecución que se describe a continuación: “URBANA: Solar ubicado en el Barrio Primero, Sector Mariani Antiguo, del término municipal de Ponce, Puerto Rico, con una cabida de 1097.50 metros cuadrados.

En lindes por el NORTE, al lado Norte colinda con el solar número 5137 y este solar esta ubicad en la Calle Lucas Amadeo.

Le medida de esta colindancia Norte colindando con dicho solar por la Calle Lucas Amadeo es 30.020; por el SUR, ese es el frente y da a la Avenida Roosevelt, con número 2947. Por esta colindancia Sur en metros lineales tirando una línea desde el Oeste hacia el Este, mide 25.50 metros lineales. En dicha línea, ya llegando al Este, es esa colindancia Sur comienza un “corte o chaflán” que mide LEGAL NOTICE 7.062 metros; por el ESTE, El ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO chaflán antes mencionado terDE PUERTO RICO TRIBU- mina en la colindancia Este, NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA que da a la Calle Lucas AmaSALA SUPERIOR DE PONCE deo. Al continuar la referida WILMINGTON SAVINGS línea a partir de la terminación FUND SOCIETY, FSB, del chaflán ya en la colindancia Este, esta colinda este mide

The San Juan Daily Star 31.973 metros lineales; por el OESTE, colinda con dos solares, mide 12.503 metros lineales con el solar número 1946 de la Calle Wilson. Eso así porque una parte de dicho solar en la Calle Wilson colinda por su parte Este en dichos 12.503 metros y que ahora es la colindancia Oeste de la nueva finca que aquí se agrupa. Esta colindancia Oeste de la finca que estamos agrupando mide también 24.00 metros lineales con el solar número 2951, que es un solar cuyo frente colinda con la Avenida Roosevelt. Total de metros lineales de la colindancia Oeste de la finca que aquí agrupamos es 36.703 metros lineales.” Finca número 65,025, inscrita al folio 83 del tomo 2123 de Ponce Norte, Registro de la Propiedad de Ponce, Sección I. Propiedad localizada en: 2947 AVE. ROOSEVELT, PONCE, PUERTO RICO 00717. Según figuran en la certificación registral, la propiedad objeto de ejecución está gravada por las siguientes cargas anteriores o preferentes: Nombre del Titular: N/A. Suma de la Carga: N/A. Fecha de Vencimiento: N/A. Según figuran en la certificación registral, la propiedad objeto de ejecución está gravada por las siguientes cargas posteriores a la inscripción del crédito ejecutante: Nombre del Titular: Secretario de la Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano. Suma de la Carga: $435,000.00. Fecha de Vencimiento: 10 de septiembre de 2090. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad de la propiedad y que todas las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes al crédito ejecutante antes descritos, si los hubiere, continuarán subsistentes.

El rematante acepta dichas cargas y gravámenes anteriores, y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Se establece como tipo de mínima subasta la suma de $435,000.00, según acordado entre las partes en el precio pactado en la escritura de hipoteca. De ser necesaria una SEGUNDA SUBASTA por declararse desierta la primera, la misma se celebrará en mi oficina, ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Ponce, el 19 DE MARZO DE 2024, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, y se establece como mínima para dicha segunda subasta la suma de $290,000.00, 2/3 partes del tipo mínima establecido originalmente. Si tampoco se produce remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se establece como mínima para la TERCERA SUBASTA, la suma de $217,500.00, la mitad (1/2) del precio pactado y dicha subasta se celebrará en mi oficina, ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de

Ponce, el 27 DE MARZO DE 2024, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA. Dicha subasta se llevará a cabo para, con su producto satisfacer a la parte demandante, el importe de la Sentencia dictada a su favor ascendente a la suma de $193,520.99 por concepto de principal, más la suma de $119,465.50 en intereses acumulados al 11 de enero de 2022 y los cuales continúan acumulándose a razón de 5.060% anual hasta su total y completo pago; más la sumas de $35,312.23 en seguro hipotecario; $2,991.00 en seguro; $525.00 en tasaciones; $380.00 en inspecciones; más la cantidad de 10% del pagare original en la suma de $43,500.00, para gastos, costas y honorarios de abogado, esta última habrá de devengar intereses al máximo del tipo legal fijado por la oficina del Comisionado de Instituciones Financieras aplicable a esta fecha, desde este mismo día hasta su total y completo saldo. La venta en pública subasta de la referida propiedad se verificará libre de toda carga o gravamen posterior que afecte la mencionada finca, a cuyo efecto se notifica y se hace saber la fecha, hora y sitio de la PRIMERA, SEGUNDA Y TERCERA SUBASTA, si esto fuera necesario, a los efectos de que cualquier persona o personas con algún interés puedan comparecer a la celebración de dicha subasta.

Se notifica a todos los interesados que las actas y demás constancias del expediente de este caso están disponibles en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante horas laborables para ser examinadas por los (las) interesados (as). Y para su publicación en el periódico The San Juan Daily Star, que es un diario de circulación general en la isla de Puerto Rico, por espacio de dos semanas consecutivas con un intervalo de por lo menos siete (7) días entre ambas publicaciones, así como para su publicación en los sitios públicos de Puerto Rico. Expedido en Ponce, Puerto Rico, hoy 20 de diciembre de 2023. JAVIER SEGARRA MALDONADO, ALGUACIL REGIONAL. MIGUEL A. TORRES AYALA, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR PLACA #560.

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

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su alegación responsiva en la PUERTO RICO, S.S. CARLOS JESÚS LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE (336) de Aguadilla, finca núme- to de instrumentos negociables ro dieciocho mil novecientos garantizados hipotecariamenA: VÍCTOR MANUEL RIVERA RIVERA A SUS secretaría del Tribunal. Se le BIENES GANANCIALES advierte que si no contesta la sesenta y seis (18966), Regis- te con posterioridad al crédito VIDAL JR, COMO ÚLTIMAS DIRECCIONES COMPUESTA POR demanda, radicando el original tro de Aguadilla. Dirección Físi- ejecutado, siempre que surgen HEREDERO CONOCIDO CONOCIDAS: PR 749 AMBOS de la contestación en este Trica: Barrio Aguacate, Carretera de la certificación registral, Parte Demandada KM 4.1 INT. QUEBRADA bunal y enviando copia de la DE LAS SUCESIONES 110, RD KM 5.0, Aguadilla, PR para que puedan concurrir a Civil Núm.: AG2020CV00650. 00605. La PRIMERA SUBASTA la subasta si les convenga o contestación a la abogada de DE AMELIA RODRÍGUEZ GRANDE WARD, Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPO- se llevará a cabo el día 6 DE satisfacer antes del remate el PÉREZ Y VÍCTOR la Parte Demandante, Lcda.

BARRANQUITAS PR TECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA MARZO DE 2024, A LAS 11:00 importe del crédito, de sus inBelma Alonso García, cuya MANUEL VIDAL 00794, COND. ALTOS DE Y COBRO DE DINERO. ANUN- DE LA MAÑANA, y servirá de tereses, costas y honorarios dirección es: PO Box 3922, MARTÍNEZ, GLORIA MIRAFLORES, 969 AVE. CIO DE SUBASTA. El suscri- tipo mínimo para la misma la de abogados asegurados, queGuaynabo Puerto Rico 00970MIGDALIA RODRIGUEZ HIGUILLAR, APT. 121, 3922, Teléfono y Fax: (787) biente, Alguacil del Tribunal de suma de $68,000.00 sin admi- dando entonces subrogados Primera Instancia de Puerto tirse oferta inferior. En el caso en los derechos del acreedor DORADO, PR 00646-8203, 789-1826, (787) 708-0566 co- ZAMBRANA, JOHN DOE Rico, Sala de Aguadilla, a los de que el inmueble a ser subas- ejecutante. La propiedad a ser rreo electrónico: oficinabelma- Y RICHARD ROE COMO CARR. 823, SECTOR demandados de epígrafe y al tado no fuera adjudicado en la ejecutada se adquirirá libre de CUCHILLAS, BO. RÍO alonso@gmail.com, dentro del POSIBLES HEREDEROS público en general hace saber primera subasta, se celebrará cargas y gravámenes posteLAJAS, TOA ALTA, PR término de treinta (30) días de DESCONOCIDOS DE LA que los autos y documentos una SEGUNDA SUBASTA el riores. Y para conocimiento de la publicación de este edicto, 00953, HC 1 BOX 3972, excluyéndose el día de la publi- SUCESIONES DE AMELIA del caso de epígrafe estarán día 13 DE MARZO DE 2024, A licitadores, del público en geneBARRANQUITAS, PR cación, se le anotará la rebeldía RODRÍGUEZ PEREZ Y de manifiesto en la Secreta- LAS 11:00 DE LA MAÑANA, y ral y para su publicación en un ría del Tribunal durante horas el precio mínimo para esta se- periódico de circulación general 00794-9665, PO BOX y se le dictará Sentencia en su VÍCTOR MANUEL VIDAL laborables y que venderá en gunda subasta será el de dos diaria en Puerto Rico y en los 959, BARRANQUITAS PR contra, concediendo el reme- MARTÍNEZ - 3001 S 47TH pública subasta al mejor postor, terceras partes del precio míni- sitios públicos de acuerdo a las 00794-0959 Y PO BOX dio solicitado sin más citarle ni DRIVE, YUMA, AZ 85364. en moneda de curso legal de mo establecido para la primera disposiciones de la Regla 51.7 1672, CIDRA PR 00739- oírle. EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma Por la presente se le emplaza los Estados Unidos de América subasta, o a sea la suma de de las de Procedimiento Civil, y el sello del Tribunal, hoy 12 y notifica que debe contestar 1672. en efectivo, cheque certificado, $45,333.33. Si tampoco hubie- así como para la publicación de enero de 2024 en Come- la demanda incoada contra

o giro postal a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, en mi oficina en el Centro Judicial de Aguadilla, Segundo Piso, Oficina del Alguacil Regional, Calle Progreso #70 en Aguadilla, el derecho que tenga la parte demandada en el inmueble que se relaciona más adelante para pagar la SENTENCIA por $46,866.06 de balance principal, el cual se compone de un primer principal por la suma de $43,808.15 y un segundo principal por la suma de $3,057.90, más los intereses adeudados sobre la suma de $43,808.15, y computados al 5.80% anual hasta su total pago y completo pago; más el 5% computado sobre cada mensualidad; cargos por demora devengados, más la suma de $6,800.00 estipulada para honorarios de abogado, pactada en la escritura de hipoteca; y cuales quiera otras sumas que por cualesquiera concepto legal se devenguen hasta el día de la subasta. La propiedad a venderse en pública subasta se describe como sigue: RÚSTICA: Solar sito en el Barrio Aguacate de Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, con una cabida de cuatrocientos cincuenta y cinco punto setecientos cincuenta y cinco (455.755) metros cuadrados de superficie. En lindes por el NORTE, con el señor José Millán Suárez y mide vente punto veintidós (20.22) metros, por el SUR, linda con el remanente LEGAL NOTICE de finca principal, hoy Cristóbal ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO Rodríguez Lugo y mide quince DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU- punto cero cinco (15.05) meNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA tros; por el ESTE, linda con Juan Sotero Barreto y mide SALA DE AGUADILLA LEGACY MORTGAGE veinticinco punto ochenta y tres (25.83) metros; por el OESTE, ASSET TRUST 2019linda con la faja de terreno o CASO GS7 segregarse rotulada uso públiParte Demandante Vs. co y tiene dos (2) direcciones ROMUALDO una de trece punto veintinueve (13.29) metro y otra de QUIRINDONGO dieciséis punto treinta y cinco ECHEVARRIA, SU ESPOSA ALICIA EUSEBIA (16.35) metros. Inscrita al folio doscientos treinta y tres (233) GONZALEZ ROSADO Y de tomo trecientos treinta y seis

ra remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el día 20 DE MARZO DE 2024, A LAS 11:00 DE LA MAÑANA y el tipo mínimo para esta tercera subasta será la mitad del precio establecido para la primera subasta, o sea, la suma de $34,000.00. El mejor postor deberá pagar el importe de su oferta en efecto, cheque certificado o giro postal a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal. Si se declarase desierta la tercera subasta, se dará por terminado el procedimiento, pudiendo adjudicarse el inmueble al acreedor hipotecario dentro de los diez días siguientes a la fecha de la última subasta, si así lo estimase conveniente, por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada conforme a la sentencia, si ésta fuera igual o menor que el monto del tipo de la tercera subasta y abonándose dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si ésta fuera mayor. Se avisa a cualquier licitador que la propiedad queda sujeta al gravamen del Estado Libre Asociado y CRIM sobre la propiedad inmueble por contribuciones adeudadas y que el pago de dichas contribuciones es la responsabilidad del licitador. Que se entenderá por todo licitador acepte como suficiente la titulación y que los cargos y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes en entendiéndose que el rematador los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse su extinción al precio rematante. Todos los nombres de los acreedores que tengan inscritos o anotados sus derechos sobre los bienes hipotecados con posterioridad a la inscripción del crédito del ejecutante, o de los acreedores de cargas o derechos reales que los hubiesen pospuesto a la hipoteca ejecutada y las personas interesadas en, o con derecho a exigir el cumplimien-

en un periódico de circulación general diaria y en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, por espacio de dos semanas con antelación a la fecha de la primera subasta y por lo menos una vez por semana. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento indicado estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante las horas laborables. (Art. 102 (1) de la Ley núm. 2102015). Expedido el presente en Aguadilla, Puerto Rico a 10 de enero de 2024. ESTEBAN ATILES FELICIANO, ALGUACIL CONFIDENCIAL, TRIBUNAL PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA DE AGUADILLA.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE COMERÍO

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Parte Demandante Vs.

CARLOS JESÚS RIVERA RIVERA, MÓNICA RODRÍGUEZ ALICEA T/C/C MÓNICA ALICEA Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

Parte Demandada Civil Núm.: CR2023CV00409.

(001). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS E.E.U.U., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.

A La Demandada: MÓNICA RODRÍGUEZ ALICEA T/C/C MÓNICA ALICEA Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA CON

Queda usted notificado que en este Tribunal se ha radicado demanda sobre ejecución de hipoteca por la vía ordinaria en la que se alega que se adeuda las siguientes cantidades: $127,919.20 de principal, más intereses sobre dicha suma al 4.00% anual desde el 1 de junio de 2019 hasta su completo pago, más $1,483.32 de recargos acumulados los cuales continuarán en aumento hasta el saldo total de la deuda, más la cantidad estipulada de $14,702.90 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogados, así como cualquier otra suma que contenga el contrato del préstamo, incluyendo pero sin limitarse a gastos de mantenimiento, inspecciones y otros adelantos “corporate advances”. La propiedad que garantiza hipotecariamente el préstamo es la siguiente: RÚSTICA: Predio de terreno radicado en el Barrio Quebrada Grande de Barranquitas, compuesto de 1,659.3762 metros cuadrados, o sea .4222 cuerdas. Colinda por el NORTE, con Sucesión Rivera Báez; por el SUR y OESTE, con Sucesión Rivera; y por el ESTE, con camino público. Inscrita al folio 235 del tomo 126 de Barranquitas, Finca 7792. Registro de la Propiedad de Barranquitas.

La hipoteca consta inscrita al folio 60 vuelto del tomo 255 de Barranquitas, Finca 7792.

Registro de la Propiedad de Barranquitas. Inscripción duodécima. La demandante es la tenedora por endoso en blanco, por valor recibido y de buena fe del referido pagaré objeto de la presente acción. La parte demandada deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Administración y Manejo de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired. ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar

río, Puerto Rico. ELIZABETH GONZÁLEZ RIVERA, SECRETARIA. CARMEN L. APONTE FLORES, SUB-SECRETARIA.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO, COMO AGENTE DE SERVICIO DE MASSACHUSSETS MUTUAL LIFE INS.CO. Demandante V.

usted, dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación del presente edicto, radicando el original de dicha contestación ante el Tribunal y sala que se menciona en el epígrafe del mismo, con copia a la parte aquí demandante. Se le apercibe que, de no contestar la demanda dentro del término aquí estipulado, se le anotará la rebeldía y se dictará sentencia en su contra sin más citarle ni oírle.

Los abogados de la parte demandante son: Lcdo. Reggie Díaz Hernández RUA NUM 16,393 BERMUDEZ & DÍAZ, LLP Attorneys at Law Suite 209 500 Calle De La Tanca San Juan, Puerto Rico 00901 Tel.: (787) 523-2670 Fax: (787) 523-2664 rdíaz@bdslawpr.com Expido este edicto bajo mi firma y el sello de este Tribunal, hoy 12 de enero de 2024. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA GENERAL REGIONAL. MARÍA I. RÍOS LÓPEZ, SECRETARIA DE SERVICIOS A SALA.

SUCESIÓN DE AMELIA RODRÍGUEZ PÉREZ, COMPUESTA POR LA SUCESIÓN DE VÍCTOR MANUEL VIDAL MARTÍNEZ; VÍCTOR MANUEL VIDAL JR, COMO HEREDERO CONOCIDO DE LAS SUCESIONES DE AMELIA RODRÍGUEZ PÉREZ Y VÍCTOR MANUEL VIDAL MARTÍNEZ; GLORIA LEGAL NOTICE MIGDALIA RODRÍGUEZ ZAMBRANA; “JOHN DOE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO Y RICHARD ROE” COMO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA POSIBLES HEREDEROS SALA DE CAGUAS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA BANCO POPULAR DE SUCESIONES DE AMELIA PUERTO RICO RODRÍGUEZ PÉREZ Y Demandante V. VÍCTO MANUEL VIDAL ROQUE REDONDO MARTÍNEZ; CENTRO DE RODRIGUEZ, ZORAIDA RECAUDACIONES DE MARIA MIRANDA INGRESOS MUNICIPALES CARTAGENA Y LA (CRIM) - PARTE CON SOCIEDAD LEGAL INTERÉS DE GANANCIALES Demandados COMPUESTA POR Civil Núm.: KCD2017-0799.

AMBOS, CITIBANK N.A., Sala: 508. Sobre: COBRO DE JOHN DOE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO E INTERPELACIÓN. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE

Demandadas Civil Núm.: CG2023CV04253.

Sobre: CANCELACION DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO POR LA VÍA JUDICIAL. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉ-

26 RICA, PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, S.S.

A: JOHN DOE COMO TENEDOR DESCONOCIDOS DEL PAGARÉ a favor de Citi Bank, N.A., o a su orden, por la suma de $256,000.00, con interés al 6.00%, y vencedero 1 de abril de 2033, según consta escritura número 145, otorgada en Caguas, Puerto Rico, el día 26 de marzo de 2003, ante la notario Brenda Marie Acosta Vélez, e inscrita al folio móvil del tomo 1649 de Caguas, finca número 54,811, Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Primera Sección de Caguas, inscripción 3ra.

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

crita folio 57 del tomo 983A de pecciones; $799.00 en manteBORGES RODRIGUEZ 9999. Se le advierte, además, a término el Tribunal procederá LCDO. REGGIE DÍAZ VALLE RAMON Sabana Llana, finca 25912, Re- nimiento; $3,573.00 en adelanTAMBIÉN CONOCIDO los herederos que conforme el a ventilar el procedimiento sin COMPUESTA POR JOHN HERNÁNDEZ. caso de Banco Bilbao Vizcaya más citarle ni oírle. EXTENDIgistro de la Propiedad de San tos pendientes; más la cantidad (Nombre de las partes que se le COMO JOSE A. BORGES Argentaria v. Latinoamericana DO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello DOE Y JANE DOE COMO Juan, Sección V, inscripción 5ª. de 10% del pagare original en notifican la sentencia por edicto) RODRIGUEZ. POSIBLES HEREDEROS Propiedad localizada en: URB. la suma de $63,000.00, para EL SECRETARIO(A) que susde Exportación, Inc., 164 D.P.R. del Tribunal en Aguada, Puerto DESCONOCIDOS; SAN AGUSTIN, 385 CALLE 12, gastos, costas y honorarios de cribe le notifica a usted que POR EL PRESENTE EDICTO 689, 696 (2005) y a tenor con Rico hoy 19 de enero de 2024.

ESTADOS UNIDOS DE SAN JUAN, PR 00926. Según abogado. A tenor con la Regla el 19 de enero de 2024, este se le notifica que se ha radicado las disposiciones del Artículo En Aguada, Puerto Rico, hoy en esta Secretaría por la parte AMERICA CENTRO DE figuran en la certificación re- 44.3 de Procedimiento Civil se Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, demandante, Demanda sobre 1578 del Código Civil de Puerto 19 de enero de 2024. SARAHÍ Rico (31 L.P.R.A. sec. 11021), REYES PÉREZ, SECRETARIA gistral, la propiedad objeto de condena a la parte demandada Sentencia Parcial o Resolución RECAUDACION DE ejecución está gravada por las a pagar intereses aplicables en este caso, que ha sido debi- Cobro de Dinero Ordinario en deberá aceptar o repudiar la GENERAL, TRIBUNAL DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES siguientes cargas anteriores sobre el importe de la presen- damente registrada y archivada la que se alega adeuda la suma herencia de la causante, dentro PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA

Demandados Civil Núm.: SJ2023CV06594.

Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EDICTO DE SUBASTA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.

A: LA PARTE DEMANDADA, AL (A LA) SECRETARIO(A) DE HACIENDA DE PUERTO RICO Y AL PÚBLICO GENERAL:

Certifico y Hago Constar: Que en cumplimiento con el MandaPor la presente se le emplaza miento de Ejecución de Senteny notifica que debe contestar la cia que me ha sido dirigido por demanda incoada en su contra el (la) Secretario(a) del Tribunal dentro del término de treinta de Primera Instancia, Sala Su(30) días a partir de la publica- perior de San Juan, en el caso ción del presente edicto. Usted de epígrafe, venderé en pública deberá presentar su alegación subasta y al mejor postor, por responsiva a través del Sistema separado, de contado y por Unificado de Manejo y Adminis- moneda de curso legal de los tración de Casos (SUMAC), al Estados Unidos de América y/o cual puede acceder utilizando Giro Postal y Cheque Certificala siguiente dirección electróni- do, en mi oficina ubicada en el ca: https://unired.ramajudicial. Tribunal de Primera Instancia, pr/sumac/, salvo que se repre- Sala de San Juan, el 28 DE sente por derecho propio. Si FEBRERO DE 2024, A LAS usted deja de presentar y no- 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA, todo tificar su alegación responsiva derecho título, participación dentro del referido término, el o interés que le corresponda Tribunal podrá dictar sentencia a la parte demandada o cualen rebeldía en su contra y con- quiera de ellos en el inmueble ceder el remedio solicitado en hipotecado objeto de ejecución la Demanda, o cualquier otro, que se describe a continuasi el Tribunal, en el ejercicio de ción: “URBANA: Solar marcado su sana discreción, lo entiende con el número Uno-B (1-B) del procedente. Los abogados de bloque V en el plano de inscripla parte demandante son. ción aprobado por la Junta de ABOGADOS DE LA PARTE planificación y preparado por DEMANDANTE: el Ingeniero Esteban GonzáLcdo. Reggie Díaz Hernández lez localizado en el bloque V RUA Núm.: 16,393 de la Urbanización Extensión BERMUDEZ & DIAZ LLP Suite 209 San Agustín en el Barrio Saba500 Calle De La Tanca na Llana de Rio Piedras, San San Juan, Puerto Rico 00901 Juan, Puerto Rico, con una caTel.: (787) 523-2670 bida superficial de 1085.7247 Fax: (787) 523-2664 metros cuadrados. En lindes rdíaz@bdprlaw.com Expido este edicto bajo mi firma por el NORTE, en dos alienay el sello de este Tribunal, hoy ciones, una de 41.176 metros 17 de enero de 2024. LISILDA con el solar Uno-A y en 6.11 MARTÍNEZ AGOSTO, SECRE- metros con José G. Corujo; por TARIA GENERAL. ENEIDA el SUR, SUROESTE y OESTE, ARROYO VÉLEZ, SECRETA- en 60.058 metros con la confluencia de la Calel López SiRIA AUXILIAR. cardó y Calle Número 12, antes Calle 11 de la Urbanización, en LEGAL NOTICE forma de arco; y por el ESTE, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO en dos alineaciones, una de DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU23.82 metros con Armando NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA Valle Toledo, antes Héctor M. SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN Arroyo y Carlos Key Nieves, y JUAN la otra en 9.18 metros con José COMPU-LINK G. Corujo.” Inscrita al folio 1 del CORPORATION, tomo 643 de Sabana Llana, finca 25912 Registro de la PropieD/B/A CELINK dad de San Juan, Sección V. La Demandante Vs. SUCESION ARMANDO Hipoteca Revertida consta ins-

o preferentes: Nombre del Titular: N/A. Suma de la Carga: N/A. Fecha de Vencimiento: N/A. Según figuran en la certificación registral, la propiedad objeto de ejecución está gravada por las siguientes cargas posteriores a la inscripción del crédito ejecutante: Nombre del Titular: Secretario de la Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano. Suma de la Carga: $630,000.00.

Fecha de Vencimiento: 28 de agosto de 2092. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad de la propiedad y que todas las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes al crédito ejecutante antes descritos, si los hubiere, continuarán subsistentes.

El rematante acepta dichas cargas y gravámenes anteriores, y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Se establece como tipo de mínima subasta la suma de $630,000.00, según acordado entre las partes en el precio pactado en la escritura de hipoteca. De ser necesaria una SEGUNDA SUBASTA por declararse desierta la primera, la misma se celebrará en mi oficina, ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de San Juan, el 6 DE MARZO DE 2024, A LAS 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA, y se establece como mínima para dicha segunda subasta la suma de $420,000.00, 2/3 partes del tipo mínima establecido originalmente. Si tampoco se produce remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se establece como mínima para la TERCERA SUBASTA, la suma de $315,000.00, la mitad (1/2) del precio pactado y dicha subasta se celebrará en mi oficina, ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de San Juan, el 13 DE MARZO DE 2024, A LAS 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA. Dicha subasta se llevará a cabo para, con su producto satisfacer a la parte demandante, el importe de la Sentencia dictada a su favor ascendente a la suma de $318,008.42 por concepto de principal, más la suma de $89,025.35 en intereses acumulados al 28 de octubre de 2023 y los cuales continúan acumulándose a razón de 2.993% anual hasta su total y completo pago; más la sumas de $18,071.69 en seguro hipotecario; $5,950.00 en cargos por servicio; $2,780.97 de seguro de la propiedad; $700.00 de tasaciones; $355.00 de ins-

te sentencia incluyendo costas y honorarios de abogado, desde esta fecha y hasta que sea satisfecha. Dichas sumas están vencidas, son liquidas y exigibles. La venta en pública subasta de la referida propiedad se verificará libre de toda carga o gravamen posterior que afecte la mencionada finca, a cuyo efecto se notifica y se hace saber la fecha, hora y sitio de la PRIMERA, SEGUNDA Y TERCERA SUBASTA, si esto fuera necesario, a los efectos de que cualquier persona o personas con algún interés puedan comparecer a la celebración de dicha subasta. Se notifica a todos los interesados que las actas y demás constancias del expediente de este caso están disponibles en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante horas laborables para ser examinadas por los (las) interesados (as). Y para su publicación en el periódico The San Juan Daily Star, que es un diario de circulación general en la isla de Puerto Rico, por espacio de dos semanas consecutivas con un intervalo de por lo menos siete (7) días entre ambas publicaciones, así como para su publicación en los sitios públicos de Puerto Rico. Expedido en San Juan, Puerto Rico, hoy 18 de enero de 2024. EDWIN E. LÓPEZ MULERO, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE HUMACAO SALA SUPERIOR DE HUMACAO

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante V.

JOHN DOE Y OTROS

Demandado(a) Caso Núm.: HU2023CV01222.

(Salón: 207). Sobre: CANCELACIÓN O RESTITUCIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. REGGIE DÍAZ HERNÁNDEZ, RDIAZ@BDPRLAW.COM.

A: JOHN DOE A SU DIRECCION DESCONOCIDA, SANA INVESTMENT AND MORTGAGE BANKERS A SU DIRECCIÓN CONOCIDA 1569 ALDA URB. CARIBE, SAN JUAN, PR 00923. P/C

en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha 22 de enero de 2024.

En Humacao, Puerto Rico, el 22 de enero de 2024. EVELYN FÉLIX VÁZQUEZ, SECRETARIA. MICHELLE GUEVARA DE LEÓN, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA MUNICIPAL DE COAMO

VAPR FEDERAL CREDIT UNION Demandante Vs.

SUCESION DE JOSE BORGES RODRIGUEZ T/C/C JOSE A. BORGES RODRIGUEZ C/P NILSA GUZMAN DIAZ, POR SÍ Y COMO PARTE DE LA SUCESIÓN; SUS HIJOS ANGEL BORGES RODRIGUEZ Y ROSABEL BORGES RODRIGUEZ; FULANO DE TAL Y ZUTANO DE TAL COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS CON POSIBLE INTERÉS

Demandados Civil Núm.: CO2023CV00565.

Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO ORDINARIO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.

A: FULANO DE TAL Y ZUTANO DE TAL, COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESION DE JOSE

$2,247.06 de principal, más $559.14 de intereses al 14.2% anual acumulados al 8 de septiembre de 2023, y de esa fecha en adelante acumula intereses a razón de $0.87 diarios, hasta su completo pago, más un 30% del principal del Pagaré estipulado para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado y recargos acumulados todas cuyas sumas están líquidas y exigibles.

POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro de los treinta (30) días de haber sido publicado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día de la publicación. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección: https:// www.poderjudicial.pr/index. php/tribunal-electronico/, salvo que el caso sea un expediente físico o que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la Secretaría del Tribunal y notificar copia de la misma al (a la) abogado(a) de la parte demandante o a ésta, de no tener representación legal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra sin más citarle ni oírle y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente.

Además, se le apercibe que, en los casos al amparo de la Ley Núm. 57-2023, titulada Ley para la Prevención del Maltrato, Preservación de la Unidad Familiar y para la Seguridad, Bienestar y Protección de los Menores, entre los remedios que el Tribunal podrá conceder se incluyen la ubicación permanente de un (una) menor fuera de su hogar, el inicio de procesos para la privación de patria potestad, y cualquier otra medida en el mejor interés del (de la) menor. (Artículo 33, incisos b y f de la Ley Núm. 57-2023).

Se le advierte de su derecho a comparecer acompañado(a) de abogado(a) en los casos que proceda. La información del (de la) abogado(a) de la parte demandante es la siguiente: Lcda.

Adela Surillo Gutiérrez, Bufete Collazo & Surillo, LLC, P.O. Box 11550, San Juan, PR 009221550; Teléfono: (787) 625-

del término de treinta (30) días.

De no expresar su intención de aceptar o repudiar la herencia dentro del término que se le fijó, la herencia se tendrá por aceptada. Para publicarse conforme a la Orden dictada por el Tribunal en un periódico de circulación general. EN TESTIMONIO DE LO CUAL, expido el presente Edicto que firmo y sello en Coamo, Puerto Rico, hoy 18 de enero de 2024. ELIZABETH GONZÁLEZ RIVERA, SECRETARIA. MARIELI ROLÓN RODRIGUEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

SUPERIOR DE AGUADA. NOEMÍ ROMÁN BOSQUES, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL I.

LEGAL NOTICE

SUCESION DE JUAN QUIÑONES ESQUILIN COMPUESTA POR Y OTROS

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE AGUADA

COOPERATIVA DE AHORRO Y CRÉDITO RINCON Parte Demandante Vs

EDWIN GONZÁLEZ MATOS

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE SAN JUAN SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN

ASOCIACIÓN PRO CONTROL DE ACCESO DE LA CALLE MARACAIBO, INC. Demandante V.

Demandado(a) Caso Núm.: SJ2023CV08132.

(Salón: 908). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO - ORDINARIO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. MELVYN E. FONTÁN LOZADA, MELVYNFONTAN@GMAIL.COM.

Parte Demandada A: JUAN CARLOS Civil Núm.: AU2023CV00407.

QUIÑONES SANTIAGO. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO (Nombre de las partes que se le (VÍA ORDINARIA). EMPLAZA- notifican la sentencia por edicto) MIENTO POR EDICTO. EL SECRETARIO(A) que susA: EDWIN cribe le notifica a usted que el 23 de enero de 2024, este GONZÁLEZ MATOS Se le apercibe que la parte de- Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, mandante por mediación del Sentencia Parcial o Resolución Lcdo. José Giraud Mejías, P.O. en este caso, que ha sido debiBox 277, Mayagüez, Puerto damente registrada y archivada Rico 00681, Tel. 787-265-0334, en autos donde podrá usted ha radicado la acción de epí- enterarse detalladamente de grafe en su contra. Copia de los términos de la misma. Esta la demanda, emplazamientos notificación se publicará una y del presente edicto le ha sido sola vez en un periódico de enviado por correo a la última circulación general en la Isla dirección conocida. Pueden de Puerto Rico, dentro de los ustedes obtener mayor infor- 10 días siguientes a su notificamación sobre el asunto revi- ción. Y, siendo o representando sando los autos en el Tribunal. usted una parte en el procediSe le apercibe que tiene usted miento sujeta a los términos un término de treinta (30) días de la Sentencia, Sentencia siguientes a la publicación de Parcial o Resolución, de la cual este Edicto. Usted deberá pre- puede establecerse recurso de sentar su alegación responsi- revisión o apelación dentro del va a dicha demanda de cobro término de 30 días contados a de dinero y/o cualquier escrito partir de la publicación por edicque estime usted conveniente to de esta notificación, dirijo a a través del Sistema Unificado usted esta notificación que se de Manejo y Administración considerará hecha en la fecha de Casos (SUMAC), al cual de la publicación de este edicpuede acceder utilizando la si- to. Copia de esta notificación guiente dirección electrónica: ha sido archivada en los autos https://unired.ramajudicial.pr, de este caso, con fecha 23 de salvo que se represente por de 2024. En San Juan, Puerto derecho propio, en cuyo caso Rico, el 23 de enero de 2024. deberá presentar su alegación GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COresponsiva en la Secretaría del LLADO, SECRETARIA. MYRTribunal de epígrafe, pero que NA D. VILLEGAS TRINIDAD, de no radicarse escrito alguno SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL ante el Tribunal dentro de dicho TRIBUNAL.

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

27

Will Fanatics upend the world of sports collectibles?

By JORDYN HOLMAN and KEN BELSON

O

n the Saturday before Thanksgiving, thousands of people filed into a dated convention center in Rosemont, Illinois near O’Hare International Airport to participate in the very American pastime of buying and selling sports trading cards.

The Chicago Sports Spectacular, one of the country’s biggest and oldest card shows, is like a rummage sale from the days before eBay, but with way more money involved. The 400 or so collectibles dealers set up well-worn cardboard boxes packed with cards of various players past and present from various sports, their prices handwritten on Post-it notes: $45 for a Luka Doncic card, $100 for Zion Williamson and so on.

To get inside, collectors paid a $15 cash-only admission fee, then spent hours lugging briefcases and wheelies through the maze of tables stacked high with cards. They rifled through boxes and piles of merchandise looking for rare finds such as signed Mickey Mantle baseballs and Michael Jordan rookie-year cards as they tried to cross items off their wish lists.

The eclectic — some could argue eccentric — dealers kibitzed about business trends and marveled about how quickly kids’ interests were changing as groups of boys sat on the floor showing off their favorite cards.

These very analog shows have been the backbone of the multibillion-dollar hobby, as people involved call it, for decades. But this musty corner of the sports retail world may soon be completely upended.

The company Fanatics, which already dominates the sports merchandise world through its deals with professional leagues and its sales of replica jerseys, has entered the fray with big money, sharp elbows and Hollywood gloss, signing stars such as Tom Brady and LeBron James to exclusive deals. Its aim is to entirely revamp the sports collectibles universe.

Two years ago, Fanatics reached a deal to become the exclusive trading card partner of MLB and the baseball players

Michael Osacky, who appraises the conditions of cards, at the Chicago Sports Spectacular at the Convention Center in Rosemont, Ill., on Nov. 18, 2023. Powered by its connections with leagues and star athletes, Fanatics, the merchandising giant has entered the hobby universe with deep pockets and sharp elbows. Not everyone is happy. (Jamie Kelter Davis/The New York Times) union. It then bought Topps, the iconic trading card-maker, for roughly $500 million, becoming a kingpin in an industry worth an estimated $44 billion, according to Verified Market Research.

“This is an industry that’s lived in the shadows, for all intents and purposes, and now we’re bringing a degree of prominence and relevance to it, and making it cool, fun and exciting,” said Mike Mahan, 47, who leads Fanatics Collectibles, the company’s trading card division, and has been traveling to shows such as the one outside Chicago. “We want this to be something that everyone’s excited to be a part of, whether you’re a collector, whether an athlete, whether you’re a shop owner.”

Fanatics’ entry has unnerved many in the trading card universe. But Chris Keller, a collector and shopkeeper in Elgin, Illinois, said he had long thought the memorabilia world was ripe for disrupting.

To achieve preeminence in collectibles, Fanatics is using the same playbook it did to dominate the sports apparel world: purchasing key pieces of the industry ecosystem; flexing its connections with athletes, leagues and influencers; and pushing aside those it sees as impeding growth.

Fanatics works closely with sports leagues, which invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the company. It created

new products with the leagues and became more of a just-in-time supplier of licensed gear, allowing it to react quickly when players emerge as stars. But growth in this merchandising business has slowed — one reason Fanatics is pushing into the collectibles industry.

In the collecting world, Fanatics has tried to cut out middlemen to reduce costs. Topps now sells directly to almost 700 hobby shops, up from 180 before Fanatics bought it. Fanatics also purchased a leading card printer, GC Packaging, it says to improve quality and reliability, and bought the second-largest online marketplace for cards, PWCC. As Fanatics consolidated the merchandise industry, scores of small shopkeepers were boxed out. Now hobby shop owners, distributors and competing card companies wonder if Fanatics will try to corner a swath of the card market so it can drive up prices. Lawsuits have ensued.

The most prominent involves Fanatics’ main competitor, Panini, which has deals with the NBA and the NFL that expire in 2025 and 2026. Before those agreements could be renewed, Fanatics swooped in to sign its own long-term deals with the leagues.

In August, Panini sued Fanatics. It claimed that having exclusive deals with the three biggest leagues — MLB, the

NBA and the NFL — would stifle competition and innovation and violate antitrust laws. The Fanatics deals mean Panini won’t be able to sell cards that feature league or team logos, which could make the cards look more generic and less attractive for collectors.

Panini also claimed that Fanatics poached its top executives in violation of their contracts and bought GC Packaging, which Panini uses, to strangle its supply.

“Fanatics’ acquisition of control over GCP has given Fanatics control of Panini’s lifeblood — the production of nearly all its trading cards,” Panini said.

Fanatics denied the claim and said delivery times had improved since it bought the printer.

Fanatics countersued, accusing Panini of fraud, shoddy production and poor customer service. Fanatics said that signing long-term exclusive deals with leagues was precisely what Panini had done.

“They sued us for the very things they succeeded in doing over 15 years ago — present a more compelling model for sports properties and win rights from the incumbents,” said Michael Rubin, Fanatics’ founder and CEO. “The industry needed significant change and innovation, and they are now viewed as antiquated.”

The trash talking in court has turned into a battle of competing visions for the sports memorabilia industry.

“Fanatics is going to take over the world,” said Michael Osacky, who appraises the condition of cards, a niche that for now is insulated from the showdown. “Some people would say maybe that’s not a good thing. I think it’s a good thing. I think this hobby needs innovation, new ideas. For too long, it’s the same old, same old.”

Card collecting may be a hobby, but it is also a fragmented industry punctuated by booms and busts. In the 1990s, manufacturers flooded the market with cards, prompting prices to collapse. In the early part of the pandemic, prices surged, as collectors had more time to chase wishlist cards. The market has cooled some, but it remains strong.

Continues on page 28

28

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

From page 27 Some shopkeepers view Fanatics suspiciously because of its potential power, but Keller has embraced the upheaval. Early to explore the digital possibilities for his trade, he has been promoting and selling cards on YouTube since 2011. Live breaking, as the practice is known, involves sellers opening cases, boxes and packs of cards online while people watch to see what’s inside and perhaps purchase them during the stream. In 2020 and 2021, when many stores were shut, it became a lucrative way for entrepreneurs and card shop owners to generate revenue.

Live breaking is also among the ways Rubin hopes to transform what he sees as a staid industry. Last summer, he unveiled Fanatics Live, an online platform to compete with live breaking on YouTube, Facebook, Whatnot and others. Unlike those on other sites, breakers on Fanatics Live get boxes of cards directly

from Fanatics.

“The thing that I’m most excited about is, the idea is three years old,” said Rubin, 51, adding that Fanatics Collectibles generates north of $1 billion in revenue. “We took our first sale in ’22, and we’ve done so much in less than two years. But I think we’re, like, 10% of this journey, 20% of this journey. So, there’s so much innovation coming.”

Hobby shops, though, remain the core of the card world, and shopkeepers are adjusting to Fanatics in different ways.

Mike Calvanico, who has owned a shop in Lyndhurst, New Jersey, for 40 years, focuses on selling boxes and cases of cards, not single cards. Successes to him are card series that have high resale value. Lately, he said, Panini, not Fanatics, has issued more cards that have been a hit with his customers.

“Panini could have rolled over when Fanatics came in, but they care about the stores, the public,” he said. “The guys in the

production development at Panini are the ones putting food on my table.”

Back in Chicago at the trading card show, many hobby shop owners told Mahan that they looked forward to seeing Fanatics bring celebrities and athletes in their doors to help draw more customers. It’s one of several refrains Mahan hears while on his listening tours around the country.

At the shows, Fanatics executives have also become familiar to avid collectors such as Sean Doroudian, founder and former CEO of a financial services company who has spent more than $1 million on trading cards in the past few years.

Doroudian told Mahan that he looked forward to when Fanatics would release more basketball cards. “I can’t wait, and I hope for one day you guys have the licensing deal,” he said.

Mahan quickly cut in.

“It’s not a hope,” he said.

Luis Rubiales, ex-chief of Spanish soccer, to face trial over World Cup kiss

By RACHEL CHAUNDLER

L

uis Rubiales, Spain’s onetime soccer chief, is due to be tried over his nonconsensual kiss of a star player during the Women’s World Cup medal ceremony last summer after a judge recommended last Thursday that he face a court’s judgment in a high-profile case that has upended the sport in Spain.

Judge Francisco de Jorge also recommended that Rubiales and three officials with the Royal Spanish Football Federation, soccer’s governing body in the country — including Jorge Vilda, who was fired as the women’s team coach in the wake of the incident — be tried on charges of coercion for exerting pressure on the player, Jennifer Hermoso, to show support for Rubiales in the immediate aftermath of the kiss.

The judge concluded that the kiss by Rubiales, after the Women’s World Cup final in Sydney, “was nonconsensual and was a unilateral and surprise act.” De Jorge also found that even if the kiss was more celebratory than sexual in nature, Rubiales’ behavior was within the bounds of the “intimacy of sexual relations” and he should be held to account.

Public prosecutors and Hermoso now have 10 days to formalize their accusations, and then a trial will take place. If found guilty of sexual assault, Rubiales would face a prison sentence of one to four years.

Vilda filed an appeal regarding the judge’s findings Thursday. As a result, the judge is required to gather further testimony about the matter. All of the accused have three days to appeal the judge’s recommendations.

The ruling was the culmination of a pretrial inquiry, presided over by de

Jennifer Hermoso of Spain (10) scores a goal in a Women’s World Cup round of 16 match against the U.S. at Stade Auguste-Delaune in Reims, France, June 24, 2019. A judge concluded last week that when Spain’s one-time soccer chief, Luis Rubiales, kissed Hermoso after the Women’s World Cup final in Sydney last summer, it “was nonconsensual and was a unilateral and surprise act.” (Pete Kiehart/The New York Times) Jorge, in which witnesses including Hermoso, officials and other players gave evidence regarding sexual assault accusations against Rubiales in a closed-door hearing that ended Jan. 2. The judge also examined videos of the kiss from numerous angles and a video recorded on a bus after the medal ceremony, in which Hermoso initially seemed to make light of the incident.

Hermoso, who is expected to play for Spain in the Paris Olympic Games this summer if the country qualifies, was not immediately available for comment.

The player filed a criminal complaint against Rubiales in September, 2 1/2 weeks after he forcefully kissed her on the lips, on live television, on the podium as the team celebrated its victory over England in the World Cup final. That complaint cleared the way for public prosecutors to open a case against Rubiales.

The public reckoning over the kiss has overshadowed one of Spain’s finest hours in soccer and fed a broader debate about sexism and power imbalances in the sport. The episode also led to the resurfacing of decades-old accusations of disrespect and controlling behavior by male coaches and managers in Spain toward female players.

When players vowed, in protest, not to take the field for the national team and Alexia Putellas, one of that team’s stars, coined the phrase “se acabó” or “it’s over” in support of Hermoso, comparisons were made to the #MeToo movement.

Even Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez waded into the post-match fray, calling the kiss “unacceptable.”

Rubiales initially offered a halfhearted apology for his behavior. But he later tried to shift the blame onto Hermoso, saying that she had “moved me close to her

body” during the embrace. After a defiant speech in which he refused to resign and railed against what he called “false feminism,” he received a standing ovation from his colleagues at the soccer federation.

In response, members of Spain’s women’s national soccer squad and dozens of other players signed an ultimatum, insisting that they would not play for their country — potentially blowing Spain’s chances of an Olympic ticket — “if the current managers continue.”

As public attention on working conditions in Spanish women’s soccer grew, players from Spain’s professional clubs disrupted the league’s opening weekends in September by staging a strike over low pay, maternity leave and harassment protocol.

Rubiales initially resisted calls for his resignation. But when a court issued a restraining order against him less than a month after the World Cup final, he stepped down as president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation and as a vice president of UEFA, European soccer’s governing body.

By October, FIFA — soccer’s governing body, which initially suspended him for 90 days over the incident — had barred him from the sport for three years.

Rubiales is also the subject of an investigation by anti-corruption prosecutors over irregularities in the use of federation funds.

Other heads have also rolled. Vilda, a close Rubiales ally who in 2022 was dogged by accusations of controlling behavior toward national squad players, was fired as the team’s coach in September, despite leading the team to victory in the World Cup a month earlier. He was replaced by Spain’s first female national coach, Montse Tomé.

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Sudoku

GAMES

29

How to Play:

Fill in the empty fields with the numbers from 1 through 9.

Sudoku Rules: Every row must contain the numbers from 1 through 9 Every column must contain the numbers from 1 through 9 Every 3x3 square must contain the numbers from 1 through 9

Crossword

Wordsearch

Word Search Puzzle #E794ZC

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HOROSCOPE 30 Aries

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

(Mar 21-April 20)

A festive event takes place in your home today, Aries.

Is it a family member’s birthday? A lot of lighthearted banter takes place alongside intense discussions of deep subjects and stories of strange events occurring around the world. You might make plans for another such gathering at someone else’s house. Love can blossom. Something about the evening has brought you and another closer together. Enjoy!

Libra

(Sep 24-Oct 23)

Idealistic love could come your way today, Libra.

This might involve a colleague or possibly someone in a group with which you’re affiliated. It might even be someone you’ve never before considered as more than a friend. Whoever it is may seem to be too perfect to be true. Bear in mind that this is the first rush of infatuation, and that for romance to be successful you have to love a person’s flaws as well.

Taurus

(April 21-May 21)

Scorpio

Gemini

(May 22-June 21)

Sagittarius

(Nov 23-Dec 21)

Cancer

(June 22-July 23)

Capricorn

(Dec 22-Jan 20)

Your neighborhood is a busy place today, Taurus.

Perhaps a public gathering of some kind is happening, maybe social, political, or humanitarian in nature. A number of your friends should be there. You might drop by with your romantic partner, out of curiosity more than anything else. Stick around for a while. You could learn something and discover a cause that could mean a lot to you.

Your neighborhood is a busy place today, Taurus. Perhaps a public gathering of some kind is happening, maybe social, political, or humanitarian in nature. A number of your friends should be there. You might drop by with your romantic partner, out of curiosity more than anything else. Stick around for a while.

You could learn something and discover a cause that could mean a lot to you.

At this time, Cancer, most of your focus is on either a group you’re affiliated with or an intellectual subject in which you have an intense interest, or perhaps both! The arts, particularly writing and drawing, might be among these subjects. A number of your closest friends could share your interest, particularly a woman who lives nearby, so you can expect some exciting discussions over the next few days. Enjoy!

Leo

(July 24-Aug 23)

(Oct 24-Nov 22)

Travel by air, perhaps in the company of some friends, could well be in the works for you, Scorpio. A group with which you’re affiliated might want to take a trip together, perhaps to a place associated with artistic or spiritual traditions. Your romantic partner could accompany you as well, making it as much a romantic getaway as an adventure. Take plenty of money with you! Your friends will want to go to nice places.

A lucky break could put you into a higher financial bracket than you were two days ago, Sagittarius. Career matters, perhaps those concerning the arts, could be involved in some way. You and your romantic partner will probably want to go out and celebrate your good fortune; however, make sure you don’t overindulge. You’ll want to feel absolutely fabulous tomorrow so you can continue to enjoy your success.

A social event could bring a fascinating new someone, perhaps from a different culture, into your life, Capricorn.

This person could end up talking to you for hours about a number of intriguing subjects that interest you both. You could meet some other interesting people as well, and some could become friends, but this person could well end up as a very close friend or romantic partner. Make sure you exchange phone numbers. Have fun!

Aquarius

(Jan 21-Feb 19)

Today you might decide to spend much of your day alone at home, Leo, perhaps working on a creative project of some kind. Your intellect and imagination are operating at a high level, and a gathering of friends might have brought inspiration your way. This is actually a good day to make use of your artistic talent. Your insight and vision should give rise to some moving results. Work hard!

Are you falling for someone you know on the job, Aquarius? If so, you might find out that your feelings are reciprocated. Your friend could telephone or email and invite you out, away from work. Some other people might be present, but this won’t stop you from getting better acquainted and realizing that this relationship shows promise. The only problem is that you may have to keep it under your hat for a while, at least at work.

Virgo

Pisces

(Aug 24-Sep 23)

Expect to be surrounded by genuine love and affection today, Virgo. Friends, family members, and a very special romantic partner could pay you far more attention than usual. A group activity or other social event could put both you and your beloved in touch with some interesting people who could become your friends.

Much information will be exchanged, including the names and phone numbers of those who might prove to be important business contacts. Have fun!

(Feb 20-Mar 20)

Ready for something fresh? As the Moon faces off with Uranus, a conversation could leave you excited about something you’d never considered, Pisces. If it has the potential to make a big difference to your life, then explore further. You might also be keen to invest in your spiritual development by taking up a course or class that reduces anxiety and enhances inner calm.

Answers to the Sudoku and Crossword on page 29

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

31

CARTOONS

Herman

Speed Bump

Frank & Ernest

BC

Scary Gary

Wizard of Id

For Better or for Worse

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Ziggy

32 Tuesday, January 30, 2024

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