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Para ver esta página en español, oprima aquí. 400 Soldiers Return…Carolina Post Office Named After Clemente… Homicide Rate Creeps Up…Acevedo Praises The Governor…Let's Go Features Puerto Rico…Calderon Unaware Of Mercado Scandal Details… Fiol Matta Nominated As Associate Justice, Izquierdo As Secretary Of State…Mercado Resigns
400 Soldiers Return Home December 22, 2003 SAN JUAN (AP) – Some 400 soldiers from the National Guard of Puerto Rico are expected to return to the island on Monday after spending 10 months on security missions overseas. The soldiers of brigade 92 were mobilized on February 14 as part of the 1,600 soldiers moved from Fort Bragg in North Carolina, National Guard officials said. The soldiers have returned home step by step since June. Some 165 of the first group, voluntarily extended their time and departed in October to a mission dubbed "Guardian Mariner" Troops are expected to arrive at the Luis Muñoz Marin international airport throughout the day and into the evening.
U.S. Post Office In Puerto Rico Named After Roberto Clemente December 22, 2003 SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - The main U.S. post office in Roberto Clemente's hometown was named for him over the weekend. The U.S. Postal Service held a dedication ceremony Sunday in the 00983 ZIP code of Carolina, where the Hall of Fame outfielder was born on Aug. 18, 1934. Anibal Acevedo Vila, the U.S. Caribbean possession's nonvoting delegate to U.S. Congress, presented a bill in July to rename the post office in honor of Clemente. President Bush signed the bill Oct. 10. Clemente, who has also been remembered on U.S. postage stamps, played for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1955 to 1972. He had 3,000 hits and 13 seasons in which he hit .300 or better. He also starred on Pittsburgh's 1960 and 1971 World Series-winning teams and earned 12 consecutive Gold Glove Awards. On New Year's Eve 1972, Clemente died at age 38 in a plane crash off Puerto Rico as he set out on a trip to take aid to Nicaraguan earthquake victims. The following year, he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in New York in a special election.
Homicide Rate Creeps Up December 21, 2003 SAN JUAN (AP) - Gunmen shot and killed a man in Puerto Rico's capital as the homicide rate stayed just ahead of last year's, police said Sunday. Juan F. Rodriguez Hernandez, 27, was shot eight times late Saturday on a street in the Puerto Nuevo section of San Juan, police said. No arrests have been made. Rodriguez was among at least six people killed over the weekend in this island of around 4 million residents, authorities said. Since January, there have been 761 killings, about five more compared to the same period last year. In all of 2002, police reported 774 killings. About 80 percent of the violence is drug-related, officials say. Police have made arrests in less than 40 percent of the cases, which they blame partly on poor cooperation by residents who can feel either compelled to protect their neighbors or afraid to incriminate them.
Acevedo Vila Praises The Governor By Manuel Ernesto Rivera of The Associated Press December 21, 2003 SAN JUAN - The differences that kept Resident Commissioner Anibal Acevedo Vila and Gov. Sila Calderon under non-speaking terms for more than a month seem to have disappeared, at least for the time being. Acevedo Vila praised the governor's decision to make the resignation of former Secretary of State Ferdinand Mercado effective immediately. Mercado had proposed his resignation for Dec. 31. "I believe the governor has acted as the people of Puerto Rico expected her to act: with energy, with respect, and with verticality under unexpected circumstances," Acevedo Vila said regarding the police report which revealed that Mercado had refused to cooperate with an investigation of a car accident that claimed the life of a co-worker in 1975. Acevedo Vila, who had opposed Mercado's nomination to preside the Puerto Rico Supreme Court, said he never knew about the report because the police had told him it didn't exist. The also Popular Democratic Party gubernatorial candidate said he never opposed Mercado's nomination for associate justice of the Supreme Court because the former secretary of State had denied ever being involved in the fatal accident.
Let's Go Books Feature Puerto Rico December 20, 2003 Canadian Press NEW YORK -- Just in time for planning those wintertime trips to sunny Puerto Rico and Brazil's Carnaval, the Let's Go series has published new guides to both places. The Let's Go guides -- 45 in all -- are geared for independent travellers on a budget, with an emphasis on whatever's hip, fun and free. Let's Go Puerto Rico lists the best place to salsa the night away (San Juan's Habana and Rumba clubs) and the best place to be awed by nature (the peak of Cero de Punta, where you stand above the clouds), as well as where to camp out and which museums charge less than $1 admission. Let's Go Brazil offers a comprehensive guide to Carnaval -- but also shows you how to experience the party life in Brazil other times of the year. Published by St. Martin's Press, the Puerto Rico Let's Go is $15.99 US and the Brazil Let's Go is $19.99.
Calderon Says She Didn't Know Extent Of Details In Scandal Over Supreme Court Nominee By MANUEL ERNESTO RIVERA December 20, 2003 SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - Gov. Sila Calderon said Saturday she would never have nominated Ferdinand Mercado to be a Supreme Court judge if she had known of his failure to cooperate with authorities investigating a deadly car accident in 1975. Mercado, who had been this U.S. territory's secretary of state since 2001, resigned on Friday over reports that he had fled the scene of the deadly crash and failed to cooperate with police. "I feel disappointed because the number of details that have now been made public were never brought to my attention," Calderon said Saturday. Mercado acknowledged he had been riding in the vehicle of co-worker Jose Sosa Castro the day of the accident, but he said Sosa dropped him at his home before he had the crash. He denies all involvement with the car accident or failing to cooperate. Police reports, however, say he refused to go to a lineup after witnesses reported that he allegedly fled the scene. Calderon withdrew his nomination for Puerto Rico's Supreme Court minutes before he resigned from his job as secretary of state Friday. She said she wouldn't allow a scandal to ruin the image of the Supreme Court. In September, Calderon nominated Mercado to be chief justice and withdrew his candidacy twice in October amid a firestorm of criticism over his credentials. Many said Mercado did not have enough judicial experience and that Calderon named him for political purposes. He was a district court judge for seven years in the 1990s and has been a lawyer for 22 years. But many said that wasn't enough to be a chief justice and that Calderon rewarded Mercado for his loyalty, passing over other experienced Supreme Court associate justices. On Wednesday, Miriam Naveira -- who has been an associate Supreme Court justice for more than 18 years -- became Puerto Rico's chief justice.
Fiol Matta Nominated As Associate Justice By Proviana Colon Diaz – WOW News Editor December 20, 2003 Appellate Judge Liana Fiol Matta was nominated late Friday afternoon to be an associate justice of the Puerto Rico Supreme Court, a nomination made possible when, three hours earlier, Ferdinand Mercado tendered his resignation as secretary of state and informed Gov. Sila Calderon he wished her to withdraw his nomination to serve as associate justice. Puerto Rico’s first female governor thus makes history by nominating a woman as associate justice while another woman, Miriam Naveira, prepares to be sworn in as the island’s first woman Supreme Court chief justice. Fiol Matta had been mentioned as a possible replacement for Naveira, who must retire from the high court when she turns 70 in late July. Her opportunity came early due to Mercado’s withdrawal. Mercado’s announced his resignation, effective Dec. 31, one day after his name was linked to an automobile accident in which a friend of his died 18 years ago. An unidentified woman recently told an island newspaper journalist and a television broadcast journalist that Mercado confessed to her that he had been driving the car and fled the scene after the crash. Fiol Matta has an extensive resume that includes six years as the administrative judge of the Circuit Court of Appeals. She was appointed to the appeals court in 1992. She has also been a professor of law at numerous universities across the island, and held advisory positions in several government agencies. Sources said it is likely that the Senate will unanimously approve Fiol Matta’s nomination.
Izquierdo Nominated As Secretary Of State By Proviana Colon Diaz – WOW News Editor December 20, 2003 Gov. Sila Calderon nominated former Transportation and Public Works Secretary Jose "Pepe" Izquierdo late Friday afternoon as secretary of state, just three hours after Secretary of State Ferdinand Mercado tendered his resignation. Izquierdo left his cabinet post last year following a Justice Department investigation of DTOP contracts allegedly awarded to his former partner in an engineering firm. The case was referred to the Special Independent Prosecutor’s Office, but it was determined there was no evidence to prosecute Izquierdo and no charges were ever filed. Upon announcing his nomination during a late afternoon press conference at La Fortaleza, Gov. Sila Calderon had only words of praise for Izquierdo. "Everyone knows of his commitment to the public sector, his capacity for hard work, and the profound love Jose Izquierdo has for Puerto Rico and public service," Calderon said.
Ferdinand Mercado Resigns As Secretary Of State By Proviana Colon Diaz – WOW News Editor December 19, 2003 Just three days after being nominated to be an associate justice of the Puerto Rico Supreme Court, Secretary of State Ferdinand Mercado tendered his resignation on Friday afternoon. In addition, he informed Gov. Sila Calderon that he would not be available for the associate justice post or any post on the Puerto Rico Supreme Court. Calderon immediately withdrew her nomination of Mercado to be an associate justice. "A deplorable and hurtful act has been committed against attorney Ferdinand Mercado. They have tried to tarnish his reputation as a man and as a professional," Calderon said in a written statement. A La Fortaleza press conference has been scheduled for 6 p.m., at which Calderon is expected to announce her nominees to replace Mercado as secretary of state and to fill the open associate justice post. Mercado’s resignation, effective Dec. 31, comes one day after his name was linked to an automobile accident in which a friend of his died 18 years ago. An unidentified woman recently told an island journalist and a television broadcast journalist that Mercado confessed to her that had been driving the car and fled the scene after the crash. On Friday, Mercado called a mid-afternoon press conference at the State Department and told reporters the woman who made the allegations was his ex-wife, whom he has not seen in over 20 years. "I don’t know her mental state or her condition," Mercado said, implying that it was all a figment of her imagination. He added that the only portion of her story that is true is the fact that a co-worker of his died in a car accident. Mercado said the accident occurred after his friend had dropped Mercado off at his home. The woman had also alleged that a police report was filed after the crash but it has been destroyed. However, Police Superintendent Victor Rivera on Friday afternoon produced the report, and Mercado’s name was not in it. Accompanied at the press conference by his current wife and close staff, Mercado said his decision to resign was reached after consultations with his family. "Being a public figure does not imply giving up one’s dignity or the dignity of the family," Mercado said.
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