Puerto Rico News

GUAYNABO, Puerto Rico -- Gay rights activists are calling for an unbiased investigation into the brutal murder of Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado, a 19-year-old gay man whose body was found burned, decapitated and dismembered in Cayey, Puerto Rico on Friday.

When former Sen. Jorge de Castro Font was Majority Leader, he authored and co-authored over 200 measures, 10 of which were aimed at helping businesses, critics said, including one that would have repealed the entity in charge of overseeing development in Culebra, one that would have benefitted bottling companies, and another that would have put the brakes on an island-wide Land Use Plan.

Most of the measures were rejected by the House or did not complete the legislative process. “That shows the benefits of a bicameral system,” a legislative source said.

De Castro Font pleaded guilty earlier this year to federal charges related to taking bribes while he was a lawmaker. He is awaiting sentencing and is cooperating with authorities, giving the names of lawmakers who allegedly engaged in corrupt acts. Federal authorities are also investigating other New Progressive Party senators, including NPP Sen. Héctor Martínez for allegedly accepting bribes in exchange for legislation, and former NPP Sen. Carlos Díaz. Secretary of State Kenneth McClintock, a former Senate president, is allegedly also under investigation.

While federal officials have not confirmed the probes, House Speaker Jenniffer González and Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz have both said federal officials have requested documents from the Legislature.

De Castro Font was co-author of the bill that would have put the Culebra Conservation and Development Authority, in charge of overseeing the island’s development, under the Department of Development and Commerce. The legislation, which was penned by NPP Sen. Roberto Arango, could have had the result of opening up the small island for development.

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Twenty nine individuals indicted by a Federal Grand Jury on November 18, 2009, were arrested today by Strike Force teams, as a result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Puerto Rico Police Department announced today United States Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodrguez-Vlez. The defendants are charged in a nine-count ...

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board announced that a malfunctioning fuel monitoring system probably led to the massive explosion at a Caribbean Petroleum Corporation facility near San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Pedro Piedro Pierlusi, Kenneth McClintock, Joe Lieberman -- They have Republican idols and modus operandi.

Regarding “Pierluisi pushes for gay tolerance” (Nov. 16), I hope Pedro Pierluisi’s talk before the gay community was not another photo op for the Fortuño administration. Now, Pierlusi must tell us actually what he is going to do to promote gay tolerance. Words mean nothing without action.

Though they did not go out of their way to push for gay tolerance for fear of losing the suspected large homophobic vote, I always felt that in their soul, former governors Pedro Rosselló, Sila Calderón and Acevedo Vilá are not homophobes. Could that be because they are more like liberal Democrats and definitely not like right-wing Republicans?

Though my soul has from the very beginning warned me that Luis Fortuño could be intolerant of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender or LGBT people, I voted for him. My friends were furious with me. They asked me: “How could you vote for an Opus Dei homophobe?” I was in denial and wanted to believe that he would push for gay tolerance. Now all my friends are gloating: “We told you so.” Why should any self-respecting LGBT person vote for him? What has he done for LGBT Puerto Ricans? He has delayed and harmed efforts to achieve Human Rights for all Puerto Ricans, including LGBT people?

Am I making the same blunder again? Now I believe Pedro Pierluisi when he says he is for gay tolerance. Maybe, I believe him because he is a Democrat and not a “No” Republican. However, how can he push for gay tolerance with a Opus Dei homophobe Republican as his boss?

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Prosecutors charged Juan Martinez Matos with first-degree murder and a variety of weapons offenses in connection with Jorge Steven Lopez's brutal death late last week near Caguas.

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Nov. 19, 2009: Friday's killing in Cayey should be brought to the attention of the national media and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender or LGBT groups in the 50 states. Why do our brothers and sisters in gay communities in the 50 states ignore serious and disgusting homophobia in Puerto Rico? It should no longer be our dirty little secret. We are as sick as our dirty little secret. We must end our denial. We need to deal with our home grown homophobia. The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth will set us free from officially permitted homophobia on the so-called "Island of enchantment."

It is time for the LGBT press in the United States and the rest of the civilized world to do investigative reporting on serious, officially permitted homophobia in Puerto Rico.

Years ago, Denver,Colorado and Corrs Beer's owners were anti-LGBT. A national gay boycott was called against both Denver and Coors Beer. LGBT people across the United States and other countries, their relatives and friends refused to visit Denver or buy any products from Denver including Coors Beer. I am more interested in ending homophobia and hate crimes in Puerto Rico than federal rum rebates for Puerto Rico vs. Virgin Island. Maybe, instead of federal funds for rum rebates, there should be federal funds to end homophobia and hate crimes in Puerto Rico.

Today, Denver and Coors Beer made a complete turnaround from being homophobic to understanding and respecting LGBT's need for human rights. Currently, Coors is a top seller in gay bars across the 50 states and in Puerto Rico. Former Vice" President Cheney's lesbian daughter worked at Coors in public relations to improve Coors relations with LGBT people. Strange as it may sound today, she did a fantastic job. It paid off.

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A suspect has been arrested in the slaying of a 19-year-old man found decapitated, dismembered and partially burned, police said Tuesday.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - President Barack Obama is now confirming what many have long suspected: He will miss his January deadline to close the Guantanamo prison - partly because he cannot persuade other nations to take the detainees.

By Xavira Neggers: The Education Department is contracting private cleaning companies owned by people with close ties to the New Progressive Party, among other alleged irregularities involving the pending layoff of 3,660 public school janitors in January, the Puerto Rican Workers Syndicate denounced, claims to which the agency did not respond Wednesday.

The supposed irregularities are causing problems with public school maintenance that is needed to prevent the spread of the H1N1 virus among local public school students, the union said. As of Wednesday, 43 people have died in Puerto Rico from the new influenza strain circling the globe, the Health Department reported.

“This signifies the return of political favoritism when the party committees of the political party in power would dole out public jobs to its followers and it is a foretaste of what is awaiting us when the janitors are laid off,” said Israel Morales, vice president of the Puerto Rican Workers Syndicate, or SPT by its Spanish initials.

The SPT has identified at least five companies that are either owned by NPP leaders or already have contracts with NPP municipalities, Morales said. Among the companies with close NPP ties is National Building Maintenance, owned by former NPP candidate to the mayoralty of Ponce Hercios Bermúdez, Morales said.

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In an apparent crime of homophobia a suspect in the murder of George Steven Lopez Mercado has been arrested.

Nov. 18, 2009: In a scathing letter to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, U.S. Virgin Islands Delegate Donna Christensen accuses Puerto Rico officials of using “scorched earth tactics” and “outright deception” in the escalating rum war between the two neighboring territories. The letter comes in response to a call by Puerto Rico Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi and the three stateside Puerto Rican members of Congress to consider a bill filed by Pierluisi that aims to ensure “fair competition” in the rum industry.

“Given the misinformation and inappropriate tactics….as well as the outright deception orchestrated by senior Puerto Rican officials and interests directly connected to Puerto Rico, I feel compelled to state the facts regarding the USVI’s economic development initiatives,” the veteran congresswoman wrote.

She said a deal with Diageo, the owner of the Captain Morgan rum brand, was reached only after it decided to leave Puerto Rico and was not “lured” there by USVI incentives. She added that if that deal were undermined by Pierluisi’s bill, “Diageo’s alternative to operating in the USVI is not to return to Puerto Rico – it is to move production offshore to a location with lower environmental standards, labor costs and sugar cane costs.”

Christensen also alleged that Puerto Rico offers its rum makers more than 10% of rum rebate funding they acknowledge through marketing efforts, saying they generally make an additional 16% of the rum rebate money they generate. She also charged that Puerto Rico has failed to hold Bacardi accountable for “significant and longstanding environmental problems from rum production on the island.” And she said that Pierluisi lied when he said he had discussed modifications to his legislation with her.

“The campaign to limit the USVI’s economic development efforts…raises questions about Puerto Rico’s own actions. There is no indication that Puerto Rico is asking the tough questions of itself,” she wrote

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A malfunctioning fuel monitoring system was the likely cause of an Oct. 23 explosion and massive fire at a Puerto Rican fuel storage depot, the US Chemical Safety Board said on Tuesday.

As activists on Puerto Rico and around the country continue to organize vigils and other memorials in honor of Jorge Steven Lopez, LGBT rights organizations and even politicians have urged local officials to treat the teenager's gruesome murder as a hate crime.

The ugly face of crime shows itself every day in Puerto Rico, where 17 people were murdered in just one recent weekend.

Drug killings on the island are a regular occurrence but last week another type of crime reared its ugly head — or rather, reemerged after many years. We are talking about hate crimes. Homophobic homicide.

Young Jorge Steven López Mercado, 19, was killed, dismembered, decapitated and burned in a rural sector of Cayey on Nov. 14. Whuuff! It’s very difficult to express more hatred and evil instinct than that in any crime.

Hate cimes are not new to Puerto Rico.

Gay activist Pedro Serrano pointed out to authorities that another openly gay man was stabbed to death recently in the Condado sector of San Juan. No arrests have yet been made in that case.

Going back 30 years, we can remember the hate crimes committed in Puerto Rico against more than 20 homosexuals by infamous serial killer, Ángel Colón Maldonado, who went by the ironic alias the “Angel of Bachelors.” This psychopath is spending a life sentence in a penitentiary where we hope he spends his last days.

As much as we are in denial, homophobia does exist in Puerto Rico. Not in a general sense, but in isolated minds and hearts. Even some religious leaders are just too intolerant of alternative lifestyles.

They don’t preach hatred but their rhetoric of nonacceptance only breeds more hatred and intolerance.

The López Mercado killer should also not go unpunished.

Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi argued just this week, in a speech before the gay community, that the Puerto Rican public needs to be more accepting and respectful toward the island’s gay community. The Civil Rights Commission has asked that the López Mercado killing be investigated as a hate crime.

With López Mercado’s murder, it is understandable that the gay community in Puerto Rico is enraged and disquieted.

We agree. There’s just too much ignorance in the air for civility’s sake.

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Textile Consultants Inc. and the Aspire Educational Institute recently announced that registration for their February 21, 2010, Advanced Water Damage Restoration Workshop in San Juan , Puerto Rico, is open, according to a press release .

martes, 17 de noviembre de 2009 Actualizado hace 2 horas (12:29 p.m. ) Darisabel Texidor Guadalupe / Primera Hora The Criminal Investigations Department of Guayama is holding Juan A. Martínez, the 26 year old confessed killer of the gay young man Jorge Steven López, in police custody.

Prosecutor José Bermúdez explained that the accused said he went to Pavial Street in Caguas on Friday and after making a few attempts to pick up a prostitute, Jorge allegedly approached him dressed as a woman, and José invited him into his vehicle thinking he had picked up a female prostitute.

He said that he did not know that the victim was really a man and they went to his apartment in the neighborhood Beatriz de Cidra, where Steven allegedly suggested that he have anal sex with him, which enraged him and caused him to murder the victim. Prosectutor Bermúdez also added, "He (Martínez) claims that Steven tried to stab him, and that he therefore grabbed a kitchen knife and in a fit of rage stabbed, dismembered and decapitated the victim and later took his remains and left them in Guavate area of Cayey."

Among other claims by the confessed killer is that in 2003 he was arrested for domestic violence and that during his prison confinement he was molested and that is why he dislikes homosexuals.

The authorities said that this case has been resolved thanks to the cooperation of the local GLBT community. Investigating Detective Ángel Rodríguez and the Prosecutor are currently questioning the suspect preparatory to his being moved to detention in Guayama and charged with first degree murder. The Prosecutor also indicated that he will request that the judge consider that this offense be treated as a hate crime.

At the suspect's home the police recovered two knives used to commit the murder, which the suspect later threw into a septic tank.

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Puerto Rican authorities have arrested a suspect in connection with Jorge Steven Lopez's gruesome death near Cayey late last week.

Environmentalists alarmed by Puerto Rico policies - November 16, 2009 By The Associated Press MIKE MELIA (Associated Press Writer)

Photo credit: AP | In this June 28, 2008 photo bikers cross a river in the Northeast Ecological Corridor reserve in the municipality of Luquillo, Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico's Gov. Luis Fortuno revoked on Oct. 30, 2009 this reserve of mountain forests and beaches as part of a drive to bring jobs and investment for the US territory's struggling economy, as activists see a broader pattern of looser protection for the island's environment. (AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo)

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Sweeping from lush mountain rain forests to pristine beaches, a corridor of land protected by Puerto Rico's last governor hosts dozens of rare and endangered species and was championed by celebrities who helped fight off resort proposals.

Now new Gov. Luis Fortuno has revoked the reserve as part of a drive to bring jobs and investment for the U.S. territory's struggling economy. And activists see a broader pattern of looser protection for the island's environment.

Fortuno's Oct. 30 order allows large-scale development inside the 3,200-acre 1,300-hectare) parcel of land immediately north of El Yunque, the only tropical rain forest in the U.S. National Forest system.

Previous Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila had declared the Northeast Ecological Corridor off-limits to all but small, eco-friendly projects after a preservation campaign backed by actor Benicio del Toro and attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Fortuno also backs legislation that would make it harder for environmental groups to block construction permits and he supports a new coal-fired power plant and garbage facilities that worry environmentalists.

"We could be in quite a lot of trouble as an island," said Camilla Feibelman, the Sierra Club's coordinator in Puerto Rico.

The Caribbean territory of 4 million people already struggles with overpopulation and the legacy of decades of industrial contamination. Polluted surface water and reservoirs mean Puerto Rico has a tenth as much fresh water per person as the U.S. mainland, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

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Puerto Rico is joining a growing list of places in the U.S. opposed to becoming the future home of any Guantanamo Bay prisoners.