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Para ver esta página en español, oprima aquí. Congress To Release $130M For PHAACS Membership SoughtRomero Barcelo Calls For Pro Navy VotePro Vieques Media Campaign BeginsPDP Criticized For Not Supporting Option 2Bush To Decide On Island's Political FutureNavy Offers GrantsP.R. Quarantines Vieques Meat***** Congress To Release $130 Million In Federal Funds For PHA July 24, 2001 By Proviana Colon Diaz The U.S. Housing Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee authorized the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to release to the Puerto Rico Public Housing Administration (PHA) the $130 million in federal funds that had been held since last year after fraud charges surfaced. "The committee is optimistic that the PHA has taken the beginning steps necessary to address the many problems of fraud and abuse that have plagued the agency in the recent past," the Housing Sub Committee's report said. According to Housing Secretary Ileana Echegoyen the funds will be used in several key projects, such as the completion of eight projects under construction, for which a $100 million bid will soon be held. ***** Puerto Rico Applying For Association Of Caribbean States July 24, 2001 NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) - Puerto Rico has applied for membership in the Association of Caribbean States. ASC Secretary-General Norman Girvan announced the application at a recent summit of Caribbean leaders in the Bahamas. "The accession will greatly enhance the economic significance of the association," Girvan said at a news conference during this month's Caribbean Community summit. The ACS has 25 members and three associate members. Gov. Sila Calderon has pledged to have closer ties with Puerto Rico's neighbors. ***** Romero Barcelo Calls For A Vote In Favor Of The U.S. Navy July 23, 2001 SAN JUAN (AP) - Former Gov. Carlos Romero Barcelo said on Monday that while he would vote in favor of the ousting of the U.S. Navy from Vieques by 2003 in a congressional referendum, he urged the Viequenses to "teach Gov. Sila Calderon a lesson" on Sunday by voting in favor of option No. 3 on the ballot, the permanence of the Navy on Vieques, because he believes the July 29th referendum proposed by Calderon "isn't real." Romero Barcelo stated that voting for option No. 3 equals rejecting "anti-Americanism" and the secession of Puerto Rico from the United States. ***** Pro Vieques Media Campaign Begins July 23, 2001 SAN JUAN (AP) - "There will be progress only with peace." That's the message that pro Vieques groups will convey through their media campaign in favor of the ousting of the U.S. Navy from the island municipality of Vieques. `Unidad Viequense' and `Viequenses por la paz" are the two organizations promoting option No.2 on the ballot July 29, which stands for the immediate and permanent cease of military exercises on Vieques, as well as the ousting of the Navy and the cleansing and transferring of Navy land to the municipal government. The campaign [will] explain to Vieques voters how they would benefit from the ousting of the Navy. ***** Vieques Leader Criticizes PDP For Failing To Support Option 2 July 23, 2001 SAN JUAN (AP) - Vieques leader Ismael Guadalupe on Monday criticized the Popular Democratic Party (PDP) for failing to join the campaign in favor of option 2 in the local referendum about the U.S. Navy's presence in Vieques to be held July 29. Guadalupe, spokesman for the Committee Pro-Rescue and Development of Vieques, said he doesn't understand why the PDP as an institution doesn't join the campaign in favor of ousting the Navy, if that's the alternative included in Gov. Sila Calderon's public policy. ***** Bush To Decide On Island's Political Future In Next Few Days July 23, 2001 SAN JUAN (AP) - U.S. President George W. Bush will decide in the next few days how he will handle the political future of Puerto Rico, where the Commonwealth is about to turn almost 50 years old. Published reports indicate that Bush asked for an initial report Aug. 1 on forming an interagency work group to study the island's political future. Sources said the initial White House report will contain no surprises but will be limited to describing in general the juridical relationship between the U.S. and Puerto Rico, and name the members of the special group. The initiative, aimed at establishing a formal structure that allows the administration to handle upcoming debates about Puerto Rico's political future, was inherited by Bush from the administration of former President Bill Clinton. ***** Navy Offers Grants To Help Vieques July 23, 2001 WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Navy is moving ahead with financial grants and programs for the people of Vieques island, even as it plans to bow to protesters there and withdraw from its decades-old training ground. In the last few days, the Navy has announced two programs aimed at softening the harm residents say has been done by land, air and sea exercises the military holds on the Puerto Rican island. One pays full-time fishermen $100 for each day a Navy exercise prevents them from working and part-time fishermen $50 -- and is retroactive to last October. Some $340,000 was given Friday to 77 fishermen in the first payments made under that program, the Navy announced Monday. In the second program, grants of up to $25,000 will be given to help develop businesses to provide jobs for local residents. ``I think this is a wonderful opportunity for the people of Vieques,'' Rear Adm. Kevin P. Green, head of South Command naval forces, said in a statement released Monday on the grants. The new programs are part of $40 million promised under an agreement reached in 2000 by then-President Clinton and then-Puerto Rican Gov. Pedro Rossello. Other programs planned include $12 million for construction and refurbishing at a ferry pier and $1.8 million for a mother-child health care program. ***** Puerto Rico Imposes Quarantine On Some Meat From Vieques July 22, 2001 SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP)-- Puerto Rico has barred the sale of meat from livestock that graze near a U.S. Navy bombing range on Vieques island while it tests the meat for toxic substances. The government imposed the quarantine until it tests meat samples to determine whether they are contaminated with heavy metals from the Navy's six decades of training, agriculture undersecretary Eduardo Siberio said. "If these substances are present, we're not going to certify (the meat) as fit for human consumption," Siberio said. The department expects results from the meat testing in two to four weeks.
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