Puerto Rico Heineken International Regatta

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President's Task Force on Puerto Rico's Status Submits Report to Obama

 The President's Task Force on Puerto Rico's Status said island residents should determine its  political fate – and that the decades-old political limbo should be settled by the end of next year.

In its report to President Obama, the task force, among other recommendations, said only Puerto Rican residents – and not their mainland counterparts – should vote in two plebiscites. The first vote should determine if Puerto Ricans want to be a part of the United States or independent. The second plebiscite would give residents a choice among four options: statehood, independence, free association and commonwealth.

"The issue is a difficult one," the report said, referring to limiting the vote to island residents. "But on balance, those who have committed to the island by residing there have strong arguments that only they should vote on its future."

The task force, made up of 18 members, urged the President, Congress and the leadership of Puerto Rico to come to a resolution on the island's status by the end of 2012. It recommended that President Obama draft legislation and work with Congress to push it through.

"The legislation should commit the United States to honor the choice of the people of Puerto Rico (provided it is one of the status options in the legislation) and should specify the means by which such a choice would be made," the report said.

President Obama, who presumably will be running for reelection in 2012, said he wants to work with Congress to ensure that Puerto Ricans can determine their political future.

"I am firmly committed to the principle that the question of political status is a matter of self-determination for the people of Puerto Rico," the president said in the letter.

"Both the president and Congress have roles to play to help Puerto Rico settle on its future status," he added. "I am committed to working with Congress to ensure that a fair, clearly defined, and transparent process for the people of Puerto Rico to decide on their future for themselves."

Obama signed an executive order in October 2009 that directed the task force to examine Puerto Rico's status, as well as economic development, health care and job creation, among other issues. The task force was first created in 2000 by President Bill Clinton. President George W. Bush, too, received two reports by the task force -- one in 2005 and the other in 2007.

The report submitted to Obama also recommended that if voters were to choose statehood, Puerto Rico should control its own cultural and linguistic identity. If Puerto Ricans choose independence, the report said, the president and Congress should commit to preserving U.S. citizenship for Puerto Ricans during the political transition.

The task force touched on another hot-button issue for Puerto Ricans – Vieques. The report said the U.S. Navy – which used the tiny Puerto Rican island as a bombing range for years – should accelerate the pace with which it is cleaning inert explosives. Further, the U.S. Health and Human Services should seek ways to improve health care for residents there, the report said.

"The task force believes that a needs assessments should be completed to identify the most effective and efficient way to ensure that the people of Vieques receive the care, including expertise in environmental medicine, that they need," it said.

Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2011/03/16/presidents-task-force-puerto-ricos-status-submits-report-obama/#ixzz1Gq2lTEfm

Ricky Martin to promote Puerto Rico tourism on world tour

Published March 14, 2011

San Juan –  Singer Ricky Martin will collaborate with the government of Puerto Rico on a campaign to boost tourism to the Caribbean island during his world tour, which will begin on March 25, officials said Monday.

The "Puerto Rico lo hace mejor" (Puerto Rico does it better) campaign will be featured in the advertising and on the concert entry tickets in the more than 70 cities where Martin will perform on his "Musica, alma, sexo" tour, Economic Development and Commerce Secretary Jose Perez-Riera said in a statement.

During the artist's shows, videos will be played that show landscapes, tourist attractions and culinary and gastronomic delicacies of Puerto Rico, Perez-Riera said.

"By joining Ricky Martin's world tour as a presenter, we can continue strengthening our "Puerto Rico lo hace mejor" campaign on the international level presenting Puerto Rico as a synonym for quality," Perez-Riera went on to say.

Martin will kick off his world tour in the Jose M. Agrelot Colosseum in San Juan with four shows and will then travel to the U.S. cities of Orlando and Miami, as well as to Montreal, Canada.

The singer, meanwhile, emphasized that Puerto Rico "is always present" within him and expressed his gratitude for "the chance to be able to collaborate with this effort to position our land" more advantageously in the tourism industry via the campaign.

"The chance for Puerto Rico to have a presence on each stage of this tour is an honor," the singer said.

Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/entertainment/2011/03/14/ricky-martin-promote-puerto-rico-tourism-world-tour/#ixzz1Go9mK0Fi

Big drug arrest on Caribbean cruise ship

By BEN FOX
The Associated Press
Monday, November 22, 2010; 3:42 PM
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- A suburban body shop owner accused of helping to run one of the largest drug smuggling organizations in the Caribbean was arrested Monday as he took a family vacation on a cruise ship.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents had been tracking Jorge Luis Figueroa Agosto as part of an investigation into the organization allegedly led by his older brother, Jose Figueroa Agosto, the so-called "Pablo Escobar of the Caribbean," who was captured in July in Puerto Rico after an intensive manhunt.

Federal agents fanned out across Puerto Rico on Monday seeking to arrest 17 alleged members of the organization. But Luis Figueroa had boarded the Caribbean Princess with his wife, two children and in-laws before the operation began.

Agents waiting on board the ship arrested him without incident before the ship reached its first port-of-call in the U.S. Virgin Islands, said John Morton, director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Authorities simultaneously arrested 11 others sought in a federal indictment and the rest were being sought.

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Juan Manuel Lopez featherweight title champion

Juan Manuel Lopez of Puerto Rico retained his WBO featherweight title after challenger Rafael Marquez retired with a shoulder injury at the end of the eighth round on Saturday.
The undefeated Lopez, 30-0 (27 KOs) dominated much of the bout against Mexico’s Marquez (39-6, 35 KOs), a former bantamweight and super bantamweight champion bidding to win a title in his third weight class.
However, the 35-year-old veteran staged a powerful rally in rounds four and five in an attempt to turn the tide, rocking Lopez with a right hand in the fourth and following up with a furious rally.

Juan Manuel "Juanma" López Rivera (born June 30, 1983) is a Puerto Rican professional boxer. As an amateur, Lopez represented Puerto Rico at numerous international tournaments including the 2002 Central American and Caribbean Games, 2003 Pan American Games and the 2004 Summer Olympics. López's professional career began in 2005. As a professional he won his first nine fights by knockout before winning his first decision. On September 30, 2006 he defeated Jose Alonso to win the WBO Latino super bantamweight Championship, a regional championship sanctioned by the World Boxing Organization. On June 7, 2008, Lopez defeated Daniel Ponce de León by technical knockout to win the WBO super bantamweight championship. He held the title until January 23, 2009, vacating it after defeating Steven Luevano for the organization's featherweight championship.

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Juan Manuel López

OPERATION GUARD SHACK Historic Takedown in Puerto Rico

Early this morning the FBI launched a massive public corruption takedown in San Juan, Puerto Rico, as our agents fanned out across the island to begin arresting 133 subjects—the majority of them police officers.

In what is likely the largest police corruption case in the FBI’s history, nearly 1,000 Bureau personnel from 50 of our 56 field offices were in San Juan for the takedown.

Read More below

http://www.fbi.gov/page2/oct10/sanjuan_100610.html

White House task force hears Puerto Rico grievances

SAN JUAN (Reuters) - Puerto Ricans told a White House task force on Wednesday that persistent wrangling over the U.S. Caribbean territory's political status was hampering solutions to its worsening social and economic problems.
For more on status, unemployment and crime...
read original article from Reuters