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Ramirez de Ferrer Endorses Rossello…Navy’s Over-The-Horizon Radar Successful…Hispanic Broadcasting To Buy El Mundo Stations…CRB Discounts Primaries… RR Dismantling Documented


Ramirez de Ferrer Endorses Rossello

By Proviana Colon Diaz of WOW News

February 13, 2003
Copyright © 2003 WOW NEWS. All rights reserved.

New Progressive Party (NPP) Sen. Miriam Ramirez de Ferrer publicly endorsed fellow physician, former Gov. Pedro Rossello’s comeback as the party’s gubernatorial candidate and announced her willingness to join him in the executive ballot as his resident commissioner.

Minutes before making her announcement, Ramirez de Ferrer sent her resignation via messenger to the NPP directory.

"It is my understanding that it was a position of trust," said Ramirez de Ferrer, adding that it should be NPP President Carlos Pesquera who decides who fills that post.

An avid statehood advocate and known for her numerous lobbying efforts in Washington D.C., Ramirez de Ferrer’s interest in the resident commissioner post is no surprise. The senator had expressed her interest in running; what is new is her endorsement of Rossello.

Ramirez de Ferrer was, until this week, a public defender of Pesquera, to the point that she was one of the key players, along with the NPP president, in the June 20 incident when Pesquera and his followers broke into the Women’s Advocate Office to place an American flag alongside a Puerto Rican one.

On Thursday, however, Ramirez de Ferrer decided to endorse Rossello, arguing that his comeback brings much needed enthusiasm to NPP followers.

"The people of Puerto Rico are depressed, desperate, frustrated, and powerless in the face of the bad Gov. Sila Calderon’s administration," Ramirez de Ferrer said.

The senator added that Rossello is the only candidate who can push the island’s economic development forward.

Ramirez de Ferrer noted that she has traveled many times to Washington D.C. to communicate her concerns to Rossello. She noted, however, that she would never ask for his endorsement.


Officials: Relocatable Over-The-Horizon Radar Successful

February 13, 2003
Copyright © 2003 ASSOCIATED PRESS. All rights reserved.

JUANA DIAZ (AP) – The U.S. Navy's Relocatable Over-the-Horizon Radar (ROTHR) in support of fleet units worldwide has helped in confiscating $460 million in drugs, Drug Control Office Director Luis Guillermo Zambrana announced Thursday.

According to Zambrana, the information came from Com. Amy Cox, who leads the ROTHR operations and with whom he met Thursday in Fort Allen.

Thanks to the radar system, since December 2002, more than 9,000 kilos of cocaine and more than 1,000 pounds of marihuana, as well as 27 airplanes, 14 boats, and 97 AK-47 rifles, have been confiscated, Zambrana said.

Accompanying Zambrana at the meeting was Vieques Special Commissioner Juan R. Fernandez and Com. Bob Skinner, officer in charge of the military corp public affairs.

Zambrana explained that he visited the ROTHR facilities in Fort Allen to find out about its effectiveness.

Environmentalists and political leaders protested the installation of the radar system, arguing it contaminated the environment and would not solve the drug trafficking problem.


Hispanic Broadcasting To Buy El Mundo Stations

February 13, 2003
Copyright © 2003 REUTERS LTD. 2003. All rights reserved.

DALLAS - Hispanic Broadcasting Corp., the No. 1 U.S. Spanish-language radio broadcaster, said on Thursday it agreed to buy El Mundo Broadcasting Corp. for $32 million cash to enter the Puerto Rico market.

Hispanic Broadcasting, which is awaiting regulatory approval on a deal to be acquired by top Spanish-language television group Univision Communications Inc, will acquire three FM stations and one AM station from Fundacion Angel Ramos Inc.

Dallas-based Hispanic Broadcasting owns and/or operates 63 stations, including eight in Houston and seven in Dallas.


Romero Barcelo Confident That There Won’t Be Primaries

February 13, 2003
Copyright © 2003 ASSOCIATED PRESS. All rights reserved.

SAN JUAN (AP) – Former Gov. Carlos Romero Barcelo said Wednesday that he was confident that there would not be primaries between former Gov. Pedro Rossello and New Progressive Party (NPP) President Carlos Pesquera for the gubernatorial candidacy.

Romero Barcelo based his prediction on the belief that one of the two will realize during the process that he doesn’t have the real support.

"I believe that before that moment [the primaries], it will be clear to one of the candidates that he shouldn’t continue. . .generally, one of the parties realizes that he doesn’t have the support and withdraws," Romero Barcelo said.

However, he said the primary process is positive for the NPP because if the people have more opportunities to decide, the political party grows stronger.


Documents Point To Dismantling Roosevelt Roads

February 13, 2003
Copyright © 2003 ASSOCIATED PRESS. All rights reserved.

SAN JUAN (AP) – Documents undersigned by Adm. Robert Natter, commander of the Atlantic Fleet, indicated that the Roosevelt Roads Navy Base in Ceiba would be dismantled of all military activity conducted there by Sept. 30.

According to published reports, the process to deactivate the base will start March 10.

Lt. Com. Kim Dixon, U.S. Navy spokeswoman, said there is nothing concrete that she could say about the matter, but she said with the end of operations in Vieques, there will be a "restructuring" in Ceiba.

Natter said in a report that his plan is to leave the Atlantic Fleet Weapons Training Zone (AFWTF) completely inoperable.

In this manner, all exercises with electronic equipment in target ranges in waters near Puerto Rico and under the sea, under the Training Resource Strategy, will be conducted at some 20 installations in Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Maryland, and the Bahamas.

Officially, Navy spokespeople have established that the support to exercises in Vieques represent approximately 20% of the operations in Roosevelt Roads.


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