Wednesday Feb 18, 2026

GOOD MORNING

The San Juan Daily Star, the only paper with News Service in English in Puerto Rico, publishes 7 days a week, with a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday edition, along with a Weekend Edition to cover Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

By THE STAR STAFF

The U.S. Coast Guard announced

Tuesday that the removal of residual fuel from the barge grounded off the entrance to San Juan Bay has been completed, while preparations continue to remove it from the rocks near Castillo San Felipe del Morro.

“With the removal of the residual fuel, we have substantially reduced the immediate threat to the marine environment,” said Ray López, Coast Guard Sector San Juan incident commander, in a written statement.

“We will continue to closely monitor the area as salvage and response teams work diligently to prepare and condition the barge for removal,” he added. “The removal will take as long as necessary to ensure the safety of response personnel, minimize impacts on the marine environment, and protect the integrity of the Port of San Juan’s shipping system.”

According to authorities, some 1,000 gallons of residual fuel and oily water were removed from the vessel. Over the weekend, salvage teams moved additional equipment to assess the extent of structural damage and conduct pressure tests on the tanks and compartments.

The proposed plan to remove the barge remains under review and is pending updates from the salvagers and final

approval from the Captain of the Port.

The barge Defiant ran aground around noon on Feb. 9 off the entrance to the Port of San Juan. No injuries were reported. The Coast Guard established a 200-yard safety zone around the vessel until further notice.

By THE STAR STAFF

The Puerto Rico Police reported Tuesday that they were investigating a drowning incident reported Tuesday afternoon at Bravo Boston Beach in Vieques.

According to authorities, a call to the 911 Emergency System alerted them to the situation, and officers assigned to the Vieques District responded to the scene.

Police stated that upon arrival, the person had already been pulled from the water and was receiving medical attention from paramedics, who later confirmed the absence of vital signs.

It was reported that the victim had not yet been identified and that agents from the Homicide Division of the Criminal Investigations Corps (CIC) in the Fajardo area, along with the prosecutor on duty, had taken over the investigation.

Police urged anyone with information that could help solve the case to call 787-343-2020, or send a message via email to @ PRPDNoticias or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/prpdgov.

House leaders: Regulator certifies $1.2 billion for streetlight repair

By THE STAR STAFF

Speaker of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives

Carlos “Johnny” Méndez Nuñez, along with House Government Committee Chairman Víctor Parés Otero, announced on Tuesday that the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau (PREB) made a historic allocation of $1.2 billion in federal funds for the repair of streetlights.

The announcement was made after the House speaker insisted that the largest amount of funds be identified to address the problem of broken streetlights throughout the island.

“Since December 2025 we have been insisting that we need a change in how the problem of the lack of streetlights is addressed. Almost nine years have passed since the passage of Hurricane Maria (September 2017) and many

of our communities are still in the dark at night,” Méndez said. “That is why we promoted the initiative that the municipalities be the ones to repair this lighting and today the Energy Bureau responded to our request for certification of funds. The municipalities will have about $1.2 billion to address this pressing issue.”

The availability of the sum was certified in a letter sent Tuesday by the secretary of the PREB, Sonia Sena, to Méndez and Parés, who noted that the request for the certification of funds was made to the PREB last week during a summit held to address the matter of devising and implementing a plan whereby municipalities can take on the repair and maintenance of streetlights in their jurisdictions.

“There is $1.2 billion in federal funds available to re-ignite our streets and communities,” the San Juan District 4 legislator said.

Governor reaffirms trust in housing secretary

By THE STAR STAFF

Gov. Jenniffer González Colón on Tuesday reaffirmed her confidence in Housing Secretary Ciary Pérez Peña, who has faced a wave of scrutiny following allegations tied to a family-owned vehicle inspection center in Yabucoa.

“The housing secretary is doing an excellent job,” the governor said during a press conference, emphasizing that under Pérez Peña’s leadership, the agency has safeguarded federal funding and strengthened oversight of key programs.

González Colón noted that the secretary has appointed new program directors, coordinated with municipalities, and sought clarity on unresolved issues at the Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTOP).

González Colón criticized what she described as speculation fueled by outdated or politically motivated claims.

The governor reiterated that she is awaiting a full report from DTOP Secretary Edwin González Montalvo to address claims rooted in testimony from former vehicle inspection center employees.

“When I have the facts, I will speak clearly,” she said

González Colón also defended Luis Reinaldo González Delgado, executive president of the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA), after San Juan Mayor Miguel Romero Lugo criticized ongoing water service interruptions in several communities.

The governor noted that PRASA crews -- including career employees and contractors -- have been addressing the issue for over two weeks. Aging infrastructure, high population growth in the metropolitan region, and decades of deferred maintenance have complicated remedial efforts, she said. “Mayors have to defend their residents, and we are assigning the resources and funds needed for long-term improvements,” González Colón said.

The scrutiny surrounding Pérez Peña escalated in early February following revelations about irregularities at a Yabucoa vehicle inspection center registered in her name, prompting a referral to the Puerto Rico Department of Justice. The referral -- filed by two Popular Democratic Party legislators -- cited administrative violations and alleged operational irregularities at the facility.

Pérez Peña has forcefully denied any wrongdoing, asserting that although the business is family-owned, she has had no operational, administrative, or decision-making role since February 2017. She emphasized that official DTOP communications were addressed to the individuals who actually managed the center, not to her. She

described the cited deficiencies as “technical issues” similar to those found at many inspection centers across the island and called the allegations “incorrect and selective.”

A separate report from NotiCel indicated that an audit conducted in the second half of 2024 found 1,900 allegedly fraudulent inspections and irregular sales of vehicle tags at the same center. Though she no longer operated the establishment, Pérez Peña remained its legal owner during the audit period. She has reportedly paid $5,000 of a $25,000 fine imposed following the audit.

The Office of Public Affairs at La Fortaleza has publicly insisted that Pérez Peña is “not currently linked” to the business and that the investigation concerns actions unrelated to her tenure as housing secretary.

In an official statement issued Feb. 12, Pérez Peña denounced the accusations as “false and defamatory,” particularly because they originated from an anonymous sworn statement attributed to a DTOP employee. She reiterated that neither she nor her family had solicited or received preferential treatment and urged anyone with evidence of misconduct to present it to authorities.

DNER supports bill imposing fines on boaters who ignore emergency warnings

By THE STAR STAFF

The Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DNER) has endorsed House Bill 908, a measure that would impose fines of up to $5,000 on boaters who disregard official warnings during emergency conditions and continue operating recreational vessels or similar vehicles.

During a public hearing Tuesday before the Committee on Natural Resources in the island House of Representatives, chaired by Rep. Elinette González Aguayo, DNER Deputy Secretary and Rangers Corps Commissioner Nelson Cruz Santiago voiced the agency’s support for the legislation. He emphasized the need for “firmer measures to promote responsibility among navigators and strengthen public safety,” citing a growing pattern of individuals ignoring official advisories during hazardous weather events.

The agency submitted several amendments aimed at clarifying procedures for imposing costs and defining the criteria that would justify such penalties. One of DNER’s key recommendations is the inclusion of language establishing that any person who knowingly disregards official warnings and engages in

reckless behavior that triggers a rescue operation would be responsible for the associated costs and could also face criminal consequences under existing laws. This, Cruz Santiago argued, would “give the measure more teeth” and enhance the ability of law enforcement entities to deter risky behavior that endangers both civilians and rescue personnel.

Rep. Elinette González Aguayo, chairwoman of the Committee on Natural Resources in the Puerto Rico House of Representatives

Under the bill, introduced by Rep. Víctor Parés Otero at the request of former legislator Ángel Bulerín Ramos, boaters who remain in bodies of water despite official warnings could initially face fines ranging from $100 to $500. The measure would also grant the agency authority to confiscate vessels or navigation vehicles used during emergency conditions, in accordance with the 2011 Confiscations Act.

Cruz Santiago further stressed the importance of establishing a formal procedure for notification, custody, and transfer of confiscated property, as well as defining the rights of owners and outlining a uniform protocol for enforcement. He also recommended including provisions that ensure coordination among the DNER, the Puerto Rico Emergency Management Bureau (NMEAD), the Puerto Rico Police Bureau and, when applicable, the U.S. Coast Guard -- warning that lack

of such collaboration could hinder effective implementation.

The agency also reiterated its long-standing recommendation to integrate the Ranger Corps into the 9-1-1 emergency response system. According to its testimony, Puerto Rico Police currently respond to hundreds of water-related incidents each month, and incorporating DNER officers into the communication chain would strengthen overall emergency response capacity, the DNER said.

Lt. Wilberto Pérez de la Torre, director of the Puerto Rico Police Maritime Surveillance Division, also endorsed the bill, calling it a “significant and necessary proposal” given the frequency of emergencies caused by severe weather or atmospheric disturbances affecting local waters. Pérez de la Torre recommended raising the proposed fines to a range of $500-$1,000 for recreational vessels and other navigation vehicles. He also urged the Legislature to extend fine-issuing authority to cases in which individuals refuse to leave beach or swimming areas after the National Weather Service issues an adverse weather alert -- even if the individuals are not using watercraft.

Addressing questions from Rep. Lisie Burgos Muñiz, DNER legal adviser Carla Marrero said the bill should clearly define the term “recklessness” to prevent ambiguity in enforcement. In response to Rep. Odalys González González, agency officials affirmed the need for regulations outlining how rescue-related costs should be calculated.

“It is very important to continue working on this issue because above all else, we must protect our rescuers,” González González said. The San Juan Daily

Institute of Statistics launches digital platform for violent deaths notification system

By THE STAR STAFF

The Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics, in collaboration with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), announced on Tuesday the official launch of the digital platform for the Puerto Rico Violent Deaths Reporting System (PRVDRS).

The new public and interactive tool facilitates transparent and timely access to data on violent deaths in Puerto Rico.

The digital platform was developed as part of efforts to strengthen the dissemination of reliable, timely, and high-quality statistical information on a critical public health and safety issue. The platform is intended for journalists, policymakers, government institutions, researchers, civil society organizations, and the general public.

From its inception in 2017 through 2023, the Puerto Rico Violent Deaths and Deaths Reporting System (PRVDRS) recorded 4,304 homicides and 1,685 suicides in Puerto Rico. This data comes from the integration and analysis of multiple official sources, including the Puerto Rico Police Department, the Institute of Forensic Sciences, and the Department of Health’s Demographic Registry.

“The planning and public policy formulation process requires reliable data and rigorous analysis. This tool allows us

to establish trends and measure the magnitude of violent deaths in Puerto Rico,” stated Mario O. Font Martin, statistical project manager and coordinator of the PRVDRS. “This innovative tool not only presents figures but also provides context about the circumstances surrounding these incidents, allowing us to better understand what is happening in our communities. Evidence-based decision-making is fundamental to effectively addressing this public health and safety issue.”

The PRVDRS was established in September 2016 at the Institute and began data collection in January 2017 as part of the CDC’s National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS). The system is unique in that it integrates more than 600 data elements from multiple sources into an anonymized database, including death certificates, forensic reports (with toxicology results), and reports from law enforcement agencies.

The new platform allows users to explore data across the entire archipelago of Puerto Rico through interactive visualizations, maps, and historical comparisons dating back to 2017. Available variables include the type of violence (e.g., community and collective), the type of weapon used, and the circumstances surrounding the incidents. Currently, the platform displays consolidated official data through 2022. Preliminary data from 2023 to 2025 is also available, and data will be added and updated monthly.

This tool is part of a national strategy aimed at standardizing information on violent deaths, allowing for the comparison of data and variables with other U.S. jurisdictions participating in the NVDRS and facilitating the development of evidence-based public policies.

The new digital platform of the Violent Death Notification System will be available to the public through the official website of the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics. It can be accessed through the following link: https://www.estadisticas.pr.gov/productos/ sistema-de-notificacion-de-muertes-violentas-de-puerto-rico.

February 18, 2026

Trump erased a bedrock climate rule. Here come the lawsuits.

By KAREN ZRAICK

When the Trump administration erased one of the nation’s bedrock scientific principles on climate change last week, it set up a legal battle that’s all but certain to hinge on the Supreme Court.

And not for the first time.

The scientific principle that was killed Thursday, the endangerment finding, which found that greenhouse gases endanger public health by heating up the world, itself resulted from a Supreme Court decision 20 years ago. The court had ordered the government to study whether greenhouse gases harm human health, and, if so, to regulate them.

But today’s Supreme Court is far more conservative.

And that, experts say, could complicate the legal strategy for the environmental groups and Democratic-led states that are lining up to sue the Trump administration. A negative ruling at the Supreme Court could hamstring future leaders seeking to reinstate climate regulations.

President Donald Trump speaks during announcement on greenhouse gas regulation in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. President Trump on Thursday announced he was erasing the scientific finding that climate change endangers human health and the environment, ending the federal government’s legal authority to control the pollution that is dangerously heating the planet. (Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times)

“If the rule survives all-but-certain legal challenges, we reiterate that it could reshape U.S. federal climate policy by pendulum-proofing the issue against a Democrat sweep” in the 2028 general elections, Clearview Energy Partners, a consulting firm, said Friday.

But a senior lawyer at the Sierra Club said the group was willing to take the risk that a more conservative Supreme Court might eventually uphold the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to kill the endangerment finding.

“You can’t just stand by and let EPA trash its own authority because you’re scared of a potentially negative ruling” from the Supreme Court, said Andres Restrepo, the lawyer for the Sierra Club. “I think that it’s a bigger risk to do nothing.”

It comes at a time when the role of the courts in U.S. environmental policy has been growing. The Trump administration’s full-speed-ahead push to cut environmental protections, combined with Republican control of Congress, has left the courts as one of the few remaining avenues for the administration’s opponents to fight back. And Republicans see several recent rulings limiting the power of federal agencies as bolstering their prospects in the courts.

“We looked at what the highest court in the land had said, and we used a very simple metric: If Congress didn’t authorize it, EPA shouldn’t be doing it,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said at Thursday’s announcement at the White House.

The endangerment finding was the foundation of U.S. climate regulations. It gave the government authority to regulate planet-warming emissions from cars, power plants and other sources in an effort to slow climate change and protect human health.

It would quite likely take several years for any such cases to get there, however. “The first step is to go to the D.C. Circuit,” Restrepo said. “And it’s important to remember that the D.C. Circuit has already upheld the endangerment finding.”

He was referring to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which is where disputes involving the Clean Air Act are first heard. In a 2012 case, that court upheld the endangerment finding, and many analysts expect it would do so again.

The Sierra Club is one of several groups and Democratic leaders who quickly vowed to challenge the move in court. California’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, called the administration’s actions an assault on environmental protections aimed at “putting the fossil fuel industry’s profits ahead of the health and safety of Americans.”

The EPA on Friday made public the full text of its final rule, and the arguments made there suggest the agency recognizes the legal risks it faces from the inevitable court challenges. Legal experts said the document had significant changes from a draft rule released back in July, and those changes seemed designed with court battles in mind.

In the earlier version, the administration’s argument included claims disputing the science of climate change, reflecting in part a widely criticized Energy Department report drafted by researchers who reject the scientific consensus on climate change. That report itself was challenged in court.

There is broad scientific consensus that climate change is caused by the burning of fossil fuels.

So instead of disputing the science in its final rule, the administration leaned into the legal arguments. “They made the proposal look less crazy,” said Jody Freeman, director of Harvard Law School’s Environmental and Energy Law Program. “That would have attracted a lot of judicial attention and made them look irrational.”

The final rule announced Thursday argues that the 1970

Clean Air Act applies only to direct, localized pollution, whereas greenhouse gases spread far and wide and therefore aren’t subject to regulation. The document also argues that emissions from American vehicles play too small a role in global warming to warrant regulation. And it makes a case that rules aimed at encouraging a shift to electric vehicles have such far-reaching consequences that Congress, not regulators at a government agency such as the EPA, would need to explicitly authorize them.

The endangerment finding was a scientific conclusion by the EPA that six greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health, obligating the agency to regulate them. The agency was forced to reach a determination on the matter after a 2007 Supreme Court case, Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency.

That case is considered the most important environmental law matter ever decided by the court, according to Harvard law professor Richard Lazarus in his 2020 book, “The Rule of Five: Making Climate History at the Supreme Court.”

Lazarus said Friday that the EPA’s justification for killing the endangerment finding was a “frontal attack” on the precedent set in that case. Three of the dissenting justices are still on the Supreme Court. None of the original five who ruled in favor of Massachusetts remain.

Still, Lazarus cautioned that it was “not a done deal” that the justices would decide in the agency’s favor now, pointing to what he called flaws in the agency’s arguments.

“They’re not denying these huge worldwide threats posed by climate change, by emissions around the globe,” he said of the EPA. “To some extent, they’re simply saying that no one sector of an economy in the United States, like transportation, does enough by itself to deal with this massive problem. So we have no authority to do anything at all. That’s absurd.”

In the Massachusetts v. EPA decision, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that climate change was a grave threat, and that the Clean Air Act obligated the EPA either to act or to explain why it would not do so. “EPA has refused to comply with this clear statutory command,” he wrote. “Instead, it has offered a laundry list of reasons not to regulate.”

But it was not a unanimous decision. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the dissent, joined by Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.

Roberts wrote that, while global warming “may ultimately affect nearly everyone on the planet in some potentially adverse way,” addressing it was the function of Congress and the executive branch, not the federal courts. “Such a conclusion involves no judgment on whether global warming exists, what causes it, or the extent of the problem,” he wrote.

The EPA issued the endangerment finding in 2008, but officials in the George W. Bush White House refused to open the email notifying them of the decision to avoid acting on it, The New York Times reported at the time. The finding was put into effect after Barack Obama took office.

Seven pivotal moments in Jesse Jackson’s life

By NEIL VIGDOR

Millions of Democrats cast primary votes for him, envisioning him as America’s first Black president.

Along the way, there would be convention keynote speeches and, at times, self-inflicted controversy for the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who died on Tuesday at 84. His life ran in parallel to the successes of the civil rights era, but it was at the movement’s lowest moment that he came to wider national attention: the 1968 assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., which he witnessed at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

Here are seven key moments in his life.

Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination

On April 4, 1968, Jackson was in the motel parking lot, speaking with King, who was on the second-floor balcony above him, when King was shot by James Earl Ray.

“We hoped it was his arm, but the bullet hit him in the neck,” Jackson told reporters while visiting the motel, now a civil rights landmark, before Tennessee’s Democratic presidential primary in 1984.

At the time of the assassination, Jackson was 26 years old and a protégé of King.

“This is the scene of the crucifixion,” he said, taking reporters on a tour of Room 306, where the civil rights leader had been staying.

1984 presidential campaign

With his entry into the 1984 Democratic primary race, Jackson became the first Black candidate to seek a major party’s nomination for president since Shirley Chisholm, the trailblazing Brooklyn Congress member who ran unsuccessfully in 1972.

At a campaign kickoff rally, Chisholm introduced Jackson, who was then 42 and had criticized Democrats for what he described as their lackluster opposition to President Ronald Reagan.

Jackson viewed his candidacy as inspirational to a rainbow coalition — Black, white and Hispanic citizens, women, American Indians and “the voiceless and downtrodden.”

He finished third to the eventual nominee, Walter Mondale, the former vice president, who lost the general election in a landslide.

The ‘Hymietown’ controversy

Just as Democrats were preparing to cast their primary votes for president in 1984, Jackson was swept up in a political maelstrom involving his use of an antisemitic slur.

On several occasions when speaking to reporters, he had referred to Jews as “Hymies” and to New York as “Hymietown,” according to The Washington Post.

“Hymie” is a shortened version of the name Hyman, which is relatively common among Jews, and many consider the term offensive.

After initially seeking to discredit the report, Jackson apologized.

But the controversy sowed further misgivings about Jackson’s candidacy among Jewish voters, as he had supported the creation of an independent Palestinian state and called for recognition of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Jackson had also drawn criticism when he embraced Yasir Arafat, the PLO leader, during a visit to the Middle East in 1979 and for his previous political ties with Louis Farrakhan, the Black Muslim leader who had called Adolf Hitler “a great man” and Judaism “a gutter religion.”

1984 DNC keynote

Democrats entered their national convention in San Francisco a fractured party, with some divisions exacerbated by Jackson’s candidacy.

But on the second night of the gathering, Jackson called for unity and sought to put questions about his loyalty to the party behind him in a speech that was evangelical in its tone and filled with biblical references.

“If I have caused anyone discomfort, created pain or revived someone’s fears, that was not my truest self,” he said. “Charge it to my head, not to my heart.”

Jackson likened America to a quilt, a patchwork of disparate constituencies that deserved a voice.

1988 presidential campaign

Building on his name recognition and base of support in the South, Jackson returned to the campaign trail emboldened in 1988. The clergyman from Chicago and founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition made inroads with white voters, winning three times as many votes from them as he did four years earlier.

Nearly 7 million people voted for Jackson in the primaries and caucuses that year, delivering him victories in 13 contests.

He finished a solid second to Michael Dukakis, the Mas-

sachusetts governor, who eventually lost the general election to George H.W. Bush, the vice president.

1988 DNC keynote

In the spotlight of the Democratic National Convention, Jackson brought delegates to tears with his retelling of his upbringing in poverty and segregation in Greenville, South Carolina. He said he could identify with people watching his speech on television in poor neighborhoods.

“They don’t see the house I’m running from,” he said. “I have a story. I wasn’t always on television.”

He used his speech to press for social justice and action by Democrats in the general election, when he became a key surrogate for Dukakis, particularly with Black voters.

He closed his remarks with a sermon-like chant, one that would echo in future campaigns, including Barack Obama’s in 2008, when Americans elected him as the first Black president.

“Keep hope alive! Keep hope alive! Keep hope alive!”

An apology to Obama

Not long after Obama clinched the Democratic nomination in 2008, Jackson created an awkward distraction for the party’s next standard-bearer.

During a Fox News interview, Jackson criticized Obama for how he had been referring to African Americans and his singling out Black men for failing to uphold their responsibilities as fathers. Jackson accused Obama, whom he had earlier endorsed, of “talking down to Black people.”

He later apologized for his remarks, which drew an unusually stern rebuke from Jesse Jackson Jr., a Democratic Congress member from Illinois at the time who was a national co-chair of Obama’s campaign.

“Reverend Jackson is my dad, and I’ll always love him,” he said. He added, “He should keep hope alive and any personal attacks and insults to himself.”

Trump risks igniting a nuclear wildfire NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD

The world is entering a dangerous new nuclear age. This month, the New START treaty between the United States and Russia — the last major restraint on the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals — expired. In its place, the Trump administration is substituting a policy of vague threats and dangerous brinkmanship that portends an unconstrained arms race not seen since the height of the Cold War.

President Donald Trump’s approach to this new, unbound era is alarming in both its words and its mechanics. Rather than preserving the stability that has held for half a century, the administration is weighing the deployment of more nuclear weapons and, perhaps most recklessly, the resumption of underground nuclear testing.

Times Opinion and this editorial board have spent the past two years documenting the terrifying reality of these weapons in our series “At the Brink.” We explored the catastrophic consequences of a single detonation, the forgotten victims of past testing and the fragility of the systems meant to prevent the unthinkable. The intention of that series was to raise public awareness about the dangers of nuclear weapons. Now that lack of awareness is being exploited to abandon the last of the international agreements

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that helped keep humanity safe for decades and to pursue an unchecked arms race.

The administration seems to think that when it comes to nuclear weapons, more is better. With New START gone, the Navy is studying whether to reopen disabled launch tubes on Ohio-class submarines and load additional warheads on its intercontinental ballistic missiles. The moves could more than double today’s deployed arsenal. Officials have also floated the idea of a “Trump class” warship armed with nuclear-capable cruise missiles.

The logic provided by the State Department is that the old treaty placed “unacceptable” constraints on the United States and failed to account for China’s growing arsenal. Although it is true that China is expanding its nuclear forces, ripping up existing guardrails with Russia in hopes of coercing Beijing into a deal is a strategy that has already failed. China has repeatedly made clear that it has no interest in negotiations while its arsenal is a fraction of the size of America’s. By abandoning limits, Trump is not forcing his rivals to the table; he is inviting them to sprint alongside him.

His disdain for U.S. allies has also encouraged them to consider expanding their own nuclear promises. European leaders have begun to discuss whether France, which has nuclear weapons, should vow to protect other parts of Western Europe from Russia, given the sudden unreliability of the United States. “As long as bad powers have nuclear weapons,” Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson of Sweden told The Atlantic, “democracies also need to be able to play.” A larger nuclear umbrella for any country increases the chances that a misunderstanding or mistake will lead to devastation.

Especially disturbing is the administration’s signal that it may resume underground nuclear testing. Thomas G. DiNanno, a senior State Department official, recently said in Geneva that the United States must “restore responsible behavior” regarding testing. He was arguing that Russia and China have already been cheating on the testing moratorium — a claim for which public evidence remains scarce and disputed. Trump has previously stated that he wants to resume detonations “on an equal basis” with our adversaries.

We must be clear about what this means: The United States has not conducted an explosive nuclear test since 1992. To do so now would be strategic malpractice. As we noted in “At the Brink,” the United States has conducted more than 1,000 nuclear tests — about as many as all other nations combined. We possess a trove of data that allows us to maintain our arsenal through computer modeling without detonating a single charge. The technological gains from new tests are negligible compared with the geopolitical damage. It would shatter a global norm and almost certainly trigger reciprocal tests by Russia and China, allowing those countries to improve their own warheads.

In an undated image provided by National Nuclear Security Administration, a shaft at the Nevada test site being prepared for an underground nuclear test in the early 1990s. (National Nuclear Security Administration via The New York Times)

Furthermore, the human cost of the testing era cannot be ignored. Our series documented the scars left on the people of the Marshall Islands and those in the American West who suffered from cancer and displacement from the radioactive fallout of the 20th century. To reopen the door to explosive testing is to invite a return to environmental damage and the abdication of our morals.

This administration has options to reverse course. First, Trump should refrain from ordering a resumption of explosive nuclear testing.

Second, the United States should commit to an informal oneyear mutual adherence to New START limits with Russia, even in the absence of a treaty. Russian President Vladimir Putin offered such an extension previously; Trump should test that offer rather than dismiss it. This would buy time for the better agreement that Trump claims to want, without unleashing a free-for-all in the interim.

Third, the administration must stop using the potential threat of China as an excuse to start an arms race with Russia. Today, the United States and Russia each have roughly a 6-to-1 warhead advantage over China — and arsenals that are more than capable of destroying any nation on Earth many times over. The notion that New START is a disadvantage to the United States is wrong.

Finally, Congress must reassert its role. The president of the United States currently possesses the sole, unchecked authority to launch a nuclear war. In an era of rising tension and decaying treaties, leaving the fate of the world to the judgment of a single person — whoever it is — is a risk no democracy should tolerate.

Firman acuerdo histórico para implantar la educación financiera en escuelas públicas

POR EL STAR STAFF

SAN JUAN – Representantes de seis entidades claves en Puerto Rico firmaron un acuerdo colaborativo interagencial y multisectorial para la implantación de la Ley 85-2018, estableciendo así un marco sólido para integrar la educación financiera como componente esencial en el currículo de las escuelas públicas del país. Este histórico acuerdo sella el compromiso conjunto de la Cámara de Comercio de Puerto Rico (CCPR), el Departamento de Educación, la Corporación Pública para la Supervisión y Seguro de Cooperativas de Puerto Rico (COSSEC), la Oficina del Comisionado de Instituciones Financieras (OCIF), el Colegio de Contadores Públicos Autorizados de Puerto Rico (CCPA) y PR Education Initiative (PREI) en favor del futuro de la niñez y la juventud puertorriqueña.

“Con este esfuerzo buscamos impulsar la productividad y la toma de decisiones informadas sobre ahorro, inversión, crédito y emprendimiento; que sin lugar a dudas, contribuirán en la prosperidad y desarrollo económico de Puerto Rico”, expresó la licenciada Margaret Ramírez Báez, presidenta de la CCPR.

La firma de este acuerdo representa un paso trascendental para el desarrollo socioeconómico de Puerto Rico, ya que responde al mandato de la Ley 852018, la cual delega al Departamento de Educación la responsabilidad de incluir la educación financiera en el currículo escolar. La colaboración entre sectores público, privado y sin fines de lucro permitirá fortalecer las competencias financieras de los estudiantes,

sentando bases para una ciudadanía más informada, responsable y preparada para los retos económicos del siglo XXI.

Por su parte el secretario del Departamento de Educación, Eliezer Ramos Parés, destacó: “Este acuerdo es clave para nutrir de conocimientos financieros al componente de nuestras escuelas en las siete regiones educativas, comenzando con un programa piloto que permitirá capacitar a nuestros maestros mediante la Academia de Enseñanza en Educación Financiera y medir el impacto real en los planteles”.

El acuerdo establece la creación e implantación del programa “Educación Financiera para Todos”, que contempla la capacitación docente a través de la “Academia de Enseñanza en Educación Financiera” en las siete regiones educativas, así como un programa piloto de medición y evaluación. La coordinación general y la fiscalización del plan de ejecución recaen en la Cámara de Comercio de Puerto Rico, quien

La Universidad del Sagrado Corazón se

funge como ente articulador de esfuerzos y garante del cumplimiento de los objetivos. La CCPR lidera la coordinación general del acuerdo, asegurando la comunicación efectiva y la logística entre las partes. El Departamento de Educación oficializa y facilita la integración del currículo y la participación docente. COSSEC aporta recursos sobre el sistema cooperativo y valores financieros personales. OCIF provee materiales para el uso responsable del sistema financiero. El CCPA actúa como cuerpo docente técnico, desarrollando y revisando los manuales y recursos educativos, mientras que PREI asegura la calidad del desarrollo profesional docente y emite certificaciones válidas para los maestros.

La presidenta de COSSEC, Mabel Jiménez Miranda, afirmó: “Este acuerdo nos permite llevar educación financiera directamente a espacios donde hace falta: las escuelas, las comunidades y otros entornos educativos donde se forman las decisiones del futuro”.

Mientras el presidente del CCPA, CPA David Rodríguez Ortiz, señaló: “Como parte de este acuerdo colaborativo, nuestros colegiados servirán como capacitadores en temas financieros, contables y contributivos, así como revisores de los manuales educativos y materiales de apoyo”.

El programa piloto será implantado en, al menos, una escuela pública por región, generando evidencia para la expansión gradual del currículo a toda la Isla. El acuerdo estará vigente hasta el 31 de diciembre de 2027 y podrá ser enmendado con el consentimiento de todas las partes.

distingue como la única

en Puerto Rico con la Clasificación Carnegie de Compromiso Comunita rio

SAN JUAN – La Universidad del Sagrado Corazón (Sagrado) revalidó por quinta ocasión la Clasificación Carnegie de Compromiso Comunitario. Esta distinción, que otorgan el Consejo Americano de Educación (American Council on Education, ACE) y la Fundación Carnegie para el Avance de la Educación, reconoce el compromiso institucional de la Universidad con una educación que integra el aprendizaje basado en el servicio, el civismo, el liderazgo y las alianzas comunitarias como parte esencial de su currículo académico.

Actualmente, un total de 277 universidades en Estados Unidos cuentan con esta clasificación electiva, siendo Sagrado la única en Puerto Rico en ostentarla desde el 2008.

“Sagrado reafirma su misión y tradición de servicio comunitario al recibir esta importante distinción. Nuestra facultad y estudiantado han completado miles de horas desarrollando proyectos de impacto, directamente relacionados con las necesidades y oportunidades identificadas por las comunidades”, expresó la Dra. Anuchka Ramos-Ruiz, provost y vicepresidenta ejecutiva de Asuntos Académicos y Estudiantiles. Destacó que hace 28 años la Universidad fundó el Centro de Vinculación Comunitaria como parte de su proyecto de aprendizaje mediante servicio. Este tiene la encomienda de identificar organizaciones comunitarias, microempresas, agencias y corporaciones con iniciativas de responsabilidad social, cuyas necesidades puedan ser atendidas a través de los cursos que se ofrecen en Sagrado.

En el 2025, 632 estudiantes y 25 profesores parti-

ciparon en 122 proyectos de aprendizaje basado en el servicio, dedicando 11,100 horas a 41 organizaciones comunitarias.

‘The Simpsons’ hits another milestone

By DARRYN KING

Afew years ago at the airport, Matt Groening was steered into the Transportation Security Administration’s secondary screening line and told to remove the contents of his luggage. Then he heard a child’s laugh ring out, in the unmistakable taunting tones of “Simpsons” bully Nelson Muntz: “Ha-ha.”

“I don’t know if it was just the kid acting like the character, or if the kid knew who I was and was really rubbing it in,” Groening said in a recent phone interview. Either way, the incident says something about Groening’s legacy and the ubiquity of his creation.

Thirty-nine years after a certain scraggily drawn cartoon family first appeared on television, as part of Fox’s “The Tracey Ullman Show,” “The Simpsons” has aired its 800th episode on the network. (There have been some additional Disney+ exclusive episodes.) “Irrational Treasure” premiered Sunday, which also happened to be Groening’s 72nd birthday. In a recent conversation, Groening spoke about how the show has evolved, the Homers in his own life and why there is no end in sight for the series.

“I’m not going to be the guy that says it’s over,” he said.

This interview took place before recent reports noted similarities between a plot detail in a “Simpsons” episode from 2000 and Jeffrey Epstein’s island. On Friday a representative for Groening declined to comment about the episode and about Groening’s past contact with Epstein, revealed in court documents that were unsealed in 2019.

These are edited excerpts from the conversation.

Q: Why do you think “The Simpsons” has lasted so long?

A: I think of “The Simpsons” as a forum for different comedy styles. There are so many different kinds of jokes in the show. If the show had stayed consistent with my earliest vision, which was generally much more mild and not as crazy, I don’t know that it would still be on the air. We reinvent the show over and over again, and the writers and animators are trying to surprise themselves over and over again. That keeps it fresh.

Q: What is your role these days?

A: Way too much of my time is spent doing custodial cleanup work. I look at the designs of backgrounds and characters and props and things like that to make sure they’re consistent. You would think that by this time, we must get it right every time. It’s amazing we still need to tweak things.

I take my credit seriously, but I can’t say enough how much “The Simpsons” is a collaborative effort. It really is the amazing output of a lot of people working as hard as they can to be as funny as they can.

Q: What do you say to people who say “The Simpsons” peaked 30 years ago?

A: The thing about humor is anybody can say, “That’s not funny.” Everything isn’t for everybody. It’s been on an awfully long time. People who say, “The show hasn’t been good since Year X” — you’re not watching the show! In recent years, and I don’t know how the animators do it, we’ve been incredibly ambitious with our efforts not to repeat ourselves and surprise both us and the audience.

Matt

Groening, creator of “The Simpsons,” at his production office in Santa Monica, Calif., June 26, 2018. (David Banks/ The New York Times)

Q: The show has been part of the culture for so long, it is easy to forget how bizarre the original character designs are.

A: I agree. Somebody wrote that the most memorable cartoon characters are the ones that you can identify in silhouette. No matter which way Mickey Mouse turns his head, his ears are distinct. That’s what I tried to do with Bart, Homer, Lisa, Maggie and Marge.

Q: Bart probably has a place on the Mount Rushmore of cartoon characters next to Mickey. With Bugs Bunny and SpongeBob, perhaps.

A: That’s good company. I would shout out David Silverman, one of the original three animators on “The Simpsons,” who came up with the rules. When I would draw Bart, I would say, Oh, there are a lot of spikes on his head. But David actually counted them and made the rules of how many there should be. I think it’s 11. Or nine. [It’s nine.]

Q: And Gyorgi Peluce’s colors.

A: Oh, yes. The amazing pioneer who looked at my blackand-white drawings and picked yellow. Which worked perfectly.

Q: Were you ever taken aback by the phenomenal success of the show?

A: I was startled by how popular the show was all over the world. It is extremely popular in basically every English-speaking country, but it’s got probably even more intense devotion in Central and South America. I was in Buenos Aires several years back. There’s Simpsons graffiti all over the place, and I was recognized on the street. That was amazing.

We had a guest bedroom that I outfitted from top to bottom with “Simpsons” pillowcases and bedsheets and curtains and a million toys. The great thing about it was that guests would only stay one night and then find a reason to leave.

Q: You rarely wrote for the show. Was there tension bet-

ween you and the writers in the early years?

A: TV comedy writers in general, you’re staying up all hours and you’re forced to be funny. That’s a recipe for insanity. The long hours that are integral to animation, everyone just goes nuts. And then the sudden overwhelming success of the show also made some people a little crazy. Looking back on it, we were all a little nuts.

Q: You wanted to do a live-action Krusty the Clown spinoff at one point. What happened there?

A: I thought it’d be conceptually hilarious to do a liveaction spinoff of an animated show, with Dan Castellaneta in clown makeup. Fox said, “Does it have to be live action?” I said, “OK, let’s do it animated.” But we couldn’t make the deal. There haven’t been any spinoffs of “The Simpsons” in part because the original show has been so lucrative that no deal can be made. Too many people have dollar signs in their eyes.

Q: You named your son Homer — after your father rather than the character. That must have resulted in some interesting conversations.

A: When my son was really small and I was wheeling him around in a stroller, people would say: “Oh, what a cute baby. What’s his name?” I’d say Homer. And then they would laugh.

I wanted to make it up to my father that I had named this idiot after him. My father was nothing like Homer. He was really smart and athletic, and he was a war hero. He was a B-17 pilot in World War II. He made surfing movies in the ’60s and cartoons and was a huge inspiration to me.

The only thing that bothered him about Homer Simpson was if he was ever mean to Marge. There was an episode in which their car broke down in the desert, and Homer made Marge carry the flat tire back to the town. He said, “Homer should not have done that.” And he was really serious.

Q: The show has now been on for more than half your life. Will it run forever?

A: About 15 years ago I was asked this question, and I said, “We’re probably closer to the end than the beginning.” And then headlines around the world were saying that “The Simpsons” was canceled. So I have learned to say there is no end in sight. We’re still having a good time.

One of the fun things about my projects is that they don’t seem to end. “The Simpsons” keeps going. “Futurama” has come and gone and come again. And who knows what’s coming? It’s always surprising.

Q: What’s the next meaningful milestone for you?

A: I’m trying to figure out what my epitaph is going to be on my gravestone. There’s still that to come.

Stocks

Equities rise modestly as tech shares recover

What matters in U.S. ⁠and ⁠global markets today

By Mike Dolan, Editor-At-Large, Finance and Markets

By ⁠the standards of the year so far, the market-moving news flow has slowed to a trickle, with world markets subdued as Wall Street returns from its three-day weekend.

Meantime, geopolitical attention shifts to Geneva today as the U.S. and Iran continue nuclear talks.

I’ll get into that and more below.

But first, check out my latest column on the trade-offs of a ‘global euro’ for European policymakers.

And listen to the latest episode of the Morning Bid daily podcast. Subscribe to hear Reuters journalists discuss the ⁠biggest news in markets ⁠and finance seven days a week.

SLEEPY ‘UBER-BULLS’

As U.S. markets reopen on Tuesday, stock futures were slightly in the red ahead of the bell, with traders perhaps still wary of the wild AI-related swings in various parts of the tech sector last week.

Despite that, the broader mood remains upbeat. Bank of

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Elsewhere, global stocks were steady. In Asia, the mood was muted in holiday-thinned trading, with Japan’s Nikkei ⁠slipping ⁠after yesterday’s lower-than-expected GDP print. Those ⁠figures showed the Japanese economy grew at an annualised 0.2% in the fourth quarter, well below a forecast 1.6% gain.

That weighed on the yen on Monday, with the currency easing 0.4% against the dollar after ⁠last week’s almost 3% rise, before reversing its losses on Tuesday.

The

San Juan Daily Star Wednesday, February 18, 2026

Iranians mourn slain protesters with ‘revolutionary rage’

By ERIKA SOLOMON, LEILY NIKOUNAZAR and SANJANA VARGHESE

With patriotic anthems and chants against the country’s clerical rulers, Iranians on Tuesday began commemorating the end of a traditional 40-day mourning period for loved ones killed at the peak of the government’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests.

Authorities have moved quickly to tamp down protests or other demonstrations of antigovernment sentiment to mark the occasion, with videos verified by The New York Times showing security patrols in at least two cities.

Tuesday is the first of what is expected to be several days of memorial ceremonies across the country to honor the 40th day since thousands of protesters were killed from Jan. 8 to Jan. 10. The commemorations will test both of the success of the crackdown and the ability of government opponents to find new ways to defy the state.

Such ceremonies have played a pivotal role in the country’s modern history: They were a staging ground for the protests that eventually overthrew Iran’s shah in 1979.

This week might not be such a dramatic turning point, but dissidents are already using the occasion as a way to voice their anger at the government. Some are transforming what was once a somber, religious funeral rite into boisterous, celebratory affairs, in a stark rejection of the country’s austere rulers.

“They’ve reinvented this with a revolutionary rage,” said Arash Azizi, a historian of Iran based in New York. “It is an attempt by Iranians to take back their country and rediscover their nationalism.”

For weeks before the memorials began, security forces sought to intimidate some families into not holding public memorials, according to rights groups and relatives of several slain protesters interviewed by The New York Times.

On Tuesday, videos verified by the Times showed security forces patrolling some towns, including Lesfijan in the north, where trucks filmed on the streets were loaded with troops wearing helmets and camouflage gear.

Commemorations for the dead after 40 days have been at the heart of Iran’s mourning culture for generations — one of the final rituals of farewell before returning to the rhythms of daily life. The ceremonies are common among the region’s Shiite Muslims. They have pre-Islamic roots in Iran too, and are practiced by Iranians of all faiths.

As a profound cultural symbol in Iran, authorities this week appeared keen to control

A woman at the door of a mosque that was burned during protests, in Tehran, Iran. Jan. 21, 2026. Families across Iran began to commemorate the end of the traditional Iranian Islamic 40-day mourning period this week for loved ones killed at the peak of a bloody crackdown on nationwide protests demanding an end to authoritarian clerical rule. (Arash Khamooshi/The New York Times)

the memorials.

The government itself announced plans for official mourning ceremonies in the capital, Tehran, and the northern city of Mashhad.

“We are grieving for the blood that was shed,” the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in a speech on Tuesday. He called security forces killed in the unrest “the highest-ranking martyrs.” Bystanders and protesters who were “misled,” he said, were also martyrs.

Others killed “were the very corrupters, the seditionists, and coup plotters themselves,” he said. “Their reckoning is with God. We have nothing to do with them.”

The government argues that it was fighting unrest during the protests that was fomented by “terrorists” backed by Israel and the United States, leading to more than 3,000 deaths.

Rights groups say that vastly underestimates the toll, particularly from Jan. 8 to 10, which many now consider the bloodiest days in Iran’s modern history. Over three weeks of protests, the U.S.based rights group HRANA says more than 7,000 protesters were killed, with most killed in that three-day period.

One of the victims was Robina Aminian, a 23-yearold fashion student, whose family said she was shot

in the head while protesting in Tehran. Officials banned her family from public 40th-day memorials, according to her aunt, Hali Nouri, who lives in Europe.

For more than a month, Nouri said, plainclothes police were stationed at either end of the alleyway where the Aminian family resides.

Reaching Aminian’s grave will be particularly arduous for her family.

Security forces have regularly forced families to bury dissidents in remote areas to prevent their graves from becoming a gathering point, and Aminian’s family was forced to lay her to rest in a remote, snowy village of western Iran.

“My sister says, ‘Even if they shoot bullets, I will go for her 40th day,’” Nouri told the Times.

There are increasing signs of dissent across Iran in the face of the continuing crackdown.

At several universities, students have repeatedly attempted to hold sit-ins, according to student social media channels.

And in some cities, videos showed Iranians took to their rooftops in the cover of darkness to chant for the toppling of the supreme leader.

On Monday night, a small protest broke out in the southwestern town of Abdanan. In one video verified by the Times, people can be seen chanting “death to Khamenei” as passing cars honk.

Another video, which appeared to be from Tuesday morning, shows security forces deploying in the town with armored vehicles. Another video showed large crowds screaming as they fled smoke and detonations near a cemetery in Abdanan.

New displays of defiance do not necessarily mean that momentum toward a new wave of nationwide protests is building, said Farzan Sabet, an analyst on Iran and Middle East politics at the Geneva Graduate Institute in Switzerland.

“What I think everyone is waiting for is whether the other shoe will drop — that is,

whether a U.S. strike will happen or not.”

The severity of Iran’s crackdown is also partly a reaction to threats beyond its borders.

President Donald Trump has massed warships in Persian Gulf waters, a show of force amid tenuous U.S.-Iran talks over reining in Iran’s nuclear and military capabilities. A brief round of talks was held in Geneva on Tuesday.

Some Iranians said they are trying to hold 40th-day commemorations despite the restrictions.

The family of slain 17-year-old protester Mohammad Mahdi Ganj Danesh signed pledges not to chant political slogans at their memorial, according to a family friend.

Still, authorities refused to grant them permission to hold their memorial at their mosque in the northern town of Zanjan. They, like several other families interviewed, rented an event hall instead.

Video of the memorial obtained by the Times shows large crowds crammed together to celebrate his life and protest against the government. “The fallen flower has become a gift to the homeland,” they chanted and clapped.

Instead of tearful rituals of mourning, many families of those killed at protests have transformed their commemorations with dancing, singing and clapping over people’s graves. This is seen as a way of defying traditionally somber religious customs that many Iranians now associate with the Islamic Republic’s austere rule. Video of the 40th-day ceremony for Raha Bahlooli-Pour, a student at the University of Tehran, shows mourners playing folk tunes instead of the customary recitations of Quranic verse. In the video, verified by the Times, women perform the traditional kel, a highpitched ululation most Iranians traditionally reserve for weddings.

Today’s protesters are turning mourning into celebration.

“Their sadness is defiant,” Azizi said. “They are saying that the battle is not over, that they have not given up and that they will stand up to the regime again.”

In Xi’s purge of the military, a search for absolute loyalty

By LILY KUO

When Xi Jinping rang in the new year from Beijing, he called on China to remember the legacy of Yan’an, the rural stronghold where Mao Zedong transformed revolutionary guerrilla fighters into a disciplined force under his command that would go on to take the country.

It may have been a hint of what was to come. Yan’an was also where Mao launched his party’s first major “rectification,” a campaign of political terror that eliminated rivals and cemented his absolute authority over the party. Three weeks after Xi’s speech, China effectively purged the military’s top commander Gen. Zhang Youxia, who had once been seen as a confidant of Xi’s.

Like Mao, Xi is pursuing a kind of spiritual renewal of the party and the military he commands, what he calls constant “self revolution.” And like Mao, that has taken the form of constant purging of enemies, associates and now, those in his inner circle, too. It is a new level of ruthlessness for a man who has already concentrated power in himself to a degree not seen since Mao.

Over the past three years, Xi has essentially ousted five of the six generals in China’s top military body, the Central Military Commission, which controls China’s armed forces. Only two members are left: Xi himself and a vice chair who has overseen Xi’s purges.

“It is quite astonishing,” said Yue Gang, a retired colonel of the People’s Liberation Army.

In the weeks after, Chinese officials have offered little explanation as they sought to project normalcy. Xi hosted foreign leaders in Beijing and convened a meeting with party officials on policy work. On Wednesday, he met with military units by video conference and conveyed his greetings for the Lunar New

Tourists dressed in Red Army uniforms next to a statue of Mao at Yan’an Revolutionary Memorial Hall in Yan’an, China, June 18, 2021. By reaching back to Maoist tactics of “rectification,” the Chinese leader is signaling that control over the gun requires a state of perpetual cleansing. (Gilles Sabrié/The New York Times)

Year. Acknowledging that the past year had been “very unusual and very extraordinary,” Xi sought to show that the rank-and-file were loyal to him, saying that the troops were still “completely reliable and trustworthy.”

Online discussion has been restricted as social media platforms filter search results and comments related to Zhang.

The few official editorials released on the subject hark back to the campaign of ideological cleansing first modeled at Yan’an and suggest that at the heart of the ouster is Xi’s control over the military, a powerful empire within the party.

A front-page editorial in the People’s Liberation Army Daily characterized the inves-

tigation as a necessary hygiene, a process of “uprooting sick trees” and “removing hidden cancer” so that the military would be “reforged and reformed.” Another editorial in the same paper described Xi’s leadership as the “source of strength, direction and future” for the military.

“Mr. Xi believes he needs to build a foundation of absolute ideological unity and personal loyalty for future battles,” wrote John Garnaut, a founder of Garnaut Global, a geopolitical risk advisory firm. He noted that the language used by the party showed that Xi was drawing on Maoist and Stalinist playbooks absorbed in his youth as the son of a revolutionary fighter.

Over his 13 years in power, Xi has often cited Yan’an, the Communist Party’s main revolutionary base until 1948, as inspiration for his own culling of cadres as well as a way to signal his own supreme authority in the party in the tradition of Mao. After Xi secured a third term as head of the party, breaking with precedent, he visited the city in the northwestern province of Shaanxi with his top officials.

He and Zhang also made the pilgrimage to Yan’an in 2024 for a meeting, heavy with symbolism, on “political work” in the Chinese military. Xi exhorted the senior military officers, which included three other senior generals that he would later also purge, to remember their original revolutionary mission.

Visiting the former residences of revolutionary leaders like Mao and Zhou Enlai on that trip, he declared the importance of the

party’s “absolute leadership over the military.”

“For Xi Jinping, he sees that legacy and that kind of campaign as one of the party’s greatest treasures. He wants to go back to history and use those methods,” said Joseph Torigian, a historian of the Chinese Communist Party at American University in Washington. “He thinks he can do it right.”

Securing control over the People’s Liberation Army has been the key challenge of every leader since Mao, who immortalized its importance by declaring that “political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” Yue argued that Xi’s predecessor, Hu Jintao, struggled to manage the military and had been outmaneuvered by two vice chairs of the commission.

“We’ve had this lesson before,” Yue said, who argued that Zhang may have tried and failed to weaken Xi’s hold over the military. The “smooth” takedown of Zhang, he said, shows how “impossible it is to shake the leadership of Xi Jinping.”

“The attempt to undermine the power didn’t succeed. Instead, it resulted in a disastrous outcome,” he said.

Since Xi came to power in 2012 he has overseen an intense campaign to clean up the military, where corruption had been on the rise since market reforms in the 1980s and as military spending soared. He sees absolute loyalty as vital to one of his key goals of building a 21st-century, combat-ready force capable of defending China’s interests — like its claim over Taiwan.

And as Beijing competes more directly with the United States, ensuring the military’s loyalty in times of crisis and possible conflict is even more important.

“The party must always command the gun, never the other way around,” said Chinese military expert Song Zhongping.

When Xi talks about the spirit of Yan’an, he glosses over details of the purging of thousands of party members at Yan’an through psychologically brutal sessions of self-criticism that led some to suicide. Xi uses some of those methods of political indoctrination, including mandating study sessions of his personalized doctrine, Xi Jinping Thought, and encouraging the reporting of one’s peers or superiors for violating Xi’s edicts, according to Wen-Hsuan Tsai, a scholar of elite Chinese politics at the Institute of Political Science at Academia Sinica in Taiwan.

“It turns the whole party into a trial of mutual reporting, so no one can be trusted — not your parents, not your superiors, no one,” Tsai said.

“His type of regime needs constant enemies and purges to maintain fear,” he said.

The San Juan Daily Star Wednesday, February 18, 2026 13

Vaccine makers curtail research and cut jobs

By REBECCA ROBBINS

In Massachusetts, Moderna is pulling back on vaccine studies. In Texas, a small company canceled plans to build a factory that would have created new jobs manufacturing a technology used in vaccines. In San Diego, another manufacturing company laid off workers.

When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was picked in November 2024 to become the next health secretary, public health experts worried that the longtime vaccine skeptic would wreak havoc on the fragile business of vaccine development.

Those fears are beginning to come true, according to executives and investors involved with companies that develop and sell vaccines and the technology that is best known for the COVID vaccines.

At conferences and in interviews, they described the emerging consequences of the Trump administration’s dismantling of the long-standing federal support for vaccines.

“There will be less invention, investment and innovation in vaccines generally, across all the companies,” Dr. Stephen Hoge, the president of Moderna, said in an interview.

The Trump administration said it was not discouraging innovation.

But investors have grown hesitant to bet on a field that has fallen out of favor in Washington. Major manufacturers are reporting declining sales of their shots. Smaller companies are taking the brunt of the impact, with some stocks whipsawing in response to the changes.

Perhaps no vaccine maker has been hit harder by the federal policy changes than Moderna. Kennedy has repeatedly questioned the safety and effectiveness of the technology around which the company has built its business. The technology, known as messenger RNA, or mRNA, instructs the body to produce a fragment of a virus that then sets off an immune response. It can be more quickly tailored and manufactured compared to traditional approaches.

Last week, the Food and Drug Administration refused to review Moderna’s mRNA flu vaccine, saying its research design was flawed.

The health officials’ decisions are a striking departure from President Donald Trump’s first term, when the federal government funded and shepherded Moderna’s COVID vaccine. The company’s stock price has plummeted more than 90% since its peak in August 2021, erasing about $180 billion in market value.

Pharmaceutical companies have dodged several of Trump’s threats, reaching favorable deals with the administration to avoid tariffs and keep prices high for most of the drugs they currently sell. But they have been unable to find common ground on vaccines.

“It’s a different world when you start discussing vaccines,” Albert Bourla, Pfizer’s CEO, said last month. “There is almost like a religion there.” Asked what needs to change, Bourla said, “the health secretary.” Bourla also characterized Kennedy’s rhetoric as “anti-science.”

Bourla talks about the president with a different tone. He once said Trump deserved a Nobel Prize for championing the COVID vaccines.

Andrew Nixon, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, said, “We reject the claim that our approach to vaccines is anti-science or hostile to innovation.”

Kennedy has argued that COVID shots using mRNA are not effective because they do not prevent infection. He also once called them “the deadliest vaccine ever made.” Like all shots, mRNA vaccines sometimes cause side effects, but extensive research has found that the shots are safe overall and that serious reactions occur rarely.

Under Kennedy’s leadership, the department has canceled contracts for mRNA technology, limited the use of COVID shots and remade a crucial committee that recommends which vaccines Americans should take and when.

Last month, federal health officials overhauled the childhood vaccination schedule, reducing the number of recommended immunizations to 11 from 17, deciding that the six vaccines that were dropped should now be given only in consultation with a clinician.

The changes “sent a chill through the entire industry,” said Jeff Coller, a scientist who works on mRNA at Johns Hopkins University. Coller advises several small mRNA companies and is on the executive committee of the Alliance for mRNA Medicines, a trade group.

Nixon defended the administration’s changes. “Vaccine policy at HHS is guided by evidence-based science, public health outcomes and transparency, not by the business models or public statements of pharmaceutical executives,” he said.

So far, vaccine manufacturers say that they have no plans to exit the market and that their businesses are resilient enough to withstand the new pressures. Insurers have prom-

An influenza vaccine dose in Mountain Lakes, N.J., Sept. 16, 2025. Distribution of the flu vaccine in the United States is on pace for its lowest level in 12 years.

(Laila Stevens/The New York Times)

ised to continue to cover the vaccines that are no longer federally recommended, at least until the end of this year, promising to soften the financial blow for companies.

And despite increasing vaccine hesitancy, industry officials say they hope that Americans will be swayed by a vast body of research showing that vaccines save lives.

“Not everybody looks to the top of HHS to get all of their guidance on how to live their lives,” Paul Hudson, the outgoing CEO of Sanofi, told reporters last month. Still, he predicted a continued slowdown in vaccine sales because of “the misinformation that is going around.”

Lost jobs for American workers

The federal vaccine policies coupled with declining demand for COVID shots have translated into hard times for Moderna.

Last year, the company laid off more than 800 workers, a tenth of its workforce. It also lost more than $700 million in contracts to develop a shot to protect humans against bird flu after the Trump administration canceled the agreements. And the company shelved vaccines to protect against herpes, chickenpox and shingles.

Moderna plans to continue late-stage studies of mRNA products for cancer. But citing the Trump administration’s stance, the company is pausing late-stage development of shots to prevent infectious diseases and infections that lurk in the body.

For example, Moderna has halted preparatory work for large late-stage clinical trials of vaccines to prevent and treat Epstein-Barr, a common virus that may be linked to multiple sclerosis. The vaccines had shown promise in early studies.

Some smaller companies test shots in hopes of eventually being bought by a big company that will bring them to market. Other

small firms provide services like manufacturing to vaccine developers.

Plano, Texas, lost out on more than 170 new jobs when NTx Bio, which manufactures a device about the size of a microwave for producing mRNA, retreated from plans to build a plant there. The small company attributed its decision to a considerable slowdown in sales last year amid a challenging business climate.

The company’s CEO, Joan Haab, pointed to “headwinds around vaccine hesitancy and initiatives with the administration.”

A few small companies recently notified regulators of their plans to lay off dozens of workers. They include Inventprise, a vaccine developer near Seattle, and TriLink BioTechnologies of San Diego, which promises to help “bring your mRNA vaccine or therapeutic to market faster.”

Big companies face new pressures

The biggest players in the U.S. vaccine market — Merck, Sanofi, GSK and Pfizer — have largely been buffered from recent vaccine policy shifts because most of their sales come from medicines.

Some new vaccines, like the ones to prevent shingles or pneumococcal disease, turn into lucrative blockbusters. Old, routine childhood shots like the one that protects against measles, mumps and rubella generate more modest profit.

A major concern for the big companies is whether the Trump administration will do away with the special liability protections afforded to vaccine makers that have helped them stay in the market.

Allies of Kennedy who have sought to undermine vaccines — including Aaron Siri, a plaintiff’s lawyer representing vaccine injury claims, and Del Bigtree, a prominent anti-vaccine activist — have said they believe the decision to rescind recommendations for certain immunizations provides an opening to strip manufacturers of existing liability shields. That could expose the companies to big-dollar lawsuits.

Nixon said the administration did not comment on “speculative policy decisions.” He said that the vaccines with changed recommendations “continue to be covered” under a program affording those liability protections.

Declining sales

Steady declines in the number of Americans getting vaccinated are dampening sales for the big vaccine manufacturers, a trend dating back to well before Kennedy’s tenure.

Vaccination rates among kindergartners have been falling for years, and efforts to weaken immunization requirements in a handful of states, including Idaho, could further erode those rates.

Kennedy allies target states to overturn vaccine mandates for schoolchildren

By CHRISTINA JEWETT

Longtime allies of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s health secretary, have launched a new effort to repeal laws that for decades have required children to be vaccinated against measles, polio and other diseases before they enter day care or kindergarten.

A newly formed coalition of vaccine activists is targeting laws that are considered the linchpin of protection from deadly diseases. States have long mandated childhood immunizations before children can start day care or school, though some exemptions are available.

“What we need to do is freaking burst the dam open,” Leslie Manookian, the backer of a law that banned medical mandates in Idaho, told supporters on a recent call. “And that is what this year is all about: bursting the dam open in the states where we think it can happen first.”

Manookian is a leader of the Medical Freedom Act Coalition, a new umbrella group of at least 15 nonprofit organizations advocating an end to state laws that codify what they call medical mandates, which largely pertain to vaccines.

So far, bills have been introduced in at least nine states that would eliminate all or nearly all school requirements, including Democratic states like New York where there is no chance of passage, as well as states such as New Hampshire, Georgia, Iowa and Idaho where the proposals have gained some traction.

Many vaccine proponents view the state-level push as a second stage in the dismantling of the nation’s vaccine infrastructure, building on Kennedy’s significant reduction of federally recommended vaccines.

While not entirely new, the strategy demonstrates a sophisticated grasp of how to try to unravel more than 100 years of progress in protecting children from deadly pathogens, said Sara Rosenbaum, a health law professor emerita at George Washington University and former Clinton administration health official.

“They’re drunk on their apparent power, because they have one of their own sitting in the secretarial office of HHS,” Rosenbaum said, referring to Kennedy’s position at the Department of Health and Human Services. “They think this is the time for them to go for broke and just simply make the default no requirements at all.”

Groups in the new coalition include Children’s Health Defense, the nonprofit that Kennedy co-founded, and two oth-

Andeno Co

Tasa mínima, promedio ponderado, y máxima para préstamos personales pequeños otorgados para la semana que terminó el sábado, 14 de febrero de 2026

Tasa

An empty classroom at the high school in Williston, N.D., during an outbreak of measles there, May 19, 2025. Longtime allies of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s health secretary, have launched a new effort to repeal laws that for decades have required children to be vaccinated against measles, polio and other diseases before they enter day care or kindergarten.

(Erin Schaff/The New York Times)

ers created to support his MAHA, or Make America Healthy Again, initiative. One of them, the MAHA Institute, works on state policy and said it is hiring people to support the agenda.

Kennedy’s retreat from long-standing federal vaccine advice has prompted a flurry of activity at the state level. As his policies take hold, some Democratic-leaning states have created their own alliances to reject the new federal vaccine guidance, while some Republican-led states have moved to enshrine it.

At a Heritage Foundation event featuring Kennedy this month, Kim Mack Rosenberg, general counsel for Children’s Health Defense, said a high priority would be undoing state requirements.

“Ultimately, the goal is to remove mandates,” Mack Rosenberg said.

“Particularly when you tie those mandates to school attendance, that creates an incredibly difficult situation for families,” she added.

Proposals to eliminate school-entry vaccine requirements have met mixed fates, with some efforts stalling, in Oklahoma and Indiana, and others pending, including in West Virginia. A bill in Arizona is also pending but is expected to face a veto from the governor, a Democrat, and one in New York is unlikely to clear the Democratic-controlled state legislature. Backers of the coalition say they expect a bill to be introduced in Louisiana next month.

In Florida, despite state officials’ declared intent to end childhood vaccine mandates, no bill has been introduced that would eliminate school-entry rules. One proposal, though, would allow a “conscience” or personal-belief exemption that would make it easier for parents to opt out of immunizations.

The moves to overturn state laws have alarmed pediatricians and other vaccine supporters, who maintain that there is widespread acceptance among parents and the public of immunizing young children.

Eliminating school requirements is viewed by public health experts as a sure way to reduce vaccine coverage, resulting in a surge of measles and whooping cough cases, followed later by potential outbreaks of rubella and polio. The consequences are on display in South Carolina, where a measles outbreak has affected more than 900 people, including at least 19 who were hospitalized with complications including pneumonia and brain swelling.

At several schools in the center of the outbreak, fewer than 80% of students had received all of the required childhood immunizations, well short of the 95% needed to stem the spread of measles, a highly contagious virus.

Yet one potent guardrail against weakening immunization mandates has emerged. A number of polls show that voters would penalize lawmakers who favor eliminating school requirements. In one recent poll, conducted by The Wall Street Journal, voters gave Democrats a 9% advantage over Republicans when asked which party is best suited to handle vaccine policy.

Two polls commissioned by vaccine backers and conducted by Republican-leaning firms found that voters in Florida and Tennessee would not support lawmakers who want to end school-vaccine mandates. One poll by Fabrizio Ward, a firm that President Donald Trump relies on, found that swing voters in tight congressional races would strip about 20 percentage points from a Republican candidate who was critical of vaccines.

“Vaccine skepticism is bad politics,” the Fabrizio Ward memo said.

Vaccine backers are still concerned about proposals in New Hampshire, Iowa, Idaho, Georgia and potentially other states that could end or limit vaccine requirements for school entry.

“Prior to vaccines, 1 in 5 kids didn’t make it to their fifth birthday,” said Jennifer Herricks, advocacy director for American Families for Vaccines, a nonprofit that receives some of its funding from vaccine makers. “Having these policies in place has really served to protect kids at the time when they are the most vulnerable to these diseases.”

In New Hampshire, vaccine skeptics dominated a lengthy hearing on a bill that would eliminate required vaccines for school but was amended to keep the polio vaccine. Health department officials said the proposal would put the state out of compliance with federal grant requirements and cost it several million dollars used to immunize low-income children each year.

If the bill passed, there could be “widespread uncontrolled illness,” said Megan Petty, chief of the New Hampshire Bureau of Infectious Disease Control.

Idaho passed a law in 2025 eliminating medical mandates for vaccines or other interventions, but it did not specifically address or change day care or school vaccine requirements, Manookian said.

She said she planned to support a new Idaho proposal that would. Some Idaho school districts have continued to stand firm on vaccine requirements despite the existing law’s general prohibition against medical mandates, she said.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR DE CAGUAS ORIENTAL BANK

Demandante Vs. ALTAGRACIA BATISTA DÁVILA; AUTORIDAD PARA EL FINANCIAMIENTO DE LA VIVIENDA DE PUERTO RICO

Demandados Civil Núm.: CG2025CV01432. Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA (IN REM). EDICTO ANUNCIANDO PRIMERA, SEGUNDA Y TERCERA SUBASTA. El Alguacil que suscribe, funcionario del Tribunal de la Sala Superior de Caguas, Puerto Rico, por la presente anuncia y hace saber al público en general que en cumplimiento con la Sentencia dictada en este caso con fecha 31 de octubre de 2025, y según Orden y Mandamiento del 12 de enero de 2026 librado por este honorable Tribunal, procederé a vender en pública subasta al mejor postor, y por dinero en efectivo, cheque certificado o giro postal a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal con todo título derecho y/o interés de la parte demandada sobre la propiedad que se describe a continuación: URBANA: Solar número

diecinueve de la Manzana BB, según Plano de Inscripción del Proyecto de solares denominado El Polvorín, radicado en el Barrio Montellanos del término municipal de Cayey, Puerto Rico. Dicho solar tiene un área de doscientos cincuenta metros con veinte centímetros cuadrados y colinda por el NORTE, con el solar número AA veinte, en distancia de diecinueve metros cuarenta y un centímetros; por el SUR, con el solar número AA dieciocho, en distancia de diecinueve metros ochenta y seis centímetros; por el ESTE, con terrenos remanente del Proyecto, en distancia de doce metros cuarenta y dos centímetros; y por el OESTE, en distancia de trece metros cuarenta y nueve centímetros (así surge). Enclava una casa de concreto para vivienda. Finca Número 10,407, inscrita al folio 116 del tomo 310 de Cayey. Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección I de Caguas. Nota aclaratoria: En el Registro de la Propiedad la descripción registral consta tal y como fue transcrita anteriormente. En la Escritura número 167, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 18 de marzo de 2004 consta lo siguiente; Por el Oeste,

con el solar AA-18, en distancia de 13.49 metros. Dirección Física: PROYECTO DE SOLARES DENOMINADO EL POLVORÍN, BARRIO MONTELLANOS, SOLAR 19 MANZANA BB, CAYEY PR 00737. Se anuncia por medio de este edicto que la PRIMERA SUBASTA habrá de celebrarse el día 11 DE MARZO DE 2026, A LAS 9:45 DE LA MAÑANA, en mi oficina sita en el edificio que ocupa el Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala Superior de Caguas. Siendo ésta la primera subasta que se celebrará en este caso, será el precio mínimo aceptable como oferta en la Primera Subasta, eso es el tipo mínimo pactado en la Escritura de Hipoteca para la propiedad, la suma de $60,000.00. De no haber remanente o adjudicación en esta primera subasta por dicha suma mínima, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 18 DE MARZO DE 2026, A LAS 9:45 DE LA MAÑANA, en el mismo lugar antes señalado en la cual el precio mínimo serán dos terceras (2/3) partes del tipo mínimo pactado en la escritura de hipoteca, la suma de $40,000.00. De no haber remanente o adjudicación en esta segunda subasta por el tipo mínimo indicado en el párrafo anterior, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA en el mismo lugar antes señalado el día 26 DE MARZO DE 2026, A LAS 9:45 DE LA MAÑANA, en la cual el tipo mínimo aceptable como oferta será la mitad (1/2) del precio mínimo pactado en la escritura de hipoteca, la suma de $30,000.00. Si se declare desierta la tercera subasta se adjudicará la finca a favor del acreedor por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada si ésta es igual o menor que el monto del tipo mínimo de la tercera subasta, si el tribunal lo estima conveniente. Se abonará dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si ésta es mayor. El Honorable Tribunal dictó Sentencia In Rem, declarando Con Lugar la demanda al incumplir la parte demandada con los términos del contrato hipotecario y ordenando la venta en pública subasta del inmueble antes descrito, determinando que existe un balance pendiente de pago ascendente a $32,530.34. Por motivo del descargo concedido, el presente reclamo es in rem, pues el descargo no afecta la exigibilidad del gravamen hipotecario, conforme a lo resuelto por el Tribunal Supremo de Estados Unidos en Johnson v. Home State Bank, 501 U.S. 78, 111 S. Ct. 2150, 115 L. Ed. 2d 66, 59 USLW 4609 (1991). Se dispone que una vez celebrada la subasta y vendido el inmue-

ble relacionado, el alguacil pondrá en posesión judicial a los nuevos dueños dentro del término de veinte (20) días a partir de la celebración de la Subasta. Si transcurren los referidos veinte (20) días, el tribunal podrá ordenar, sin necesidad de ulterior procedimiento, que se lleve a efecto el desalojo o lanzamiento del ocupante u ocupantes de la finca o de todos los que por orden o tolerancia del demandado/deudor la ocupen. El Alguacil de este Tribunal efectuará el lanzamiento de los ocupantes de ser necesario. Si la subasta es adjudicada a un tercero y luego se deja sin efecto, el tercero a favor de quién se adjudicó la subasta solo tendrá derecho a la devolución del monto consignado más no tendrá derecho a entablar recurso o reclamo adicional alguno (judicial o extrajudicial) contra el demandante y/o el acreedor y/o inversionista, dueño pagaré y/o su abogado. Si se anula la venta, el comprador tendrá derecho a la devolución del depósito de la venta judicial menos los honorarios y costos incurridos en el proceso de venta judicial. No tendrá ningún otro recurso contra el acreedor hipotecario ejecutante ni la representación legal de éste. Por la presente, también se notifica e informa a la Autoridad para el Financiamiento de la Vivienda de Puerto Rico, por éstos contar con una hipoteca por la suma principal de $10,000.00, sin intereses, vencedero el día 18 de marzo de 2012, constituida mediante la escritura número 168, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 18 de marzo de 2004, ante el notario Irma J. Planadeball Moreno, e inscrita al folio 149 del tomo 564 de Cayey, finca número 10,407, inscripción 6ta., y última. Sujeta a condiciones bajo el Programa La Llave para tu Hogar, vigentes por un término de 8 años. Además, se notifica e informa a Fulano de Tal y Sutano de Tal, personas desconocidas que puedan tener derechos en la propiedad o título objeto de este edicto. La Venta en Pública Subasta de la referida propiedad se verificará libre de toda carga y gravamen posterior que afecte la mencionada finca, a cuyo efecto se notifica y se hace saber la fecha, hora y sitio de la Primera, Segunda y Tercera Subasta, si eso fuera necesario, a los efectos de cualquier persona o personas con algún interés puedan comparecer a la celebración de dicha Subasta. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere,

al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes. Se entenderá que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento del caso de epígrafe están disponibles en la Secretaría de este Tribunal durante horas laborables y para la concurrencia de los licitadores expido el presente Edicto que se publicará en un periódico de circulación diaria en toda la Isla de Puerto Rico por espacio dos (2) semanas y por lo menos una vez por semana y se fijará, además, en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Alcaldía y la Colecturía de Rentas Internas del Municipio donde se celebrará la Subasta y en la Colecturía más cercana del lugar de la residencia de la parte demandada. EN TESTIMONIO DE LO CUAL, expido el presente que firmo y sello, hoy día 29 de enero de 2026. EDGARDO ALDEBOL MIRANDA, ALGUACIL, SALA SUPERIOR DE CAGUAS.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE SAN JUAN

COMPU-LINK CORPORATION DBA CELINK

Demandante Vs. SUCESIÓN DE FLOR CARMONA CRUZ COMPUESTA POR BARBARA CARMONA ROSADO, FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANO DE TAL COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DE NOMBRE DESCONOCIDO Y LA SUCESIÓN DE RAFAEL CARMONA

MATOS COMPUESTA POR RAFAEL OMAR

CARMONA MELÉNDEZ, OSVALDO CARMONA MELÉNDEZ, FULANO Y SUTANO DE TAL COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DE NOMBRE

DESCONOCIDO; CENTRO DE RECAUDACIÓN DE INGRESOS

MUNICIPALES; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA

Demandados

Civil Núm.: SJ2022CV02249. Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA - IN REM. EDICTO DE SUBASTA. Al: PÚBLICO EN GENERAL. A: SUCESIÓN DE FLOR

CARMONA CRUZ COMPUESTA POR BARBARA CARMONA ROSADO, FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANO DE TAL COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DE NOMBRE DESCONOCIDO Y LA SUCESIÓN DE RAFAEL CARMONA MATOS COMPUESTA POR RAFAEL OMAR CARMONA MELÉNDEZ, OSVALDO CARMONA MELÉNDEZ, FULANO Y SUTANO DE TAL COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DE NOMBRE DESCONOCIDO; CENTRO DE RECAUDACIÓN DE INGRESOS

MUNICIPALES; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA. Yo, SHARO K. CORDERO CONTY, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Guaynabo, a los demandados, acreedores y al público en general con interés sobre la propiedad que más adelante se describe, y al público en general, por la presente CERTIFICO, ANUNCIO y HAGO

CONSTAR: Que el día 3 DE MARZO DE 2026, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA en mi oficina, sita en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Guaynabo, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, procederé a vender en Pública Subasta, al mejor postor, la propiedad inmueble que más adelante se describe y cuya venta en pública subasta se ordenó por la vía ordinaria mediante Sentencia dictada en el caso de epígrafe, la cual se notificó y archivó en autos el día 5 de noviembre de 2025. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado, estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría durante horas laborables. Que, en caso de no producir remate ni adjudicación en la primera subasta a celebrarse, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA para la venta de la susodicha propiedad, el 10 DE MARZO DE 2026, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA; y en caso de no producir remate ni adjudicación, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el día 17 DE MARZO DE 2026, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en mi oficina sita en el lugar antes indicado. Que en cumplimiento de un Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que ha sido liberado por la Secretaría del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de San Juan, en el caso de epígrafe con fecha de 17 de diciembre de 2025, procederé a vender en pública subasta y

al mejor postor, todo derecho, título e interés que tenga la parte demandada de epígrafe en el inmueble que se describe a continuación: URBANA: Solar marcado con el numero veintiocho A radicado en la Urbanización Yambele, situada en el Barrio Frailes de Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, con un área de trescientos cuatro metros cuadrados con ocho centímetros. En lindes por el NORTE, con el solar veintiocho B, distancia de veinticuatro metros; por el SUR, con el solar veintiocho distancias de veinticuatro metros; por el ESTE, con el solar treinta y nueve distancia de doce metros; y por el OESTE, con la calle J, Rivera Gauthier, distancia de doce metros y sesenta y siete centímetros. Contiene una casa de cemento, diseñada para una familia. Finca número 13,910, inscrita al folio 220 del tomo 215 de Guaynabo, del Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección de Guaynabo. La subasta se llevará a cabo para satisfacer, hasta donde alcance, el importe de las cantidades adeudadas a la parte demandante conforme a la sentencia dictada a su favor, a saber: de $73,801.68, de balance principal del préstamo, con intereses ajustable al 3.276% anual, cual acumulan a un total de $151,934.59 a la fecha de 31 de agosto de 2025, así como la cantidad líquida estipulada en los documentos del préstamo para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado en caso de reclamación judicial y que correspondan a intereses y cargos por demora posterior a dicha fecha, y la suma equivalente al 10% de la suma principal original pactada, estipulada para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado; más recargos acumulados hasta la fecha en que se pague la deuda; más cualquiera suma de dinero por concepto de contribuciones, primas de seguro hipotecario y riesgo, así como cualesquiera otras sumas pactadas en la escritura de hipoteca, todas cuyas sumas están líquidas y exigibles. La hipoteca a ejecutarse en el caso de epígrafe fue constituida mediante la escritura número 856 otorgada el día 12 de agosto de 2009, San Juan, Puerto Rico, ante el Notario Público Raul Rivera Burgos, y consta inscrita al folio 34 del tomo 1426 de Guaynabo, finca número 13,910, inscripción 5ta. Por la presente se notifica a los acreedores que tengan inscritos o anotados sus derechos sobre los bienes hipotecados con posterioridad a la inscripción del crédito del ejecutante o acreedores de cargos o derechos reales que los hubiesen pospuesto a la hipoteca del actor y a los dueños, poseedores,

tenedores de o interesados en títulos transmisibles por endoso o al portador garantizados hipotecariamente con posterioridad al crédito del actor que se celebrarán las subastas en las fechas, horas y sitios señalados para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si les conviniere o se les invita a satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito, de sus intereses, otros cargos y las costas y honorarios de abogado asegurados quedando subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante. Entiéndase: Hipoteca Revertida en garantía de un pagaré a favor del Secretario de la Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano, o a su orden, por la suma principal de $135,000.00, con intereses al 3.276% anual, vencedero el día 16 de diciembre de 2087, constituida mediante la escritura número 857, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 12 de agosto de 2009, ante el notario Raul Rivera Burgos, e inscrita al folio 35 del tomo 1426 de Guaynabo, finca número 13,910, inscripción 6ta. Que la cantidad mínima de licitación en la primera subasta del inmueble antes descrito será la suma de $90,000.00 según se establece en la escritura de hipoteca antes relacionada. En caso de que el inmueble a ser subastado no fuera adjudicado en su primera subasta se ordena la celebración de una segunda subasta de dicho inmueble, en la cual, la cantidad mínima será una equivalente a 2/3 parte de aquella, o sea la suma de $60,000.00; desierta también la segunda subasta de dicho inmueble, se ordena la celebración de una tercera subasta en la cual, la cantidad mínima será la mitad del precio pactado para la primera subasta, es decir la suma de $45,000.00. La propiedad se adjudicará al mejor postor, quien deberá satisfacer el importe de su oferta en moneda legal y corriente de los Estados Unidos de América en el momento de la adjudicación, entiéndase efectivo, giro postal o cheque certificado a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, y que las cargas y gravámenes preferentes, si los hubiese, al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes, entendiéndose que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. La propiedad no está sujeta a gravámenes anteriores y/o preferentes según surge de las constancias del Registro de la Propiedad en un estudio de título efectuado a la finca antes descrita. Una vez efectuada la venta de dicha propiedad, el Alguacil procederá a otorgar la escritura de traspaso

al licitador victorioso en subasta, quien podrá ser la parte demandante, cuya oferta podrá aplicarse a la extinción parcial o total de la obligación reconocida por la sentencia dictada en este caso. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Se dispone, conforme con la sentencia dictada en este caso que, una vez efectuada la subasta y vendido el bien inmueble, los adjudicatarios sean puestos en posesión del mismo dentro del término de veinte (20) días por el Alguacil de este Honorable Tribunal y los actuales poseedores lanzados del referido inmueble. Y para la concurrencia de licitadores y para el público en general, se publicará este Edicto de acuerdo con la ley, mediante edicto, en un periódico de circulación general en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, una vez por semana, por espacio de dos (2) semanas consecutivas con un intervalo de por lo menos siete (7) días entre ambas publicaciones, y para su fijación en tres (3) lugares públicos del municipio en que ha de celebrarse la venta, tales como la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía, y se le notificará además a la parte demandada vía correo certificado con acuse de recibo a la última dirección conocida. EN TESTIMONIO DE LO CUAL, expido el presente Edicto de Subasta para conocimiento y comparecencia de los licitadores, bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, en Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, a 14 de enero de 2026. Sharo K. Cordero Conty, Alguacil, Tribunal De Primera Instancia, Sala De Guaynabo.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE COMERÍO ESTRELLA HOMES II, LLC Demandante V. RICHARD RODRÍGUEZ MATOS, JOSÉ ROLANDO RODRÍGUEZ MATOS Y GLADYS ENID RODRÍGUEZ MATOS COMO MIEMBROS CONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESIÓN DE VÍCTOR ROLANDO RODRIGUEZ RIVERA Y LA SUCESIÓN DE GLADYS ESTHER MATOS SALGADO; MARILU WILLIAMS GARCÍA, JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE COMO MIEMBROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESIÓN DE VICTOR ROLANDO RODRIGUEZ

RIVERA; FULANO DE TAL Y FULANA DE TAL COMO MIEMBROS

DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESIÓN DE GLADYS ESTHER MATOS SALGADO

Demandada

Civil Núm.: CR2024CV00214. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO, EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA E INTERPELACIÓN. LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R., SS. AVISO DE PÚBLICA SUBASTA. El que suscribe, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Comerío, hago saber a la parte demandada RICHARD RODRÍGUEZ MATOS, JOSE ROLANDO RODRÍGUEZ MATOS Y GLADYS ENID RODRÍGUEZ como miembros conocidos de la sucesión de Víctor Rolando Rodríguez Rivera y sucesión de Gladys Esther Matos Salgado, MARILU WILLIAM GARCÍA, JOHN DOE & RICHARD ROE como miembros desconocidos de la sucesión de Víctor Rolando Rodríguez Rivera, FULANA DEL TAL & FULANO DE TAL como miembros desconocidos de la sucesión de Gladys Esther Matos Salgado y al PÚBLICO EN GENERAL; que en cumplimiento del Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia expedido el 5 de diciembre de 2025, por la Secretaría del Tribunal, procederé a vender y venderé en pública subasta por el precio mínimo de $128,800.76 y al mejor postor, pagadero en efectivo, cheque de gerente o giro postal, a nombre del alguacil del tribunal, la propiedad que se describe a continuación: URB. SAN CRISTOBAL, BO. HONDURAS, CALLE H5, LOTE 4 BARRANQUITAS, PR 00794, y que se describe de la siguiente manera: RÚSTICA: Parcela radicada en el Barrio Honduras del término municipal de Barranquitas, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de 927.754 metros cuadrados, y en lindes por el Norte, en 20.00 metros con una Carretera Municipal; por el sur, en 20.78 metros, con la finca principal de la cual se segrega; por el Este, en 45.500 metros con la parcela #3 y por el Oeste en 47.278 metros con la parcela #5. En este solar enclava una estructura de hormigón dedicada a vivienda. Finca 4359 inscrita al folio 21 del tomo 95 de Barranquitas, Registro de la Propiedad de Barranquitas. La finca antes descrita se encuentra afecta a los siguientes gravámenes: (i) HIPOTECA constituida por Víctor Rolando Rodríguez Rivera y esposa Gladys Esther Matos Salgado, en garantía de un pagaré, a favor de Santander Financial Services, Inc., h/n/c lsland Finance, o a su orden, por $128,800.76, al 8.66%, vencedero el 30 de agosto de

2036, según Ese. #283, en Barraquitas, a 25 de agosto de 2006, ante Orlando Maldonado Rivera, inscrita al folio 128 del tomo 251 de Barranquitas, finca #4359, inscripción 6ta. La hipoteca objeto de esta ejecución es la que ha quedado descrita en el inciso (i). Será celebrada la subasta para con el importe de la misma satisfacer la sentencia dicta el 3 de octubre de 2025, mediante la cual se condenó a la parte demandada pagar a la parte demandante la suma de $79,783.59 de principal, más $5,321.28 de interés al 30 de junio de 2024, que continuarán acumulándose hasta el saldo total al 6.625% anual, $340.33 de cargos por demora, $1,540.00 de otros cargos, $12,880.08 de costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado, más cualquier otro desembolso que haya efectuado o efectúe la parte demandante durante la tramitación de este caso para otros adelantos de conformidad con el Contrato Hipotecario, incluyendo primas de seguro de hipoteca, prima de seguro de siniestro y cargos por demora. La PRIMERA SUBASTA será celebrada el día 4 DE MARZO DE 2026 A LAS 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en la oficina del Alguacil, sita en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Comerio, Puerto Rico. Servirá de tipo mínimo para la misma la cantidad de $128,800.76, sin admitirse oferta inferior. De no haber remate ni adjudicación, celebraré SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 11 DE MARZO DE 2026 A LAS 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en el mismo lugar, en la que servirá como tipo mínimo, dos terceras (2/3) partes del precio pactado para la primera subasta, o sea, $85,867.17. Si no hubiese remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, celebraré TERCERA SUBASTA el día 18 DE MARZO DE 2026 A LAS 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en el mismo lugar en la que regirá como tipo mínimo, la mitad del precio pactado para la primera subasta, o sea, $64,400.38. El Alguacil que suscribe hizo constar que toda licitación deberá hacerse para pagar su importe en moneda legal de los Estados Unidos de América, de acuerdo con la Ley y de acuerdo con lo anunciado en este Aviso de Subasta. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante horas laborables. Se entiende que todo licitador que comparezca a la subasta señalada en este caso acepta como bastante la titulación que da base a la misma. Se entiende que cualquier carga y/o gravamen anterior y/o preferente, si la hubiere al crédito que da base a esta ejecución continuará subsistente, entendiéndose, además, que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mis-

mos, sin destinarse a su extinción cualquier parte del remanente del precio de licitación. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Por la presente se notifica a los acreedores que tengan inscritos o anotados sus derechos sobre los bienes hipotecados con posterioridad a la inscripción del crédito del ejecutante o acreedores de cargas o derechos reales que los hubiesen pospuesto a la hipoteca ejecutada y las personas interesadas en, o con derecho a exigir el cumplimiento de instrumentos negociables garantizados hipotecariamente con posterioridad al crédito ejecutado, para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si les convenga o satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito, de sus intereses, costas y honorarios de abogados asegurados, quedando subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante. Vendida o adjudicada la finca o derecho hipotecado y consignado el precio correspondiente, en esa misma fecha o fecha posterior, el alguacil que celebró la subasta procederá a otorgar la correspondiente escritura pública de traspaso en representación del dueño o titular de los bienes hipotecados, ante el notario que elija el adjudicatario o comprador, quien deberá abonar el importe de tal escritura. El alguacil pondrá en posesión judicial al nuevo dueño, si así se lo solicita dentro del término de veinte (20) días a partir de la confirmación de la venta o adjudicación. Si transcurren los referidos veinte (20) días, el tribunal podrá ordenar, sin necesidad de ulterior procedimiento, que se lleve a efecto el desalojo o lanzamiento del ocupante u ocupantes de la finca o de todos los que por orden o tolerancia del deudor la ocupen. Y PARA CONOCIMIENTO DE LOS LICITADORES Y DEL PUBLICO EN GENERAL y para su publicación de acuerdo con la Ley, expido el presente Edicto bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal. En Comerío, Puerto Rico, hoy 16 de enero de 2026. Andrés Vázquez Santiago, ALGUACIL, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA DE COMERÍO.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE VEGA BAJA HACIENDA DEL MAR

OWNERS’ ASSOCIATION, INC.

Demandante V. GISELA MILLAN, VINCENT STERLING BROOKS t/c/c VINCENT S. BROOKS Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES

COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

Demandados

Civil Núm.: VB2024CV00907. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. AVISO DE SUBASTA. Yo, ALG. FREDDY OMAR RODRÍGUEZ COLLAZO, Alguacil del Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala de Vega Baja, al Público HAGO SABER: Que en cumplimiento de un Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que se me libró con fecha de 24 de octubre de 2025 por la Secretaría de este Tribunal en el caso de epígrafe, venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor con dinero en efectivo, cheque de gerente o letra bancaria con similar garantía, todo título, derecho o interés de la parte demandada de epígrafe sobre la siguiente propiedad inmueble perteneciente a la parte demandada, la cual se describe a continuación: Propiedad Multivacacional: Vacation Club Right: unit week (36) Vacation Club Right corresponding to unit B705 of HACIENDA DEL MAR., Vacation Club Regime, located in the Sabana Ward of the Municipality of Vega Alta. This specific Vacation Club Right is coupled with a special property right to the Unit B-705 and includes the right to use such unit during the first (36) week of each year until December 31, of the year 2070, such week commencing at 12:00 noon on the FIRST (36) Saturday of each calendar year and ending at 12:00 noon of the same day of the following week, coupled with the membership in the Hyatt Vacation Club or a successor club. Notwithstanding this specific vacation club right allocation of a right to use a specific week in Unit B-705, the use of the said unit during the described time interval is subject to the exercise by the owner of certain priority rights during a fixed period of the time prior to the commencement of said interval. In the absence of such exercise, other owners of vacation club rights in the Haciendas del Mar, Vacation Club Regime and other owners of timeshare or vacation club rights in the resorts throughout the world affiliated to the Hyatt Vacation Club, may use the unit to with this vacation right pertains during the above described interval on a first come, first serve reservation basis, and the owner of this vacation club right may use units of this Vacation Club Regime and in such other affiliated resorts, as more fully described in the Deed of Dedication of hacienda del Mar, a Vacation Club Regime to the vacation club regime. This vacation club right has been assigned a share of 1/52 of 1.2194% in the Facilities and common expenses of vacation club regime. Esta descripción de la propiedad corresponde a la finca número 16526 inscrita al folio 296 del tomo 276 de Vega Alta, inscripción 1ra en

el Registro de la Propiedad de Bayamón, Sección III. La venta se llevará a cabo para con su producto satisfacer a Hacienda del Mar Owners’ Association, Inc., el importe de la Sentencia dictada en el caso de epígrafe, por la siguiente cantidad: $15,523.95 por concepto de cuotas de mantenimiento de la unidad B705-36. La fecha y hora de la subasta es como sigue: SUBASTA: Se celebrará el día 5 DE MARZO DE 2026, A LAS 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA. La subasta de dicha propiedad se llevará a efecto en mi oficina situada en el local que ocupa este Tribunal en el Centro Judicial de Vega Baja, advirtiéndose que el que obtuviere la buena pro de dicha propiedad consignará en el acto del remate el importe de su oferta en moneda legal, en adición a los gastos de la subasta, siendo éste el mejor postor. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante el título del inmueble y las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes al crédito del ejecutante, si los hubiere, continuarán subsistiendo, entendiéndose que el remanente los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de estos sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remanente. Si se declara desierta la subasta se dará por terminado el procedimiento, pudiendo adjudicarse al demandante la finca dentro de los veinte (20) días siguientes, si así lo estimare conveniente, por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento del caso de epígrafe están disponibles en la Secretaría del Tribunal de Vega Baja. Para conocimiento de la parte demandada y de toda persona que tenga interés inscrito con posterioridad a la inscripción del gravamen que se está ejecutando, si alguna, y para la concurrencia de licitadores y para el público en general el presente aviso se publicará en un diario de circulación general en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, dos (2) veces por espacio de dos (2) semanas consecutivas con un intervalo de por lo menos siete (7) días entre ambas publicaciones. Se fijará, además, por espacio de dos (2) semanas mediante avisos por escrito visiblemente colocados en tres (3) lugares públicos del Municipio donde ha de celebrarse la subasta, estos lugares son, por ejemplo: la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la comandancia de la Policía más cercana al Tribunal de Vega Baja. Se notificará a la parte demandada copia del edicto de subasta mediante correo certificado con acuse de recibo a la última dirección conocida. Expido el presente aviso bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal de Vega Baja. En Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, a 3 de febrero de 2026. ALG. FREDDY OMAR RODRÍ-

GUEZ COLLAZO, ALGUACIL SUPERIOR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE VEGA BAJA HACIENDA DEL MAR OWNERS’ ASSOCIATION, INC. Demandante V. DENNIS JAMES CAUFIELD, DOROTHY MARIE CAUFIELD Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

Demandados Civil Núm.: VB2024CV01081. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. AVISO DE SUBASTA. Yo, ALG. FREDDY OMAR RODRÍGUEZ COLLAZO, Alguacil del Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala de Vega Baja, al Público HAGO SABER: Que en cumplimiento de un Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que se me libró con fecha de 9 de enero de 2026 por la Secretaría de este Tribunal en el caso de epígrafe, venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor con dinero en efectivo, cheque de gerente o letra bancaria con similar garantía, todo título, derecho o interés de la parte demandada de epígrafe sobre la siguiente propiedad inmueble perteneciente a la parte demandada, la cual se describe a continuación: Propiedad Multivacacional: Unit week 34. Vacation Club Right corresponding to Unit A-506 of Hacienda del Mar, Vacation Club Regime, located in the Sabana Ward of the Municipality of Vega Alta. This specific vacation club right is coupled with a special property right to the above mentioned Unit A-506 and includes the right to use such unit during the 34 week of each year until December 31, of the year 2070, such week commencing at 12.00 noon on the 34 Saturday of each calendar year and ending at 12:00 noon of the same day of the following week, coupled with the membership in the Hyatt Vacation Club o a successor club. Notwithstanding this specific vacation club right allocation of a right to use a specific week in Unit A-506, the use of the said unit during the described time interval is subject to the exercise by the owner of certain priority rights during a fixed period of the time prior to the commencement of said interval. In the absence of such exercise, other owners of vacation club rights in the Haciendas del Mar, Vacation Club Regime and other owners of timeshare or vacation club rights in resorts throughout the world affiliated to the Hyatt Vacation Club, may use the unit to with this vacation right pertains during the abo-

ve described interval on a first come, first serve reservation basis, and the owner of this vacation club right may use units of this Vacation Club Regime and in such other affiliated resorts, as more fully described in the Deed of Dedication of Hacienda del Mar, a Vacation Club Regime to the vacation club regime. Esta descripción de la propiedad corresponde a la finca número 13,494 inscrita al folio 1 del tomo 55 de Vega Alta, inscripción 1ra en el Registro de la Propiedad de Bayamón, Sección III. La venta se llevará a cabo para con su producto satisfacer a Hacienda del Mar Owners’ Association, Inc., el importe de la Sentencia dictada en el caso de epígrafe, por la siguiente cantidad: $5,457.41 por concepto de cuotas de mantenimiento de la unidad A506-34. La fecha y hora de la subasta es como sigue: SUBASTA: Se celebrará el día 5 DE MARZO DE 2026, A LAS 9:10 DE LA MAÑANA. La subasta de dicha propiedad se llevará a efecto en mi oficina situada en el local que ocupa este Tribunal en el Centro Judicial de Vega Baja, advirtiéndose que el que obtuviere la buena pro de dicha propiedad consignará en el acto del remate el importe de su oferta en moneda legal, en adición a los gastos de la subasta, siendo éste el mejor postor. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante el título del inmueble y las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes al crédito del ejecutante, si los hubiere, continuarán subsistiendo, entendiéndose que el remanente los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de estos sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remanente. Si se declara desierta la subasta se dará por terminado el procedimiento, pudiendo adjudicarse al demandante la finca dentro de los veinte (20) días siguientes, si así lo estimare conveniente, por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento del caso de epígrafe están disponibles en la Secretaría del Tribunal de Vega Baja. Para conocimiento de la parte demandada y de toda persona que tenga interés inscrito con posterioridad a la inscripción del gravamen que se está ejecutando, si alguna, y para la concurrencia de licitadores y para el público en general el presente aviso se publicará en un diario de circulación general en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, dos (2) veces por espacio de dos (2) semanas consecutivas con un intervalo de por lo menos siete (7) días entre ambas publicaciones. Se fijará, además, por espacio de dos (2) semanas mediante avisos por escrito visiblemente colocados en tres (3) lugares públicos del Municipio donde ha de celebrarse la subasta,

estos lugares son, por ejemplo: la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la comandancia de la Policía más cercana al Tribunal de Vega Baja. Se notificará a la parte demandada copia del edicto de subasta mediante correo certificado con acuse de recibo a la última dirección conocida. Expido el presente aviso bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal de Vega Baja. En Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, a 3 de febrero de 2026. ALG. FREDDY OMAR RODRÍGUEZ COLLAZO, ALGUACIL SUPERIOR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE VEGA BAJA

HACIENDA DEL MAR OWNERS’ ASSOCIATION, INC. Demandante V. FREDERICK ALAN HUSSONG, MARY ELIZABETH HUSSONG Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

Demandados Civil Núm.: VB2024CV01085. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. AVISO DE SUBASTA. Yo, ALG. FREDDY OMAR RODRÍGUEZ COLLAZO, Alguacil del Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala de Vega Baja, al Público HAGO SABER: Que en cumplimiento de un Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que se me libró con fecha de 27 de enero de 2026 por la Secretaría de este Tribunal en el caso de epígrafe, venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor con dinero en efectivo, cheque de gerente o letra bancaria con similar garantía, todo título, derecho o interés de la parte demandada de epígrafe sobre la siguiente propiedad inmueble perteneciente a la parte demandada, la cual se describe a continuación: Propiedad Multivacacional: Unit week 46. Vacation Club Right corresponding to Unit A-602 of Hacienda del Mar, Vacation Club Regime, located in the Sabana Ward of the Municipality of Vega Alta. This specific vacation club right is coupled with a special property right to the above mentioned Unit A-602 and includes the right to use such unit during the 46 week of each year until December 31, of the year 2070, such week commencing at 12.00 noon on the 46 Saturday of each calendar year and ending at 12:00 noon of the same day of the following week, coupled with the membership in the Hyatt Vacation Club o a successor club. Notwithstanding this specific vacation club right allocation of a right to use a specific week in Unit A-602, the use of the said unit during the described time interval is subject to

the exercise by the owner of certain priority rights during a fixed period of the time prior to the commencement of said interval. In the absence of such exercise, other owners of vacation club rights in the Haciendas del Mar, Vacation Club Regime and other owners of timeshare or vacation club rights in resorts throughout the world affiliated to the Hyatt Vacation Club, may use the unit to with this vacation right pertains during the above described interval on a first come, first serve reservation basis, and the owner of this vacation club right may use units of this Vacation Club Regime and in such other affiliated resorts, as more fully described in the Deed of Dedication of Hacienda del Mar, a Vacation Club Regime to the vacation club regime. Esta descripción de la propiedad corresponde a la finca número 17,851 inscrita al folio 66 móvil del tomo 359 de Vega Alta, inscripción 1ra en el Registro de la Propiedad de Bayamón, Sección III. La venta se llevará a cabo para con su producto satisfacer a Hacienda del Mar Owners’ Association, Inc., el importe de la Sentencia dictada en el caso de epígrafe, por la siguiente cantidad: $17,162.55 por concepto de cuotas de mantenimiento de la unidad A602-46. La fecha y hora de la subasta es como sigue: SUBASTA: Se celebrará el día 5 DE MARZO DE 2026, A LAS 9:20 DE LA MAÑANA. La subasta de dicha propiedad se llevará a efecto en mi oficina situada en el local que ocupa este Tribunal en el Centro Judicial de Vega Baja, advirtiéndose que el que obtuviere la buena pro de dicha propiedad consignará en el acto del remate el importe de su oferta en moneda legal, en adición a los gastos de la subasta, siendo éste el mejor postor. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante el título del inmueble y las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes al crédito del ejecutante, si los hubiere, continuarán subsistiendo, entendiéndose que el remanente los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de estos sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remanente. Si se declara desierta la subasta se dará por terminado el procedimiento, pudiendo adjudicarse al demandante la finca dentro de los veinte (20) días siguientes, si así lo estimare conveniente, por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento del caso de epígrafe están disponibles en la Secretaría del Tribunal de Vega Baja. Para conocimiento de la parte demandada y de toda persona que tenga interés inscrito con posterioridad a la inscripción del gravamen que se está ejecutando, si alguna, y para la concurrencia de licitadores y

para el público en general el presente aviso se publicará en un diario de circulación general en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, dos (2) veces por espacio de dos (2) semanas consecutivas con un intervalo de por lo menos siete (7) días entre ambas publicaciones. Se fijará, además, por espacio de dos (2) semanas mediante avisos por escrito visiblemente colocados en tres (3) lugares públicos del Municipio donde ha de celebrarse la subasta, estos lugares son, por ejemplo: la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la comandancia de la Policía más cercana al Tribunal de Vega Baja. Se notificará a la parte demandada copia del edicto de subasta mediante correo certificado con acuse de recibo a la última dirección conocida. Expido el presente aviso bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal de Vega Baja. En Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, a 3 de febrero de 2026. ALG. FREDDY OMAR RODRÍGUEZ COLLAZO, ALGUACIL SUPERIOR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE VEGA BAJA HACIENDA DEL MAR OWNERS’ ASSOCIATION, INC.

Demandante V. LAWRENCE JEROME WEDEKIND; DEBORAH LYNN PYLE WEDEKIND T/C/C DEBORAH LYNN WEDEKIND; Y LA SOCUEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

Demandados Civil Núm.: VB2025CV00034. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. AVISO DE SUBASTA. Yo, ALG. FREDDY OMAR RODRÍGUEZ COLLAZO, Alguacil del Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala de Vega Baja, al Público HAGO SABER: Que en cumplimiento de un Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que se me libró con fecha de 17 de noviembre de 2025 por la Secretaría de este Tribunal en el caso de epígrafe, venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor con dinero en efectivo, cheque de gerente o letra bancaria con similar garantía, todo título, derecho o interés de la parte demandada de epígrafe sobre la siguiente propiedad inmueble perteneciente a la parte demandada, la cual se describe a continuación: Propiedad Multivacacional: CONDOMINIO CLUB VACACIONAL HACIENDA DEL MAR de Vega Alta. Apartamento: B-312 SEMANA 32. Cabida: 104.53 Metros Cuadrados. CONDOMINIO CLUB VACACIONAL HACIENDA DEL MAR de Vega Alta. Apartamento: B-312 SEMANA

32. Vacation Club Regime, located in the Sabana Ward of the Municipality of Vega Alta. This specific vacation club right is coupled with a special property right to the above mentioned Unit B-312, and includes the right to use such unit during the 32 week of each year until December 31 of the year 2070, such week commencing at 12:00 noon on the 32 Saturday of each calendar year and ending at 12:00 noon of the same day of the following week, coupled with the membership in the Hyatt Vacation Club o a successor club. Notwithstanding this specific vacation club right allocation of a right to use a specific week in Unit B-312, the use of the said unit during the described time interval is subject to the exercise by the owner of certain priority rights during a fixed period of the time prior to the commencement of said interval. In the absence of such exercise, other owners of vacation club rights in the HACIENDA DEL MAR, VACATION CLUB REGIME and other owners of timeshare or vacation club rights in resorts throughout the world affiliated to the Hyatt Vacation Club, may use the unit to with this vacation right pertains during the above described interval on a first come, first serve reservation basis, and the owner of this vacation club right may use units of this Vacation Club Regime and in such owner affiliated resorts, as more fully described in the Deed of Dedication of Hacienda del Mar, a Vacation Club Regime to the vacation club regime. This vacation club right has been assigned a share of 1/52 1.2575% in the Facilities and common expenses of the vacation club regime. Se separa del Régimen Vacacional Haciendas del Mar, inscrito al Folio 91, del Tomo 232 de Vega Alta, Finca número 14148. Esta descripción de la propiedad corresponde a la finca número 20,733 inscrita en el tomo telemático Karibe de Vega Alta, inscripción 1ra en el Registro de la Propiedad de Bayamón, Sección III. La venta se llevará a cabo para con su producto satisfacer a Hacienda del Mar Owners’ Association, Inc., el importe de la Sentencia dictada en el caso de epígrafe, por la siguiente cantidad: $10,231.83 por concepto de cuotas de mantenimiento de la unidad B312-32. La fecha y hora de la subasta es como sigue: SUBASTA: Se celebrará el día 5 DE MARZO DE 2026, A LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA. La subasta de dicha propiedad se llevará a efecto en mi oficina situada en el local que ocupa este Tribunal en el Centro Judicial de Vega Baja, advirtiéndose que el que obtuviere la buena pro de dicha propiedad consignará en el acto del remate el importe de su oferta en moneda legal, en adición a los gastos de la subasta, siendo

éste el mejor postor. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante el título del inmueble y las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes al crédito del ejecutante, si los hubiere, continuarán subsistiendo, entendiéndose que el remanente los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de estos sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remanente. Si se declara desierta la subasta se dará por terminado el procedimiento, pudiendo adjudicarse al demandante la finca dentro de los veinte (20) días siguientes, si así lo estimare conveniente, por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento del caso de epígrafe están disponibles en la Secretaría del Tribunal de Vega Baja. Para conocimiento de la parte demandada y de toda persona que tenga interés inscrito con posterioridad a la inscripción del gravamen que se está ejecutando, si alguna, y para la concurrencia de licitadores y para el público en general el presente aviso se publicará en un diario de circulación general en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, dos (2) veces por espacio de dos (2) semanas consecutivas con un intervalo de por lo menos siete (7) días entre ambas publicaciones. Se fijará, además, por espacio de dos (2) semanas mediante avisos por escrito visiblemente colocados en tres (3) lugares públicos del Municipio donde ha de celebrarse la subasta, estos lugares son, por ejemplo: la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la comandancia de la Policía más cercana al Tribunal de Vega Baja. Se notificará a la parte demandada copia del edicto de subasta mediante correo certificado con acuse de recibo a la última dirección conocida. Expido el presente aviso bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal de Vega Baja. En Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, a 3 de febrero de 2026. ALG. FREDDY OMAR RODRÍGUEZ COLLAZO, ALGUACIL SUPERIOR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE VEGA BAJA

HACIENDA DEL MAR OWNERS’ ASSOCIATION, INC.

Demandante V. TATIANA SUVALIAN

Demandada

Civil Núm.: VB2025CV00050. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. AVISO DE SUBASTA. Yo, ALG. FREDDY OMAR RODRÍGUEZ COLLAZO, Alguacil del Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala de Vega Baja, al Público HAGO SABER: Que en cumplimiento de un Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que

se me libró con fecha de 12 de enero de 2026 por la Secretaría de este Tribunal en el caso de epígrafe, venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor con dinero en efectivo, cheque de gerente o letra bancaria con similar garantía, todo título, derecho o interés de la parte demandada de epígrafe sobre la siguiente propiedad inmueble perteneciente a la parte demandada, la cual se describe a continuación: Propiedad Multivacacional: CONDOMINIO CLUB VACACIONAL HACIENDA DEL MAR de Vega Alta. Apartamento Multivacacional: A-703 SEMANA 19. Cabida: 101.42 Metros Cuadrados. This specific vacation club right is coupled with a special property right to the above mentioned Unit A-703 and includes the right to use such unit during the 19th week of each year until December 31, of the year 2070, such week commencing at 12:00 noon on the 19th Saturday of each calendar year and ending at 12:00 noon of the same day of the following week, coupled with the membership in the Hyatt Vacation Club o a successor club. Notwithstanding this specific vacation club right allocation of a right to use a specific week in Unit A-703, the use of the said unit during the described time interval is subject to the exercise by the owner of certain priority rights during a fixed period of the time prior to the commencement of said interval. In the absence of such exercise, other owners of vacation club rights in the Haciendas del Mar, Vacation Club Regime and other owners of timeshare or vacation club rights in resorts throughout the world affiliated to the Hyatt Vacation Club, may use the unit to with this vacation right pertains during the above described interval on a first come, first serve reservation basis, and the owner of this vacation club right may use units of this Vacation Club Regime and in such other affiliated resorts, as more fully described in the Deed of Dedication of Haciendas del Mar, Vacation Club Regime to the vacation club regime. This vacation club right has been assigned a share of 1/52 of 2.63132% in the facilities and common expenses of the vacation club regime. Se separa del Régimen Vacacional Haciendas del Mar, inscrita al folio 160 del tomo 232 de Vega Alta finca 12663. Esta descripción de la propiedad corresponde a la finca número 17,807 inscrita en virtud de la Escritura Pública número 87 otorgada en Cataño a 30 de abril de 2018 ante el Notario Público Ian Marini Biaggi, inscrito en Sistema Karibe de Vega Alta, según inscripción 5ta. La venta se llevará a cabo para con su producto satisfacer a Hacienda del Mar Owners’ Association, Inc., el importe de la Sentencia dictada en el caso

de epígrafe, por la siguiente cantidad: $14,624.49 por concepto de cuotas de mantenimiento de la unidad A703-19. La fecha y hora de la subasta es como sigue: SUBASTA: Se celebrará el día 5 DE MARZO DE 2026, A LAS 9:40 DE LA MAÑANA. La subasta de dicha propiedad se llevará a efecto en mi oficina situada en el local que ocupa este Tribunal en el Centro Judicial de Vega Baja, advirtiéndose que el que obtuviere la buena pro de dicha propiedad consignará en el acto del remate el importe de su oferta en moneda legal, en adición a los gastos de la subasta, siendo éste el mejor postor. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante el título del inmueble y las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes al crédito del ejecutante, si los hubiere, continuarán subsistiendo, entendiéndose que el remanente los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de estos sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remanente. Si se declara desierta la subasta se dará por terminado el procedimiento, pudiendo adjudicarse al demandante la finca dentro de los veinte (20) días siguientes, si así lo estimare conveniente, por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento del caso de epígrafe están disponibles en la Secretaría del Tribunal de Vega Baja. Para conocimiento de la parte demandada y de toda persona que tenga interés inscrito con posterioridad a la inscripción del gravamen que se está ejecutando, si alguna, y para la concurrencia de licitadores y para el público en general el presente aviso se publicará en un diario de circulación general en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, dos (2) veces por espacio de dos (2) semanas consecutivas con un intervalo de por lo menos siete (7) días entre ambas publicaciones. Se fijará, además, por espacio de dos (2) semanas mediante avisos por escrito visiblemente colocados en tres (3) lugares públicos del Municipio donde ha de celebrarse la subasta, estos lugares son, por ejemplo: la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la comandancia de la Policía más cercana al Tribunal de Vega Baja. Se notificará a la parte demandada copia del edicto de subasta mediante correo certificado con acuse de recibo a la última dirección conocida. Expido el presente aviso bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal de Vega Baja. En Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, a 3 de febrero de 2026. ALG. FREDDY OMAR RODRÍGUEZ COLLAZO, ALGUACIL SUPERIOR. *** LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU-

NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN FEDERAL NATIONAL MORTGAGE ASSOCIATION

Demandante Vs. SUCESION PETRA TORRES TORRES COMPUESTA POR ISABEL V. HERNANDEZ TORRES, JUAN MIGUEL MERCADO TORRES; JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES

Demandados Civil Núm.: BY2025CV02608. Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA - IN REM. EDICTO DE SUBASTA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. A: LA PARTE

DEMANDADA, AL (A LA) SECRETARIO(A) DE HACIENDA DE PUERTO RICO Y AL PÚBLICO GENERAL:

Certifico y Hago Constar: Que en cumplimiento con el Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que me ha sido dirigido por el (la) Secretario(a) del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Bayamón, en el caso de epígrafe, venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor, por separado, de contado y por moneda de curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América y/o Giro Postal y Cheque Certificado, en mi oficina ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Bayamón, Cuarto Piso, Oficina de Alguaciles de Subastas, el 11 DE MARZO DE 2026, A LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA, todo derecho título, participación o interés que le corresponda a la parte demandada o cualquiera de ellos en el inmueble hipotecado objeto de ejecución que se describe a continuación: “RÚSTICA: Parcela marcada con el número 476 en el plano de parcelación de la Comunidad Rural Sabana Seca, del Barrio Sabana Seca del término municipal de Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de 939.84 metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con la parcela número 475 de la comunidad; por el SUR, con la parcela número 477-B de la comunidad; por el ESTE, con parcelas número 128-E y 128-F de la comunidad; y por el OESTE, con calle Parcelas Nuevas de la comunidad.” Inscrita al folio 220 del tomo 505 de Toa Baja, finca 27854, Registro de la Pro-

piedad de Bayamón, Sección II. La Hipoteca Revertida consta inscrita al folio 94 del tomo 621 de Toa Baja, finca 27854, Registro de la Propiedad de Bayamón, Sección II, inscripción 3a. Propiedad localizada en: #476 CALLE GENESIS, PARCELAS NUEVAS (COM. RURAL SABANA SECA, BO. SABANA SECA), TOA BAJA, PR 00949. Según figuran en la certificación registral, la propiedad objeto de ejecución está gravada por las siguientes cargas anteriores o preferentes: Nombre del Titular: N/A. Suma de la Carga: N/A. Fecha de Vencimiento: N/A. Según figuran en la certificación registral, la propiedad objeto de ejecución está gravada por las siguientes cargas posteriores a la inscripción del crédito ejecutante: Nombre del Titular: Secretario de la Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano. Suma de la Carga: $192,000.00. Fecha de Vencimiento: 1 de diciembre de 2076. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad de la propiedad y que todas las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes al crédito ejecutante antes descritos, si los hubiere, continuarán subsistentes. El rematante acepta dichas cargas y gravámenes anteriores, y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Se establece como tipo de mínima subasta la suma de $192,000.00, según acordado entre las partes en el precio pactado en la escritura de hipoteca. De ser necesaria una SEGUNDA SUBASTA por declararse desierta la primera, la misma se celebrará en mi oficina, ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Bayamón, Cuarto Piso, Oficina de Alguaciles de Subastas, el 18 DE MARZO DE 2026, A LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA, y se establece como mínima para dicha segunda subasta la suma de $128,000.00, 2/3 partes del tipo mínima establecido originalmente. Si tampoco se produce remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se establece como mínima para la TERCERA SUBASTA, la suma de $96,000.00, la mitad (1/2) del precio pactado y dicha subasta se celebrará en mi oficina, ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Bayamón, Cuarto Piso, Oficina de Alguaciles de Subastas, el 25 DE MARZO DE 2026, A LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA. Dicha subasta se llevará a cabo para, con su producto satisfacer a la parte demandante, el importe de la Sentencia dictada a su favor ascendente a la suma de $125,347.61 por concepto de principal, más la suma de $68,699.35 en intereses acumulados al 17 de julio de 2025 y los cuales continúan acumulándose a razón de 3.488% anual hasta su total y completo pago; $8,235.28 de seguro hi-

mos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate y que la propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores tal como lo expresa la Ley Núm. 2102015. Y para el conocimiento de los demandados, de los acreedores posteriores, de los licitadores, partes interesadas y público en general, EXPIDO para su publicación en los lugares públicos correspondientes, el presente Aviso de Pública Subasta en San Juan, Puerto Rico, hoy 6 de febrero de 2026. MARÍA DE LOURDES LÓPEZ MOREIRA, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR, ALGUACIL, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, CENTRO JUDICIAL DE SAN JUAN, SALA SUPERIOR. LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE BAYAMÓN SALA SUPERIOR DE GUAYNABO

HACIENDA DEL MAR OWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC.

Demandante V. GUSTAVO JUAN

SEPÚLVEDA RODRÍGUEZ Y OTROS

Demandado(a)

Caso Núm.: GB2025CV00048. (Salón: 202). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO - ORDINARIO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

JESSICA D. MARTÍNEZ BIRRIELJMARTBIRR@YAHOO.COM.

A: CARMEN DIANA RIVERA FLORES, POR SÍ Y EN REPRESENTACIÓN DE SOCIEDAD DE BIENES GANANCIALES; SOCIEDAD DE BIENES GANANCIALES, COMPUESTA POR AMBOS.

(Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 06 de febrero de 2026, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edic-

to. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 09 de febrero de 2026. En Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, el 09 de febrero de 2026. ALICIA AYALA SANJURJO, SECRETARIA. SARA ROSA VILLEGAS, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL. LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE CAGUAS MARIA E. CASTRO GARRIGA (Demandante) V. MERVIN A. CASTRO GONZÁLEZ Y SU ESPOSA, SUTANA DE TAL; NANCY R. CASTRO GONZÁLEZ Y SU ESPOSO FULANO DE TAL; LA SUCESIÓN DE APOLINARIO CASTRO SANTIAGO, COMPUESTA POR NANCY Y MERVIN, AMBOS DE APELLIDOS CASTRO GONZÁLEZ Y JEANIEL E. CASTRO JIMÉNEZ (Demandados)

Civil Núm.: CG2025CV01199.

Sala: 705. Sobre: SENTENCIA DECLARATORIA SOBRE RATIFICACIÓN DE COMPRAVENTA. EMPLAZAMIENTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, S.S. A: SUTANA DE TAL, DE POR SÍ Y EN REPRESENTACIÓN DE LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA CON SU ESPOSO MERVIN A. CASTRO GONZALEZCONDOMINIO PARQUE REAL, #326 EDIFICIO #30, CALLE JUAN C BORBÓN, GUAYNABO, PR 00969. POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro de los 30 días de haber sido diligenciado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día del diligenciamiento. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial. pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal y remitir copia a la abogada de la parte demandante a la siguiente dirección: Lcda. Sheila Lee Rodríguez Martínez PO Box 338 Caguas, PR 00726 srodriguez@servicioslegales.org Si usted deja de presentar su

alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Se le advierte de su derecho a comparecer acompañado de un abogado(a) en los casos que proceda. Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala de Caguas, Puerto Rico, a 23 de enero de 2026.

IRASEMIS DÍAZ SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA. MARTA E. DONATE RESTO, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE CAROLINA COMPU-LINK (COMPULINK CORPORATION DBA CELINK)

Demandante Vs. SUCESIÓN DE UFRACINA GUZMÁN MARTÍNEZ COMPUESTA POR MARGARITA C. ABREY GUZMÁN T/C/C MARGARITA ABREU, MARÍA Z. GUZMÁN, ELÍAS COUVERTIER GUZMÁN, FULANO Y SUTANO DE TAL COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DE NOMBRE DESCONOCIDO; SUCESIÓN DE RICARDO ABREU GUZMÁN COMPUESTA POR RICARDO ABREU RODRÍGUEZ, ENID ABREU RODRÍGUEZ, FULANO Y SUTANO DE TAL COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DE NOMBRE

DESCONOCIDO; CENTRO DE RECAUDACIÓN DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES Y LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA

Demandados Civil Núm.: CA2025CV00949. Sala: 407. Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA - IN REM. EDICTO DE SUBASTA. Al: PÚBLICO EN GENERAL. A: UFRACINA GUZMÁN MARTÍNEZ COMPUESTA POR MARGARITA C. ABREY GUZMÁN T/C/C

MARGARITA ABREU, MARÍA Z. GUZMÁN, ELÍAS COUVERTIER GUZMÁN, FULANO Y SUTANO DE TAL COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DE NOMBRE DESCONOCIDO;

SUCESIÓN DE RICARDO ABREU GUZMÁN COMPUESTA POR RICARDO ABREU RODRÍGUEZ, ENID ABREU RODRÍGUEZ, FULANO Y SUTANO DE TAL COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DE NOMBRE

DESCONOCIDO; CENTRO DE RECAUDACIÓN DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES Y LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA.

Yo, HÉCTOR L. PEÑA RODRÍGUEZ, ALGUACIL PLACA #278, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Carolina, a los demandados, acreedores y al público en general con interés sobre la propiedad que más adelante se describe, y al público en general, por la presente CERTIFICO, ANUNCIO y HAGO CONSTAR: Que el día 5 DE MARZO DE 2026, A LAS 9:15 DE LA MAÑANA en mi oficina, sita en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Carolina, Carolina, Puerto Rico, procederé a vender en Pública Subasta, al mejor postor, la propiedad inmueble que más adelante se describe y cuya venta en pública subasta se ordenó por la vía ordinaria mediante Sentencia dictada en el caso de epígrafe, la cual se notificó y archivó en autos el día 10 de octubre de 2025. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado, estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría durante horas laborables. Que, en caso de no producir remate ni adjudicación en la primera subasta a celebrarse, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA para la venta de la susodicha propiedad, el 12 DE MARZO DE 2026, A LAS 9:15 DE LA MAÑANA; y en caso de no producir remate ni adjudicación, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el día 19 DE MARZO DE 2026, A LAS 9:15 DE LA MAÑANA, en mi oficina sita en el lugar antes indicado. Que en cumplimiento de un Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que ha sido liberado por la Secretaría del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Carolina, en el caso de epígrafe con fecha de 5 de diciembre de 2025, procederé a vender en pública subasta y al mejor postor, todo derecho, título e interés que tenga la parte demandada de epígrafe en el inmueble que se describe a continuación: URBANA: Solar número SIES (6) del bloque BY de la URBANIZACION JARDINES DE COUNTRY CLUB, en el Barrio Sabana Debajo de Carolina, Puerto Rico, de TRESCIENTOS CINCO punto NOVENTA y CUATRO metros cuadrados (305.94 M.C.). En lindes por el NORTE, en veintidós punto veinticinco metros,

con el solar número SIETE del mismo bloque; por el SUR, en veintidós punto veinticinco metros, con el solar número CINCO del mismo bloque; por el ESTE, en trece punto setenta y cinco metros, con los solares número veintitrés y número veinticuatro del mismo bloque; y por el OESTE, en trece punto setenta y cinco metros con la calle número veintinueve. Enclava una edificación para fines residenciales. Finca número 15,711, inscrita al folio 56 del tomo 410 de Carolina Norte. Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección I de Carolina. Dirección de la Propiedad: Lot No. 6 Block BY, Sabana Abajo Ward, t/c/c BY-6 129 Street, Jardines de Country Club Dev., Carolina, PR 00983. La subasta se llevará a cabo para satisfacer, hasta donde alcance, el importe de las cantidades adeudadas a la parte demandante conforme a la sentencia dictada a su favor, a saber: de $269,276.68 de principal, intereses al 3.64% anual, la cual incluye los intereses acumulados, hasta su completo pago, más la cantidad de $22,950.00, así como la cantidad líquida estipulada en los documentos del préstamo para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado en caso de reclamación judicial y que correspondan a intereses y cargos por demora posterior a dicha fecha, y la suma equivalente al 10% de la suma principal original pactada, estipulada para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado; más recargos acumulados hasta la fecha en que se pague la deuda; más cualquiera suma de dinero por concepto de contribuciones, primas de seguro hipotecario y riesgo, así como cualesquiera otras sumas pactadas en la escritura de hipoteca, todas cuyas sumas están líquidas y exigibles. La hipoteca a ejecutarse en el caso de epígrafe fue constituida mediante la escritura número 128 otorgada el día 27 de febrero de 2009, San Juan, Puerto Rico, ante el Notario Público Luis O. Davila Alemán, y consta inscrita al folio 56 del tomo 974 de Carolina Norte, finca número 15,711, inscripción 6ta. Por la presente se notifica a los acreedores que tengan inscritos o anotados sus derechos sobre los bienes hipotecados con posterioridad a la inscripción del crédito del ejecutante o acreedores de cargos o derechos reales que los hubiesen pospuesto a la hipoteca del actor y a los dueños, poseedores, tenedores de o interesados en títulos transmisibles por endoso o al portador garantizados hipotecariamente con posterioridad al crédito del actor que se celebrarán las subastas en las fechas, horas y sitios señalados para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si les conviniere o se les invita a satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito,

de sus intereses, otros cargos y las costas y honorarios de abogado asegurados quedando subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante. Entiéndase: Hipoteca Revertida en garantía de un pagaré a favor del Secretario de la Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano, o a su orden, por la suma principal de $229,500.00, con intereses al 3.64% anual, vencedero el día 14 de enero de 2084, constituida mediante la escritura número 129, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 27 de febrero de 2009, ante el notario Luis O. Dávila Alemán, e inscrita al folio 56 del tomo 974 de Carolina Norte, finca número 15,711, inscripción 7ma. Que la cantidad mínima de licitación en la primera subasta del inmueble antes descrito será la suma de $229,500.00 según se establece en la escritura de hipoteca antes relacionada. En caso de que el inmueble a ser subastado no fuera adjudicado en su primera subasta se ordena la celebración de una segunda subasta de dicho inmueble, en la cual, la cantidad mínima será una equivalente a 2/3 parte de aquella, o sea la suma de $153,000.00; desierta también la segunda subasta de dicho inmueble, se ordena la celebración de una tercera subasta en la cual, la cantidad mínima será la mitad del precio pactado para la primera subasta, es decir la suma de $114,750.00. La propiedad se adjudicará al mejor postor, quien deberá satisfacer el importe de su oferta en moneda legal y corriente de los Estados Unidos de América en el momento de la adjudicación, entiéndase efectivo, giro postal o cheque certificado a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, y que las cargas y gravámenes preferentes, si los hubiese, al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes, entendiéndose que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. La propiedad no está sujeta a gravámenes anteriores y/o preferentes según surge de las constancias del Registro de la Propiedad en un estudio de título efectuado a la finca antes descrita. Una vez efectuada la venta de dicha propiedad, el Alguacil procederá a otorgar la escritura de traspaso al licitador victorioso en subasta, quien podrá ser la parte demandante, cuya oferta podrá aplicarse a la extinción parcial o total de la obligación reconocida por la sentencia dictada en este caso. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Se dispone, conforme con la sentencia dictada en este caso que, una vez efectuada la subasta y vendido el bien inmueble, los adjudicatarios sean puestos en posesión del mismo dentro del térmi-

no de veinte (20) días por el Alguacil de este Honorable Tribunal y los actuales poseedores lanzados del referido inmueble. Y para la concurrencia de licitadores y para el público en general, se publicará este Edicto de acuerdo con la ley, mediante edicto, en un periódico de circulación general en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, una vez por semana, por espacio de dos (2) semanas consecutivas con un intervalo de por lo menos siete (7) días entre ambas publicaciones, y para su fijación en tres (3) lugares públicos del municipio en que ha de celebrarse la venta, tales como la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía, y se le notificará además a la parte demandada vía correo certificado con acuse de recibo a la última dirección conocida. EN TESTIMONIO DE LO CUAL, expido el presente Edicto de Subasta para conocimiento y comparecencia de los licitadores, bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, en Carolina, Puerto Rico, a 5 de febrero de 2026. HÉCTOR L. PEÑA RODRÍGUEZ, ALGUACIL PLACA #278, ALGUACIL DEL TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA DE CAROLINA.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE PONCE MILADY MARIE DE JESÚS CARABALLO

Parte Demandante Vs. KEVIN DARRELL SANTIAGO ECHEVARRÍA

Parte Demandada Civil Número: PO2026RF00087. Sobre: DIVORCIO POR RUPTURA IRREPARABLE. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS E.E. U.U., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.

A: KEVIN DARRELL SANTIAGO ECHEVARRÍA - SPRING BREEZE, DR LEESBURG, FLORIDA, FL 34748.

Por el presente “ EDICTO” se les notifica que se ha presentado en este Tribunal una Demanda de Divorcio por la causal de Ruptura Irreparable. POR LA PRESENTE se les notifica que se ha presentado una Demanda de Divorcio por la causal de Ruptura Irreparable, en su contra, se le emplaza por edicto y se le requiere que conteste la demanda en el presente caso dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este edicto, presentando sus alegaciones responsivas ante el Tribunal de Primera lnstancia, Sala Superior de Ponce, de forma electrónica a través del Sistema Unificado de Ma-

nejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:// www.poderjudicial.pr/index. php/tribunal-electronico/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberán presentar su alegación responsivas en la Secretaría del Tribunal y notificar copia de la misma al (a la) abogado(a) de la parte demandante o a ésta, de no tener representación legal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la Demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente, sin más citarle, ni oírle. La abogada de la demandante es: Lcda. Zoraya Cunillera Hernández Número de RUA 15,990

Dirección: P.O BOX 10741, Ponce, Puerto Rico 00732-041

Teléfono (787) 547-0623 Correo electrónico: czoraya@ymail.com. EXTENDIDO BAJO Ml FIRMA y Sello del Tribunal, hoy día 4 de febrero de 2026. CARMEN G. TIRÚ QUIÑONES, SECRETARIA. MARY ANN LEÓN ROSARIO, SUB-SECRETARIA.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE BAYAMÓN SALA SUPERIOR DE VEGA BAJA HACIENDA DEL MAR OWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC. Demandante V. ALLAN ANTHONY BENINCASA Demandado(a) Caso Núm. VB2025CV00860. (Salón: 201 CD, CM, TR Y CR). Sobre: COBRO DE DINEROORDINARIO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. JESSICA D. MARTÍNEZ BIRRIELJMARTBIRR@YAHOO.COM.

A: ALLAN ANTHONY BENINCASA. (Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 09 de febrero de 2026, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del

término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 10 de febrero de 2026. En Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, el 10 de febrero de 2026. ALICIA AYALA SANJURJO, SECRETARIA. MARITZA ROSARIO ROSARIO, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE PONCE SALA SUPERIOR DE PONCE

NOLMARIE

SANTIAGO ORTIZ

Demandante V. ABDIEL OMAR

SOTO SOTO

Demandado(a)

Caso Núm.: PO2025RF00934. (Salón: 302 - RF Y MENORES).

Sobre: DIVORCIO - RUPTURA IRREPARABLE. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

GLORIA E. GADEA CASTROGGADEA@SERVICIOSLEGALES. ORG.

A: SR. ABDIEL OMAR SOTO SOTO PARA SER NOTIFICADO MEDIANTE PUBLICACION POR EDICTO; PC: LCDA.

GLORIA E. GADEA

CASTRO. (Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 27 de enero de 2026, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 05 de febrero de 2026. En Ponce, Puerto Rico, el 05 de febrero de 2026. Carmen G. Tirú Quiñones, Secretaria. Liz Santiago Castillo, Secretaria Auxiliar Del Tribunal.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE VEGA BAJA

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante V. FRANCISCO JAVIER SANTIAGO MARTÍNEZ Demandado Civil Núm.: VB2025CV00868. Sobre: INCUMPLIMIENTO DE CONTRATO; COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE GRAVAMEN MOBILIARIO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. A: FRANCISCO JAVIER SANTIAGO MARTÍNEZ.

Por la presente se le notifica que ha sido presentada en este Tribunal una Demanda en su contra en el pleito de epígrafe. El abogado de la parte demandante es el Lcdo. Jean Paul Juliá Díaz, Rivera-Munich & Hernández Law Offices, P.S.C.; P.O. Box 364908, San Juan, PR 00936-4908; Tel. (787) 6222323 / Fax (787) 622-2320. Se le advierte que este Edicto se publicará en un (1) periódico de circulación general una (1) sola vez y que si no comparece a contestar dicha Demanda radicando el original de la misma a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://www.poderjudicial.pr/ index.php/tribunal-electronico/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del Tribunal Superior, Sala de Vega Baja, con copia al abogado de la parte demandante, dentro del término de treinta (30) días contados a partir de la publicación del Edicto, se le anotará la rebeldía y se dictará sentencia en su contra concediendo el remedio solicitado en la Demanda sin más citarle ni oírle. En un término de diez (10) días a partir de la publicación de este Edicto, la parte demandante le notificará por correo certificado con acuse de recibo copias del Emplazamiento por Edicto y de la Demanda a sus últimas direcciones conocidas: Bo. Sabana Sect. Pasonivel, Carr. 690 Km. 5.5, Vega Alta, Puerto Rico 00692; y Sabana Branch, P.O. Box 8895, Vega Baja, Puerto Rico 00693. Expedido bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal, Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, a 9 de febrero de 2026. ALICIA AYALA

SANJURJO, SECRETARIA. MARITZA ROSARIO ROSARIO, SUB-SECRETARIA.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO

DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU-

NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Demandante Vs. SUCESIÓN DE VIVIAN

ENEIDA BETANCOURT QUIÑONES Y SUCESIÓN DE GLAUCO RIVERA

CARRASQUILLO, AMBAS COMPUESTAS POR SUS HEREDEROS CONOCIDOS COMO INGRID VIVIANE

RIVERA BETANCOURT, EDUARDO LUIS RIVERA BETANCOURT, SUSAN ALEXANDRA RIVERA BETANCOURT, GLAUCO

ALEJANDRO RIVERA

BETANCOURT Y RAFAEL

FRANCISCO RIVERA

BETANCOURT; FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANA DE TAL COMO HEREDEROS

DESCONOCIDOS Y/O

PARTES CON INTERÉS EN DICHA SUCESIÓN

Demandados Civil Núm.: SJ2025CV10740. 508. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R., SS. A: RAFAEL FRANCISCO

RIVERA BETANCOURT COMO HEREDERO

CONOCIDO DE LAS SUCESIONES DE VIVIAN ENEIDA BETANCOURT

QUIÑONES Y GLAUCO

RIVERA CARRASQUILLO; FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANA DE TAL COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS Y/O PARTES CON INTERÉS EN DICHAS SUCESIONES - URB. COLINAS DE MONTECARLO, CALLE #23 B-45, SAN JUAN PR 00924; DIRECCIÓN POSTAL: 20607 NEWSTONE DR, RICHMOND TX 774062052.

POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro de los treinta (30) días de haber sido diligenciado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día del diligenciamiento. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://www. poderjudicial.pr/index.php/

tribunal-electronico/, salvo que el caso sea de un expediente físico o que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la Secretaría del tribunal y notificar copia de la misma al (a la) abogado(a) de la parte demandante o a ésta, de no tener representación legal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Además, se le apercibe que, en los casos al amparo de la Ley Núm. 57-2023, titulada Ley para la Prevención del Maltrato, Preservación de la Unidad Familiar y para la Seguridad, Bienestar y Protección de los Menores, entre los remedios que el Tribunal podrá conceder se incluyen la ubicación permanente de un (una) menor fuera del hogar, el inciso de procesos para la privación de patria potestad, y cualquiera otra medida en el mejor interés del (de la) menor. (Artículo 33, incisos b y f de la Ley Núm. 57-2023). Se le advierte de su derecho a comparecer acompañado(a) de abogado(a) en los casos que proceda. Se le advierte de su derecho a comparecer acompañado(a) de abogado(a) en los casos que proceda. De ser el demandado un heredero de una sucesión, se les apercibe a los herederos antes mencionados que de no expresarse dentro de ese término de treinta (30) días, en torno a su aceptación o repudiación de herencia, la herencia se tendrá por aceptada. También se les apercibe a los herederos antes mencionados que luego del transcurso del término de treinta (30) días antes señalado, contados a partir de la fecha de publicación de este edicto, se presumirá que han aceptado la herencia del(los) causante(s) y, por consiguiente, responden por las cargas de dicha herencia conforme dispone el Artículo 1,578 del Nuevo Código Civ il, 31 L.P.R.A. sec. 11,021. Representa a la parte demandante, la representación legal cuyo nombre, dirección y teléfono se consigna de inmediato: BUFETE FORTUÑO & FORTUÑO FAS, C.S.P. LCDO. JUAN C. FORTUÑO FAS RUA NUM.: 11416 PO BOX 3908, GUAYNABO, PR 00970 TEL: 787-751-5290, FAX: 787-751-6155 E-MAIL:

ejecuciones@fortuno-law.com Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, hoy 12 de febrero de 2026. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. GREISHKA CARTAGENA RÍOS, SECRETARIA CONFIDENCIAL DEL TRIBUNAL 1.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE CAROLINA

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante Vs. SUCESIÓN DE GABRIEL CRUZ DÍAZ COMPUESTA POR FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANA DE TAL COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS Y/O PARTES CON INTERÉS EN DICHA SUCESIÓN Demandados Civil Núm.: CA2025CV04165. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R., SS.

A: FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANA DE TAL COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS Y/O PARTES CON INTERÉS EN LA SUCESIÓN DE GABRIEL CRUZ DÍAZ -

URB. VILLA CAROLINA, #73-97, CALLE 89, CAROLINA, PUERTO RICO 00985; P.O. BOX 2949, CAROLINA, PUERTO RICO 00984-2949. POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de la fecha en que se le haya diligenciado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día del diligenciamiento. La alegación responsiva deberá ser presentada a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), el cual puede accederse mediante la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://www.poderjudicial.pr/ index.php/tribunal-electronico/. En caso de tratarse de un expediente físico o si usted se representa por derecho propio, deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la Secretaría del Tribunal correspondiente y notificar copia de esta al abogado de la parte demandante, o a esta última si comparece sin representación legal. Se le advierte que, de no presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el Tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, u otro que estime procedente conforme a derecho. De tratarse el demandado de un heredero de una sucesión, se apercibe a los herederos mencionados que deberán expresar, dentro del mismo

término de treinta (30) días, si aceptan o repudian la herencia correspondiente. Transcurrido dicho término sin manifestación alguna se presumirá que han aceptado la herencia del causante y, por ende, responderán por las cargas de esta, conforme dispone el Artículo 1578 del Código Civil de Puerto Rico, 31 P.RA. §11021. Representa a la parte demandante, la representación legal cuyo nombre, dirección y teléfono se consigna de inmediato: BUFETE FORTUÑO & FORTUÑO FAS, C.S.P. LCDO. JUAN C. FORTUÑO FAS RÚA NÚM.: 11416 PO BOX 3908, GUAYNABO, PR 00970 TEL: 787-751-5290, FAX: 787-751-6155

E-MAIL: ejecuciones@fortuno-law.com

En Carolina, Puerto Rico, a 11 de febrero de 2026. LIC. KANELLY ZAYAS ROBLES, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. DENISSE TORRES RUIZ, SUB-SECRETARIA.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE SAN JUAN BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO, POR SÍ Y EN REPRESENTACIÓN DE TILKY HERNÁNDEZ RODRÍGUEZ T/C/C TILKY HERNÁNDEZ DE MORALES Y COMO TILKY H. MORALES

Demandante Vs. ORIENTAL BANK, COMO SUCESOR EN DERECHO DE BANCO BILBAO VIZCAYA ARGENTARIA PUERTO RICO; JOHN DOE Y RICHARD DOE Demandado Civil Núm.: SJ2026CV00879. Sala: 901. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉS EXTRAVIADOS. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. A: JOHN DOE, RICHARD DOE. Quedan ustedes notificados que la demandante de epígrafe ha radicado en este Tribunal una Demanda contra ustedes como co-demandados, en la que se solicita la cancelación vía judicial de los siguientes Pagarés Hipotecarios extraviados: a) Pagaré Hipotecario por la suma de $200,000.00, con intereses al 10% anual y vencedero a la demanda, suscrito el día 23 de marzo de 2010, ante el Notario Público Ramón Antonio Rodríguez Suárez, bajo affidávit número 2,707, a favor de Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria Puerto Rico, garantizado por hipoteca constituida en virtud de la Escritura Número 17, otor-

gada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, ante el Notario Público Ramón Antonio Rodríguez Suárez, inscrita al Folio 194 del Tomo 470 de Río Piedras Sur, Registro de la Propiedad, Sección Cuarta (IV) de San Juan, Finca Número 15,210, inscripción 7ma. b) Pagaré Hipotecario por la suma de $200,000.00, con intereses al 10% anual y vencedero a la demanda, suscrito el día 28 de febrero de 2011, ante el Notario Público Ramón Antonio Rodríguez Suárez, bajo affidávit número 3,751, a favor de Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria Puerto Rico, garantizado por hipoteca constituida en virtud de la Escritura Número 16, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, ante el Notario Público Ramón Antonio Rodríguez Suárez, inscrita al Folio 105 del Tomo 838 de Río Piedras Sur, Registro de la Propiedad, Sección Cuarta (IV) de San Juan, Finca Número 15,210, inscripción 8va. Los mencionados pagarés hipotecarios gravan una propiedad inmueble, que se describe como sigue: “URBANA: Solar radicado en la Urbanización Paseo Las Brisas, localizada en el Bario Cupey Alto del término municipal de San Juan, Puerto Rico, que se describe en el plano de inscripción de la Urbanización con el número, área y colindancias que se relacionan a continuación. SOLAR #33, con una cabida superficial de 442.58 metros cuadrados, colindando pro el Norte, en dos alineaciones, una en un arco de 7.19 metros y otra de 14.93 metros, con la Calle 4 Oeste; por el Sur, en dos alineaciones, una de 1.21 metros y otra de 20.90 metros, con los Solares #39 y 40, respectivamente; por el Este, en 20.20 metros, con el Solar #34 y por el Oeste, en 19.99 metros, con el Solar #32. Sobre este solar enclava una estructura constituida de hormigón armado y bloques dedicada a vivienda para una familia.” Consta inscrita al Folio Ciento Noventa y Uno (191) del Tomo Cuatrocientos Setenta (470) de Río Piedras Sur, Finca Número Quince Mil Doscientos Diez (15,210), Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección Cuarta (IV) de San Juan. El abogado de la parte demandante es el Lic. Antonio A. Hernández Almodóvar, RiveraMunich & Hernández Law Offices, P.S.C.; P.O. Box 364908, San Juan, Puerto Rico 009364908; Tel. (787) 622-2323 / Fax (787) 622-2320. Se le advierte que este edicto se publicará en un (1) periódico de circulación general una (1) sola vez y que si no comparece a contestar dicha Demanda radicando el original de la misma en el Tribunal de San Juan, con copia al abogado de la parte demandante, a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://

www.poderjudicial.pr/index. php/tribunal-electronico/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del Tribunal, dentro del término de treinta (30) días contados a partir de la publicación del edicto, se le anotará la Rebeldía y se dictará Sentencia en su contra concediendo el remedio solicitado en la Demanda sin más citarle ni oírle. EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal, en San Juan, Puerto Rico, hoy día 5 de febrero de 2026. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA. MARÍA I. COLÓN RIVERA, SUB-SECRETARIA. LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE BAYAMÓN SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN ZULLYENID RODRIGUEZ GONZALEZ Demandante V. ACHMER ARROYO SANTOS Demandado(a) Caso Núm.: BY2025RF01582. (Salón: 4005 FAMILIA Y MENORES). Sobre: PATRIA POTESTAD - PRIVACIÓN, SUSPENSIÓN O RESTRICCIÓN. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. MARISEL RODRÍGUEZ LÓPEZ - MARISEL_RODRIGUEZ@ SERVICIOSLEGALES.ORG. A: ACHMER ARROYO SANTOS. (Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 04 de febrero de 2026, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 06 de febrero de 2026. En Bayamón, Puerto Rico, el 06 de febrero de 2026. ALICIA AYALA SANJURJO, SECRETARIA. GRENDA VÉLEZ RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

Sudoku

How to Play:

Fill in the empty fields with the numbers from 1 through 9.

Sudoku Rules:

Every row must contain the numbers from 1 through 9

Every column must contain the numbers from 1 through 9

Every 3x3 square must contain the numbers from 1 through 9

Crossword

By THE STAR STAFF

Puerto Rican pitcher Alexis Bermúdez earned the win in her first start for the Águilas of Veracruz in the Mexican Softball League this past weekend.

Bermúdez pitched 5.1 innings in her debut and was relieved by American Lisa Hopp, who recorded the save in a 3-1 victory over the Olmecs of Tabasco.

Alexis Bermúdez wins in Mexican Softball League debut Japan pair knocks the king and queen off their thrones

The pitcher belongs to the Valencianas of Juncos in the Women’s Superior Softball League, where she has appeared in 10 games and started nine. She is the second Puerto Rican to play in the Mexican professional league.

With the win, the Águilas (Eagles) improved their record to 9-5 and are in third place in the standings. Veracruz will play again on Thursday and Friday as the visiting team against Unión Laguna.

Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan compete in the free skating segment of the pair skating event at the 2026 Winter Games in Milan on Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. They won gold in the event. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)

pitched 5.1 innings to earn

By VICTOR MATHER, DOUG MILLS and VINCENT ALBAN

Despite the unexpected return of the defending champions, the 2026 Olympics brought a changing of the guard in pairs skating.

Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan emerged with the gold medal after a flawless, high-scoring performance in Monday’s free skate. They dethroned the defending Olympic champions, Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China, who finished fifth.

Miura, 24, and Kihara, 33, two-time world champions, had surprisingly been only fifth in the short program after bobbling on a lift. But they rebounded with a crackerjack performance in the free skate. Skating to music from the film “Gladiator,” they nailed their triples and throws and earned a big score of 158. Japan had never previously won a pairs gold.

Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava of Georgia claimed silver, the first medal of any kind at the Winter Games for their nation, which has won 47 in the Summer Games, mostly in combat events such as wrestling and judo. The bronze medalists were Minerva Hase and Nikita Volodin of Germany (though Volodin only switched to German citizenship from Russian in September).

The returning Chinese pair, Sui and Han, had said they were skating at these Games for themselves, not just to win as they had in the past. They dropped two triples from their free skate and missed the medals.

In another changing of the guard, Russian teams were not allowed to participate; they had been second, third and fourth behind Sui and Han in 2022 and won five of six Olympics between 1994 and 2014. That takes little away, though, from Miura and Kihara’s smashing gold.

‘A superstar is from here’: Pride of Cleveland suburb soars for US hockey

By ALEXANDRA E. PETRI

It’s just after 2 p.m. on a Tuesday, and the televisions in the New Heights Grill are showing the only programming that matters to the bar’s patrons: a women’s hockey game unfolding thousands of miles away.

On the screens, Laila Edwards is patrolling the ice for the United States hockey team in its game against Canada, with the same steady focus as she did for the Cleveland Barons boys squirts team and the Cleveland Heights Tigers mites team.

Edwards grew up a slapshot away from the restaurant, where two men sitting near the door at the table they call Table One recall how they used to play hockey with her father. At the bar, a woman wearing a black-and-yellow Cleve-

land Heights High School hockey sweatshirt mentions that her son played with Edwards’ older brother. A few tables away, closer to the kitchen, sits a couple who after receiving a text from their daughter opted to change their lunch plans and, suspecting the game would be on at New Heights, eat there instead.

In Cleveland Heights, you show up for your own, and Edwards, 22, is not just hockey royalty but an avatar of the city’s inclusive ethos. She is the first Black woman to play for the U.S. hockey team and for the American team at the Olympics. The city is as proud of her and its other two famous athletes — Super Bowl champions Jason and Travis Kelce, both of whom are Heights High graduates — as it is of its transformation from a rural farming community into an integrated inner-ring suburb.

The city’s slogan, “All Are Welcome,” guides civic life. Pride flags ripple above front doors, and Black Lives Matter placards pop up in front lawns. Restaurants serving Ethiopian, Italian, Turkish and Trinidadian fare line Lee Road, the commercial street not far from Edwards’ home.

But Cleveland Heights, a city of about 45,000 just east of Cleveland, wasn’t always a melting pot. Black residents who moved here in the 1960s encountered violence and intimidation, with real estate agents denying them house viewings and their homes being bombed. “We have not always been a place where everybody was welcome,” said Marian J. Morton, a retired history professor who has written books on Cleveland Heights.

Residents, including Edwards’ paternal grandmother, mobilized to support integration. Today, Black residents make up about 40% of the population, and white residents account for 46%, according to the latest census data. The city’s motto of inclusion “speaks to the fact we are very selfconsciously and proudly racially and economically diverse and inclusive,” Morton said.

Edwards was 3 when she first strapped on ice skates, accompanying her older siblings, Chayla and Bobby, to the public skate program nearly every day at the Cleveland Heights Community Center. That was where her father, Robert Edwards, first started playing when he was 10, eventually playing at Heights High his senior year.

At 5, Edwards joined the Cleveland Heights Tigers Mites B team, and even then, playing with mostly older boys, she showed preternatural skill. Edwards, the only Black child on her team, had good balance with the stickhandling skills and hockey intelligence to match, said Pat Bauman, coach of Edwards’ first Mites team, which won the city playoff championship.

“That’s how she started her career out — being a champion of the lowest level of hockey for the youngest children in the city,” Bauman said.

Edwards soon outgrew suburban hockey. She and Chayla played for boys’ AAA teams around Cleveland and for an elite girls team based in Pittsburgh. At 13, she moved four hours away, to Rochester, New York, to attend Bishop Kearney High School, a private school with a top-tier girls’ hockey program.

She followed Chayla to the University of Wisconsin, where they were on the team that won a 2023 NCAA championship. Last season, as a junior helping the Badgers capture another national title, Edwards led the NCAA with 35 goals and was a top three finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award, given annually to the top women’s college hockey player.

At every turn, Cleveland Heights has followed her journey with delight.

Pictures of Edwards in her U.S. team jersey decorate walls and bulletin boards of the community center, which held a watch party for the Olympic game against Finland. Gold No. 10 balloons — Edwards’ Olympics number — float behind the rental skate counter. Her Mites B championship banner hangs on the wall at the community center’s North Rink, just near the one adorned with her sister’s and father’s names.

“I think it’s so cool she’s been in this ice rink and played here,” Corrie Fleck, 10, who plays on the Eastside Tigers 10-and-under team, said after a recent practice. Around her, girls wearing jerseys signed by Edwards waddled by on

skates. “This ice rink feels so ordinary, but then a superstar is from here.”

Last week, a group of children raced over to Robert Edwards at the community center and asked if he was Laila’s father. Moments later, Edwards was on FaceTime from Italy as a bunch of boys wrestled for the phone to show her all the posters of her hanging on the walls.

At least one restaurant has opened early and closed late for fans to catch her Olympic games. Community members, including the Kelces and families from Shaker Heights where Edwards’ older brother Bobby coaches a squirts team, have helped raise money for her family’s expenses to Italy.

The enthusiasm has also reached Roxboro Elementary School, where Laila and her siblings went to school and where her nephew, Shiloh Stewart, also a hockey player, proudly wears his USA hockey hat in class. Shiloh’s kindergarten classroom is decorated with Olympic rings and newspaper articles of Edwards. Drawings of her fill the hallway, with loopy, pencil-scrawled messages of “Go USA” and “You are the best.” The class sent some to Edwards in Italy. Standing on a balcony and wearing a Heights T-shirt, Edwards thanked the students.

“Dream big, little ones,” she said in a recorded video.

Since learning about Edwards in school, Kennedy Davis, 6, glides across the kitchen in roller skates and uses a pool noodle as a hockey stick to practice moves. Her bedroom wall is dotted with pictures of Edwards, her mother, Jessica Davis, said. The Davis family is not a hockey family, but Jessica Davis said her daughter wants to pursue the sport. She planned to take Kennedy to the community center to learn how to ice skate.

“I hope Laila knows how much an impact she is making,” Jessica Davis said.

Back at the New Heights Grill, the crowd is relishing the Americans’ dominance against Canada in the preliminary round, when — there goes Edwards up ice, cradling the puck on her stick. She crosses the blue line, dekes a defender and flicks her wrist.

Goal. Her first Olympic goal.

Cheers thundered across the arena in Milan, but they might have been louder at the New Heights Grill, where the men at Table One and the woman in the Heights hockey sweatshirt and the couple who changed their lunch plans clapped and whistled for Laila Edwards, the pride of Cleveland Heights.

Answers to the Sudoku and Crossword on page 21