|
 |
|
|
|
Para ver esta página en español, oprima aquí. Militiamen Accused Of Murdering U.N. Staffers Go On Trial In JakartaEPA: P.R. Evades Pollution Clean Ups At Four SitesBill Filed To Ban Coastal Military PracticesExchange Legislation To Be DraftedNPP To Elect President300 Invited To Bush's Swearing-InSenate And House Inaugurate New Sessions, Vieques Legislation Will Be PriorityReno Rules Out Death PenaltyBad Blood Stains Even ProtocolHillary's Nudging Prez On Vieques***** Militiamen Accused Of Murdering U.N. Staffers Go On Trial In Jakarta By IRWAN FIRDAUS January 11, 2001 JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - The trials of six militants charged with murdering three U.N. aid workers on Sept. 6 - the worst attack ever against the world body's civilian staff - opened here Thursday. "They intended to kill the three (U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees) staffers by stabbing and stoning them," State Prosecutor Widodo Supriyadi declared in his opening statement. "After they killed them, they set fire to the bodies." Prosecutors said the three UNHCR officials - Carlos Caceres of Puerto Rico, Samson Aregahegn of Ethiopia and Pero Simundza of Croatia - were stoned and stabbed to death when a mob attacked their offices in Atambua, a town in West Timor near the border with East Timor. ***** EPA: P.R. Evades Pollution Clean Ups At Four Sites January 11, 2001 SAN JUAN (AP) - The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) denounced that the Environmental Quality Board (EQB) has spent more than a year trying to impede the inclusion of four highly contaminated sites into the Superfund. Carl Soderberg, Caribbean Region head of EPA, said in published reports that these four sites include the Aguirre electric generation plant, the Toa Baja landfill, the Quality Electroplating Co. site in Caguas and some land in Manati that belongs to the Agriculture Department. Soderberg said he gave EQB President Hector Russe the list with the sites that needed to be cleaned up since last year. ***** PIP Legislator Files Bill To Ban Military Practices On PR Coasts January 10, 2001 SAN JUAN (AP) - Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) Rep. Victor Garcia San Inocencio filed a bill to ban military practices within a 10-mile radius from the coasts of the island. The bill would prohibit U.S. Navy practices in Vieques, which many anti-Navy demonstrators have protested against, demanding their immediate cessation. ***** Fas Alzamora And Gutierrez To Draft Exchange Legislation By Proviana Colon Diaz of PuertoRicoWOW News Service January 10, 2001 Senate President Antonio Fas Alzamora and U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) announced Wednesday an initiative to draft legislation aimed at enhancing both economic and cultural exchanges between island residents and "Boricua" communities in the United States. Senate International and Federal Affairs Committee Chairman Jesus Ortiz Daliot will be in charge of developing the legislation. Meanwhile, in the U.S., Puerto Rican Congresswoman Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D NY), Rep. Jose Serrano (D-NY), Gutierrez, and several council members will be the liaisons to the Latin communities. The states which the Legislature would look at are New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Illinois and Florida, where the largest concentrations of Puerto Ricans are found, Fas Alzamora said. Still, the programs will not be limited to those states as the Senate chief acknowledged that the number Puerto Ricans living in states such as Arizona, New Mexico and California has grown considerably. ***** NPP To Elect New President Feb. 11 By Proviana Colon Diaz January 9, 2001 SAN JUAN —The New Progressive Party (NPP) will hold its General Assembly to elect a new president on Feb. 11 in Guaynabo, said Interim President Norma Burgos said Tuesday. On that day, former Rep. Leonides Diaz Urbina will likely be elected as president, since he is the only known candidate for the post. That's despite the fact that he hasn't made an official announcement yet, but only hinted that he will. Last week, Burgos announced her decision to desist of her announced aspiration to become NPP president. That was after several NPP leaders said they would not support her bid, and Diaz was repeatedly mentioned as a good candidate. Burgos on Tuesday said she supported Diaz for the post. ***** 300 Puerto Ricans Invited To Bush's Swearing-In Ceremony January 9, 2001 SAN JUAN (AP) - Some 300 Puerto Ricans were invited to the swearing-in ceremony of U.S. President-elect George W. Bush on Jan. 20, according to Puerto Rico Inauguration Committee Director Cesar Cabrera. Puerto Rico Republican Party President Luis A. Ferre, National Committeewoman Zoraida Fonalledas, and National Committeeman Edison Misla Aldarondo are expected to be present during key of moments of the ceremony. Popular Democratic Party (PDP) Rep. Jorge De Castro Font was also invited. The Republican protocol would also invite Gov. Sila Calderon, according to public officials. ***** Senate And House Inaugurate New Sessions, Vieques Legislation Will Be Priority By Proviana Colon Diaz January 9, 2001 The 14th Legislative Assembly was officially constituted Monday with the election of veteran Sen. Antonio Fas Alzamora as Senate President and Rep. Carlos Vizcarrondo as House Speaker. The Senate inaugurated 19 Popular Democratic Party (PDP) senators, eight New Progressive Party (NPP) and one of the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP). In the House, 30 PDP, 20 NPP and one PIP representatives did likewise later in the afternoon. Jose Luis Dalmau will represent the PDP senators and their Alternate Leader will be Bruno Ramos, while Sen. Kenneth McClintock will represent the NPP senators and their Alternate Minority Leader will be Orlando Parga. In the House, Vizcarrondo was elected as Speaker, Ferdinand Perez as Vice President, Roberto Jr. Maldonado as Majority Leader and Nestor Duprey as Secretary. Vizcarrondo promised that one of his first priorities will be legislation to stop U.S. Navy exercises in Vieques. "In this session, we will approve legislation to stop the military maneuvers of the Navy in Vieques and to turn into public policy the recommendations unanimously approved last year by the Special Vieques Commission that the Navy leave the island municipality of Vieques," said Vizcarrondo, adding that he hoped the initiative would have tri-partisan support. ***** U.S. Attorney General Rules Out Death Penalty In Pending Cases January 9, 2001 SAN JUAN (AP) - U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno declined to authorize U.S. Attorney Guillermo Gil's request for the death penalty for a group of defendants accused of interfering with interstate commerce through a series of robberies that resulted in the murder of a gas station owner in Peñuelas, according to a prepared statement. ***** Bad Blood Stains Even Protocol by Iván Román January 7, 2001 SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- What if you went to pick up your prom date and she wasn't home? That may be how Gov. Pedro Rossello felt when he went to the San Patricio area in the Guaynabo suburb of San Juan on Tuesday to take Governor-elect Sila Maria Calderon to her inauguration. That long-held tradition in Puerto Rican protocol went out the window this year during a rocky transition. Calderon told Rossello, through the media, not to bother. Calderon asked that they meet at the Capitol, but Rossello insisted and, before a group of news cameras, went to pick her up anyway. At the Capitol she never greeted him as they waited offstage. She walked past him twice, and shook his hand just once. Then Rossello, as soon as Calderon ended the oath, left for the airport and skipped her speech. The day after the inauguration, Calderon tried to brush off all talk of the bad blood between them, saying, "As far as I'm concerned, all that is behind me now." ***** Hillary's Nudging Prez On Pullout From Vieques RICHARD SISK, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU January 6, 2001 WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is pressing President Clinton to end naval exercises on Vieques before he leaves office Jan. 20, New York officials said yesterday. Rep. Jose Serrano (D-Bronx) said he had spoken with the state's new Democratic senator this week and urged her to lobby for an executive order to shut down the Vieques training range. "She reiterated her desire for the Navy to get out and said she would convey that to the President," Serrano said of his phone conversation with the First Lady. The senator's spokesman, Howard Wolfson, declined to comment on her discussions with Serrano. But, he said, "She took the position in the campaign that there should have been an immediate and permanent cessation to the bombing, and that's obviously her position now."
|
