 LGBTQ Nation |
Puerto Rico says it will no longer defend same-sex marriage ban
LGBTQ Nation Hundreds celebrated the news in Puerto Rico, including Johanne Velez, an attorney and consultant who married her partner in New York in 2012 and is one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. “It is a historic day, and we are ecstatic,” she said in a phone ... and more » |
Puerto Rico seeks to recognize, allow gay marriages
SunHerald.com SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico's Justice Department announced Friday that it will not defend the U.S. territory's laws banning gay marriage in a major turnaround for the socially conservative island that surprised many. Justice Secretary Cesar ... and more » |
Puerto Rico ends its defense of gay marriage ban
Business Insider SAN JUAN (Reuters) - The Puerto Rican government will no longer defend a law that bans same-sex couples from marrying and does not recognize the validity of such marriages performed in other jurisdictions, the U.S. commonwealth's attorney general ... |
Puerto Rico News: Attorney Alexandra Lugaro Runs as Independent for ...
Latin Post According to EFE, Lugaro is currently finishing her PhD at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and hopes to inject new life into Puerto Rico's political system, something she says the people want. Every year around 50,000 young Puerto Ricans leave ... |
 Jezebel |
Puerto Rico's economy is a mess, but it doesn't have to be
Fox News Latino Sure, politicians too often emphasis elections over long-term prosperity, but Puerto Rico's history makes for an impediment that would be difficult for any country to overcome. For example, the Spanish crown wasn't the most interested in ushering... Puerto Rico seeks to recognize, allow gay marriagesBradford Era Puerto Rico ends its defense of gay marriage banReuters Puerto Rico Drops Ban on Gay Marriage, Ricky Martin Rightly ElatedJezebel all 15 news articles » |
Puerto Rico Sets Course to Recognize Same-sex Marriage
Newsmax The government made the announcement as it informed the public that it would no longer challenge a case making its way through the U.S. legal system brought by Puerto Rican gay couples demanding official recognition for their marriages. "You have said ... |
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Puerto Rico drops its defense of gay marriage ban
ChicagoPride.com San Juan, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico on Friday announced that it would no longer defend in court a law that limits marriage to heterosexual couples and prohibits the recognition of the marriages of gay and lesbian couples performed elsewhere ... |
 Latin Post |
Puerto Rico Drops Ban on Gay Marriage
Latin Post Puerto Rico made the decision Friday because the period of time was expiring when it would be possible to present a plea before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston on a case contesting the constitutionality of banning same-sex ... |
Wall Street has demoted the island's debt to “junk bond” status. ... To the U.S. government, Puerto Ricans pay social security taxes, federal payroll taxes, import/export taxes, federal commodity taxes, Medicare taxes and a gasoline tax. ... Since the island's governor, treasurer and auditor were all USpolitical appointees, and since the cabinet and agency heads were all appointed by the governor, these taxes were not really administered by the “Puerto Rican ...
Clean up the island's tax system and get more revenue for Puerto Rico? Remember, this is Puerto Rico we're talking about, where politicians are synonymous with mediocrity. At the core of GarcíaPadilla's plan is a 16% ...
Q: A U.S. federal judge last month struck down Puerto Rico's Recovery Act, a law passed last year to allow the island to overhaul the debts and labor contracts of struggling public corporations, and the U.S. House of Representatives recently held a hearing on a bill ... Given its political status, which in itself is a source of infinite controversy, it does not have access to financial alternatives that sovereign nations have nor to those provided by the federal judicial system.
First, as seen through four statehood referendum results, there has never been a majority of Puerto Ricans who expressed the desire to become a state in the United States. .... The pro-statehood New Progressive Party (Partido Nuevo Progresista, or PNP) may have lost political control of the island in 2012, but nonetheless, the trend of history is clear: Slowly but surely, the people of Puerto Rico are realizing that the colonial Commonwealth cannot continue, and ...
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But Congress and the federal government have oversight over many aspects of the Puerto Ricanlegal system, including external judicial review of law enforcement issues. Founded in 1898, shortly after the United States took ...
Regulators Shut Down Puerto Rico Bankby By MICHAEL CORKERY
The F.D.I.C. expects to lose about $748.9 million from the collapse of Doral Financial, the most costly bank failure in nearly five years.
Amid concerns over the disbanding of a major shipper of merchandise to Puerto Rico, authorities have issued an appeal for calm and given assurances about future supplies to the Caribbean island.
Puerto Rican Justice Secretary Cesar Miranda announced Friday that the government will take no measures restricting marriage to a bond between a man and a woman, a step toward accepting same-sex unions.
Russia's Ties with Havana Unaffected by Thaw in US-Cuba Relations - Lavrov
Sputnik International We see no signs that someday everything will be different,” Lavrov said in an interview broadcast by Russia's Rossiya-1 television channel. The Russian foreign minister also pointed out that over the past years Russia has repeatedly called on the ... and more » |
Obama's rift with South America grows
MiamiHerald.com (blog) The White House announcement of President Obama's agenda for the upcoming April 10-11 Summit of the Americas in Panama, stating that he will meet with Caribbean and Central American leaders, raises a big question: Has the United States given up on ... and more » |
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 Customs Today Newspaper |
US customs seizes 42 bales, 2425 pounds cocaine worth $30.8 million
Customs Today Newspaper CCSF is part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) that investigates South American-based drug trafficking organizations responsible for the movement of multi-kilogram quantities of narcotics using the Caribbean as a ... |
Greece is bankrupt. It is a country bankrupted by false promises made by politicians to buy votes. (Sounds like Puerto Rico right?) So what to do? Pass a few cuts here and there agree to a plan to restructure its debt and get a huge backlash from voters who have been convinced by years of propaganda that somehow, money falls from trees and someone else is to blame.
What to do?
Well Greece has come up with a plan: blame Germany and demand their money.
A good political strategy involves a little slight of hand or at least misdirection. It all started back when Germany and other EU countries demanded that Greece balance its checkbooks before getting anymore bailout money. (God forbid, but again; sounds like Puerto Rico).
The Greek redirection strategy focuses on World War II and the evil of the NAZI German empire. Now, granted; Hitler is long dead and the NAZI’s who weren’t saved by ‘operation paperclip’ were hung or imprisoned. Since then Germany suffered decades as a divided nation with half under the control of the west and half under Soviet Union control until the fall of the Berlin Wall.
In other words, the people of Germany have more than paid for their crimes, but Greece needs money now, ( in 2015) so why not demand compensation for WWII; which ended in 1945? Get the picture? How many Greeks who suffered directly in WWII are still alive? Greek politicians also want you to forget that Germany already paid war reparations!
Its not that Greece and other countries haven’t demanded such reparations in the past, but after the war there wasn’t much of Germany left to pay anything. So in addition to what was mandated in the treaties ending the war, they paid in foreign governance and global condemnation for NAZI atrocities. Slowly rebuilt in the decades following the war Germany had to ‘rebuild’ again after the fall of communism and reunification of the country.
The hard push for compensation now however, is a thin smoke screen to cover the desperation of the Greek government to find anyway to balance their books. Expect Puerto Rico’s government to do the same as its options become fewer and fewer to fix the islands fiscal disaster.
The only thing left is for Puerto Rico to come up with something to blame the United States for, likeonly spending 25 billion dollars a year to maintain the island. Too bad they can’t blame the Navy anymore.
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How many new taxes has Alejandro Garcia Padilla signed into law since taking office? I forget. Its been so many that I’ve lost count. Can you count them all? Me neither, because within legislation; especially long bills of law, there are taxes and fees hidden so no one can complain.
Suffice it to say that Puerto Rico’s economy was on its death bed, and AGP made sure to kill what was left. So in honor of this incredible feat of turning an island of 3.5 million people into one giant unemployed paradise of poor people, in honor of being able to hid a 150 Billion dollar plus budget in an ‘official’ debt of 73 billion (still the highest debt of any US jurisdiction) I dedicate this song to you Alejandro.
The only song, that explains what it is you are doing:
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Let Puerto Rico Go Bankrupt
www.bloombergview.com
Puerto Rico's legislators and creditors need to recognize that it will never be able to pay its $73 billion in public debt.
Giuliani at P.R. Investment Summit: Make the island safe. ‘Get it done’ - Caribbean Business
cb.pr
former two-term new york city mayor rudolph giuliani confirmednbsp;during a keynote speechnbsp;he is considering moving a portion or all of his businesses to puerto rico at the second annual puerto rico investment summit on thursday.
On March 17, several members of Congress wrote to top Federal health officials expressing “deepconcern” regarding the future of the Medicare Advantage (MA) program in Puerto Rico.
In a letter to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Acting Administrator Andrew Slavitt, and CMS Deputy Administrator Sean Cavanaugh, the Senators and Representatives also urged CMS to “take concrete action” in an upcoming April 6, 2015 Final Rate Announcement and Call Letter to preserve the stability of Puerto Rico’s MA program.
Absent this action, the members expressed fear of substantial reduction or even elimination of affordable options for MA beneficiaries in Puerto Rico. Most at risk, the letter explained, are low-income seniors who are dually eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid.
More than 75% of all Medicare recipients in Puerto Rico use the Medicare Advantage program, in which private companies contract with Medicare to provide coverage for individuals eligible for Medicare. Puerto Rico has the highest MA penetration rate of any U.S. jurisdiction, and roughly half of all MA beneficiaries are eligible for for both Medicare and Medicaid.
The letter points out that as CMS has recognized, “there are a number of factors unique to Puerto Rico – some of which are rooted in demographics, others of which are rooted in the island’s unequal treatment under federal law – that can and should be considered as the agency proposes payment reforms to the MA program.” For example, Medicare recipients in the States who earn below 150% of the federal poverty level receive Medicaid benefits to help pay premiums and out of pocket expenses associated with Medicare. These additional benefits are not available to low-income Medicare recipients in Puerto
Rico because of its territory status.The Government
of Puerto Rico does receive some additional funding in lieu of the low-income subsidies, but must provide matching funds. The available funds are only about 10% of the amount that Puerto Ricans would receive in low-income subsidies if Puerto Rico were a State.
It is not surprising, as the letter pointed out, that Medicare recipients in Puerto Rico are less likely to keep up with medications prescribed to them, since they have less access to funding to help pay for these medications. However, MA plans receive star rating based in part on how many individuals leave the plan and how often drugs are prescribed, among other factors. For the Medicare Advantage organizations in Puerto Rico, individuals’ inability to pay for medications may lead to lapses in prescriptions, and that can reduce the star rankings of the MA plans. Failing to take these realities into account when planning for MA programs in Puerto Rico, the letter said, is “illogical and unfair.”
Medicare Advantage funding cuts have more severely affected Puerto Rico than in any State in every year since 2011, with a 19% cut in Puerto Rico and an average of 10% cuts for the States. The latest plan could cut Puerto Rico’s funding by as much as another 14%. The letter concludes with a heartfelt plea that the DHS and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services work with the signers and with “stakeholders in Puerto Rico” to come up with a less drastic plan for Puerto Rico.
The signers of the letter included Puerto Rico’s Resident Commissioner in the U.S. House of Representatives Pedro Pierluisi, who heads the territory’s statehood party, as well as senators and representatives who represent States or districts that have
- large number of residents with origins in Puerto Rico:
- Charles E. Schumer,Senator from New York (D)
- José E. Serrano, Representative from New York (D)
- Marco Rubio, Senator from Florida (R)
- Kirsten Gillibrand, Senator from New York (D)
- Bill Nelson, Senator from Florida (D)
- Nydia Velazquez, Representative from New York (D)
- Charles B. Rangel, Representative from New York (D)
- Luis V. Gutiérrez, Representative from Illinois (D)
The post U.S. Senators and Representatives Express “Deep Concern” Over Medicare Inequalities is Puerto Rico appeared first on Puerto Rico Report.
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New House GOP Chairman Open to Statehoodby Contributing Editor
It became clear yesterday that the new Republican chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives committee with lead responsibility for the political status of territories is open to statehood for Puerto Rico.
Rob Bishop (Utah) was quoted as saying that he would not be opposed if a majority of the committee wanted to pass a bill sponsored by 71 members of the House led by Puerto Rico’s resident commissioner that would make the territory a State January 1st, 2021 if Puerto Rico votes for the status a second time.
He also opposed the idea that the use of Spanish in the territory should be a bar to equality for Puerto Rico within the nation. The language used by a State is a matter that society can manage without the Federal government imposing a mandate, the Natural Resources Committee Chairman explained.
In an interview with El Nuevo Dia newspaper, Bishop even more strongly rejected opposing statehood because of a guess that a State of Puerto Rico would elect more Democrats than Republicans, allowing that some Republicans may have done so.
That is “not a valid reason,” he stressed, “the potential support for a party should never be the reason for being for or against a petition for statehood.”
He also implied that how Puerto Rico would actually vote as a State is uncertain, recalling Utah’s case.
In that regard, he suggested developing a Republican and Democratic party system in Puerto Rico to advance statehood, noting that doing so helped obtain statehood for Utah. Before, the territory of Utah’s politics were conducted between Mormon and non-Mormon parties.
Puerto Rico’s politics are conducted among three parties. One champions statehood. Another independence. The third, the “commonwealth” party, is split between one faction that wants Puerto Rico to remain a territory but be exempt from some of the Congress’ powers to govern territories and another wing that wants Puerto Rico to become a nation in an association with the U.S. but with the continued granting of U.S. citizenship.
Republican and Democratic parties in Puerto Rico only exist to elect delegates to presidential nominating conventions of their national parties.
Bishop could not explain why most Republicans in the House had opposed Puerto Rico status choice bills in the past but he pointed out that the Republican Party has officially endorsed statehood if Puerto Ricans want the status, as did President George H.W. Bush. (He could also have cited President Ford, not to mention the public statements of support of Presidents Nixon and Reagan.)
The House member did offer, however, that, “Sometimes there are side issues that impact your vote. I think that could have influenced the voting of some” Republicans on status choice bills in 1998 and 2010.
As interviewer Jose Delgado recalled, Bishop recently revealed that he thinks he would now vote in favor of the status choice bill that passed the Democratic controlled House in 2010, although he voted against it then.
The notion that Puerto Rico would continue to have the representation in international athletic events under statehood that it has as a territory “sounds strange,” he further observed.
Puerto Rico’s “commonwealth” party has gotten some nativists in the States to oppose statehood for the territory because most U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico continue to use Spanish. The party has also caused some Republicans in Congress to be concerned by ‘commonwealther’ claims that the territory would elect more Democrats than Republicans as a State.
The party has additionally tried to generate opposition to statehood by asserting that Puerto Rico would maintain its territorial international athletic teams under statehood.
Bishop disclosed that he had not decided whether he would personally support the statehood bill sponsored by Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi, the President of Puerto Rico’s statehood political party, but emphasized that he wants Committee members to decide for themselves. He would not push them one way or the other on the bill or on other bills on the status issue.
He thought that it would be appropriate, however, to have a hearing on the statehood bill but he stressed that decisions on a hearing are up to Indian, Insular and Alaska Native Affairs Subcommittee Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska), a bill sponsor.
Supports Federal Plebiscite Law
The full Committee Chairman could not predict what the Congress would do if Puerto Ricans voted for statehood or nationhood under a Federal law enacted in January of last year but he expressed support for the law. Under it, the Federal government has allocated funds for a plebiscite in Puerto Rico on an option or options that can resolve the question of the territory’s ultimate status.
The option(s) are to be proposed by Puerto Rico’s Elections Commission but must be approved by the U.S. Department of Justice. The Commission, although headed by an appointee of the governor, also has one representative each from all three of the territory’s political parties.
The law was enacted because the “commonwealth” party governor and legislative majorities of Puerto Rico very narrowly elected in November 2012 lobbied against Federal action on statehood based on a plebiscite held under local law along with the elections. Bishop recognized in the interview, that the current status, often misleadingly called “commonwealth” after a word in the official name of the insular government but really territory status, “was defeated” and “about 60% voted for statehood” among the alternatives.
He felt, however, that whether the views of those who voted on the question of continuing the current territory status but not on the alternatives to it should be considered is a “philosophical debate. It is a little gray. I recognize both sides … I do not want to engage in a debate about what Puerto Ricans are saying internally.”
“Commonwealth” party Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla supported the losing territory status in the plebiscite held at the time of his narrow election.
Garcia and ‘commonwealthers’ in the Legislative Assembly dispute the plebiscite because it did not include the party’s status proposal, although the Obama, George W. Bush, and Clinton Administrations and congressional committee leaders of both national parties have rejected the proposal as impossible for constitutional and other reasons.
Under the ‘developed commonwealth’ plan, Puerto Rico would be a nation but the U.S. would be permanently bound to it and to the following terms of an association: U.S. laws would apply but Puerto Rico could nullify the application. U.S. courts would have jurisdiction but Puerto Rico could limit the jurisdiction. Puerto Rico could enter into international agreements as if it were a sovereign nation. All current assistance to Puerto Ricans would continue and the Commonwealth government would get a new subsidy. U.S. citizenship would continue to be granted.
The Federal plebiscite law requires U.S. Justice Department approval of status options for the plebiscite to ensure that Puerto Ricans are not asked to vote on proposals that cannot be status options.
Hasn’t Considered “Commonwealth”
The new Natural Resources Committee Chairman did not know what the options for the plebiscite provided for by the 2014 Federal law should be. He
thought, however, that the current territory status, which got 46% of the vote in the 2012 plebiscite should not be ruled out as a possibility in a future vote even though it lost because public sentiment can change.Bishop
has also not considered the “commonwealth” party’s status proposals, according to the El Nuevo Diareport.
Puerto Rican Initiative
Although he did not find the 2012 plebiscite petition for statehood to be conclusive, Bishop put himself squarely behind Puerto Ricans being able to decide the territory’s ultimate status. “One wants Puerto Ricans to decide the matter and that they exercise their self-determination,” he declared.
He considered the decision to be an “internal” one for Puerto Ricans, however.
In part, this was because he does not want the Committee’s actions on the status issue “to become a soccer ball … in the elections in Puerto Rico and the Committee to become the subject of controversy.”
Wants to Help Gas Pipeline
Bishop, who became Chairman in January, disclosed that he had no plans regarding Puerto Rico other than to help the insular government get Environmental Protection Agency approval for an undersea pipeline to move liquid natural gas from a planned offshore receiving terminal to a power plant on land.
He would like it if another member of the House sponsored a bill to help and for there to be a hearing such a bill. He noted, however, that that territorial government would need to have a good power system plan for the bill to advance.
The post New House GOP Chairman Open to Statehood appeared first on Puerto Rico Report.
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“Commonwealth” party leaders trying to agree on a new party political status proposal for Puerto Rico should abandon “commonwealth status” proposals that have failed in Congress, a “commonwealth” party senator has written.
Senator Ramon Luis Nieves wrote in an update of a book he originally authored in 2009, “The Free Associated State We Want,” that the ‘development of the Commonwealth’ should be nationhood in an association with the U.S.
Six months ago, the “commonwealth” party’s Governing Board tasked four former party presidents with drafting a new status proposal for the party to offer in a plebiscite authorized by a Federal law enacted 13 months ago.
The Board gave the assignment to the former party presidents after many of its members refused to go along with the status proposal of the current president, Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla. The opposition made it clear that the Legislative Assembly would not approve his plan.
Garcia Padilla’s “commonwealth status” would have supposedly exempted Puerto Rico from the authority of Congress to enact policies regarding territories but only in some areas. It also called for: the Federal government to fund the territory equally with the States in all social programs; exempting from Federal taxation earnings that companies in the States attribute to manufacturing in Puerto Rico; an exemption from ocean freight laws; and trade protection for Puerto Rican agricultural products.
All are “commonwealth” proposals that the Federal government has repeatedly rejected — prime examples of the failed proposals that Nieves said the party should abandon.
Nieves and a substantial minority of the Governing Board want Puerto Rico to become a nation in “free association” with the U.S. Under free association, nations share governing authority with each retaining the right to end the association.
Newspaper Primera Hora quoted Nieves as saying that a territory status as at present “is not enough to address the economic and social problems that we have in this country,” already referring to the territory as a nation, as is common in the “commonwealth” party. It reported that he emphasized a need to “design a new country,” however.
The Board was only able to agree on one aspect of a new status proposal: that it guarantee future generations of Puerto Ricans U.S. citizenship. Such a provision, however, would be inconsistent with the nationhood required for free association.
In an interview with El Nuevo Dia newspaper, Nieves pointed out that it would not be unconstitutional for the U.S. to grant its citizenship to all citizens of a nation of Puerto Rico. He did not, however, address the many U.S. Government policy objections to all citizens of another nation being U.S. citizens.
According to El Nuevo Dia, Nieves argued that the free association the U.S. would establish with Puerto Rico would be different from the free associations it has entered into with three former parts of what was a Pacific islands territory. One reason he gave was that citizens of that territory had not been U.S. citizens. Another was that the economies of the U.S. and Puerto Rico are “much more intensely integrated” than were the economies of the U.S. and the Pacific islands territory — although this claim of his is debatable.
The “commonwealth” party needs to come up with a new definition of “commonwealth status” because the Clinton, George W. Bush, and Obama Administrations rejected its current proposal for “the development of the Commonwealth” as impossible for constitutional and other reasons. Additionally, Garcia Padilla has called for a plebiscite under the Federal law enacted 13 months ago.
The Federal law provides for a plebiscite limited to options that would “resolve” the question of Puerto Rico’s ultimate political status and would not conflict with the Constitution, laws and policies of the U.S.
It was enacted because Garcia and the “commonwealth” party majorities in each house of the Legislative Assembly also very narrowly elected in November 2012 refused to accept the results of Puerto Rico’s first plebiscite limited to possible status options held at the time they were elected.
The 2012 plebiscite rejected Puerto Rico’s current territory status and chose statehood among the alternatives. Garcia supported the losing territory status option in the plebiscite.
The current territory status could not be an option for the plebiscite provided for by Federal law because it cannot fulfill the requirement of being able to resolve the Puerto Rico status question: Puerto Ricans would continue to be able to petition for statehood or nationhood.
The “commonwealth” party’s main objection to the 2012 plebiscite was that it did not include a proposal like its current status plan. Such a plan also could not be an option for the plebiscite provided for by Federal law because it conflicts with the Constitution, laws, and policies of the U.S.
Neither Garcia’s nor Nieves’ status proposals could also be options because of their conflicts with the Constitution, laws, and policies of the U.S.
Despite six months of talks, the four former “commonwealth” party presidents are not close to an agreement.
The four came from different sides on the Governing Board. Former Governor Rafael Hernandez Colon (1973-6 and 1985-92) is the apparent author of Garcia’s “commonwealth” territory proposal. Former Governor Anibal Acevedo Vila (2005-8) is a nationalist who wants the U.S. to assume the $73 billion in debts of government in Puerto Rico.
According to Primera Hora, Acevedo declared that Puerto Rico needs nationhood in an association with the U.S. — but with the U.S. citizenship incompatible with nationhood — “to give us the tools to solve economic crisis today and those that may arise during the next 10 or 15 years because all countries have crises, they need is to have the ability and the tools to address the crises that may arise.”
The post “Commonwealth” Party Sen.: Drop U.S.-Rejected Status Ideas appeared first on Puerto Rico Report.
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Bloomberg: Debt Shows Puerto Rico Must Decide Statusby Contributing Editor
Financial new service Bloomberg published an editorial this week calling for Puerto Ricans to decide Puerto Rico’s ultimate political status.
It termed the current unincorporated territory status, sometimes misleadingly called “commonwealth” after a word in the formal name of the insular government, a “status limbo.”
The editorial asserted that Puerto Rico is treated inappropriately in Federal laws because of its territory status.
It also pointed out that the insular government’s “debt crisis” is partially due to the status.
The news services concluded, “sooner or later” Puerto Ricans “will have to decide,” referring to whether the territory should become a State of the U.S. or a nation.
Puerto Ricans actually determined their preference for the ultimate status of the territory in aplebiscite held along with the November 2012 elections. The vote was Puerto Rico’s first limited to possible statuses.
Territory status was rejected by a 54% vote. Statehood was selected as the alternative on with 61.2% of the vote. Nationhood in an association with the U.S. that either nation could end (free association) got 33.3%. Independence trailed with 4.5%.
The “commonwealth status” party governor and legislature majorities very narrowly elected at the same time, however, rejected the voters’ decisions.
Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla had unsuccessfully urged votes for the current status.
His party’s main objection to the plebiscite, however, was that the ballot did not include its unprecedented proposed new “commonwealth status.” The proposal was not included, however, because the Obama, George W. Bush, and Clinton Administrations had rejected it as impossible forconstitutional and other reasons.
The Federal government’s response to the plebiscite and the “commonwealth” party’s lobbying against its results was toenact a law 13 months ago providing for another plebiscite — but one limited to options that would “resolve” the issue and proposals that are found by the U.S. Department of Justice to not conflict with the Constitution, laws, and policies of the U.S.
A plebiscite under the Federal law would not include the current territory status or the “commonwealth” party’s U.S.-rejected status proposal. A territory status could not be an option because it could not resolve the Puerto Rico status question: Puerto Ricans would continue to be able to petition for statehood or nationhood as long as Puerto Rico has a territory status.
Last July 25th, Governor Garcia Padilla proposed an option for the plebiscite provided for by Federal law. His party did not adopt it, however, because Puerto Rico would still have been subject to congressional governing authority under the Constitution’s Territory Clause … a territory.
A number of party leaders instead want to propose that Puerto Rico become a nation in an association with the U.S.
Under their nationhood proposal, however, the U.S. would continue to grant national citizenship, which would contradict the concept of nationhood, as the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case of Filipinos retaining U.S. nationality after independence.
Nationhood also requires that either nation be able to end an association, a requirement that it is not clear they want.
Four party leaders have been tasked with drafting a compromise proposal for the party for the plebiscite. They have not, however, been able to reach agreement in six months of talks.
Puerto Rico’s Resident Commissioner in the U.S., meanwhile, has led 62 other members of the U.S. House of Representatives in sponsoring a bill that would admit Puerto Rico as a State in 2021 if Puerto Ricans seek the status again but in an up or down vote. Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi heads the territory’s statehood party and was the territory’s top vote-getting in the 2012 elections.
Referring to both the Government of Puerto Rico’s dire financial problems — which are a consequence of its failed territory economy — and the need for Puerto Rico to become a State or a nation, Bloomberg advised that Puerto Ricans “should be allowed to” decide their preference between the statuses “standing up, not on their knees begging for fiscal mercy.”
The post Bloomberg: Debt Shows Puerto Rico Must Decide Status appeared first on Puerto Rico Report.
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Puerto Rican officials from across the political spectrum joined forces yesterday to urge the U.S. Congress to provide the government of Puerto Rico with the same authorization enjoyed by states to restructure debt under Chapter 9 of the federal bankruptcy code.
In a Congressional hearing before a House judiciary subcommittee, Members of Congress considered a proposal to amend federal bankruptcy law governing municipalities to include the U.S. territory, which faces a debt burden close to $73 billion. The hearing comes on the heels of a a federal court ruling that a local debt restructuring law was unconstitutional.
Puerto Rican Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi, the author of the proposed legislation, noted that Puerto Rican “public corporations, like our electric power authority and our highway authority, are subject to U.S. labor, environmental and other laws – as they should be because Puerto Rico is an integral part of this nation.” He further argued, “[h]ow is it fair…that these same entities should not have access to the legal mechanism that Congress has put in place to authorize such entities, if they become insolvent, to adjust their debts in an orderly fashion?”
Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) recognized that Chapter 9 of the Bankruptcy code could provide “predictability, transparency, and stability to a Puerto Rican municipal bankruptcy. It also could serve as a framework within which parties could come to the negotiating table and reach a consensual restructuring.” He added, however, that bondholders purchased Puerto Rican bonds when Chapter 9 was not an option and cautioned against applying the law retroactively.
Hearing witness John Pottow, a law professor at the University of Michigan, addressed the concern over retroactivity by noting that Congress has authority under the constitution’s Bankruptcy Clause to adjust debts and has used this authority in the past by enacting laws that apply to pre-existing debts.
Resident Commissioner Pierluisi dedicated his opening testimony to listing the broad support for the proposal, including endorsements from academics, individual practitioners, the National Bankruptcy Conference, local trade associations in Puerto Rico and stakeholders within the investment community. Pierluisi further noted that the opposition to the bill is centralized in a small number of investment firms.
Watch the hearing on video.
Witnesses at the hearing included the following individuals:
- Mr. John A. E. Pottow Esq.Professor of LawUniversity of Michigan Law SchoolJohn Pottow Testimony.pdf (3.0 MBs)
- Ms. Melba Acosta Esq.PresidentGovernment Development Bank for Puerto RicoMelba Acosta-Febo Testimony.PDF (157.3 KBs)
- Mr. Robert DonahueManaging DirectorMunicipal Market AnalyticsRobert Donahue Testimony.pdf (506.4 KBs)
- Mr. Thomas Moers Mayer Esq.Partner & Co-Chair, Corporate Restructuring and Bankruptcy GroupKramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLPThomas Mayer Testimony.pdf (1.5 MBs)
The post Congress Considers Including Puerto Rico in Federal Bankruptcy Law appeared first onPuerto Rico Report.
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100,000 Signatures on Statehood Petition Being Collectedby Contributing Editor
Puerto Rico’s statehood party has launched a campaign to collect 100,000 signatures on a petition to President Obama and the Congress for statehood.
The petition is a “demand” for “immediate action … to begin the process of admitting Puerto Rico” as a State, including a referendum in the territory on admission “using the funds already appropriated by Federal law to resolve Puerto Rico’s status.”
The petition is also a “demand” for “equality” for Puerto Ricans that notes that because of Puerto Rico’s territory status “its residents are treated unequally” by “and lack representation and voting rights in the government that approves the laws that rule their daily lives.”
The petition points out that on “November 6th of 2012, the people of Puerto Rico went to the polls and a majority of voters, 54% of them, rejected the current status and 61% chose statehood” as the alternative to the current status, which referred to as “colony.”
The effort is not the first to collect a large number of petitions for statehood. Three decades ago, a group named Puerto Ricans in Civic Action began to collect what wound up being 300,000 petitions for statehood when delivered to the Congress.
Its petition drive was led by a medical doctor from Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, Miriam Ramirez de Ferrer. She initiated it after hearings of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs on Puerto Rico’s underdeveloped “commonwealth” economy.
The overwhelming consensus of witnesses during the hearings was that the question of the territory’s ultimate status needed to be resolved to positively change its economy. (President Obama’s Task Force on Puerto Rico’s Status stated the same conclusion in its 2011 report.)
Committee Chairman Morris Udall told Ramirez during the hearing that Puerto Ricans needed to petition for statehood if they wanted it.
When the group presented the petitions, he clarified that the petition for statehood needed to be by a vote open to the entire population.
That occurred in the plebiscite on all of Puerto Rico’s political status options — the first ever limited to possible statuses — that was held along with the November 2012 elections.
The Government of Puerto Rico, very narrowly taken over by the “commonwealth status” party through the elections then lobbied against a positive Federal response to the self-determination decision of Puerto Ricans.
The Federal government’s response 13 months ago was to enact a law providing for another plebiscite — but one limited to options that would “resolve” the issue and proposals that would not conflict with the Constitution, laws and policies of the U.S.
It provided the funds that the statehood party petition drive proposes be used for a U.S. authorized local vote on admitting Puerto Rico into the U.S. union as a State.
A plebiscite under the Federal law would not include the current territory status or the “commonwealth” party’s status proposal, which the Obama, George W. Bush, and Clinton Administrations rejected as impossible for constitutional and other reasons.
A territory status cannot be an option because it cannot resolve the Puerto Rico status question: Puerto Ricans would continue to be able to petition for statehood or nationhood.
The party used the non-inclusion of a proposal like its current status plan on the 2012 ballot as the reason for lobbying against the decision of the Puerto Rican people in the 2012 plebiscite.
Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla, who heads the “commonwealth status” party, proposed an option for the plebiscite provided for by Federal law last July 25th. His party did not adopt it, however, because Puerto Rico would still have been subject to congressional governing authority under the Constitution’s Territory Clause.
A number of party leaders instead want to propose that Puerto Rico become a nation in an association with the U.S. Under their nationhood proposal, however, the U.S. would continue to grant national citizenship, which would contradict the concept of nationhood, as the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case of Filipinos retaining U.S. nationality after independence.
Nationhood also requires that either nation be able to end the association, a requirement that it is not clear they want.
Four party leaders have been tasked with drafting a compromise proposal for the party for the plebiscite. They have not, however, been able to reach agreement in six months of talks.
Puerto Rico’s Resident Commissioner, Pedro Pierluisi, has led 62 other members of the U.S. House of Representatives, in sponsoring a bill that provides for action on statehood for the territory, as requested in the petition. Pierluisi heads the territory’s statehood party.
The bill authorizes an insular plebiscite on statehood within a year of the bill’s enactment. It would be able to use the funds appropriated 13 months ago for a plebiscite to resolve the question of Puerto Rico’s ultimate status. If statehood wins, the bill provides for Puerto Rico’s admission as a State on January 1, 2021. A presidentially-appointed commission would recommend measures to transition Puerto Rico into equal treatment with the current States in Federal laws by the date of admission.
The post 100,000 Signatures on Statehood Petition Being Collected appeared first on Puerto Rico Report.
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The central, consuming issue of Puerto Rico’s political discussion is the territory’s ultimate governing arrangement. As former “commonwealth” party Governor Rafael Hernandez Colon has written, “all factions do agree on the need to end the present undemocratic arrangement, whereby Puerto Rico is subject to the laws of Congress but cannot vote in it.”
The ways for ending territory status that have precedent are for the territory to become a State of the U.S. or a state in the international sense, a nation. Resolution of the status issue in Puerto Rico has been frustrated, however, by the idea that there can be an unprecedented “commonwealth status.” U.S. Government authorities have repeatedly rejected “commonwealth status” proposals as impossible for constitutional and other reasons.
Statehood has the most public support. In Puerto Rico’s only plebiscite limited to possible status options in November 2012, 61.2% chose statehood as the alternative to the current territory status (which is also sometimes misleadingly called “commonwealth” because the word is used in the official name of the territorial government). Nationhood in an association with the U.S. that either nation could end (free association) ran second with 33.3% of the vote. Absolute independence obtained 4.5%.
Independence once had much more support than it does now. The “commonwealth status” movement grew out of the independence movement, and the free association movement out of the “commonwealth” movement.
The independence movement has also been split between factions that advocate independence through the democratic process and outside of it. Those who seek to obtain independence through means other than votes have also been split between those who speak and demonstrate peacefully and those who resort to violence, although the violent nationalist movement died out decades ago, in part because of Commonwealth and Federal law enforcement efforts.
A new book by former New York State Assemblyman Nelson Denis, entitled War Against All Puerto Ricans: Revolution and Terror in America’s Colony, is bringing new attention to the violent Puerto Rican nationalist movement of the mid-20th century.
International Efforts
Another source of headlines about Puerto Rican independence has long come from the international political efforts of the Puerto Rican Independence Party as well as those of nationalists who do not support or work with the party.
The Independence Party had a new accomplishment at the 2015 meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). Nicaragua’s president, Daniel Ortega, made party leaders members of this country’s delegation. Ortega later named longtime party leader Ruben Berrios Martinez as a special assistant.
The Secretary General of the party, Juan Dalmau, described the steps as “a new international campaign to pressure the United States to respond to the claim of decolonization of Puerto Rican people.”
Cuba’s president, Raul Castro, was another voice at the CELAC meeting for Puerto Rican independence. Castro asserted during his speech to the organization that, “the Community will be incomplete while Puerto Rico is not a member,” that is, until Puerto Rico is independent. Cuba annually sponsored resolutions in the U.N.’s decolonization committee that call for Puerto Rican independence from the U.S.
Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro is another Latin American leader who has repeatedly called for independence for Puerto Rico. Unfortunately for the independence movement, few insular voters heed the calls and the intended target, the U.S. Government, pays little attention.
The post Developments Related to Independence for Puerto Rico appeared first on Puerto Rico Report.
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U.S. House Hearing Set on Puerto Rico Agency Bankruptcyby Contributing Editor
The U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee that handles bankruptcy law plans a public hearing next Thursday on a bill to authorize the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to enable its independent agencies and the territory’s municipalities to rearrange their debts.
The Federal Bankruptcy Code gives States this power but denies it to the territory.
The bill, H.R. 870, was proposed by Puerto Rico’s Resident Commissioner in the House, Pedro Pierluisi, who serves on the House Judiciary Committee, the parent committee of the subcommittee. Although the sole representative of the 3.5 million people of the territory in the Federal government cannot vote in the full House, he or she can vote in House committees to which she or he is assigned.
The hearing will be held by the Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Anti-Trust Law chaired by Representative Tom Marino (R-PA). Its top ranking minority party member is Hank Johnson (D-GA).
Puerto Rico is treated as a State for all other purposes of the Bankruptcy Code. It is also treated as a State in most laws other than many tax laws and some major programs, particularly those that provide assistance for healthcare, the disabled, and low-income individuals.
The hearing comes in the wake of the Federal District Court in Puerto Rico two weeks ago striking down a law enacted by the territorial government last June that claimed to give certain of its agencies the power to dismiss their financial obligations. The controversial law was proposed by Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla without any warning and passed by the “commonwealth” party majorities in both houses of Puerto Rico’s Legislative Assembly in half a day.
It was drafted in secret by contracted law firms paid several million dollars for the language. It was enacted shortly before the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), an agency covered by the law, was going to be unable to make a debt payment — and it was proposed half a day after Garcia Padilla’s top aide said that the Governor would not seek to enable insular agencies to avoid paying their debts.
Judge Francisco Besosa ruled that the law contradicts the Federal Bankruptcy Code. He also suggested that it may violate the clauses of the U.S. Constitution that prevent government from breaking contracts and taking things of value without paying a fair amount.
The suit was brought by large national investment funds that own nearly $2 billion of PREPA’s bonds.
The law was a significant factor in owners and insurers of more than 60% of the agency’s bonds and banks that also made loans to it agreeing last August to let it delay making debt payments until the end of next month while plans are developed for it to reorganize its operations and debts.
PREPA has been losing money for years because its uses costly imported oil to generate two-thirds of the electricity that it produces, because its operations are otherwise inefficient in a number of areas, and because of Puerto Rico’s failing territory economy, which has reduced electrical needs.
The agency owes twice as much as the value of its plants and equipment, which is estimated at about $4.5 billion. It also needs several billion dollars with of infrastructure improvements.
At the time of the ruling, the Garcia Administration was trying to convince the bond owners and insurers and banks to let PREPA further delay payment on its debts until the end of June. The delay was being sought to give more time for the development of plans to reorganize PREPA’s operations and debts for agreement by the agency’s lenders.
The Garcia Administration is appealing the District Court’s decision striking down the insular law to the Federal First Circuit Court of Appeals but it has now also started to lobby in favor of Pierluisi’s bill.
The Resident Commissioner, who heads Puerto Rico’s statehood party, is expected to seek the party’s nomination to challenge Garcia for re-election next year. He leads the “commonwealth” party incumbent in the polls (as does another statehood party figure).
The Garcia Administration had previously said that it was supportive of the bill but not had not lobbied for it.
A wide range of organizations in the territory has also endorsed the legislation.
The Garcia Administration had explored the possibility of seeking the authority that the bill would provide but dropped the idea even though it was supported by officials of the U.S. Treasury Department. Insular officials said that a Federal law would take to long to obtain.
One of those officials, the territorial government’s Chief Financial Officer and President of its Development Bank, Melba Acosta, will be one of four witnesses at the hearing.
Two other witnesses are expected to support the legislation: John Pattow, a University of Michigan Law School professor who has written on the subject, and Robert Donahue, an advisor on government bonds who has closely followed the issue.
The fourth scheduled witness is the head of the legal team that represented two of the three investment fund groups that successfully challenged the “Puerto Rico Public Corporations Debt Enforcement and Recovery Act” in Federal court, Thomas Moers Mayer.
The post U.S. House Hearing Set on Puerto Rico Agency Bankruptcy appeared first on Puerto Rico Report.
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(Bloomberg) -- Puerto Rico’s power utility is moving toward a record restructuring of its $8.6 billion debt load. For high-yield municipal investors, the move may be a trigger to add the junk-rated commonwealth’s bonds.
The Electric Power Authority, called Prepa, is poised to reduce its obligations this year through negotiations with creditors. Such an agreement may cheapen Puerto Rico securities, which already trade at distressed levels, while clarifying how the commonwealth and its agencies may tackle $73 billion of debt, said John Miller, co-head of fixed income at Nuveen Asset Management. The company runs the biggest high-yield muni fund.
Signs of interest from mutual funds would be welcome news for the struggling U.S. territory, which has relied on buying by hedge funds. Traditional purchasers stepped back as the risk grew: 54 percent of muni mutual funds hold Puerto Rico bonds this year, down from 77 percent in October 2013, according to Morningstar Inc. Puerto Rico’s securities are widely held because they’re tax-free nationwide.
“There will be opportunities,” said Miller, who helps manage $100 billion of munis in Chicago. “We’re not there yet because nothing’s been restructured and we don’t know who is going to take the hits here.”
‘Dry Powder’
Nuveen reduced its allocation about two years ago, Miller said. Its $10.8 billion High Yield Municipal Bond Fund, the largest of its kind, didn’t hold any Puerto Rico as of Feb. 28, down from a 1.8 percent allocation on June 30, 2011, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
The firm has room to add commonwealth debt in its muni funds, Miller said.
“All of these funds have dry powder in their below-investment-grade buckets,” Miller said. “That’s another reason why we want to follow it closely and try to identify an opportunity.”
Debt of Puerto Rico has earned about 0.1 percent this year, compared with 0.8 percent for the entire municipal market, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.
Some commonwealth debt has been gaining. Prepa bonds maturing in July 2040 traded Thursday at an average of 52.6 cents on the dollar, up from about 50 cents at the start of 2015.
Borrowing History
The island was cut to junk a year ago because of its history of borrowing to balance budgets. The territory and its localities have more debt than all but two states: California and New York. Its economy has struggled to grow every year since 2006, and its population shrank by 7 percent in the past decade to 3.5 million, according to Census data.
Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla’s administration is trying to avoid defaulting on Puerto Rico’s $13 billion of general obligations. Legislators passed a law allowing some public corporations to ask investors to take a loss, which might ease their financial strains and free them from relying on the island’s general fund. A federal judge threw the measure out, although the island has appealed.
As a result, there’s no road map for agencies seeking to reduce debt, and Puerto Rico localities can’t file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection. That leaves investors guessing how large potential losses may be.
Puerto Rico’s general obligations may be at risk: there’s a high probability that the island will default on the securities in the next two years, Moody’s Investors Service said in a Feb. 19 report.
Commonwealth lawmakers this week filed a bill that would allow Puerto Rico to default on its general obligations.
“The credit-negative discussions, regardless of whether they culminate in enacted legislation, signal the rising likelihood of consolidated debt restructuring that affects not only public corporations, but also the central government’s general obligation and other tax-backed securities,” Ted Hampton, a Moody’s analyst in New York, wrote in a report Thursday.
Zero Sum
“At some point there’s going to be a buying opportunity,” said Peter Hayes, who helps manage $116 billion as head of munis at New York-based BlackRock Inc. “It will probably be an attempt at some type of restructuring, but will it be just in the public corporations or will it be in the general obligations? It remains to be seen.”
BlackRock’s $538 million High Yield Municipal Fund had 0.9 percent of assets in Puerto Rico as of Jan. 31, Bloomberg data show. While that’s up from zero a year ago, the allocation was about 6 percent in July 2012, Bloomberg data show.
Prepa may fail to pay of about $400 million of principal and interest due July 1, Moody’s said in a March 16 report.
The utility in August signed an agreement with creditors to extend bank loans through March 31. In return, the agency promised to file a debt-restructuring plan, which it has failed to do. The utility, bondholders, bond insurers and banks are discussing an extension. Moody’s estimates a recovery rate of 65 percent to 80 percent if Prepa defaults. It would be a historic restructuring for a municipal issuer.
The Government Development Bank, which handles Puerto Rico’s debt sales, declined to comment through David Millar, a New York-based spokesman.
Entry Point
Puerto Rico has proven volatile, so investors may not have to wait for a restructuring to buy.
General obligations sold in March 2014 at 93 cents rose to an average of 96.6 cents that month, then fell to 81.9 cents Feb. 9. The debt traded Thursday at about 84.1 cents.
“You can effectively exit and re-enter at will,” said Jason Diefenthaler, who helps manage Wasmer Schroeder’s $80.5 million High Yield Municipal Fund, which directs about 6 percent to commonwealth debt. “There’s always a way to get involved with Puerto Rico.”
Some investors already added as yields reached 10 percent, equivalent to a taxable 16.6 percent for top earners.
MacKay Shields LLC in New York boosted its holdings to $247 million in its four MainStay muni mutual funds as of Dec. 31, or about 10 percent of assets, up from 0.2 percent in October 2013, according to Morningstar.
The Puerto Rico bonds are insured, according to MacKay Shields.
Inaugural Year
In the inaugural year for Wasmer Schroeder’s High Yield Municipal Fund, Puerto Rico accounted for as much as 9.2 percent of assets in November. That allocation is now about 6 percent, all insured, said Diefenthaler, who helps manage $5.1 billion of munis at the Naples, Florida-based firm.
The fund, which debuted on March 31, can direct as much as 10 percent to Puerto Rico, Diefenthaler said.
“If we can opportunistically add more insured paper, I would be all over that,” he said. “The Puerto Rico name itself detracts from the value of that insurance in the secondary market, so there’s opportunity to pick up yield.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Michelle Kaske in New York at mkaske@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Stephen Merelman at smerelman@bloomberg.netMark Tannenbaum, William Selway
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At a secret location in Miami-Dade County, analysts and investigators tasked with preventing terrorist attacks study tips about possible plots that could be carried out between Key West and Palm Beach.
They are part of the Southeast Florida Fusion Center, one of 78 centers in the United States and Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands that make sure federal and local police agencies talk to one another about pending threats.
On Thursday, the center promoted its "See Something, Say Something" campaign to engage residents of Monroe, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties in its efforts.
Before the Sept. 11, 2001 al-Qaeda attacks when nearly 3,000 died, some of the terrorists trained at Florida air fields before flying jets into the World Trade Center, a field in Pennsylvania and thePentagon in Washington, D.C.
"There was information out there that wasn't being shared," said Lt. Mario Hernandez of Miami-Dade police, the agency that manages the eight-year-old center. "One agency had a piece of the puzzle, another agency had a piece of the puzzle, nobody had the whole puzzle. We're trying to prevent that from happening again."
Besides crime analysis, they help local authorities prepare for big national events that South Florida frequently hosts and will lend equipment such as cameras to monitor crowds.
The center's director, acting Maj. Janna Bolinger-Heller, of Miami-Dade Police, said she could not disclose most of its success stories or the number of terrorism incidents that have been thwarted.
But officials said they helped investigate Raees Alam Qazi, 22, and his brother Sheheryar Alam Qazi, 32, of Oakland Park, who pleaded guilty March 12 to federal terrorism charges and admitted they plotted a terrorist attack on New York City landmarks.
The center coordinated in 2014 with Miami Gardens police, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Interpol in an investigation of two Bahamian men here illegally. One was sought in his country for the murder of a U.S. citizen; Bahamian authorities took him into custody. The other man was deported, according to Homeland Security.
An example of what Bolinger-Heller called "unintended benefits" was how the center's cameras that had been lent to the Miami-Dade County Fair helped recover lost children.
And during a past Urban Beach Week in Miami Beach, a camera placed on a causeway showed police racing to a Star Island mansion and a burglary suspect jumping off a backyard dock into Biscayne Bay, she said. The camera monitors directed cops to the swimming suspect.
"You can't really put a price on the kinds of resources we have here and how we can use them to benefit the community," Bolinger-Heller said.
For events such as Fort Lauderdale's air show or a Super Bowl, the center will begin its threat assessment months in advance and polls the other centers in the country for intelligence reports, Lt. Margarita Varela said.
They also consider local criminal activity, concerns for police and public safety in their preparations. Regardless of the professionals' efforts, Varela said, "the bottom line for the public is we can't do it alone. We have to work hand in hand together in order to prevent criminal activity or a terrorism attack from happening in our hometown. Our kids go to school here, our families work here, we go to the malls here, we celebrate here."
Varela would like the center's tip lines — <a href="http://iwatchsouthflorida.com" rel="nofollow">iwatchsouthflorida.com</a>, seffc@mdpd.com and 855-352-7233 — to be used as often as Crime Stoppers.
"We don't want one type of person being reported on," Varela said. "Look at the behavior. Was a vehicle or item left behind? Before 9/11 we could walk by and not even challenge those things. In today's society, we can't. Bring this to the attention of the authorities and let us follow up on it."
Tips Box: Eight Signs of Terrorism
Surveillance: Someone recording or monitoring activities, taking notes, drawing diagrams, marking maps or using binoculars or other visual devices.
Elicitation: Groups or individuals seeking information in person or by mail, phone or email about military operations, capabilities or personnel.
Tests of security: Attempts to measure reaction times by police to security breaches; efforts to go through security barriers or monitor procedures to assess strengths and weaknesses.
Funding: Suspicious transactions involving large cash payments, withdrawals or deposits; asking for money for donations, or to pay for criminal activities.
Supplies: Purchasing or stealing explosives, weapons or ammunition; acquiring military uniforms, decals, flight manuals, passes, badges or equipment to make them and other items.
Impersonation: People who don't seem to belong, whether in a workplace, neighborhood, business or at border crossings and impersonation of law enforcement, military or corporate employees.
Rehearsal: Putting people in place and moving them according to a plan without actually committing a terrorist act. One element of this activity includes mapping routes and timing traffic lights and flow.
Deployment: People and supplies getting into position to commit an act. This is the last chance for someone to alert authorities before a terrorist event happens.
Source: Southeast Florida Fusion Center
Ltrischitta@Tribune.com, 954-356-4233 or Twitter @Linda Trischitta
Copyright © 2015, Sun Sentinel
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Regional News
Puerto Rico Governor Opposes Commonwealth Restructuring Amendment
MAR 20, 2015 2:45pm ET
Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro García Padilla said he was opposed to amending the Puerto Rico constitution to allow restructuring of its debt.
By <a href="http://Primerahora.com" rel="nofollow">Primerahora.com</a> 03/19/2015 | 00: 00 am
No sooner had they begun their mandates when the mayor of San Juan, Carmen Yulin Cruz and Alejandro Garcia Padilla governor already enfrentaos.
And although there have been several assaults and low blows on both sides during the quadrennium, relationship and love between the two popular figures appears to be intact. Or at least, affection there.
One of the first clashes occurred mid-2013 when the Governor called autonomist wing of the "feathers" community. The commentary not only raised welts on the Mayor but also in other PDP leaders who believe in a Commonwealth (ELA) sovereign.
"As for the 'sovereigntist wing' are not wings, feathers are" Garcia Padilla what Cruz replied, "You can not ask us to work together and, on the other (side), using words ... aimed at belittling on the other. The country is tired of the double standards ".
Months later, they come face to face, but this time for reform Teachers Retirement System. The Supreme Court declared unconstitutional several articles of Law 160.
And when the Executive's proposal of imposing a tax increase to a barrel of oil as a source of revenues for the government, came out came back Carmen Yulin carried away by his conscience dictated that it was not right, he said, leaning against a several leaders of the community, including García Padilla.
"I'm here, Alejandro, as always. To make alliances with you when you need them and not to do them when my conscience tells me that what we are doing is not for the benefit of the country. I respect you, but what you said is far from the truth, "said Cruz Soto in a press conference.
"I dedicate it to make me a country that was stalled progress ... I have no time for trifles. I reaffirm what I said. You will appreciate the efforts made and I appreciate that you have admitted that he "responded by claiming that the mayor helped him get the votes needed for passage of the bill in the Legislature.
The proposal for the imposition of a Value Added Tax (VAT) returned to separate them. Cruz did not hesitate to be felt to express their opposition, was sent to make shirts rejecting tax and participated in demonstrations, especially those who were against that apply to education.
"The important thing here is what one aspires for the country, which is that you can get out of this situation. But the country does not leave the economic situation solving the problem of the central government on the shoulders of the people, "he said then.
"This is not a fight between the governor Alejandro García Padilla and Carmen Yulin Cruz. I will aspire to one thing: to be mayor of San Juan, "he added.
To this, García Padilla said: "Some have had the audacity to criticize without reading it, but it is our popular siblings. And I am not a brother of divisions, I am the brother of units, "he said, referring directly to estadolibristas who are firm in rejecting a single VAT rate of 16 percent.
"I have the greatest respect and the utmost deference by Carmen Yulin, but I understand that the current system is unfair to workers, the middle class and I want the poor class and the middle class not taxed. That's my proposal, of course, if someone has another idea that says "he said.
But yesterday insisted there is love and respect despite everything. "I love you. I have no doubt that Alexander is a good man ... We had profound similarities and profound differences. This is a profound difference ... (VAT) I came here so we asked Luis Muñoz Marín at some point, not claudicaramos to give struggles causes our conscience repudiated ".
García Padilla said "I love her very much."
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Before the announcement of the Department of Justice that will not defend the constitutionality of Article 68 of the Civil Code, which defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman, Governor Alejandro García Padilla said the action was "the only alternative" to ensure equality.
García Padilla added that the government's position is consonant with advanced steps that have been taken in other jurisdictions in the United States.
"The People of Puerto Rico chose me to defend the Constitutions of the Commonwealth and the United States. The development of jurisprudence in multiple US jurisdictions points to an undeniable consensus. That is, our constitutional system does not allow discriminatory distinctions such as that contained in the Civil Code concerning the rights of same-sex couples. In the absence of other legal mechanism validated by the courts to recognize them these couples the same rights as heterosexual unions, the position of Justice is the only alternative that has the ELA to ensure equality of all citizens before the law, "said Governor in written statements.
However, García Padilla said that their religious beliefs have not changed and although not respond to the new position of the State acknowledges that should not stand his duty as a ruler.
"Everyone knows my religious beliefs but political leaders not for us to impose our beliefs. We have to advance the progress of civil and human rights equal to every citizen. As Governor of Puerto Rico, that's my duty, "concluded the CEO.
For his part, Secretary of State, David Bernier said the government has been consistent in promoting that equal rights are guaranteed to all citizens. However, no person highlighted its stance.
Furthermore, Melissa Mark Viverito, president of the New York City Council Garcia Padilla applauded the "choose to be on the right side of history on the issue of gay marriage."
He also thanked the Mayor of San Juan, Carmen Yulin Cruz, Senate President Eduardo Bhatia and other officials to favor marriage equality on the island.
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Page 12
First Posted: Mar 09, 2015 05:08 PM EDT
Puerto Ricans upset with the administration of the island territory's governor, Alejandro García Padilla, are asking the federal government for "an investigation (into) what has been done with the people's money over the last two years."
In a petition lodged on the White House Web site, a Guaynabo resident claimed the governor was "a threat to the economy and the people of Puerto Rico (and) even to democracy" and needed to be removed by Congress.
If 100,000 or more individuals sign the call by March 20, the White House would have to formally acknowledge it given the self-imposed rules of its petitions page. While it is highly unlikely that Washington would take any steps to depose García Padilla, the administration would at least have to address Puerto Rico.
The petition's author cited Art. IV, Sec. 3 of the U.S. Constitution, which gives Congress the "power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States." In accordance with the commonwealth's 1952 constitution, however, its governor is elected directly by Puerto Ricans.
Much of the popular discontent with García Padilla, who took office in 2013, seems to stem from the island's sluggish economy and the governor's proposed tax reforms, which include a 16 percent value-added tax on goods and services, according to Bloomberg Business.
Such a VAT, which would replace the current 7 percent sales tax, could provide about $1.5 billion of additional revenue for Puerto Rico and help the commonwealth deal with its skyrocketing debt as it needs to begin repaying $3.5 billion worth of general-obligation bonds it sold in March 2014, Bloomberg detailed.
In a televised interview, García Padilla defended his plans against "those who propose that changes need to take place (by) doing the same," El Nuevo Día noted. Today, Puerto Rican workers are the ones who carry the bulk of the tax burden, the governor said.
"What this is about, in the end, is that the country needs profound transformations," he insisted. "The current tax system does not work, and everybody know it; it burdens the middle class."
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