Puerto Rico News

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.

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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.

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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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