The prevalent ineptitude consistently displayed by this government extends dramatically to our Police Department: Tear gas was good enough for university students a few weeks ago, yet it was never used against armed criminals in the recent hold up at Mudafort Xtreme Sports, creating instead a commotion in all of Santurce, as well as among thousands following the story in the news media for more than six hours.

Resources fit for a war operative failed to capture the perpetrators hiding inside air conditioning ducts, whose greatest effort was probably to contain their laughter at the ridicule these police agents were exposed to by their superiors, all the way up to the police superintendent. Using air conditioning ducts as an ideal hideout is so obvious that we have seen it dozens of times in the most elemental movies and TV series.

This is indeed another example which illustrates the flawed strategy being applied to the rampant increase in criminal activity throughout the island.

As basic as it was, in my opinion, to have used tear gas in the Mudafort Xtreme Sports operation, it is also my opinion that another basic strategy is ignored to contain the drug and firearms in our residential complexes:

Establishing only one access to vehicular traffic in these crime ridden areas, with check points controlled by police officers, would most probably be the most effective deterrent to fight crime. Any arguments touching the aspect of discrimination in these neighborhoods can be challenged with the fact that if check points are constantly established to check blood alcohol levels in strategic points in our highways, inconveniencing thousands of law-abiding citizens, why not do the same to crime-ridden neighborhoods that have not been able to control their own, or are willing to testify or report offenders when they commit a crime? It seems as if allowing criminal activity to foster is a way of justifying not only the existence of a bloated police force, but also of the mushrooming growth of security companies ...

Cuqui Santoni

from San Juan on Nov. 20

[Open link for original source and other VOICES in today's Puerto Rico Daily Sun.]

"Mr. Yildiz was killed 16 months ago, the victim of what sociologists say is the first gay honor killing in Turkey to surface publicly. He was shot five times as he left his apartment to buy ice cream. A witness said dozens of neighbors watched the killing from their windows, but refused to come forward. His body remained unclaimed by his family, a grievous fate under Muslim custom."

It is unacceptable that Puerto Rican authorities do not investigate properly anti-gay hate crimes. However, we can be grateful that Puerto Rico is in no way as bad as Turkey. Have you noticed how many hate crimes throughout the world, including gay and other diversities, are caused by organized religions? This news report is worth reading in light of the hate crime against Puerto Rican Jorge Steven López Mercado, 19. With all the active support from gay and straight communities in Puerto Rico and all over the fifty states, Puerto Rico is at long last ready to take some giant steps to end homophobia on the "Island of Enchantment" caused by some of our bigoted, self-serving religious and political leaders. -- Upfront Yankee

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Photo: ISTANBUL — For Ahmet Yildiz, a stocky and affable 26-year-old, the choice to live openly as a gay man proved deadly. Prosecutors say his own father hunted him down, traveling more than 600 miles from his hometown to shoot his son in an old neighborhood of Istanbul.

The New York Times, Nov. 28, 2009: Mr. Yildiz was killed 16 months ago, the victim of what sociologists say is the first gay honor killing in Turkey to surface publicly. He was shot five times as he left his apartment to buy ice cream. A witness said dozens of neighbors watched the killing from their windows, but refused to come forward. His body remained unclaimed by his family, a grievous fate under Muslim custom.

His father, Yahya Yildiz, whose trial in absentia began in September, is on the run and believed to be hiding in northern Iraq.

Continued in Extended Entry Section.]

Thousands of people marched through Puerto Rico's capital on Wednesday, celebrating the life of a gay teenager whose dismembered, burned body was found dumped along a road in a small mountain town.

November 25, 2009: Written by 2008 NEWSWEEK campaign blogger Andrew (Stumper) Romano, Absurdly Premature 2012 Watch is a weekly column that indulges our collective presidential-election fixation ... even though the next presidential election is still, ahem, three years away.

There are four kinds of candidates for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. Politicians like Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, and Tim Pawlenty belong in the sure-thing category; we know they'll be running because, well, they already are. Next come the wild cards: the headliners who haven't decided on anything yet ... except to keep their options open. Think Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich. Finally there are the long shots. Until now, I would've stocked the long-shot pool with gents like Bobby Jindal, John Thune, and Haley Barbour—prominent Republicans who occasionally inspire 2012 speculation but stand little chance of actually getting (or, for that matter, trying to get) the nod next time around.

But late last week, Republican antitax activist Grover Norquist—a guy who, love him or hate him, is still pretty plugged into GOP power sources in Washington—stopped by the NEWSWEEK offices and dropped a name I'd never even heard before, let alone heard in the context of 2012: Luis Fortuño.

I can imagine your reaction: "Um, who's that?" Or as Fortuño might put it, "Este, quién es ese?" Allow me, then, to introduce you. Fortuño is the governor of Puerto Rico, which, as you may have learned in fifth-grade social-studies class, is a United States commonwealth located to the east of the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean Sea. Yes, Fortuño is a U.S. citizen. And, yes, he is a true-blue, Reagan- and National Review-loving member of the GOP—despite the liberal leanings of his native island, where "Republican" typically means pro-statehood rather than conservative. So while Fortuño can't vote in a U.S. presidential election, he can, in fact, run as a Republican in one. "He could pop up on the national level like that," said Norquist, snapping his fingers. "I’m very impressed with both his presentation and what he’s accomplished so far."

[Continued in Extended Entry section.]

At a time when the government is laying off some 20,000 public workers to save money, Tourism Co. Executive Director Jaime López Díaz got a salary hike of $36,000 and then, the following day, a bonus of $35,000, Popular Democratic Party Sens. Cirilo Tirado and Jorge Suárez denounced Tuesday.

They called for his immediate dismissal, and said they have evidence of the pay increase Nov. 17 and the bonus for the official, who also heads the Convention Center District Authority.

“When Luis Fortuño nominated him for the Tourism Co., López Díaz also agreed to direct the Convention Center District Authority for a [total] salary of $120,000. However, now they’ve raised his salary to $156,000, plus a bonus of $35,000,” Tirado said.

Tourism Deputy Director Mario González Lafuente confirmed the salary and increase information, and told The Associated Press that the hike had been agreed on in January, but that the district’s board of directors hadn’t voted on the matter until last week.

However, he said, the $35,000 “bonus” was a retroactive salary payment, and that he will from now on get $120,000 from Tourism and $36,000 from the district authority.

[Open link for full story in Daily Sun.]

A vigil will be held tonight in Philadelphia for Jorge Lopez Mercado, 19, who was found dead on the roadside in his hometown of Caguas, Puerto Rico on Nov.

CARIBBEAN DEAL Eat, drink and play for $900 for four people, four nights at Coconut Bay Resort & Spa on the Caribbean island of St.

Photo - Daily Sun / Miguel Rios: From left, La Fortaleza Chief of Staff Juan Carlos Blanco, Gov. Fortuño and La Fortaleza Public Policy and Organization Secretary Alejandro Figueroa on Jan. 15

A commonwealth Justice Department investigation concluded that former La Fortaleza Public Policy and Organization Secretary Alejandro Figueroa could have had a conflict of interest and possibly violated ethics and canon laws when favoring a pharmacy benefit management firm owned by his father. While the investigation determined that Figueroa did not commit any criminal violations in the case, Justice Secretary Antonio Sagardía said Monday that it was being referred to the Government Ethics Office and the Office of the Solicitor General to determine whether the former Fortuño administration official violated conflict of interest rules.

Figueroa faces fines of up to $20,000 for each ethics violation and could lose his license to practice law. Sagardía said the Solicitor General’s Office, which he called “the investigative arm” of the Puerto Rico Supreme Court, has the authority to disbar attorneys. The three-month Justice probe, which included testimony from Gov. Fortuño, found that Figueroa could have incurred in a conflict of interest by participating in meetings in which a proposal from PharmPix to serve as pharmacy benefit manager for the Health Reform program was discussed.

Figueroa's father – Jaime Figueroa Sr. -- is a minority shareholder and chief executive of the company. Such conduct could have violated Article 3.2 (h) of the Government Ethics Law and regulations 21 and 38 of the Canon Law governing attorneys, which establish prohibitions against public officials participating in matters in which they or related people could face a conflict of interest, the report said.

“Regardless of whether his participation was active or passive in these meetings, [Figueroa’s] mere presence implied the presence of the secretary of public policy and organization with all the power and influence inherent to the post – and that’s a conflict of interest,” Prosecutor Ignacio Morales, head of Justice's Public Integrity Division, said during a press conference Monday morning at Justice Department headquarters in Miramar.

[Open link for full report.]

On Sunday November 22 , a Vigil in Honor of Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado will be held in the Intersection of MacArthur blvd, Lakeshore, and Grand ave, Oakland.

Photo: Daily Sun/Mauricio Pascual - Gov. Fortuño on Sunday passed several amendments that will give island municipalities greater atutomony. From left, Toa Baja Mayor Aníbal Vega Borges, Fortuño and Guaynabo Mayor Héctor O'Neill. The Mayors Federation convention took place at a Condado hotel.

Nov. 23, 2009 - By the Daily Sun staff and wire services: The current level of crime in Puerto Rico is “unacceptable” Gov. Fortuño said Sunday, as he noted that he was traveling to Washington, D.C., to meet today with federal crime-fighting officials to discuss the problem.

“This wave of crime that is covering Puerto Rico is unacceptable. That’s it, it’s as simple as that,” Fortuño said of the at least 807 killings so far this year — as of early Sunday — 82 more homicides, or an 11 percent increase, compared to the same period last year.

Fortuño, who was slated to go to Washington with Police Superintendent José Figueroa Sancha, said he would ask federal authorities to increase their surveillance of Puerto Rico’s coast. Island crime increased after federal officials increased surveillance of the U.S.-Mexican border, causing drug traffickers to change their routes for bringing drugs into the U.S. mainland.

“There has been a realignment, a change in drug trafficking routes, and [drug traffickers] are avoiding the [Mexican] border and using what I call the ‘third border,’ Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. We are going to call for more support with more resources as was done with the border of Mexico in order to prevent this area from being the preferred point for drug transshipment, which is what this area has become,” Fortuño said.

Thirty percent of the drugs consumed in the U.S. enter the mainland via Puerto Rico, according to Fortuño, who said local drug trafficking gangs have distribution networks on the U.S. eastern seaboard.

“We are doing the same thing as governors [of states] bordering Mexico did a few years ago because the resources we have are not enough [to combat] what we have been seeing in terms of drug trafficking here,” Fortuño said.

Fortuño made the comments after he met with New Progressive Party mayors during the annual convention of the Mayors Federation, at the Condado Plaza Hotel on Sunday.

[Open link for full story.]

Telemundo Communications Group, a leading producer of high-quality content for Hispanics in the U.S. and audiences around the world, Billboard, the world's most trusted music brand, and The Puerto Rico Tourism Company announced today that they reached an agreement to hold the 2010 Billboard Latin Music Awards Presented by State Farm in San Juan, ...

Yesterday I posted about the murder of gay 19-year-old Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado , whose body was found decapitated, dismembered, and partially burned by the side of the road near the Puerto Rican town of Cayey.

Here's a deal that was just released: El Conquistador Resort in Fajardo, Puerto Rico has a vacation package that goes for $250 per room, per night.

Killing in Puerto Rico Hits Chicagoans Hard - Produced by Chip Mitchell on Saturday, November 21, 2009

The body of Jorge Steven López Mercado, 19, turned up decapitated and burned November 13 along a road in central Puerto Rico. Authorities are holding a suspect and prosecuting the case as a murder but, so far, not a hate crime.

That’s angering organizers of protests this weekend in more than a half-dozen U.S. cities. Ruben Feliciano is helping organize a vigil in Chicago, which has one of the country’s largest Puerto Rican communities.

FELICIANO: This is a civil-rights issue.

Feliciano says he’s also trying to counter a myth:

FELICIANO: That Latinos are more homophobic than others. We have come a long way. There’s all these grassroots movements taking place here in Humboldt Park, spaces for young LGBTQ community.

Those spaces include an AIDS outreach organization, a planned youth homeless shelter, and a new activist group called Boricua Pride.

The vigil to remember López Mercado begins Sunday at 4 p.m. at Division and California.

[See comment in Extended Entry section.]

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.

[Open link for full, complete story.]

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?

[Continued in Extended Entry section.]

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.