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Para ver este documento en español, oprima aquí. Supreme Court Asked Not To Intervene With Presidential Vote LawPesquera And Calderon Still Tied In PollPIP Confident Local Courts Will Stop Presidential VoteSupreme Court Orders SEC To Submit Presidential Vote ResponseClinton OKs Money For Status ReferendumNo Evidence Of Health ImpactPieras Returns Vote Case To State CourtLazio And Clinton Appeals' Vieques ' Going On RoadClinton To Ensure Vieques DirectivesPIP Goes To Court Again To Stop Presidential Vote************ Supreme Court Asked Not To Intervene With Presidential Vote Law October 26, 2000 SAN JUAN (AP) - Solicitor General Gustavo Gelpi asked the Supreme Court to refrain from hearing the case against the presidential vote law, because the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on a federal case against the presidential vote is not final, according to published reports. Gelpi said he has 90 days to request the appeals court to reconsider its ruling, and he will go to the U.S. Supreme Court to appeal the decision against allowing Puerto Rico residents to vote in the presidential elections. Gelpi acknowledged that there is no jurisdictional obstacle to impede the local Supreme Court's intervention in the case, but said the justices should refrain just the same out of courtesy to the federal judicial system. ************ Pesquera And Calderon Still Tied In Poll October 25, 2000 SAN JUAN (AP) - Just 13 days to the general elections, New Progressive Party (NPP) gubernatorial candidate Carlos Pesquera continues to be tied with Popular Democratic Party (PDP) rival Sila Calderon, according to a Precision Research poll published Wednesday. If the general elections were today, Pesquera would receive 46% of the votes compared to Calderon's 43.1%, according to published reports. Because the difference between the two (2.9%) falls within the poll's 3.1% margin of error, they are considered to be statistically tied. For his part, Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) candidate Ruben Berrios received 5.6% of the votes. ************ PIP Confident Local Courts Will Stop Presidential Vote By Proviana Colon Diaz October 25, 2000 SAN JUAN – Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) President and gubernatorial candidate Ruben Berrios said he was confident that both the Puerto Rico Supreme Court and the San Juan Superior Court will rule in their favor and declare the law enabling the presidential vote as unconstitutional. "Sadly enough," he said, there is no way for the government of Puerto Rico to recover the money already spent on advertising and by the State Elections Commission (SEC) on the presidential vote. ************ Supreme Court Orders SEC To Submit Presidential Vote Response October 25, 2000 SAN JUAN (AP) - The Puerto Rico Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the State Elections Commission (SEC) and Puerto Rico government officials to submit tomorrow before 5 p.m. their response to a request by a senator that the court should assume jurisdiction over the presidential vote case. ************ Clinton OKs Money For Referendum On Puerto Rico 's Future October 24, 2000 WASHINGTON (AP)--President Bill Clinton has approved $2.5 million for a possible referendum aimed at resolving Puerto Rico 's tangled relationship with the United States. The money, part of a spending bill signed by the president on Monday, marks the first time the federal government has committed money to such a vote, Clinton said in a written statement. The money would be available after March 31. The White House has been trying for years to win Congressional backing for a binding referendum that would offer Puerto Rico the option of U.S. statehood , independence or a modified version of the current commonwealth arrangement. In 1998, such a bill narrowly passed the House of Representatives but stalled in the Senate -partly because of lawmakers' doubts about admitting a Spanish-speaking state into the union. Monday's appropriation is seen as a compromise aimed at bypassing Congressional opposition. The money would come out of the White House's own budget and go directly to Puerto Rico 's elections commission, said Jeffrey Farrow, Clinton's top adviser on island affairs. The elections commission could then apply the funds toward a referendum or simply use it to "educate" Puerto Ricans about the status choices, he said. But unlike the 1998 bill, the budget measure does not order a referendum and does not commit Congress to acting on the results of such a vote. ************ Navy Secretary: No Evidence Of Health Impact On Viequenses October 24, 2000 SAN JUAN (AP) - U.S. Navy Secretary Richard Danzig, in a letter to Popular Democratic Party (PDP) President Sila Calderon, said there is no strong evidence showing that Navy operations in Vieques could hurt the population, including the children. ************ Lazio And Clinton Find Foreign Policy Differences Only On The Prickly Margins By CHRISTOPHER MARQUIS October 24, 2000 For all their sniping about misplaced kisses and handshakes abroad, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Representative Rick A. Lazio largely share a foreign policy agenda. But that does not mean that the candidates are prepared to declare a common worldview, especially as the candidates have sought to make inroads with politically important groups, including Puerto Ricans. ''You see catering to ethnic groups,'' said Robert Jervis, a professor of political science at Columbia University. ''Mostly, you don't see much foreign policy at all.'' Hispanic leaders complain that they have largely been ignored by the candidates, written off by Mr. Lazio and taken for granted by Mrs. Clinton. One exception has been Puerto Ricans in New York, who saw Mrs. Clinton twice clash with her husband over policy. She initially opposed his offer of clemency last year to 16 members of the Puerto Rican independence group known as F.A.L.N. who had been imprisoned, provided that they renounced violence. Then, facing the anger of many Puerto Ricans in New York, she backtracked, saying she had spoken too soon. She then called for an end to military target practice on the island of Vieques off eastern Puerto Rico . Mr. Lazio has opposed clemency for activists he considers to be ''terrorists,'' aides said, but he supports ending target practice on Vieques. ************ Pieras Returns Presidential Vote Case To State Court October 24, 2000 SAN JUAN (AP) - In keeping with a ruling by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, U.S. District Court Judge Jaime Pieras return to state court the three cases seeking to stop the presidential vote in Puerto Rico. Pieras obeyed the appeals court order, which found that Puerto Rico residents don't have the right to vote in presidential elections and would only be able to do so if Puerto Rico becomes a state or the U.S. Constitution is amended. Cases filed by Popular Democratic Party (PDP) Sen. Eudaldo Baez Galib, the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) and the autonomist organization Pro-ELA, challenging the local legislation that enabled the presidential vote, had been transferred to federal court upon the government's request. Baez Galib hailed Pieras' decision, adding that he expects local courts to stop the presidential vote, scheduled along with the Nov. 7 general elections. ************ ' Vieques' Going On Road For Newark Library Show by ARTURO MARTINEZ October 22, 2000 When Jorge Gonzalez was growing up in San Juan, he often traveled with his mother to visit her family on the Isle of Vieques off the eastern tip of the Puerto Rican mainland. Gonzalez, 27, has written a play based on the experiences of his island relatives in the 1940s and 1950s, when the U.S. Navy began training operations there. " Vieques " premiered this month at Repertorio Espaol, the Spanish-language repertory company in New York. Among its traveling dates is a performance at the Newark Public Library next month. Gonzalez' play does not directly address the debate about whether the Navy should pull out of the U.S. island territory, a move the playwright says he supports on environmental and safety grounds. " Vieques " focuses on four young people in their late teens and early 20s, and three of their parents, all struggling with their reaction to the coming in 1941 of the gr i ngos - sailors dating island girls, tense military-civilian baseball games. The play was this year's top winner in a contest sponsored by Repertorio and Metropolitan Life Foundation, which drew 3,000 entries. ************ Rossello: Clinton To Ensure His Directives Are Complied With By Proviana Colon Diaz October 21, 2000 SAN JUAN – Gov. Pedro Rossello said Friday that his meeting with President Bill Clinton will not be a mere courtesy call but rather an important appointment to discuss language on the measure authorizing the transfer of lands in Vieques. "I think that meeting it to finalize any initiative that the president might take to ensure that his orders are complied with," Rossello said, referring to a statement by Secretary of State Angel Morey that the meeting with Clinton would be merely a "courtesy call." According to published reports Friday, Clinton has said the language in the measure approved by the U.S. Congress, ordering the transfer of Vieques land in the hands of the U.S. Navy, doesn't comply with the accord he reached with Rossello. Rossello said it is within presidential authority to alter the language of the measure by an executive order so it complies with the original agreement between them. As an example, Rossello said Clinton could have the transfer take place no later than Dec. 31, 2000, as stated in the original presidential agreement. The bill indicates that the transfer should take place March 31, 2001. ************ PIP Goes To Court Again To Stop Presidential Vote October 21, 2000 SAN JUAN (AP) - The Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) filed a motion at the Puerto Rico Supreme Court again questioning the constitutionality of the law that enables Puerto Rico residents to vote for president. PIP Electoral Commissioner Damaris Mangual said the recourse was filed seeking to stop the State Elections Commission (SEC) from spending public funds to include the presidential candidates in the ballots for the Nov. 7 general election. According to the motion, the presidential vote law "seeks to fictitiously implement a non-existent legal right - the presidential vote - without authorization from the people."
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