Puerto Rico News

U.S. archaeologist Nathan Mountjoy sits next to stones etched with ancient petroglyphs and graves that reveal unusual burial methods in Ponce, Puerto Rico, Tuesday, Oct.

IWA Puerto Rico Results for 06.28.08 Posted by Armando Rodriguez on 07.02.2008 Joe Bravo jumps from WWC to IWA , Cruzz & Diabolico return, a new title is introduced, new Hardcore Champion and more! IWA Puerto ...

Nilda Medina Diaz has dedicated her life to the demilitarization of Vieques. This tiny Puerto Rican island was used by the U.S. Navy for military exercise and weapons training and testing for 63 years.

The lady carved on the ancient rock is squatting, with froglike legs sticking out to each side.

He came. He saw. He walked. Rick Wallenda, a decendent of the "Flying Wallendas" clan, broke his late grandfather's 34-year-old distance record for tight rope walking Friday, July 4, at Kings Island by walking ...

Photo: The New York Draft Riots were involved the newly arriving Irish Catholic immigrants. They were taken off the boats from Ireland to be used as cannon fodder. Use the link to read the full story.

"...The Korean War was perhaps the last conflict in which patriotism for certain troops was questioned. The case in point is the 65th Regiment from Puerto Rico. It was one of the most highly decorated units when the conflict began, but was disbanded on charges that deserve retraction. However, even though most of the Puerto Ricans in the troops called “The Borinqueneers” were Catholic – the Cross of Malta from the Knights of St. John was their insignia – the discrimination was more because they were Latino than because of religion..."

Memory of the Irish Battalion stirred fear during the U.S. Civil War and Lincoln went out of his way to cultivate Catholic bishops like John Hughes of New York in order to forestall rebellion in the ranks. In retrospect, the ability of the North to refurbish the troops with freshly recruited Irish Catholics right off the boat contributed mightily to the eventual Union victory. The fears of divided Catholic loyalties were also a preoccupation with the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in 1898. Already patriotic, the U.S. Catholic Bishops formed a Catholic organization to urge enlistment to the army and support from Catholics for the war. This pattern continued during the First World War when fear of defection shifted from Catholics as Catholics, to caution about German-Americans in the army. Likewise, African-American soldiers were held to disrespect and suspicion.

[Open above link to read full posting... by Anthony M. Stevens-Arroyo on July 3, 2008 10:40 AM]

IWA:Puerto Rico Results for 06.21.08 Posted by Armando Rodriguez on 06.27.2008 The real finals for the Jose Miguel Perez Cup! IWA Puerto Rico Results from June 21, 2008 from Bayamon, PR - El Niche defeats Death ...

Puerto Rico's Governor Anibal Acevedo-Vila. - Photo by Janet Silvera Almost crippled by the cancellations of more than 20 per cent of American Airlines flights to its tourism-dependent destination, Puerto Rico ...

Police said that they have made two arrests in connection with the burning of a Puerto Rican flag at a home in Simpsonville.

LAS VEGAS -- The eighth season of "American Idol" is about to kick off its audition process, and the judges won't be stopping in Las Vegas.

U.S. archaeologist Nathan Mountjoy sits next to stones etched with ancient petroglyphs and graves that reveal unusual burial methods in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

U.S. Archaeologist Nathan Mountjoy sits next to stones etched with ancient petroglyphs and graves that reveal unusual burial methods in Ponce, Puerto Rico. The archaeological find, one of the best-preserved pre-Columbian sites found in the Caribbean, form a large plaza measuring some 130 feet by 160 feet that could have been used for ball games or ceremonial rites, officials said.

The lady carved on the ancient rock is squatting, with frog-like legs sticking out to each side. Her decapitated head is dangling to the right. That's how she had been, perfectly preserved, for up to 800 years, until the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers came upon her last year while building a $375 million dam to control flooding in southern Puerto Rico.

She was buried again last week with the hope that some day specialists will study her and Puerto Rican children will visit and learn about the lives of the Taino Indians who created her. But archaeologists and government officals first had to settle a raging debate about who should have control over her and other artifacts sent to Georgia for analysis.

The ancient petroglyph of the woman was found on a five-acre site in Jácana, a spot along the Portugues River in the city of Ponce, on Puerto Rico's southern coast. Among the largest and most significant ever unearthed in the Caribbean, archaeologists said, the site includes plazas used for ceremony or sport, a burial ground, residences and a midden mound -- a pile of ritual trash.

The finding sheds new light on the lifestyle and activities of a people extinct for nearly 500 years.

Experts say the site -- parts of it unearthed from six feet of soil -- had been used at least twice, the first time by pre-Taino peoples as far back as 600 AD, then again by the Tainos sometime between 1200 and 1500 AD.

''It was thrilling, a once-in-a-lifetime thing,'' said David McCullough, an Army Corps archaeologist. ``Just amazing.''

[Open above link for complete story and related stories.]

In the Heights, written by 28-year-old Broadway newcomer Lin-Manuel Miranda, tells the story of a tight-knit block in the largely Hispanic Washington Heights neighbourhood of Manhattan. The characters are coming to grips with the financial pressures of living in New York and learning to appreciate their Hispanic identity.

And, this being Broadway, they sing, dance and fall loudly in love. Oh, and they rap.

The show, which won Tony awards for best musical and best original score this spring, boasts b-boy-inspired choreography and excursions through hip-hop and Latin musical styles.

It tells the story of Usnavi, owner of a bodega, a Hispanic grocery store, who longs to return to his native Dominican Republic. Usnavi, played by Miranda, who was nominated for a Tony for the role, has his eye on Vanessa. She is a neighbourhood beauty who wants to move to a trendy neighbourhood downtown.

Meanwhile, Nina, the block's estrella, returns from her first year at Stanford university. She is ashamed to tell her friends and family she had to drop out because could not maintain her grades while working long hours to pay tuition.

The neighbourhood is changing: Rents are going up, and a company wants to buy Nina's father, Rosario, out of his taxi cab business.

[This is a long and interesting article with an excellent video. Open above link to read the article and to view the video.]

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Expensive jet fuel and a soft American economy are threatening to sink Caribbean tourism as airline ticket prices soar and flights are sharply reduced, choking the flow of the vacationers that many tiny islands depend on.

Tourism is the economic cornerstone of the Caribbean, which drew more than 15 million visitors last year to colonial cities and carefree beaches.

"Billions of dollars of investment are being exposed and thousands of jobs are being exposed," said Allen Chastanet, chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organization.

Airlines are cutting back across the world as passengers balk at paying fares that have risen along with fuel costs. The Caribbean is particularly vulnerable because one foundering airline, American, controls much of the market, carrying more than 60 percent of passengers traveling through Puerto Rico last year.

American now expects to cut daily flights out of Puerto Rico's capital from 93 to 51 in September. Some flights will be cut to Santo Domingo, Antigua, St. Maarten, Aruba and Samana in the Dominican Republic, spokeswoman Minnette Velez said.

Fewer flights to Puerto Rico also could also jeopardize the island's cruise ship industry, since it would be harder for passengers to reach the island to board. Ten cruise ships used Puerto Rico as their home port last year.

[Open above link for full story.]

A view of "Windows to the Sea" park in the Condado. It is located on the Atlantic Ocean. The tall building in the background is the new La Concha Hotel. The renovation or completely new design of the old La Concha is beautiful and exciting.

Former Charlotte Observer staff writer Danica Coto has covered the Caribbean as an Associated Press reporter in Puerto Rico for the past year. Coto, 30, is originally from Costa Rica.

Q. Where do you live, and what's it like?

I live in Condado, about five minutes east of old San Juan. It's a suburb of San Juan and one of the most popular places for tourists to stay. People associate Condado with restaurants and boutiques, and the ocean's right in front.

Q. How far do you actually live from the coast?

Right there. A minute walk.

Q. That must cost an arm and a leg. It depends. It took me about three weeks to find the studio apartment I now rent. You can also find an apartment above a Gucci store that goes for $2 million. Not my price range.

Condado is mostly tourists with some Puerto Ricans as well. It's known for attracting wealthy Americans: There are lots of hotels here.

It feels like Puerto Rico nonetheless. I love my neighborhood because we get a new influx of people every week.

But on weekends, I prefer to go to Pinones (“pin-YO-nayz”), a neighborhood about 10 minutes east of here. It's where you find the best street food in Puerto Rico.

Pinones is known as a predominantly African American community. It hugs the coastline and there's a boardwalk about 20 miles long. You can go walking or biking there.

And the music is cranked up with bachata and salsa. You'll find people dancing at 1 in the afternoon in the clubs at Pinones. The clubs are open-sided beach clubs that face the ocean. The scene is very different from Condado. A lot of low-income people live in Pinones. It's a great place with a lot of warmth and energy.

[Open link above for full story.]

Every once in a great while, the issue of Puerto Rico's status gets a quiet mention in American political discourse. Then everybody forgets about it.

While it is an exaggeration to say that the June 1 presidential primary put the national spotlight on the question of whether Puerto Rico should remain a commonwealth, become independent or join the Union as the 51st state, it is fair to say the issue shone with light reflected off the star-bright candidates, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

Both candidates said Puerto Rico must have the right of self-determination. Which is what presidential candidates of both parties have said for a generation, right before everyone forgets about it.

Well, not everyone. Almost nobody in Puerto Rico forgets about it. It is at the center of political consciousness there, so much so that the identity of the three major parties rests on their positions on the issue - pro-commonwealth, pro-statehood or pro-independence.

It's been the Big Question in Puerto Rico since the United States acquired the island after the Spanish-American War of 1898. In 1952, it became a Commonwealth, or as the official Spanish title has it, Estado Libre Asociado, or "Free Associated State." That is what it remains today.

Supporters of Commonwealth status say Puerto Rico is culturally distinct enough from the United States to justify separate treatment, but want to preserve long-standing political and economic ties with the U.S. Under the current arrangement, the people of Puerto Rico are American citizens, but have no voting representative in Congress and cannot vote in presidential elections. They do not pay federal income tax, but do pay Social Security. Most Commonwealth supporters favor an "enhanced" Commonwealth, final form to be determined.

Statehood supporters say under the Commonwealth arrangement Puerto Rico is just a colony of the United States, a situation that becoming the 51st state would remedy. Puerto Rico would get two U.S. senators and perhaps six congressmen. Residents would lose their tax exemption.

Supporters of independence believe Puerto Rico should be a sovereign Latin American nation. Residents would lose U.S. citizenship and, like other foreigners, become subject to immigration law. Puerto Rico also stands to lose U.S. benefits like Social Security for individuals.

[Open link above for full story and stories related to Puerto Rico.]

Photo: David Borden, Executive Director - Drug War Chronicle - world’s leading drug policy newsletter

Editorial: How Long Does an Experiment Need to Continue Before It's Declared a Failure? (e.g. Drug Prohibition)

By David Borden, Executive Director

How long does an experiment need to continue before it's declared a failure?

For alcohol prohibition, our US version, it was about 13 years. Between mafia crime, poisonings from adulterated beverages, and the dropping age at which people were becoming alcoholics, Americans decided that the "Noble Experiment" -- whether it should actually be regarded as noble or not -- was a bad idea. And they ended it. New York State did its part 75 years ago today, ratifying the 21st amendment to repeal the 18th amendment, bringing the Constitution one state closer to being restored. It took another half a year, until December 5th, to get the 36 states on the board that were needed at the time to get the job done. But Americans of the '30s recognized the failure of the prohibition experiment, and they took action by enacting legalization of alcohol.

Industrialist John D. Rockefeller described the evolution of his thinking that led to the recognition of prohibition's failure, in a famous 1932 letter:

"When Prohibition was introduced, I hoped that it would be widely supported by public opinion and the day would soon come when the evil effects of alcohol would be recognized. I have slowly and reluctantly come to believe that this has not been the result. Instead, drinking has generally increased; the speakeasy has replaced the saloon; a vast army of lawbreakers has appeared; many of our best citizens have openly ignored Prohibition; respect for the law has been greatly lessened; and crime has increased to a level never seen before."

In the context of today's leading prohibition -- the drug war -- it's important to realize that those other drugs were made illegal even before alcohol was. It was December 17th, 1914, when the Harrison Narcotics Act passed the US Congress -- ostensibly a regulatory law to synchronize America's system with a new one being adopted by countries around the world. But law enforcement interpreted it as prohibiting drugs -- coca and opium, and derivatives of them such as heroin and cocaine, were the ones in question then -- and law enforcement got its way.

[Continued in Extended Entry section...]

Photo: Catcher Jorge Posada visited a museum honoring Roberto Clemente. Posada is from Puerto Rico as is Clemente.

PITTSBURGH — Jorge Posada is a five-time All-Star, but this week he is an awestruck fan. The Yankees are playing in Pittsburgh, where Roberto Clemente starred for the Pirates, and Clemente is a hero to Posada.

Posada grew up in Puerto Rico, as did Clemente, and he was a year old when Clemente died in a plane crash in 1972. Clemente is revered in his country, and Posada was eager to take a tour of the Clemente museum in Pittsburgh on Tuesday.

He went with another catcher from Puerto Rico, José Molina, and took cellphone pictures of classic Clemente photographs. One is a posed shot of a young Clemente leaping to make a catch, with clouds in the background seeming to form wings on his shoulders. Posada ordered an enlargement of the picture for his home.

Posada said he knows Clemente’s widow, Vera, and he owns a copy of David Maraniss’s acclaimed 2006 biography. But he learned a lot at his tour of the museum.

“Little things, not only baseball stuff,” Posada said. “They wanted him to be in ‘The Odd Couple,’ but he was going to have to hit into a triple play. He wouldn’t do it. He said, ‘I’m never going to hit into a triple play.’ ”

Posada has a sticker in his home locker supporting the movement to retire Clemente’s No. 21 throughout the majors. He would surely approve of the Clemente quotation that every Pirates player sees on his way from the clubhouse to the dugout at PNC Park: “Whenever I put on my uniform,” it says, “I am the proudest man on Earth.”

[Open above NYT link for full story.]

Anthony Portela -- Butterfly/IM -- IM/Fly Previous Affliliations - Lawrence Free State HS - Graduated 2005 -- Lawrence, Kansas -- Psychology major • son of Tony and Dorie Portela • born May 31, 1987

The Guinness Book of World Records doesn’t track the quickest trips to the maternity ward, but a Lawrence father of three has iron-clad proof of just how swiftly he hurried when the time arrived.

Twenty-one years and 26 days ago, Tony Portela was on the block, ready to dive into the pool for the 50-meter freestyle at the Pan-American Games trials in Salinas, Puerto Rico, when a meet official stopped the race before it started to inform Portela that his wife, Dorie, had gone into labor.

Portela asked his parents to take Dorie to the hospital and told them he would be right behind them, just as soon as he finished the race. He hurried as no swimmer from Puerto Rico ever had hurried.

“Broke the Puerto Rican record,” Portela remembered like it was yesterday.

The ultra-motivated swimmer then headed to the hospital in Santurce. How long a drive?

“Probably a half hour, 45 minutes,” he said. “My wife will tell you two hours and that the car took every single bump in the road.”

As so often seems the case with the first born, it was a case of hurry up and wait.

“It ended up being a really long labor for my poor wife,” Portela said. “Our son was born the next day.”

Born to swim. Anthony Portela, 21 and a citizen of the United States and Puerto Rico, will spend his Fourth of July trying to swim his way into the Olympics. He qualified to swim at the U.S. Olympic trials in Omaha, Neb., in the 100-meter butterfly. “Right now I’m seeded about 40th and it’s a goal of mine to make it to the finals, the top 16,” said Anthony, who swims for the University of Minnesota.

Photo on left: U.S. Attorney Emilia Rosa Rodriguez - FBI Special Agent in Charge Luis Fraticelli -- Photo on right: Police Superintendent Pedro Toledo

Excerpts from The San Juan Star:

"...Arecibo cops may have planted drugs, given false testimony. --- Federal agents arrested six state police officers in Arecibo on charges they fabricated cases against three Quebradillas [housing project] residents by planting cocaine and providing false testimony to state judges, U.S. Attorney Rosa Emila Rodriguez announced Tuesday [June 24]..."

"...The arrests follow similar charges filed last year against 10 officers from the Mayaguez precinct and four from Arecibo, leading the Justice Department to dismiss more than 50 cases stemming from these precincts..."

"...'Today's arrests stem from information that we received from an informant that we referred to the FBI in a letter dated Oct. 25, 2007,' Police Superintendent Pedro Toledo said, adding he and the FBI agent in Charge Luis Fraticelli coordinated Tuesday's arrests...."

"...While Toledo contends that these incidents of state police officers violating civilians' rights are the exception in a police force of 18,000, he said the agency is taking protective steps to combat these types of violations..."

"...If convicted the defendants face a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison, with fines of up to $4 million..."

"...It is unconscionable that those called upon to protect the public and enforce the law should violate their oath of office and abuse their position to deprive people of their most basic civil liberties. People need to have confidence in the fundamental fairness of our law enforcement agencies and in the rights bestowed upon them by our Constitution," Rodriguez said..."

[Open above link for Associated Press story.]