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Para ver esta página en español, oprima aquí. Congress Could Frustrate Status ConsensusFas Alzamora: Language Issue Should Not Turn 'Political'Senate Holds Hearings On StatusReferendum Is 'Academic'McCall To Tackle Retirement Fund DeficitCastro To Head Democratic Women
Congress Could Frustrate Status Consensus Efforts By Proviana Colon Diaz August 16, 2001 Former Bar Association President Noel Colon Martinez said Wednesday that a consensus to define the island's status would not be reached if the U.S. Congress is allowed to impose a Constitutional Assembly as the way of solving the matter. "The Constitutional Assembly that is called should constitute an exercise in sovereignty that represents the will of the people of Puerto Rico and its judicial personality," Colon Martinez said. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Eduardo Baez Galib on Wednesday presided over the first hearing on Resolution 210, which seeks to examine the Constitutional Assembly as a possible alternative to solving the island's status issue. The Constitutional Assembly would allow people from each status formula to defend their option on the island but would require consensus when presenting options to the United States. This mechanism was proposed during the 2000 election campaign by Puerto Rican Independence Party President (PIP) Ruben Berrios.
Fas Alzamora: Language Issue Should Not Turn `Political' By Proviana Colon Diaz August 16, 2001 Senate President Antonio Fas Alzamora said Thursday in a written statement issued from New York, that the controversy following the recommendation that Spanish be made the island's official language by amending the Commonwealth Constitution, has ended in what he was trying to avoid - a political issue. Still, Fas Alzamora will move ahead with the recommendations of the Senate Education, Science and Culture Committee, which investigated the use of both English and Spanish as the island's official languages. The statement comes only days after both Gov. Sila Calderon and Resident Commissioner Anibal Acevedo Vila said the language issue is not one of their administration's priorities. Fas Alzamora said that he will take the report's recommendations to the floor during the upcoming session scheduled to begin Aug. 20. He added that he will not buckle under the accusations of the New Progressive Party minority, who has described the report's findings as a mockery.
Senate Public Hearings On Status Start Today August 15, 2001 SAN JUAN (AP) - Former Bar Association President Noel Colon Martinez and law Prof. Carlos Gorrin will be the first to speak today in public hearings of the Senate Juridical Committee, which is evaluating the Constitutional Assembly as a mechanism to resolve the status matter. The hearings will last until Aug. 25. One of the matters that will be discussed is how to work with the electoral proportions of the population reflected by each status formula in a Constitutional Assembly, considering the constitutional principles and what would be an appropriate agenda. The main purpose of the hearings is to define how such a Constitutional Assembly would work, according to Committee Chairman Eudaldo Baez Galib.
Calderon: Vieques Referendum Is "Academic" August 15, 2001 San Juan - Puerto Rican Gov. Sila Calderon told U.S. Navy Secretary Gordon England that the choice of wording on the Nov. 6 referendum in Vieques was "academic" because the people of Vieques had already expressed their views on the subject. "They want the Navy to stop training exercises now," Calderon said. England sent Calderon a letter Aug. 2 informing her that the option of the Navy remaining on Vieques appearing on the ballot would specifically state that live ammunition "will not be used on more than 36 of the possible 90 days of training each year."
NY Comptroller And PR Government Tackle Retirement Fund Deficit By Proviana Colon Diaz August 15, 2001 The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the New York Comptroller's Office have formed a task force to evaluate and recommend ways to cover the $7.4 billion deficit faced by the island's Government and Judiciary Retirement System Administration, Gov Sila Calderon announced Wednesday. New York Comptroller Carl H. McCall, who is also the state's Democratic Party gubernatorial candidate, and Calderon met two months ago in New York, and after a breakfast meeting she decided to invite him to the island. McCall, who will provide his services free of charge, is reportedly responsible for doubling New York's retirement fund from $56 billion in 1993 to $112 billion now. "The pension fund provides a guaranteed benefit for retired people, which is very important, but it is also a very important vehicle and tool for economic development, because what we have done with our pension fund, we invested in our own state," McCall said.
Ida Castro To Head Democratic Women In U.S. August 15, 2001 SAN JUAN (AP) - Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the U.S. Democratic Party, announced Wednesday that Ida L. Castro, the first Hispanic woman to direct the Equal Employment Opportunity Office (EEOO) in the United States, was appointed to head the group of U.S. Democratic Women. Castro, a Puerto Rican, who recently resigned to her post at the EEOO, will be in charge of the political education project for women of the Democratic Party.
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