Puerto Rico News Digest For May 16, 2016

BERNIE SANDERS CAMPAIGNS IN PR

From Caribbean Business:

"The Vermont senator is expected to present an economic recovery plan for 

the island on Monday and talk about the crisis’ impact on its education and 

health systems. He will hold a town hall meeting at the Fundación Luis Mu-

ñoz Marín in San Juan at 9 a.m., go to the Juan Ponce de León School in Gu-

aynabo at 3 p.m. and then speak at an event at the University of Puerto Rico’s 

Río Piedras Campus at 7 p.m. His visit comes a day before former U.S. Presi-

dent Bill Clinton arrives to campaign for wife Hillary Clinton. The island “fa-

ces enormous problems,” with poverty and unemployment rates that are “much 

too high,” Bloomberg quoted the senator as saying. “And meanwhile, the vultu-

re capitalists on Wall Street are trying to get a hundred percent back on their 

bonds at a time when so many of the children and the people of this island are 

suffering...”

TEACHERS' UNION REJECTS EVALUATION PLAN

From The San Juan Daily Star:

"Members of the National Union of Educators and Education Workers (UNE-
TE by its Spanish acronym) on Thursday rejected the agreement the Teachers
Association had reportedly arrived at with the secretary of Education with res-
pect to using the results of the META-PR tests to evaluate teachers. “Recent
statements by the secretary of Education indicated that he would impose a per-
centage -- around 20 percent -- of the evaluation of the teacher based on the re-
sults of the tests, and has the approval of the Teachers Association,” said Virgi-
lio Vázquez, librarian and vice president of UNETE. “This is unacceptable be-
cause the Association must not arrive at an agreement with management that
will be used to fire teachers.”

IBERIA REESTABLISHES DIRECT CONNECTION

From News Is My Business:

"Puerto Rico government officials welcomed Sunday the return of Spanish air-

line Iberia, which has resumed direct flights after a three-year absence. Iberia 

has scheduled three weekly direct flights between Madrid and San Juan through 

October, which will represent an economic boost for the island of $21.2 million, 

Tourism Co. Executive Director Ingrid Rivera-Rocafort said..."

BELTRAN 3RD PR PLAYER TO HIT 400 RUNS

From ESPN:

"Carlos Beltran belted career home run No. 400 on Sunday afternoon, which put 

the New York Yankees slugger in some rare company. The 39-year-old became 

the 54th player in major league history to reach that milestone and just the fourth 

switch-hitter. He joined fellow Yankee Mickey Mantle, Eddie Murray and Chipper 

Jones...Beltran is only the third Puerto Rico-born player to hit 400, along with Car-

los Delgado and Juan Gonzalez..."

Puerto Rico News Digest For March 14, 2016

NINE MURDERS OVER THE WEEKEND

Nine people were murdered over this past weekend across Puerto Rico,
with four of the crimes occurring in the Ponce area. Carlos Joel Rodríguez,
age 21, was shot to death at around 12:34 on Sunday morning in Ponce. Ro-
dríguez lived in the Pedro J. Rosaly housing project. As it happened, two
men, Marcel Jonel Cosme Torres and Kendall Cordero Rentas, were both
shot to death at around 4:45 this morning at the nearby Happy Liquor Sto-
re, as reported by El Nuevo Dia. Cosme also lived at the Rosaly housing
project. Ponce's fourth murder for the weekend was that of José Antonio
Vargas, age 42, whose bullet-riddled body was found in the Vistamar sec-
tor of El Tuque.

In Corozal, 29 year old José Cruz Cruz was shot to death during a dispute
with an individual at a business late Sunday night. In Isabela, 24 year old
Jailián Varela Colón was shot and died in front of a Church's Chicken at the
Plaza Isabela mall on Sunday. At 3:40 AM on Saturday, Alex Manuel Báez
Rodríguez was shot to death in Puerto Nuevo, while an unidentified man
was executed at around 8:40 PM on Saturday at the Las Dalias housing pro-
ject in Río Piedras. Meanwhile, 42 year old  Miguel González Figueroa was
shot and killed as he rode a horse in the town of Florida. The weekend's first
killing was that of José Torre Ruiz, age 45, who was allegedly shot by his ne-
phew Kevin Mercado Torres on Friday night in a residence in Guánica. The
weekend's bloodshed brings the number of murders in Puerto Rico so far in
2016 to 125, 19 more than at this time last year.

TEACHER'S UNION WARNS ON PENSIONS

From The San Juan Daily Star:

"The Puerto Rico Teachers Federation on Thursday warned that the Teachers
Retirement System could be on the brink of collapse, leaving thousands of re-
tired educators in “misery while leaving active teachers in uncertainty.” “It has
been alleged that the [Teacher’s] Retirement System could collapse by 2017,”
Teachers Federation President Mercedes Martínez said...Among the situation
affecting the Teacher’s Retirement Systems, according to the union, are among
others: Law 160 of 2013, which was “the most recent effort to destroy the exis-
tence of the retirement system as we know it,” and the proposed Fiscal Control
Board, which will have “the clear intention of cutting the pensions of already
retired educators and denying retirement to active teachers, just as happened
in Detroit...”

ROSELLO PROPOSES GOV'T "CREDIT EXCHANGE"

From Caribbean Business:

"Following the news about hospitals having their electricity cut due to debts
to the Electric Power Authority, Dr. Ricardo Rosselló, gubernatorial candidate
for the New Progressive Party, has proposed a government credit exchange in
which, “if a supplier does not receive payment [by the government] within 60
days, it can use the debt as payment at another agency.” The candidate explai-
ned that “in the case of hospitals…the truth is these have not paid because the
central government has not paid them. Under my proposal, the services paid to
the hospital can be used to pay the power bill...”

PR STARTUPS TAKE PART IN SXSW

From News Is My Business:

"A delegation of five Puerto Rican startups are participating technological 

innovation event South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive in Austin, Texas 

this week, supported by Puerto Rico Trade and Export and the Small Business 

Administration. Trade and Export Executive Director Francisco Chévere the 

group will have the opportunity to present their business ideas to the audience

of this renowned event in the Innovation Latin America category on Tuesday. 

The five local companies participating  are: Campodata Inc, Celero Health So-

lutions, Digital Media Creations, Space Rhino Games and Tix.By..."