Man Sentenced To 30 Years For Carjacking And Murder

Press Release

US Attorney's Office - San Juan

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Kenneth Ubiles-Rosario was sentenced to 365
months in prison for a carjacking that resulted in death, announced United
States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vé-
lez. Ubiles-Rosario pleaded guilty on January 13, 2015 before U.S. Magis-
trate Judge Bruce McGiverin.

The indictment, filed on November 6, 2013, charged Ubiles-Rosario and a
coconspirator with carjacking and possession of a firearm during the commi-
ssion of a crime of violence. According to the statement of facts in the plea
agreement, defendant Ubiles Rosario and his co-defendant met on October
21, 2010 and agreed to commit a robbery. The next day they intercepted the
victim, Luis Anibal Torres-González, a local businessman, as he drove along
his customary route. The defendants forced the victim to a stop and Ubiles
exited his own car and forced the victim at gunpoint into the passenger seat.
Ubiles and his co-defendant took the victim to a secluded spot by the side of
a cliff near the Lago Dos Bocas in Arecibo, PR and forced the victim out of
the car at gunpoint. Ubiles shot the victim once in the back of the head with
a revolver and left the victim at the bottom of a cliff. Afterwards the defend-
ants abandoned the victim’s car in an urbanization in Arecibo.

The case was investigated by FBI and the Puerto Rico Police Department
and was prosecuted by Assistant US Attorney Nicholas Cannon.

Puerto Rico News Digest For February 15, 2016

FATHER POISONS DAUGHTERS, ONE DEAD

A 20-year-old man from Fajardo's Puerto Real housing project has turned
himself in to police after allegedly poisoning his 23-month-old twin daugh-
ters, one of whom died Saturday at Caribbean Medical hospital. Doctors in-
formed police that the deceased infant's body also showed signs of abuse.
The father had been estranged from the family but recently returned. Accor-
ding to the girls' mother, he had become abusive, but she had been afraid of
reporting the incidents. The suspect is being held at Fajardo police headquar-
ters and is expected to be charged today.

MAN DIES DURING SKYDIVING ACCIDENT

From Fox News Latino:

"A 58-year-old Chicago man died Saturday morning in a skydiving accident
that occurred when he apparently had problems controlling his parachute af-
terit opened, authorities said. Police say that Gaby Ferraca died Saturday mor-
ning at the 14th annual skydiving festival at the island's Arecibo regional air-
port. Event organizer Jason Gonzalez said the death was the first associated
with the festival in 15 years. Federal Aviation Administration officials, police
and prosecutors are investigating the accident, according to a police report..."

BUS WORKERS: LAYOFFS TO START MONDAY

From Caribbean Business:

The president of the Metropolitan Bus Authority (AMA by its Spanish acro-
nym) union, Alexis Merced, said the government will be implementing a plan
for partial layoffs starting Monday. Merced, of the United Workers (Tuama)
union, said AMA will be the first public corporation in which the measure will
be carried out. “This government has consistently said there will be no layoffs.
However, starting next Monday, there will be partial layoffs at AMA when ab-
out 50 workers will have their workday reduced to 20 hours a week,” he claimed.
The measure was notified to the workers in a statement by AMA President Héc-
tor Iván Santos, the labor leader said. “According to Santos’ written expressions,
the measure seeks to send home employees who report to work and AMA says
it has no assignments for them that day,” the union spokesman said..."

PREPA RESTRUCTURING BILL PASSES SENATE

From The San Juan Daily Star:

"Gov. Alejandro García Padilla on Thursday lauded the Puerto Rico Senate’s
vote to restructure the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), saying
the measure guarantees that PREPA will not be privatized and will remain in
the hands of the Puerto Rican people. The Senate passed the measure Wednes-
day night in a 16-10 vote. “This bill guarantees the stabilization of the electri-
city bill to the extent that it permits us to...produce energy efficiently, permits
external investment in the production of energy as is the case with [two existing
private energy companies] Ecoeléctrica and AES,” the governor said in a press
conference at La Fortaleza. “And it also guarantees that [PREPA]  continues to
be ours, that there will be no fi rings of public employees and  that there is a
flow of capital to be able to buy fuel and diversify the source of energy...”

Puerto Rico News Digest For September 4, 2015

GANGS TURN AVENUE INTO WARZONE

65th Infantry Avenue Closed For Three Hours

As reported by El Nuevo Dia, Police had to close off a stretch of 65th

Infantry Avenue in Rio Piedras as gang members from  Monte Hatillo

public housing project and the Berwind apartment buildings across the

road traded gunfire on Wednesday night. No deaths or injuries have
been reported as a result of the gunfire. A local school had to be eva-

cuated yesterday due to threats of further violence in the area. Police

believe that the latest outburst of violence came about due to the recent

murder of Héctor Nussa Román, who was the stepbrother of the alleged

head of drug sales in Monte Hatillo. Shootings in the area are sporadic,

but have been happening for years.

CARRAIZO GOES TO TWO-DAY RATIONING

Puerto Rico's water utility, AAA, has announced that water levels at the
Carraízo reservoir -- which serves Trujillo Alto, Carolina and parts of San
Juan -- is now high enough that water rationing for areas served by Carraí-
zo is being cut back to two days without water and one day with water. The
change begins today, after several weeks of water users being restricted to
two days of running water a week. About 160,000 AAA customers would
be affected by the change. Recent rains have swollen Carraízo's level to 37.
14 meters. Users of the La Plata reservoir are still also under "phase two"
water restrictions, with water off for two days at a time.

PREPA DEAL CAPS RATE HIKE AT 8¢

From The San Juan Daily Star:

The hike that Puerto Rico consumers will see in their electricity bill, which
must be approved by the Energy Commission, is not going to be higher than
the eight cents estimated in a five-year business plan prepared by the Puerto
Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) following an agreement reached with
the Ad Hoc Group of bondholders. PREPA Chief Restructuring Officer Lisa
Donahue said the final rate structure will be determined by the outcome of
talks with the other PREPA creditors -- banks and the utility’s insurance com-
panies. Those talks are expected to be completed by Sept. 18, which is when
the forbearance agreement between PREPA and its creditors is expected to
expire. TheAd Hoc Group represents 35 percent of the debt.

ARECIBO INCINERATORS GETS FINAL PERMIT

From News Is My Business:

Energy Answers confirmed Wednesday that the Puerto Rico Environmental
Quality Board has granted the final permit to build a facility for the processing
of non-hazardous solid waste at the Cambalache Sector in Arecibo. The review
process of this permit began in 2012 under the administration of Gov. Luis For-
tuño and included two separate public hearings and extended periods of time for
comment in writing, ensuring broad public participation in the permitting pro-
cess. “The periods for written comments exceeded by far the established regu-
latory requirements and what is usual and customary for a facility handling so-
lid waste as proposed,” the company said.

USDA DESIGNATES 17 TOWNS DISATER AREAS

From Caribbean Business:

Although Puerto Rico has received much-needed rain in the past week, primari-
ly due to Tropical Storm Erika and a tropical wave, the U.S. Department of Agri-
culture has declared an additional 17 municipalities in Puerto Rico as natural di-
saster areas due to the ongoing drought conditions. These additional municipali-
ties are: Aguas Buenas, Aibonito, Bayamón, Cataño, Ceiba, Coamo, Comerío,
Dorado, Guaynabo, Loíza, Naguabo, Naranjito, San Juan, Santa Isabel, Toa Al-
ta, Toa Baja  and Vega Alta.

“This Town is Dead”: the Long Decline of Arecibo, Puerto Rico

by MARIO MERCADO DIAZ

Counterpunch

“I’m at the end of my wits,” “Everybody is in a tight spot,” “I’m running
out of hope”: these are the words of the small business owners in the small
city of Arecibo, Puerto Rico. As a child, I grew up with stories of Arecibo’s
great industries and entrepreneurial spirit. Since 1995, business owners, mer-
chants and residents have seen the drastic decay of the local economy. The
lasting effects of the Great Recession and the recent implementation of the
IVU agrandado (11.5% sales and use tax) has dissipated any hopes of an in-
crease in commercial activities in the near future. Arecibo and many other
municipalities across the island are veritable ghost towns, stuck in a dishe-
artening state of social, economic and political stagnation. Now more than
ever, people are migrating in greater numbers to the San Juan metropolitan
area and the US mainland expecting to set up shop and start a new life.

Governor Alejandro García Padilla’s declarations on Puerto Rico’s inability
to pay its debt have sparked an outburst of investigative reports and articles
on the Puerto Rican crisis and its impacts, mainly, on the population of San
Juan. However, these scathing reviews and articles fail to discuss Puerto Ri-
co’s socioeconomic crisis at a smaller scale, focusing on municipalities out-
side of San Juan...[CONTINUE READING]