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Para ver esta página en español, oprima aquí. Taboada: Police Should Be Tested For Drugs…PIP Expects More Civil Disobedience…Local Court Rebuffs Wal-Mart… Journalists Condemn Gov’t Persecution…Rivera To Intensify Street Patrolling… Journalists Urged To Go To Court…Rodriguez To Appeal Wal-Mart Decision…Calderon: No Plebiscite Next Year
Taboada Thinks Police Officers Should Be Tested For Drugs December 29, 2002 SAN JUAN (AP) - Police Members Association President Jose Taboada de Jesus favored Police Superintendent Victor Rivera Gonzalez's intention of testing every police officer for drugs. "I've always favored drug tests because all agents must be clean in the true sense of the word," Taboada said. According to the superintendent, police officers haven't been tested for controlled substances in three and a half years, which he thinks it is unforgivable. Taboada agreed with the new police chief and asked him to order the tests soon, as long as they comply with legal requirements. "The public wants to have a serious, fair, careful, and affable police force, but unfortunately there are a few cases of corruption and that is not the type of police force people want," Taboada said. The union leader urged the 17,000 police officers of the island to not resist the tests.
PIP Expects More Civil Disobedience In Vieques December 28, 2002 PONCE (AP) — Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) Rep. Victor Garcia San Inocencio said Saturday that new acts of civil disobedience will occur as a consequence of the announced renewal of military practices of the U.S. Navy in Vieques. "I have no doubt that there will be more civil disobedience acts," the legislator said in a radio interview. He added that, as usual, the PIP will not reveal its strategies but will conduct them as in the past. The Navy informed the government Friday that it will start a new round of military practices in Vieques as soon as Jan. 13. Gov. Sila Calderon immediately requested by writing that President George W. Bush directly intervene in the matter and warned that this new announcement will cause much uncertainty and anxiety among Puerto Ricans. Garcia San Inocencio criticized the governor’s reaction to the announcement. "A letter to the president by Calderon telling him that she is disillusioned is not affirmative action when she has tried to discredit civil disobedience," he argued. He said "the whole island, as well as the governor," should be in Vieques when the bombings start to condemn these practices.
Local Appeals Court Denies Wal-Mart Request December 28, 2002 SAN JUAN (AP) — The Puerto Rico Circuit of Appeals denied Friday Wal-Mart’s request to dismiss the Superior Court decision to halt the Amigo/Wal-Mart merger. Wal-Mart took the case to the court of appeals after Superior Court Judge Milagros Guadarrama halted the transaction. "The [superior] court understood that the acquisition might have the effect of substantially reducing the competitors ability to survive and tend to create a monopoly, for which a preliminary restraining order was issued," establishes the appeals court. Justice Secretary Anabelle Rodriguez took the controversy to the local courts based on her belief that the Amigo/Wal-Mart merger would create a monopoly.
Government's Persecution Of Journalists Condemned December 28, 2002 SAN JUAN (AP) — Gov. Sila Calderon’s administration has opened "a hunting season" against journalists, the lawyer of the Puerto Rico Journalists Association (ASSPRO by its Spanish acronym), Manuel Suarez, condemned Friday. The lawyer made his comments after accompanying journalists Annette Alvarez of Channel 6 and Marcos Perez Ramirez of Claridad, who were summoned to appear before a Special Independent Prosecutor (SIP) who is investigating the events of June 20 when New Progressive Party (NPP) leaders, led by Carlos Pesquera, forcibly entered the Women’s Advocate Office. Pesquera and three other NPP leaders are pending trial on charges of inciting a riot. Alvarez and Perez Ramirez appeared under protest and refused to testify, which according to Suarez, gave rise for the investigating SIP, Jose De Leon, to warn them that he could return to the courts to oblige them to testify. Suarez said in the course of the last two years of government, there have been other attempts to "hinder" the work of the journalists. Among them, he emphasized the gag attempt and the refusal of former Police Superintendent Miguel Pereira to hand over the mug shots of the four NPP leaders accused of rioting, which forced the ASSPRO to turn to the courts for help. He also mentioned the Justice Department order that prohibited district attorneys from talking with journalists without the permission of Secretary Anabelle Rodriguez. The ASSPRO, the Overseas Press Club, and the Photojournalists Association protested the summons because they said journalists cannot be turned into government tools used to accuse citizens. In fact, the journalists summoned to appear at the SIP Office were prevented from entering the building for several minutes because the doors were locked. Roberto Lopez, vice president of Anglo Puerto Rican Insurance, owner of the building, eventually allowed the entrance of Alvarez, Perez Ramirez, and Suarez. A maintenance worker, who refused to be identified, told AP that the order to lock the door came from property administrator Angel Aviles. SIP Luis David Rodriguez immediately said "the instruction to impede the entrance of the journalists never came from the public office."
New Police Chief To Intensify Street Patrolling By Proviana Colon Diaz of WOW News December 27, 2002 A decision directly opposite to that which had been established by the Police Department superintendent’s predecessor has proven to be more than effective for newly appointed Chief of Police Victor Rivera - street patrolling. In fact, it has been so effective that on the second day of its implementation, Dec. 24, not a single killing occurred in the island. "We are already turning on the emergency lights of police vehicles. We began Dec. 23, and precisely on Dec. 24–for the first time in a long time–not a single killing occurred in the island," Rivera said. Another single killing occurred Christmas Day, and another the day after. The number is far from the average daily four to five killings. In fact, there was a weekend recently in which a dozen killings occurred. Rivera’s decision to put cops back on the streets, although assertive, came late in the year and was unable to revert the increasing tendency in violent deaths on the island for 2002. As of Friday, there were 24 more killings compared with the same date last year, when 737 killings had occurred for a total of 761, according to police statistics. Still, Rivera hopes his decision to intensify street patrolling will continue to take positive effects. "We hope the tendency continues to increase, not only as a results of the emergency lights, but because I have given specific instructions of intensive patrolling," Rivera said. The new chief of police made his statements Friday during an exclusive interview with WOW News at his Police Headquarters office, one week after being appointed to the post.
Justice Urges Journalists Organizations To Go To Court December 27, 2002 SAN JUAN (AP) — Justice Secretary Anabelle Rodriguez distanced herself from the summons issued by the Special Independent Prosecutor’s (SIP) Office to two journalists who have been called to testify regarding the events that took place at the Women’s Advocate Office in June. The Justice secretary said the SIP office is an autonomous entity. As such, she would not know the motives for the summonses. "I don’t know what are the bases for these summonses, therefore I do not have any knowledge regarding the matter," Rodriguez said in a radio interview. However, she recommended that the journalists organizations challenge the summons in court, since she thinks that would be an unbiased forum to decide the matter. Channel 6 journalist Annette Alvarez and journalist Marcos Perez from the weekly Claridad were summoned by the SIP to testify regarding the events that took place at the Women’s Advocate Office in which four New Progressive Party (NPP) leaders were accused of rioting. Led by NPP President Carlos Pesquera, statehood supporters placed a U.S. flag alongside the Puerto Rico flag in the office’s foyer. The Journalists Association, the Overseas Press Club, and the Photojournalists Association oppose the summonses because journalists cannot be turned into government tools used to accuse citizens. The organizations convened a protest for 2 p.m. Friday.
Justice To Appeal Federal Court Decision In Wal-Mart Case December 27, 2002 Justice Secretary Anabelle Rodriguez confirmed that the local government will appeal the decision issued by U.S. District Court Judge Juan Perez Gimenez, which prohibits taking any legal action to prevent the Wal-Mart/Amigo merger before the Boston First Circuit Court of Appeals. The Justice secretary said that after revising the decision she found it was a wrong interpretation of the law. "I’m in total disagreement [with the decision]. I’m convinced that the judges’ opinion is far from the basic law principles and we feel extremely confident that we will prevail in the Boston Circuit Court of Appeals," said the Justice secretary. According to Rodriguez, Justice secretaries of other jurisdictions support her case, since the decision would establish a precedent that would be contrary to the abilities of state governments to impose their own anti-monopoly laws. "It’s an attempt by a federal forum to interfere with the power of the states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to apply its anti-monopoly laws and that is contrary to established law principles," Rodriguez said. Meanwhile, Federico Gonzalez Denton, Wal-Mart’s director of Corporate Affairs, said they were satisfied with the court decision and warned the local Justice Department that they would not prevail in the appeal. "Our case is a solid one and we are confident in the result. We can prevail in Boston and in any other court," Gonzalez Denton said. In a 54-page decision, U.S. District Court Judge Perez Gimenez said that Rodriguez abused her power because of the conditions the local Justice department tried to impose on the transaction.
Governor: No Plebiscite Next Year December 27, 2002 SAN JUAN (AP) — Gov. Sila Calderon ruled out organizing a plebiscite on the island’s political status next year because that issue is not a "priority" for her government. "I want to make clear that in my government synopsis, in this four-year term, I have three priorities: a clean government, economic development, and projects for the Puerto Rican family. I do not foresee a plebiscite this year, nor in this four-year term. I not only don’t foresee it, I don’t have it planned," Calderon said in published reports. The governor said last week that she would deal with the status issue despite New Progressive Party President Carlos Pesquera’s refusal to participate in the aborted Puerto Rican Unity and Consensus Commission. She argued at that time that the issue was too important for it to depend on one person, in this case, Pesquera.
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