Pfizer executive faces porn charges in Puerto Rico

Published May 09, 2013

Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico –  Federal authorities in Puerto Rico have arrested an executive at Pfizer Pharmaceutical for allegedly producing child pornography.

Officials say 48-year-old Reinaldo Diaz Camacho was charged after Puerto Rico police received information that he was having sexually explicit conversations with a 16-year-old boy on Facebook.

U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodriguez said Thursday that the boy's mother told authorities she had seen the conversations on her son's cellphone.

Rodriguez says Diaz had sent the boy sexually explicit images via Facebook and text messages. She says a federal agent then posed as the teen on Facebook and continued to interact with Diaz. She says Diaz asked the boy to send naked pictures of himself.

It was not immediately clear whether Diaz has an attorney.

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Puerto Rico takes over ex-US naval station land

Published May 07, 2013

Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico –  More than 8,700 acres (3,500 hectares) that once formed part of a busy U.S. naval station in eastern Puerto Rico have been turned over to the government of the U.S. territory, the island's governor said Tuesday.

The transfer comes nine years after U.S. officials closed the Roosevelt Roads naval station, saying it was no longer needed after the military stopped using the nearby island of Vieques as a bombing range.

Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla said he plans to meet with officials in the eastern towns of Ceiba and Naguabo, where the property is located, to decide how to develop it. The towns were economically devastated by the closure of the station, which was commissioned in 1943 and once employed about 6,300 people.

Garcia said the government is considering a 20-year economic plan requiring a $2.5 billion investment to renovate the land and generate some 24,700 jobs. Officials previously considered building a cruise ship port, hotels and a casino on adjoining property that also formed part of the naval station.

The U.S. previously turned over about 1,370 acres (554 hectares) in January 2012 and an additional 3,400 acres (1,376 hectares) have been designated for conservation.

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More top university officials quit in Puerto Rico

Published May 01, 2013

Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico –  More top officials at Puerto Rico's largest public university have resigned over the governor's signing of a hotly debated law to revamp the institution's board of directors.

University presidents in at least four campuses of the University of Puerto Rico stepped down late Tuesday and early Wednesday. Their resignations come shortly after the university's main president and the head of its board of directors also quit.

Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla has said he expects soon to name a new president and unveil a new board of directors.

Garcia previously eliminated an $800 fee that sparked violent protests in recent years and led to a drop in enrollment.

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Puerto Rico to overhaul public pension system

Published April 04, 2013

Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico –  Senators in Puerto Rico have approved a bill to overhaul the island's crumbling pension system as hundreds of irate public employees protested outside the seaside Capitol building.

The House of Representatives was expected to approve the bill late Thursday, and Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla was expected to sign it as well.

The bill calls for a higher retirement age, a nearly 2 percent increase in worker contributions and reduced benefits and monthly pensions for certain employees. It also would transfer the bulk of employees from a defined-benefit plan to a hybrid plan that includes a defined contribution component.

The current pension system faces a more than $37 billion unfunded liability, one of the highest compared with any U.S. state. The liability is almost four times the island's annual government budget.

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Tourist in Puerto Rico injured by live munition

Published March 22, 2013

Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico –  Authorities in Puerto Rico said Friday that a young tourist was burned after she picked up an old shell containing white phosphorous dropped by the U.S. Navy when it used the island of Culebra for bombing practice.

The accident occurred as the girl's family waited to board the ferry in Culebra to return to the main island of Puerto Rico on Thursday, police officer Mario Alvarez told The Associated Press.

"She was carrying it in her hand," he said. "It dropped on the floor and activated itself."

The girl was burned, although the extent of her injury was unclear, Alvarez said. Authorities said they believe the girl was 7 years old, but her name and exact age were unknown because her family initially refused medical treatment for her in Culebra.

She was later taken to a hospital after arriving at the northeast coastal town of Fajardo in Puerto Rico, Alvarez said.

The shell was found on the hugely popular beach of Flamenco, which attracts thousands of tourists every year. Alvarez said the girl picked up the shell near a rusty military tank that sits along the beach's western point and has long served as a backdrop for photographs.

He said FBI agents and police arrived in Culebra Friday to detonate the shell, as well as six other live bombs found near where the girl picked up the shell.

The accident and discovery of additional bombs came as thousands of Puerto Ricans and tourists headed to Culebra for Easter week vacations. Alvarez said police have not issued any warnings and that it is up to the municipality to warn people about what happened.

Government officials had not issued any statements as of late Friday afternoon.

An official who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to talk about the case said he saw the incendiary munition after people at the scene called him for help on Thursday. He said he ordered them to drop the artifact into water so it would stop burning and blowing smoke.

White phosphorus is an incendiary agent commonly used in war to create smoke screens. It can also cause severe burns.

The latest discovery of live munitions have outraged environmental activists and Puerto Ricans who have long demanded a thorough clean-up by the Navy. The Navy used the island for military activity from 1939-1975, later moving operations to the nearby island of Vieques.

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Puerto Rico teachers protest changing pension plan

Published March 15, 2013

Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico –  Dozens of teachers in Puerto Rico are protesting a proposal to cut retirement benefits and increase employee contributions to help save the island's crumbling public pension system.

The teachers gathered Friday afternoon in front of the governor's mansion in colonial Old San Juan.

Union leader Maria Lara Fontanez says teachers met with Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla last week to talk about their concerns but says they did not receive any guarantee the pension system wouldn't be changed.

Economists have said the teachers' pension plan is slightly healthier than a plan that covers other government employees in the U.S. territory.

The protest comes two days after a similar protest by hundreds of police officers.

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