Free Republic

Vieques environmentalists say a government-planned recreational area on the small island's south coast threatens the heart of a unique and fragile ecosystem and a rare bioluminescent bay. But while activists voice their concerns about potential environmental danger there, the Puerto Rican government, it seems, is listening. The Puerto Rico National Parks Department aims to develop a "vacation center" targeted at middle-class families at the Sun Bay public beach. The plan consists of a two-part process, according to National Parks Executive Director Ramon Nieves. First, the existing public beach facilities, about a half mile east of Esperanza, will be renovated, and...

The USDA Rural Development Puerto Rico announced Thursday the availability of $31 million in federal funds to aid the economic development of rural communities. This is the first time the Bush administration has assigned funding through the USDA for these types of projects, agency officials said. Of the amounts, $19 million has been set aside for grants to develope essential community facilities in eligible areas "with extreme high unemployment and severe economic depression," said Jose Otero Garcia, state director for USDA Rural Development Puerto Rico. The facilities could be childcare centers offering services not available through the municipal government, the...

The red carpet will be rolled out for Vieques Mayor Damaso Serrano in New York today when he appears before the New York City Council, meets with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and is hosted at an evening reception by labor leader Dennis Rivera and State Assemblyman Jose Rivera. Serrano will get a copy of City Council resolution calling on President Bush to order the Navy to leave Vieques and to halt violating the human rights of the small island's residents, according to the office of Assemblyman Rivera of the Bronx. The resolution, co-authored by Council Speaker Gifford Miller and members Joel...

The presence of Pro-Navy protesters today in front of the gates at Camp Garcia in Vieques will be nothing but a provocation, according to anti-Navy activists. They say the group Renacer Estadista is merely trying to provoke trouble, though Renacer claims that is not their goal. Renacer is expected to turn over to military personnel a document expressing its support for military practices in Vieques. But anti-Navy activist Robert Rabin said, "We will not allow the pro-Navy to provoke our people." The anti-Navy movement will be joined today by controversial Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu, who is to visit...

Navy exercises were interrupted for a second time on Tuesday when two fishing boats infiltrated restricted waters surrounding the bombing range. Police officials identified two of the boat's occupants as brothers Cacimar and Pedro Zenon Encarnacion. Fajardo Police Cmdr. Gilberto Diaz Pagan said local police were notified around 2 p.m. of the presence of the boats by Navy officials who said training had to be stopped because of the presence of the vessels near the target range. Flares were allegedly shot from the boats. The boats managed to evade a chase by police maritime units and U.S. Coast Guard patrols....

A poll conducted by the polling firm Precision Research shows that the sentiment in Puerto Rico in favor of the Navy's continued presence in Vieques is now greater than that of the anti-Navy sentiment, according to pollster Pablo Ramos. The poll, conducted between March 15 and April 6 on behalf of the pro-statehood group Alliance for a Better Puerto Rico, showed that 43.8 percent of Puerto Ricans want the Navy to stay in Vieques, while 15.4 percent are undecided. The poll was conducted with a sampling of 700 registered voters with a margin of error of 4 percent. Ramos said...

WASHINGTON - While no promises were made, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif., agreed that Puerto Rico made the right move by proposing the new section 956 plan to improve the island's economy, rather than attempting to "revisit" tax programs already killed in Congress, Resident Commissioner Anibal Acevedo Vila said Wednesday. "He was aware of the [956] proposal and told us it was a smart thing to come up with a new proposal and not to revisit Section 936 and 30A," Acevedo Vila said, commenting on a meeting Tuesday between Gov. Calderon, Economic Development Secretary Ramon Cantero ...

Two more employees of a durable medical equipment company in Yauco were brought Wednesday before a federal magistrate to face conspiracy, kickback and money laundering charges in an alleged scheme to defraud $1.6 million from Medicare. Hildred Mattei Franceschini, a treasurer at Centros Equipos Medicos, and employee Arabella Colon Negron were named in a 17-count superceding indictment that was handed down last week. The two women were indicted along with company president and owner Ignacio Pintado, and coordinators Rocio Semidy Roman and Nayda Garcia appeared before U.S. Magistrate Justo Arenas on Tuesday while Semidy is to appear next week. ...

Gov. Calderon signed legislation Tuesday revising the local interpretation of the federal "One-Strike-You're-Out" law to prevent evicting innocent relatives of drug offenders and other criminals from housing projects. "From today on and to protect innocent people, before throwing someone out of their house, it will have to be demonstrated that the person has something to do with, has responsibility for or control over illegal conduct or the person who commits a crime," said Calderon. The move comes as the U.S. Supreme Court has decided to hear a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling which found that the stricter interpretation ...

WASHINGTON - Congress has approved an appropriation of $40 million for the island's Urban Train project, the Office of Resident Commissioner Anibal Acevedo Vila announced Tuesday. The fiscal year 2002 outlay was part of legislation covering the U.S. Department of Transportation's appropriations for the fiscal year that begun Oct. 1. The $40 million is part of the $307 million that the federal government has promised to invest over the years in the light-rail system, whose cost will be over $1 billion. The 2002 appropriations will bring the federal share paid out for the project to $193 million. Puerto Rico ...

One day, in the not too distant future, Osama Bin Laden dies and goes to Hell. The Devil says, "we have a problem." "Hell's full-up and we don't have any room for you right now." "Don't get me wrong, you really need to be here, so this is what we'll do." The Devil continues, "There are others here that have done wrong and are being punished, but they haven't done nearly as bad as you." "We'll let one of them go and you'll take their place and I'll let you decide who it will be." The Devil takes Bin Laden ...

Resident Commissioner Anibal Acevedo Vila said Monday he is confident the federal Senate will approve a $500 million increase for the Nutritional Assistance Program in Puerto Rico. "There are two political realities that make me optimistic: the Senate is controlled by the Democrats, and the Agriculture Committee is chaired by Tom Haskins, who has always been a good friend of Puerto Rico," Acevedo Vila said. The House approved the increase as part of the farm bill, but the Senate will not consider the bill until next year. It was approved by a 291 to 120 margin in the House. Acevedo ...

Senate Minority Leader Kenneth McClintock said Monday the government of Puerto Rico "looks bad" when it carries out a telethon to raise funds only for family members of Puerto Rican victims of the terrorists attacks in the United States. "The needs of a Puerto Rican family who lost someone in the attacks is not more, or less, than that of an Irish fireman who also died there," McClintock said, adding that the intention should be to help all those affected, not just one sector. The telethon, entitled "United for New York," was organized by the government, and carried out Sunday. ...

I knew I would touch a raw nerve. In my most recent Sept. 23 column, "P.R.'s potential role in possible WWIII," I posed the critical question: "Are you willing to die for the United States?" The question was predicated on our colonial condition, in which we do not have any power to participate or be consulted in the unleashing of World War III by George W. Bush. Reaction was swift and passionate, forgetting the colonial issue. Seven letters were promptly posted to viewpoint attacking my position. Six more, equally irate, came the next week. I was called ignorant, doomsayer, deaf, ...

Gov. Calderon acknowledged Friday that Puerto Rico will have a tough fight in the congressional conference committee that will consider the fate of the Navy presence in Vieques to secure a firm commitment for the Navy's withdrawal. "We have to be careful. I want you to understand that we are confronting powers that are very dangerous," said Calderon. The governor said the first objective will be to defeat a House measure included in the defense appropriations bill to cancel the referendum and leave it up to military leaders to decide when to leave the small island, authored by Rep. James ...

Navy allies in Congress say an exit date cannot be written into the law _____________________________________________________ WASHINGTON - The Calderon administration has abandoned its support for the Nov. 6 Vieques referendum, calling instead for lawmakers to embrace President Bush's plan to cancel the vote and write into law a 2003 exit date for the Navy. The move carries risks because Navy allies in Congress say there is no chance to write an exit date into law, and lawmakers who have called for the Navy's exit from the tiny island still back the November vote. The move comes as Congress is convening ...

WASHINGTON - While she would like Congress to approve new tax breaks for the island "as fast as possible." Gov. Calderon acknowledged Tuesday the economic initiative more likely won't be considered until 2002. "We expect this could be done before the summer" of next year, said the governor, whose lobbyists must convince Congress that Puerto Rico needs a new tax program to replace section 936, which the lawmakers decided to kill in 1996. The governor spoke at a news conference at the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration office. She was flanked by Resident Commissioner Anibal Acevedo Vila, Economic Development and ...

WASHINGTON - Gov. Calderon urged Tuesday that President Bush "reaffirm" his commitment that the Navy will leave Vieques by May 1, 2003, at the latest. "We would hope that there would be an expression by the president sometime soon" restating his June 14 position that the Navy should end its exercises in the island municipality by 2003, the governor said. Resident Commissioner Anibal Acevedo Vila added that he hopes the statement will be made before a Senate-House conference committee meets to decide the final wording on Vieques provisions that will be contained in the defense authorization bill. That measure, which ...

WASHINGTON - As the nation gears up for war, military training on Vieques remains a concern for the Bush administration, which dislikes what both the House and Senate are trying to do about it. The administration is insisting on canceling a planned November referendum of Vieques citizens on whether the military can continue to train there past 2003, and it wants the freedom to set the standards for alternative training sites. The military has trained there for six decades, using live fire to provide what service leaders have long considered essential, realistic training. But since an errant bomb killed a ...

WASHINGTON - Gov. Calderon began on Monday a two-day lobbying effort here for Section 956 amid questions over whether, in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Puerto Rico should get a special, permanent tax plan different from the economic initiatives the rest of the nation could receive. While Sen. John Breaux, D-La., cited the need for the 956 plan to help the island, which he said could suffer severe economic aftershocks from the attacks, some critics say there is no need to give such special treatment to the island. Critics note that the economy-spurring tax programs under consideration ...