Monday, January 7, 2013
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Birth of the Swiss neutrality
The League of Nations, the international organization created at the peace conference in Versailles after the end of World War I, recognizes the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland in 1920.
Switzerland was a loose confederation of German-, French-, and Italian-speaking communities until 1778, when the French, under Napoleon Bonaparte, unified the country as the Helvetic Republic and imposed a constitution, which was enforced by French occupation troops.
Bitterly resented by the Swiss people, the French occupation ended in 1803, when Napoleon agreed to a new Swiss-approved constitution and withdrew his troops. The Congress of Vienna in 1815, which would determine Europe's borders until the outbreak of World War I nearly a century later, recognized the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland.
The Swiss considered preserving this neutrality essential to Switzerland's economic and political development. A new constitution, adopted in 1848, reinforced the neutrality principle by outlawing Swiss service in foreign armies or the acceptance of pensions from foreign governments.
Neither the unification of Italy in 1861 nor the birth of the German empire in 1871 shook the loyalty of the nation's Italian or German population to Switzerland. With industrialization, fueled largely by hydroelectric power, and the construction of an efficient railroad network, Switzerland's economy continued to grow, spawning a thriving tourism industry by the end of the 19th century.
Though Switzerland maintained its neutrality during the Great War, with German, French and Italian Swiss standing firm to preserve their country's solidarity, a costly military mobilization to protect the Swiss borders diverted most of the working population to war-related work and brought economic hardship.
After the war ended, membership in the League of Nations—the international organization established at the Versailles peace conference—was narrowly approved by Swiss voters after a federal council opposed it. In February 1920, the League voted to recognize the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland.
The League also established its headquarters in the Swiss city of Geneva, a tribute to the country's neutrality as well as its relative economic and political stability, which has continued to the present day.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Puerto Rico's governor points to the future
In his third State of the Commonwealth speech, Gov. Fortuño touted his accomplishments of the last two years and ushered in a new set of projects that he believes will take the island to recovery.
For a little over an hour, Fortuno, using a clear Republican message, discussed a plethora of past and present issues and his signature project, the new tax reform.
“With the help of the legislative presidents, we approved the largest, most far reaching and most just tax reform in history. We have done it in just two years along with the public that clamored for change,” the Chief Executive said.
According to Fortuño, the reform would save Puerto Ricans almost $1.2 billion annually.
In the 1994 reform, the average savings was $400 million.
Starting this April, tax payers can take advantage of the new Tax Code with a new tax credit.
In the short form, the individual credit deduction can be posted on the 16F line while in the long one, it is on the 31G.
The reform would reduce the individual tax burden of individuals by 50 percent and of corporations by 30 percent.
Fortuño stated that this reform will spark a massive investment in the local market which he argued would create jobs and stabilize the economy.
In a message that could be interpreted as “back-and forth,” the island’s seventh elected governor announced a series of initiatives he hopes will spark a struggling economy.
He called the 2000s a “lost decade” blaming the slowness in economic development on the two administrations of the Popular Democratic Party which governed the island at the time.
The reference of the “lost decade” was first used by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his 1932 campaign stump speech against Republican Herbert Hoover, whom he soundly defeated.
The new measures promised by the New Progressive Party governor are the completion of the financial stabilization plan, the full implementation of the new Tax Code, the expansion of Mi Salud (My Health) health care plan, the refurbishing and development of hundreds of infrastructure projects including water distribution systems and the opening of two long delayed projects.
Projects slated to be dedicated this year are the Vanderbilt Hotel in Condado and the new Dos Hermanos bridge connecting the island of San Juan with the rest of Puerto Rico.
During this year, the administration also plans to start work on the dams of Valenciano in Juncos and Beatriz in the Cayey-Cidra sector at a cost of $475 million.
Once completed, the two new dams will benefit 1.5 million residents in several towns including Las Piedras, Juncos, Humacao, San Lorenzo, Gurabo and the entire Caguas area.
Other infrastructure projects promoted by the governor on Tuesday were the construction of the Bayamón Mega Rotunda which would connect the Highway 177 and 175, the refurbishing of Intersection No. 5 near the Convention Center District, the pavement of the connection between the Highway 53 and 5 in Fajardo and the construction of the Urban Metro system between Bayamón and Toa Baja.
The mountain sector of the island is slated to receive more than $100 million in road repairs and development in 2011 according to the governor.
Since August 2010, the economy has created 27,600 new jobs in the fields of health services, retailing, education and professional service.
Of the $6 billion allocated to the island from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, Fortuño explained that $4.5 billion have already being disbursed, and the rest are already assigned to several projects, mostly infrastructure.
Dismissing an allegation made by the PDP, Fortuño explained that all of the $500 million from the local stimulus fund have already been assigned and are waiting disbursement.
On Monday, PDP President Héctor Ferrer challenged the governor to detail the whereabouts of the funds. He also wanted to know how the Public-Private Alliances were being used.
According to Fortuño, the PAA would be solely responsible fund structure for the investment of more than $3 billion over the next two years.
More than $756 million were assigned for the renovation of 95 schools and the construction of five new ones.
In the social front, Fortuno touted the new adoption law which he credits for an increase in the number of adoptions from 158 in 2008 to 375 in 2010.
Other programs announced by Fortuño on Tuesday are the rebuilding of the Culebra pier, which was destroyed in September, the development of the Torcadero Diverplex tourism complex in Hato Rey and the advancement of the stagnant Americas Port in Ponce.
“We have opened two five-star hotels and in Dorado, we are building the first six-star hotels in the Caribbean with an investment of $342 million. These projects will create 1,000 jobs during construction and 1,000 permanent ones,” Fortuño said.
The government had invested $174 million in the remodeling of 46 residential projects and has started a program to refurbish buildings including the conversion of the Minillas Government Center into a green energy zone at a cost of $70 million.
To stimulate the economy, the governor cited the disbursement of more than $250 million in 825 loans to small businesses on the island.
For a little over an hour, Fortuno, using a clear Republican message, discussed a plethora of past and present issues and his signature project, the new tax reform.
“With the help of the legislative presidents, we approved the largest, most far reaching and most just tax reform in history. We have done it in just two years along with the public that clamored for change,” the Chief Executive said.
According to Fortuño, the reform would save Puerto Ricans almost $1.2 billion annually.
In the 1994 reform, the average savings was $400 million.
Starting this April, tax payers can take advantage of the new Tax Code with a new tax credit.
In the short form, the individual credit deduction can be posted on the 16F line while in the long one, it is on the 31G.
The reform would reduce the individual tax burden of individuals by 50 percent and of corporations by 30 percent.
Fortuño stated that this reform will spark a massive investment in the local market which he argued would create jobs and stabilize the economy.
In a message that could be interpreted as “back-and forth,” the island’s seventh elected governor announced a series of initiatives he hopes will spark a struggling economy.
He called the 2000s a “lost decade” blaming the slowness in economic development on the two administrations of the Popular Democratic Party which governed the island at the time.
The reference of the “lost decade” was first used by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his 1932 campaign stump speech against Republican Herbert Hoover, whom he soundly defeated.
The new measures promised by the New Progressive Party governor are the completion of the financial stabilization plan, the full implementation of the new Tax Code, the expansion of Mi Salud (My Health) health care plan, the refurbishing and development of hundreds of infrastructure projects including water distribution systems and the opening of two long delayed projects.
Projects slated to be dedicated this year are the Vanderbilt Hotel in Condado and the new Dos Hermanos bridge connecting the island of San Juan with the rest of Puerto Rico.
During this year, the administration also plans to start work on the dams of Valenciano in Juncos and Beatriz in the Cayey-Cidra sector at a cost of $475 million.
Once completed, the two new dams will benefit 1.5 million residents in several towns including Las Piedras, Juncos, Humacao, San Lorenzo, Gurabo and the entire Caguas area.
Other infrastructure projects promoted by the governor on Tuesday were the construction of the Bayamón Mega Rotunda which would connect the Highway 177 and 175, the refurbishing of Intersection No. 5 near the Convention Center District, the pavement of the connection between the Highway 53 and 5 in Fajardo and the construction of the Urban Metro system between Bayamón and Toa Baja.
The mountain sector of the island is slated to receive more than $100 million in road repairs and development in 2011 according to the governor.
Since August 2010, the economy has created 27,600 new jobs in the fields of health services, retailing, education and professional service.
Of the $6 billion allocated to the island from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, Fortuño explained that $4.5 billion have already being disbursed, and the rest are already assigned to several projects, mostly infrastructure.
Dismissing an allegation made by the PDP, Fortuño explained that all of the $500 million from the local stimulus fund have already been assigned and are waiting disbursement.
On Monday, PDP President Héctor Ferrer challenged the governor to detail the whereabouts of the funds. He also wanted to know how the Public-Private Alliances were being used.
According to Fortuño, the PAA would be solely responsible fund structure for the investment of more than $3 billion over the next two years.
More than $756 million were assigned for the renovation of 95 schools and the construction of five new ones.
In the social front, Fortuno touted the new adoption law which he credits for an increase in the number of adoptions from 158 in 2008 to 375 in 2010.
Other programs announced by Fortuño on Tuesday are the rebuilding of the Culebra pier, which was destroyed in September, the development of the Torcadero Diverplex tourism complex in Hato Rey and the advancement of the stagnant Americas Port in Ponce.
“We have opened two five-star hotels and in Dorado, we are building the first six-star hotels in the Caribbean with an investment of $342 million. These projects will create 1,000 jobs during construction and 1,000 permanent ones,” Fortuño said.
The government had invested $174 million in the remodeling of 46 residential projects and has started a program to refurbish buildings including the conversion of the Minillas Government Center into a green energy zone at a cost of $70 million.
To stimulate the economy, the governor cited the disbursement of more than $250 million in 825 loans to small businesses on the island.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Weapons don't buy leverage
The Pentagon has often boasted of close ties to the Egyptian military, but in the current crisis the payoff from billions in military aid and three decades of U.S. mentorship isn’t direct leverage.
Mostly, it’s meant an ability to get Cairo’s top defense officials on the phone.
U.S. military officers argue that deeper, more subtle benefits have derived from 30 years of cooperation between the two militaries, including a degree of discipline and professionalism by the Egyptian army that has helped keep its soldiers from attacking protesters seeking to topple President Hosni Mubarak. But other factors, including political direction, also influence the army’s behavior.
On Friday the military took a more active role in providing security on the streets of central Cairo, where tens of thousands stepped up their protests.
At the same time, officials acknowledge that the U.S. military’s influence is limited in circumstances that call for political, rather than military, solutions.
“We’re not counseling them; there is no finger-wagging here,” said Navy Capt. John Kirby, spokesman for the top U.S. military officer, Adm. Mike Mullen, who spoke briefly by phone on Monday and Wednesday with his counterpart in Cairo, Army Lt. Gen. Sami Enan.
Enan was in Washington last week for meetings at the Pentagon, but his delegation cut its visit short and returned home as the crisis grew more perilous last Friday.
Mullen on Friday cautioned Congress against rushing to halt U.S. military aid, reflecting the long-held view that it provides important leverage. He told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that he would “caution against doing anything until we know what’s really going on.” And in an appearance Thursday on Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central, the Joint Chiefs chairman said Egyptian officials had assured him the military would not fire on protesters.
The military has largely stayed out of the clashes, perhaps judging that to intervene more directly could make matters worse.
Haim Malka, a senior Mideast expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, was even more forceful about not cutting off military aid, predicting that the Egyptian military will play a central role in shaping the contours of a post-Mubarak government.
“The United States’ ability to influence that system is already limited,” Malka wrote in a commentary Friday. “Freezing military aid now undermines what leverage the U.S. government does have to promote a post-Mubarak system that is more than just a reconfiguration of the status quo.”
Many aspects of the training the Egyptian army has received from U.S. officers over the years are not directly relevant to the current crisis featuring vicious clashes between pro- and anti-government protesters with police forces doing little to stop them.
At its core, the purpose of U.S. military assistance to Egypt has been to preserve its peace deal with Israel, although U.S. officials in recent years have tried to steer the Egyptians toward a focus on countering Islamic extremist forces.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has talked by phone with Egyptian Defense Minister Mohammed Hussein Tantawi four times since Sunday, most recently on Friday, and the Joint Chiefs’ top strategic planner, Lt. Gen. Charles Jacoby, had a brief phone conversation with his Cairo counterpart on Wednesday.
None of that suggests the U.S. military has great influence.
Kirby said Mullen has offered no advice to the Egyptians, neither urging them to counsel Mubarak to resign nor asking them about specific military plans for dampening the street violence. Instead he has sought simply to keep the lines of communication open and, by praising the military’s restraint, make clear that Washington expects them to continue to avoid a harsh crackdown.
President Barack Obama appeared to be sending a similar message to the military when he said Tuesday, “I want to commend the Egyptian military for the professionalism and patriotism that it’s shown thus far in allowing peaceful protests while protecting the Egyptian people.”
The Egyptian military is the power base of Mubarak’s regime. He’s a former air force pilot. The army ousted the monarchy soon after it seized power in a 1952 coup, and all of the country’s presidents since have come from the ranks of the military.
The current scope of U.S. military assistance began with the signing of Egypt’s landmark peace treaty with Israel in 1979. It totaled $1.3 billion last year and includes air, land and naval support.
Egypt is just one example of how the Pentagon has sought over time to improve its standing with foreign militaries by selling them U.S. weaponry, providing long-term technical support, holding joint exercises, having regular face-to-face meetings at senior levels, and bringing junior and mid-level officers to the U.S. to attend institutions like the National Defense University and the Army’s Command and General Staff College. The curriculum includes instruction in human rights, the principle of civilian control of the military, the U.S. Constitution and other elements of democracy.
The theory is that such interaction will make foreign military leaders more inclined to accept U.S. views on the proper role of a military in society.
Pentagon officials have often cited Pakistan as an example of how this influence can be lost or diminished when military-to-military ties are severed, as they were in the 1990s as a punitive U.S. response to Islamabad’s development of nuclear weapons. That left the U.S. military struggling to rebuild trust and regain influence among Pakistani military officers when the Bush administration launched its war on terrorism after the 9/11 attacks.
Egypt is a particularly important U.S. ally because it was the first Arab nation to sign a peace treaty with Israel and remains an important player in broader Arab-Israeli peace efforts. Mubarak attended ceremonies in Washington in September marking a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, and he hosted the first formal round of talks shortly afterward in Egypt.
By controlling the Suez Canal, Egypt also plays a key role in the movement of world oil supplies
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Lawmaker's driver can run errands
A driver can ferry a lawmaker on personal errands, if necessary, according to an administrative order issued by a former House Speaker more than four years ago.
Article XIV, Section 2 of Administrative Order 2007-12 states that any House member can use the services of their officially assigned vehicles including attending personal situations.
“In any official or personal errands of the Representative or any family member that live under the same roof as long as it is the Representative or an authorized official who drives the vehicle,” the document reads.
On Friday, Justice Secretary Guillermo Somoza referred Popular Democratic Party Rep. Carmen Yulín Cruz to a Special Independent Prosecutor panel for allegations that she used her driver to run personal errands.
Cruz has not commented on the matter because she had not been personally served with the complaint.
Other accusations involve taking food to one of Cruz’s aunts.
The Order was issued in 2007 by then House Speaker Jose Aponte and profiled all the responsibilities and rules governing the use of public funds and assets, including personal and vehicles.
The order still holds as it was extended by the current House leader, New Progressive Party Rep. Jenniffer González.
“The lawmakers can use their vehicles to do personal errands as well as official duties. The Comptroller Office also issued a statement that, among other things, argued that while the driver can take a legislator to and from a political event, they can’t participate,” Aponte said.
The Comptroller Order, issued in June 2003 under the banner of Administrative Memo 03-09, regulates the use of official vehicles and drivers assigned to them.
In the memo, the Office states that public resources can’t be used for political gains disconnected from the political-legislative process.
On page seven of the Office of Legislative Services memo of 2003, its director, Elba Rodríguez Fuentes argues that “a legislator can use his/her assigned official vehicle for family activities, but not to transport individuals to a political rally.”
The memo also reiterated Aponte’s position.
“The lawmakers and officials with assigned vehicles can use them 24 hours a day for all errands, official or personal, as long as the lawmaker or the authorized official drives the vehicle.”
On Tuesday Cruz met with her attorney, Harry Anduze, to discuss the matter and craft a response, once they are summoned by the SIP panel.
Article XIV, Section 2 of Administrative Order 2007-12 states that any House member can use the services of their officially assigned vehicles including attending personal situations.
“In any official or personal errands of the Representative or any family member that live under the same roof as long as it is the Representative or an authorized official who drives the vehicle,” the document reads.
On Friday, Justice Secretary Guillermo Somoza referred Popular Democratic Party Rep. Carmen Yulín Cruz to a Special Independent Prosecutor panel for allegations that she used her driver to run personal errands.
Cruz has not commented on the matter because she had not been personally served with the complaint.
Other accusations involve taking food to one of Cruz’s aunts.
The Order was issued in 2007 by then House Speaker Jose Aponte and profiled all the responsibilities and rules governing the use of public funds and assets, including personal and vehicles.
The order still holds as it was extended by the current House leader, New Progressive Party Rep. Jenniffer González.
“The lawmakers can use their vehicles to do personal errands as well as official duties. The Comptroller Office also issued a statement that, among other things, argued that while the driver can take a legislator to and from a political event, they can’t participate,” Aponte said.
The Comptroller Order, issued in June 2003 under the banner of Administrative Memo 03-09, regulates the use of official vehicles and drivers assigned to them.
In the memo, the Office states that public resources can’t be used for political gains disconnected from the political-legislative process.
On page seven of the Office of Legislative Services memo of 2003, its director, Elba Rodríguez Fuentes argues that “a legislator can use his/her assigned official vehicle for family activities, but not to transport individuals to a political rally.”
The memo also reiterated Aponte’s position.
“The lawmakers and officials with assigned vehicles can use them 24 hours a day for all errands, official or personal, as long as the lawmaker or the authorized official drives the vehicle.”
On Tuesday Cruz met with her attorney, Harry Anduze, to discuss the matter and craft a response, once they are summoned by the SIP panel.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Ventas de armas a granel en Medio Oriente
Por Raul Colon
El Medio Oriente es una de las regiones más conflictivas y volátiles en el mundo es por tal razón que la mayoría de las naciones del área se encuentran involucradas en una muy costosa carrera armamentista.
Carrera que es suplementada por el posible asenso de la Republica Islámica de Irán como potencia nuclear.
Cifras brindadas por el Instituto Internacional de Investigación Pacifica en Estocolmo corrobora el impacto de dicha carrera armamentista.
En la última década, las naciones en el Medio Oriente han aumentado sus gastos en sistemas de defensas por casi 40 por ciento.
En un informe publicado en abril del 2009, conocido como ‘Tendencias en el Mercado de Armas’ analistas del Instituto concluyen que 40 por ciento de todos los sistemas de armas vendidos por los Estados Unidos entre el 2004 y 2008 tuvieron como ultimo destino países en el Medio Oriente.
En esos cuatro años, empresas Americanas enviaron al área 207 aviones de combates de diferentes categorías y sobre 5,500 bombas áreas teledirigidas.
Israel y los Emiratos Arabes Unidos han sido los mas beneficiados en la región, acumulando entre los dos 22 por ciento de todas las ventas de armamento provenientes de Estados Unidos.
No solo America exporta armas a la volátil región.
Según el Instituto, el 40 por ciento de todos los sistemas de defensas vendidos por Francia terminan en el Medio Oriente.
Inglaterra exporta el 10 por ciento de sus armas a uno de las naciones más grandes en la región, Arabia Saudita.
Inclusive Rusia, nación que no pose una base industrial avanzada como los tres países antes mencionados, hace billones de dólares anuales en venta de armas a Irán.
En el 2009, el Reino de Arabia Saudita invirtió sobre $40 billones en compras de armamentos avanzados a los Estados Unidos, incluyendo tanques de combate M1-1A, vehículos de transporte de personal y paquetes de navegación para su flota de aviones F-15 y F-16.
Inglaterra le suplió al Reino varios cazas de combate Tornados al igual que misiles de ataque.
Impresionante como suena las compras del Reino, estas es solo una fracción de las que incurrido los Emiratos en el mismo año.
De hecho, los Emiratos son el cuarto país que más sistemas de armas adquirió en el mundo durante el 2009 de acuerdo con data provista por el Instituto.
El listado de plataformas de defensas adquiridas por esta pequeña nación es impresionante.
La larga lista comienza con la compra de baterías de misiles de defensas Patriota (PAC-3), aviones de transporte C-17, helicópteros de combate, cazas F-16, tanques M1-1A, piezas de artillería pesada y vehículos de transporte blindados.
No obstante los impresionantes números y gastos asociados, Israel continua siendo, por gran distancia, el primer consumidor de armas en el Medio Oriente, patrón que se espera continué por la próxima década.
El Estado Judío gasto $14 billones en el 2010 en armas, mayormente defensivas en su naturaleza.
Desde el 2008, Israel ha invertido en paquetes de navegación y sistema de rastreos para su avanzado sistema anti-misil, La Flecha (Arroz en ingles). Otros componentes adquiridos, exclusivamente de los Estados Unidos, incluyen plataforma de rastreo de tercera generación para descubrir misiles.
De todos los sistemas armamentistas mas codiciados por las naciones del Medio Oriente, la artillería anti-misiles Patriota es la que indiscutiblemente se sienta en el tope.
Israel, los Emiratos y Bahrain, nación que ha incrementado significativamente su cooperación con la Armada y la Fuerza Aérea de Estados Unidos; han expresado interés de adquirir componentes de tercera generación asociados as ‘Theater High Altitude Air Defense’ sistema de defensa anti-misil.
También en la lista de naciones interesadas en adquirir el sistema debemos incluir a Qatar y Kuwait, dos países que al igual que Bahrain, se encuentra bajo la cobertura militar de America.
Recientemente el embajador de los Emiratos a los Estados Unidos, Yousef al-Otaiba, confirmo la razón por el aumento en gastos relacionado a defensa.
“De todas la naciones de la región, los Emiratos son los mas cercanos a Irán. Nuestras fuerzas armadas se despiertan, trabajan, comen y duerme pensando en la amenaza Iraní,” al-Otaiba dijo.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Here comes the U-boats
In January 1917, Imperial Germany announces the renewal of unrestricted submarine warfare in the Atlantic as German torpedo-armed submarines prepare to attack any and all ships, including civilian passenger carriers, said to be sighted in war-zone waters.
When World War I erupted in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson pledged neutrality for the United States, a position that the vast majority of Americans favored. Britain, however, was one of America's closest trading partners and tension soon arose between the United States and Germany over the latter's attempted blockade of the British isles.
Several U.S. ships traveling to Britain were damaged or sunk by German mines and, in February 1915, Germany announced unrestricted warfare against all ships, neutral or otherwise, that entered the war zone around Britain. One month later, Germany announced that a German cruiser had sunk the William P. Frye, a private American merchant vessel that was transporting grain to England when it disappeared. President Wilson was outraged, but the German government apologized, calling the attack an unfortunate mistake.
The Germans' most formidable naval weapon was the U-boat, a submarine far more sophisticated than those built by other nations at the time. The typical U-boat was 214 feet long, carried 35 men and 12 torpedoes, and could travel underwater for two hours at a time. In the first few years of World War I, the U-boats took a terrible toll on Allied shipping.
In early May 1915, several New York newspapers published a warning by the German embassy in Washington that Americans traveling on British or Allied ships in war zones did so at their own risk. The announcement was placed on the same page as an advertisement for the imminent sailing of the British-owned Lusitania ocean liner from New York to Liverpool. On May 7, the Lusitania was torpedoed without warning just off the coast of Ireland. Of the 1,959 passengers, 1,198 were killed, including 128 Americans.
The German government maintained that the Lusitania was carrying munitions, but the U.S. demanded reparations and an end to German attacks on unarmed passenger and merchant ships. In August 1915, Germany pledged to see to the safety of passengers before sinking unarmed vessels, but in November sank an Italian liner without warning, killing 272 people, including 27 Americans. Public opinion in the United States began to turn irrevocably against Germany.
At the end of January 1917, Germany, determined to win its war of attrition against the Allies, announced the resumption of unrestricted warfare. Three days later, the United States broke off diplomatic relations with Germany; just hours after that, the American liner Housatonic was sunk by a German U-boat. None of the 25 Americans on board were killed and they were picked up later by a British steamer.
On February 22, Congress passed a $250 million arms-appropriations bill intended to ready the United States for war. Two days later, British authorities gave the U.S. ambassador to Britain a copy of what has become known as the "Zimmermann Note," a coded message from German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann to Count Johann von Bernstorff, the German ambassador to Mexico.
In the telegram, intercepted and deciphered by British intelligence, Zimmermann stated that, in the event of war with the United States, Mexico should be asked to enter the conflict as a German ally. In return, Germany would promise to restore to Mexico the lost territories of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. On March 1, the U.S. State Department published the note and America was galvanized against Germany once and for all.
In late March, Germany sank four more U.S. merchant ships and, on April 2, President Wilson appeared before Congress and called for a declaration of war against Germany. On April 4, the Senate voted 82 to six to declare war against Germany. Two days later, the House of Representatives endorsed the declaration by a vote of 373 to 50 and America formally entered World War I.
By Raul Colon
Puerto Rico's bloodiest month ever recorded
January ended as the most violent month in Puerto Rico's history, with 109 reported homicides, including five domestic violence cases, as of press time.
That is 33 more violent deaths than in January 2010.
But despite mounting criticism, the island’s top cop defended his anti-crime plan while at the same time admitting that the police overreacted in the incidents involving a student protest at the Capitol.
One thing that José Figueroa Sancha condemned was the alleged use of excessive force against the University of Puerto Rico students protesting in front of the Capitol on Thursday. “I would have not used that force on a female student. That does not mean that it was not according to the parameters, but it is something that I would have not done,” he said. Video film of the melée shows a policeman groping the breast of one female demonstrator which prompted intense reactions from the student movement. The police chief ordered an investigation into the matter and expects a full report in the coming weeks.
Figueroa Sancha quashed rumors that he would be fired or is about to resign amid constant criticism for his force that is under constant criticism for its apparent inaction. He mounted a vigorous defense of his crime-fighting initiatives and blamed the rise of deadly incidents on the degeneration of the social fabric on the island. “There has been a shift in the type of homicides we are experiencing. Crime rates, among what we call "organized crime," are down significantly this year. In fact, they has been down for the past two years. The problem is that we are now watching the rise of social crime,” Figueroa Sancha said.
The police superintendent stated that 49 of the 109 reported homicide cases, or 42 percent, are related to the social environment of the island. He cited as an example the high number of domestic violence deaths registered, six this month, and the case of the Florida man who burned to death six of his family members, as examples of the type of crime. “These types of crimes are hard to prevent because of their nature. It’s hard to stop a person from killing his or her partner. It’s also hard to stop a man who burns his family. These are new crimes,” Figueroa Sancha said.
For comparison, in 2010, 16 women died as a result of domestic violence, that’s 1.4 per month. If the current trend continues, more than 50 women will perish at the hands of their spouses.
Figueroa Sancha continued defending his plan to curb crime. “We can’t look at one aspect, such as the homicides, to measure if a plan is working or not. We have to look at the entire spectrum and when we do this, we see an across-the-board-reduction in crimes,” he said. Data provided by the police department for 2010 supports that reality for the island.
Out of the seven major crime categories, four showed a reduction last year in comparison to 2009. Aggravated assault was down 21 percent, rape cases reported a 33 percent decrease, burglary was down 12 percent, and robberies showed a 2 percent reduction. Three categories that increased during 2010 were armed robbery, up 10 percent, homicides, up 8 percent, and car theft, up 1 percent.
More at the PE Daily Sun
That is 33 more violent deaths than in January 2010.
But despite mounting criticism, the island’s top cop defended his anti-crime plan while at the same time admitting that the police overreacted in the incidents involving a student protest at the Capitol.
One thing that José Figueroa Sancha condemned was the alleged use of excessive force against the University of Puerto Rico students protesting in front of the Capitol on Thursday. “I would have not used that force on a female student. That does not mean that it was not according to the parameters, but it is something that I would have not done,” he said. Video film of the melée shows a policeman groping the breast of one female demonstrator which prompted intense reactions from the student movement. The police chief ordered an investigation into the matter and expects a full report in the coming weeks.
Figueroa Sancha quashed rumors that he would be fired or is about to resign amid constant criticism for his force that is under constant criticism for its apparent inaction. He mounted a vigorous defense of his crime-fighting initiatives and blamed the rise of deadly incidents on the degeneration of the social fabric on the island. “There has been a shift in the type of homicides we are experiencing. Crime rates, among what we call "organized crime," are down significantly this year. In fact, they has been down for the past two years. The problem is that we are now watching the rise of social crime,” Figueroa Sancha said.
The police superintendent stated that 49 of the 109 reported homicide cases, or 42 percent, are related to the social environment of the island. He cited as an example the high number of domestic violence deaths registered, six this month, and the case of the Florida man who burned to death six of his family members, as examples of the type of crime. “These types of crimes are hard to prevent because of their nature. It’s hard to stop a person from killing his or her partner. It’s also hard to stop a man who burns his family. These are new crimes,” Figueroa Sancha said.
For comparison, in 2010, 16 women died as a result of domestic violence, that’s 1.4 per month. If the current trend continues, more than 50 women will perish at the hands of their spouses.
Figueroa Sancha continued defending his plan to curb crime. “We can’t look at one aspect, such as the homicides, to measure if a plan is working or not. We have to look at the entire spectrum and when we do this, we see an across-the-board-reduction in crimes,” he said. Data provided by the police department for 2010 supports that reality for the island.
Out of the seven major crime categories, four showed a reduction last year in comparison to 2009. Aggravated assault was down 21 percent, rape cases reported a 33 percent decrease, burglary was down 12 percent, and robberies showed a 2 percent reduction. Three categories that increased during 2010 were armed robbery, up 10 percent, homicides, up 8 percent, and car theft, up 1 percent.
More at the PE Daily Sun
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Japanese Aircraft Carrier
When World War II broke out in 1941 with Japan surprisingly attacking the United States’ main Pacific Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese possessed the largest and most powerful aircraft carrier force in the world. Added to the sheer numbers of carrier platforms, the Japanese had developed the world’s largest and most complete naval air fleet. This was the arm of the military that Japanese Imperial officers believed would win the war for them. A thought augmented by the early streak of quick victories enjoyed by the Imperial Navy. These successions of quick conquest also gave the Japanese military the false hope that they could maintain their initial numerical advantage in deployable carriers over the US for a long run. An advantage that was hallowed when the war commenced and one that would last only a few months. The reality was that, although Japan outgunned the US and Great Britain in deployable flatbeds, they were not prepare to engage the US and, later, the UK in a battle of attrition. It was this attrition, and the fact that they could not replace their lost carriers or even more importantly, their experience aircrews; as promptly as the Americans could, that lead to the downfall of Japan’s carrier force.
Japan entered hostilities against the western democracies with the most powerful and flexible carrier force that world had seen. Seven completed fleet carriers (Hosho, Akagi, Kaga, Ryujo, Soryu, Hiryu, Shokaku, and Zuikaku) formed the backbone of the Imperial Navy’s power projection force. They also possessed the most experienced naval aviators in the world. It was this numerical as well as tactical advantage the made possible Japan’s early surge into the Pacific Theater. At the end, Japan lost all of those carriers, with the exeption of the Hosho, in combat operations during the war. These losses were hard to overcome by a relative backward industrial society such as the one Japan possessed. During the war, Japan only managed to design and develop four additional fleet carriers, while its main adversary, the United States managed to build 17 front line fleet flatbeds. It was this fact that spelled the demise of the Japanese Navy in WWII.
It is the intention of this article to paint a clear picture of the development and conception of the Japanese flatbeds fleet during the war with the US. The article hopes to leave the reader with detail information on all the Japanese aircraft carriers developed and deployed between 1941 and 1945. It will make emphasis on the carriers’ developmental history as well as their combat operations, right to the end of their service lives.
A Brief History
The Japanese carrier development program before the Great War resembled those of the United States and the U.K. Their view of sea-based aircrafts flying aloft for hours was perceived to be for strategic as well as tactical reconnaissance operations only, thus no new advantage could be gained by constructing a vessel to operate airplanes only. Big guns still dominated their ideas, same as in the US and Britain. It was not until late in 1912, when Japanese official embedded, with Royal Navy forces, began to seriously consider the seaplane tender ship as an offensive platform instead of just another recon unit. With this in mind, in mid 1913, a major conceptual experimentation took place within the Imperial Japanese Navy confines. They were able to re-fit an old transport ship, the Wakamiya Maru, with two seaplanes extenders. In the fall of that year, the floatplanes operating out of the Wakamiya participated with the whole Combine Japanese Fleet in maneuvering and detecting exercises. The outcome of the exercises was impressive. The Wakamiya was able to located and engage most of the over-the-horizon targets assigned to its zone of operations without the “sea-plane carrier” being spotted by the Fleet’s screening ships. Trials continued trough the early months of 1914. Again, the seaplane tender demonstrated a unique ability to project power beyond its visual engagement range. In late 1914, faith intervened to push the nascent Japanese aircraft carrier program one step closer towards achieving operational status: the War to End All Wars erupted in Europe.
In an attempt to display their newly acquire naval power, Japanese leaders decided to extract territories from the overextended Imperial German forces in the Pacific, they wanted German-held territory in the south west coast region of China. The Wakamiya was dispatched as part of a Japanese fleet element assigned to capture ports and facilities in the Chinese coast. Meanwhile, Japanese observes and naval liaison officers attached to the British Royal Navy began reporting on the British employment of sea-tendered aircrafts to spot and track German ships, especially U-boats, operating in the North Sea as well as the Atlantic Ocean. These reports, as well the Japanese Navy’s own experience with the Wakamiya, enabled Japan to formulate a new strategic vision for its main fleet that incorporated the carrier as one of its main features, instead of just using it as a complementary platform. In the 1918, as well as in the 1920 budget, Japan allocated a major portion for their Navy design and development funds into their carrier platforms. This decision was augmented by an agreement with the UK, where the former would render technical assistance to the Japanese in exchange for some basing rights along the Hong Kong sea route. The British assistance centered on naval aircraft profiles and combat tactics. Faith again intervened when in 1922 the Washington Naval Treaty provided a structural limit on the size of the world’s top naval powers. The new treaty also provided the guidelines for displace characteristics of new ships designs. A limit of 27,000 tons was placed on all of the signatories. Any ship under construction above those limits was permitted but up to 33,000 tons. The tonnage aspect relating to carrier vessels was established at 81,000 for Japan, a deficiency of 54,000 tons from their US and British counterparts. It was this limitation that historians had attributed as one of the causes of Japan’s bellicose behavior towards the US since the early 1930s. It’s worth pointing out that during the Japanese binding to the Treaty’s tonnage limitation they were continually circumventing the tonnage issue in an effort to maintain parity in carriers with America.
There’s another, more important point to be made about how the Japanese Navy interpreted the Treaty’s ramifications on its carrier program. Before Washington 1922, Japan was a forerunner in the development of combat tactics for carrier platforms. They were one of the early converts to carrier power projection, but they still relegated the carrier force as a second fiddle to the big guns of the once mighty battleships. The Treaty, with its overall tonnage limitation, was the turning point in Japan’s carrier program. From that moment on, Japanese leaders decided not to augment its existing fleet of battleships, instead, the carriers would become the center piece of a newly designed Imperial Navy. Japanese leaders knew that they could not match ship per ship the US, but with a numerical as well as tactical advantage in deployable flatbeds, they believed that they could, not only offset the US numerical superiority in capital ships, but in fact take the strategic advantage away from the Americans in the vast Pacific Ocean. The new strategic position adopted by Japan in direct response to the new realities imposed on it by the 1922 accords meant that their main axis of attack would originate from its carriers force instead of the traditional battleship alignment, thus, from that moment on the carrier became Japan’s main first strike weapon system. As such distinction merits, all available naval resources were, either placed on the carrier itself or allocated to the development of the carrier’s air complement. Capital ships like battleships, heavy and light cruisers still received a substantial amount of the budget, but the importance of the Japanese had cleared shifted to their new first strike platform: the aircraft carrier.
Carrier Profiles
1. Taiho Class (Great Phoenix)
The Taiho had the distinction of being Japan’s first carrier to be fitted with a redundant damage control system that would had enable the flatbed to operate at the same profile even if she was damaged. Taiho was also the first carrier developed by Japan to incorporate an armored flight deck area. The deck’s thickness was in the range of 75 to 80mm. The Japanese believed that this level of reinforcement would have allowed the deck to withstand hits from up to 1,000lbs of free fall bombs. An armored belt of 5.9” circled the hull structure. But, as with most of Japan’s other carriers design, the Great Phoenix lacked armored platting hangars, a design flaw that would prove to be fatal for the entire carrier fleet. Taiho design was comparable to that of the famous Shokaku-class, except that it incorporated a large Island structure similar to that founded on the original Hiyu design. The other major departure from the Shokaku design was that the Great Phoenix’s bow was enclosed instead of the open air bow on pass vessels. This was done in order to provide the Taiho with an improve sea going capabilities. This new bow arrangement allowed the Taiho to have a more robust (33%) hangar space available for ordinance and fuel storage. The Great Phoenix was designed with a low center of gravity to improve the ship’s seaworthiness. As a result, the carrier had only to hangar elevators, one in the aft and the other in the forward area. With only two designated hangar areas available, the Taiho did packed an impressive cargo of aircrafts. Up to 75 front line plus 10 reserve aircraft could be embarked on the ship.
The new aircraft carrier was fitted with the newly designed Type 98 antiaircraft (AA) gun. This new gun was a 100mm demon that can shot at ranges up to 21,300 yards. Six dual mounts housed three of these awesome guns on each side of the hull. Seventeen of the triple 25mm guns were placed around the flight deck as well as in the Island superstructure. The Taiho also carried the two of the new Japanese Type 21 radar array. One was paced atop of the island while the other lay in the lower aft section of the structure. Taiho was completed in March 1944 and immediately was transferred to the Imperial Navy’s Mobile Fleet based at Singapore, where it was assigned to take over the flag of the Mobile Fleet.
Carrier Specifications
Total Displacement 29,300tons
Hull Length 855’-0”
Beam Area 91’-0”
Draft Section 32’-0”
Top Operational Speed 33 knots
Combat Range 10,200 nautical miles
Crew Complement 1,751
Taiho first extended combat action saw her launching strike aircrafts against a US carrier fleet in the morning of June 19th, 1944, when she was hit by one torpedo from the USS Albacore. Originally, the officers of the Taiho though that the hit was superficial and that the carrier would be able to sustained until it reached port, but in reality, the impact was more profound. The impact wave of the hit cracked the main aviation fuel tanks in the forward elevator area. As the fuel began to mix with sea water, the carrier’s crew demonstrated their under training in damage control tasks, a weakness that had already proven fatal to many of their companions in other flatbeds. They opened all hatches around the ship’s two hangar areas in an attempt to steam the water flow. It was to no avail. Because just four hours after the impact, the damage control crew turned on all of the hangar’s extractor fans thus setting up a massive explosion the blew the sides of the hangars. At this moment, the resulting fires began to consolidate and a second, most violent explosion shook up the ship. The hull was compromised and power was lost. Two hours later, the ship buckle under its own weight finally sinking with around 400 men trapped below the rupture deck.
2. Unryu Class (Unryu, Amagi and Katsuragi)
The Unryu class had the distinction of being Japan’s last front line carrier design of the war. The Unryu was a departure from the advance Taiho class. With this class, Japan returned to its original carrier designs roots. Speed above armor and protection was the rule instituted on the Unryu. The Unryu class was an attempt to match carriers with the US. In fact, the whole class was a crash curse on carrier construction. In 1941, the Navy ordered the development of six new flatbeds as soon as possible. The time requirement prevented Japanese shipyards to maximize what they had learned on the Taiho and Shokaku classes. To maximize their construction, all of six the carrier’s proposed on this class were designed along the lines of the Hiryu class. The first three hulls were laid in mid 1942, while the next three were to be under construction by the autumn of 1943. Those three never made it out of the yard. When the program was terminated in the spring of 1945, these three units (Ikoma, Katsuragi and Kasagi) were nearly a three quarters up. There were initial speculation that if the class was able to perform adequately, eleven additional units would have been ordered.
The Unryu class boats possessed almost the same hull structure, armor plating and hangar space distribution of the Hiryu. Their only structural difference was the Island placement. In the new class, the Island was located forward on the starboard side of the ship. As with others Japanese carrier designs, only two elevators were fitted to the boats. Two main hangar areas were able to storage 57 operational planes with seven reserved units as backup. The carriers of this class were armed with the same Type 89 guns as in the Hiryu boat. Three of the 89s were placed on each side of the carrier’s upper hull area. Sixteen triple and three single fire 25mm antiaircraft guns were also fitted around the flatbed’s superstructure. An additional four triple and thirteen single 25s were installed, giving the Unryu class an impressive array of 76 AA guns. The class was also the first of its kind in Japan to carry six 28 barrel 4.7” rocket launchers for short range action. Another distinction for the carriers was that they were the first platforms to be incorporated with a radar system since its design. Two of the Type 13 radars arrays were installed. One at the island’s mainmast and the other on the four hinged radio antenna.
Carrier Specifications
Total Displacement: 17,150 tons Unryu
17,260 tons Katsuragi
17,460 tons Amagi
Hull Length 742’-0”
Beam Area 72’-0”
Draft Section 26’-0”
Top Operational Speed 34 knots (Katsuragi 33 knots)
Combat Range 8,000 nautical miles
Crew Complement 1,595
Of the three completed ships of the class, only one actually saw active combat. And that action only involved the ferrying of aircrafts and ammunition to the Japanese garrison in the Philippines during the last stages of the war. Unryu, the lead boat, was commissioned in August 1944 and immediately was assigned to the Mobile Fleet. In December she was tasked to carry airplanes into Manila Harbor. On the 9th, while in transit to the Philippines, the Unryu was spotted by the submarine USS Redfish. The Redfish proceeded to put two torpedoes into the port side of the carrier hitting the half-filed aviation fuel tanks. The ensuing explosion sent the boat to the bottom with nearly 1,350 of its crew compliment. The other two carriers, the Amagi and Katsuragi were commissioned in October 1944. Neither embarked on any ocean going travel, mostly because of Japan’s massive fuel shortages. In March 1945, the Amagi was lightly damage in an American raid on Kure. On July 25th, a more intense bombardment damaged the Amagi’s hull integrity and she sank within minutes. Amagi had the distinction of being the last Japanese carrier sunk in combat. Katsuragi, who also received heavy damage during the 24th raid, survived the war. She was issue to the Allies as reparation payment and was ultimately scrapped in the fall of 1946.
3. Shimano Class
The largest carrier built during World War II, Shinano would remain the biggest flatbed in the world until the US Navy deployed its first series of super carriers in the 1950s. Shinano was original conceived as the last of the Yamato class super battleships. Laid in May 1940, work of the battleship stopped by June 1942. In August the Japanese Navy decided that the era of the big gun wagons was over and, still coping with the losses suffered at Midway, decided to convert the Shinano to an aircraft carrier. Work on the conversion started in September. At the time, Japanese naval leaders envisioned a new role for the huge hulled ship: floating fortress. The Shinano would become the next step in the evolution of the aircraft carrier, Japanese commanders thought at the time. Aircrafts from small decked carriers as well as long range land based planes would use the Shinano as sort of refueling and re-supplying platform. Thus in the design of the ship’s structure, only one hangar deck area was implemented. This reduced the amount of planes, 47, that new flatbed could carry. These planes were primarily for self defense purposes.
The Shinano’s design closely resembled that of the Taiho’s. The ship’s was fitted with an armored flight deck of three inches. Two elevators served the hangar area which was divided into two separate compartments. The forward hangar area was only covered by shutters, while the rear area was completely enclosed. A huge island structure, with a slanted stack, was placed the same way as in the Taiho’s. A massive armored belt, over eight inches in thickness, covered the other hull area. Additional armored platting, 7.5 inches worth, was installed on the machinery and magazine’s areas. Two pairs of Type 89 AA were placed on the forward and rear areas of each hull side. Between 30 and 33 triple 25mm guns were mounted all around the deck area. Twelve short range rocket launchers were also added. Two Type 21 radar systems were placed on the ship. One in forward area of the island and the other in the aft. These were augmented by two additional Type 13 arrays. One installed on the mainmast and the other on the forward port side of the radio antenna.
Carrier Profile Characteristics
Total Displacement: 62,000tons
Hull Length 873’-0”
Beam Area 119’-0”
Draft Section 34’-0”
Top Operational Speed 27 knots
Combat Range 10,000 nautical miles
Crew Complement 2,400
Apart of being the largest carrier built at the time, Shinano had also the distinction of having the shortest life span of any carrier in WW II. Commissioned in the morning of November 18th, 1944, Shinano departed the Yokosuka docks on the 28th for final fittings at Kure. On the early hours of the 29th, she was torpedo by the USS Archerfish. Although the damage was not considered sever, the ship did not had its full complement of counter flooding and damage control systems. As the ship continued its voyage, the flooding, checked by the crew at first, began to overmatch the ship’s countermeasures. Power was lost and after eleven hours, the mighty ship capsized tanking with her 1,350 crewmembers.
In the end, Japan felt victim of what the saw before the war commenced as its biggest weakness: their small industrial base. Of the three carrier classes developed during the war, only the Taiho’s and Shinano’s represented any real opportunity. One, the Taiho, was not properly exploded mostly because Japan could not build them in numbers; the other, Shinano, although very promising, became irrelevant due to its late entry into the war. The Unryu class was Japan’s last attempt at matching the Americans in carriers. They were easy to mass produce because of its simplicity of design. This same trait also worked against them. By the time the class was ready for action their boats were easily outclassed by the new American flatbeds.
It was Japan’s lack of industrial material, know-how and experience work force that accounted for the small number (only five ships were developed) of new carriers during the war. In contrast, the United States developed and deployed 17 front line carriers during that same period.
Sources:
Warship International, Volume 1, International Naval Research Organization, Holden 1982
Aircraft Carriers, David Brown, Arco Publishing Company 1977
The Imperial Japanese Navy, BG Gordon & AJ Watts, MacDonald 1971
Japan entered hostilities against the western democracies with the most powerful and flexible carrier force that world had seen. Seven completed fleet carriers (Hosho, Akagi, Kaga, Ryujo, Soryu, Hiryu, Shokaku, and Zuikaku) formed the backbone of the Imperial Navy’s power projection force. They also possessed the most experienced naval aviators in the world. It was this numerical as well as tactical advantage the made possible Japan’s early surge into the Pacific Theater. At the end, Japan lost all of those carriers, with the exeption of the Hosho, in combat operations during the war. These losses were hard to overcome by a relative backward industrial society such as the one Japan possessed. During the war, Japan only managed to design and develop four additional fleet carriers, while its main adversary, the United States managed to build 17 front line fleet flatbeds. It was this fact that spelled the demise of the Japanese Navy in WWII.
It is the intention of this article to paint a clear picture of the development and conception of the Japanese flatbeds fleet during the war with the US. The article hopes to leave the reader with detail information on all the Japanese aircraft carriers developed and deployed between 1941 and 1945. It will make emphasis on the carriers’ developmental history as well as their combat operations, right to the end of their service lives.
A Brief History
The Japanese carrier development program before the Great War resembled those of the United States and the U.K. Their view of sea-based aircrafts flying aloft for hours was perceived to be for strategic as well as tactical reconnaissance operations only, thus no new advantage could be gained by constructing a vessel to operate airplanes only. Big guns still dominated their ideas, same as in the US and Britain. It was not until late in 1912, when Japanese official embedded, with Royal Navy forces, began to seriously consider the seaplane tender ship as an offensive platform instead of just another recon unit. With this in mind, in mid 1913, a major conceptual experimentation took place within the Imperial Japanese Navy confines. They were able to re-fit an old transport ship, the Wakamiya Maru, with two seaplanes extenders. In the fall of that year, the floatplanes operating out of the Wakamiya participated with the whole Combine Japanese Fleet in maneuvering and detecting exercises. The outcome of the exercises was impressive. The Wakamiya was able to located and engage most of the over-the-horizon targets assigned to its zone of operations without the “sea-plane carrier” being spotted by the Fleet’s screening ships. Trials continued trough the early months of 1914. Again, the seaplane tender demonstrated a unique ability to project power beyond its visual engagement range. In late 1914, faith intervened to push the nascent Japanese aircraft carrier program one step closer towards achieving operational status: the War to End All Wars erupted in Europe.
In an attempt to display their newly acquire naval power, Japanese leaders decided to extract territories from the overextended Imperial German forces in the Pacific, they wanted German-held territory in the south west coast region of China. The Wakamiya was dispatched as part of a Japanese fleet element assigned to capture ports and facilities in the Chinese coast. Meanwhile, Japanese observes and naval liaison officers attached to the British Royal Navy began reporting on the British employment of sea-tendered aircrafts to spot and track German ships, especially U-boats, operating in the North Sea as well as the Atlantic Ocean. These reports, as well the Japanese Navy’s own experience with the Wakamiya, enabled Japan to formulate a new strategic vision for its main fleet that incorporated the carrier as one of its main features, instead of just using it as a complementary platform. In the 1918, as well as in the 1920 budget, Japan allocated a major portion for their Navy design and development funds into their carrier platforms. This decision was augmented by an agreement with the UK, where the former would render technical assistance to the Japanese in exchange for some basing rights along the Hong Kong sea route. The British assistance centered on naval aircraft profiles and combat tactics. Faith again intervened when in 1922 the Washington Naval Treaty provided a structural limit on the size of the world’s top naval powers. The new treaty also provided the guidelines for displace characteristics of new ships designs. A limit of 27,000 tons was placed on all of the signatories. Any ship under construction above those limits was permitted but up to 33,000 tons. The tonnage aspect relating to carrier vessels was established at 81,000 for Japan, a deficiency of 54,000 tons from their US and British counterparts. It was this limitation that historians had attributed as one of the causes of Japan’s bellicose behavior towards the US since the early 1930s. It’s worth pointing out that during the Japanese binding to the Treaty’s tonnage limitation they were continually circumventing the tonnage issue in an effort to maintain parity in carriers with America.
There’s another, more important point to be made about how the Japanese Navy interpreted the Treaty’s ramifications on its carrier program. Before Washington 1922, Japan was a forerunner in the development of combat tactics for carrier platforms. They were one of the early converts to carrier power projection, but they still relegated the carrier force as a second fiddle to the big guns of the once mighty battleships. The Treaty, with its overall tonnage limitation, was the turning point in Japan’s carrier program. From that moment on, Japanese leaders decided not to augment its existing fleet of battleships, instead, the carriers would become the center piece of a newly designed Imperial Navy. Japanese leaders knew that they could not match ship per ship the US, but with a numerical as well as tactical advantage in deployable flatbeds, they believed that they could, not only offset the US numerical superiority in capital ships, but in fact take the strategic advantage away from the Americans in the vast Pacific Ocean. The new strategic position adopted by Japan in direct response to the new realities imposed on it by the 1922 accords meant that their main axis of attack would originate from its carriers force instead of the traditional battleship alignment, thus, from that moment on the carrier became Japan’s main first strike weapon system. As such distinction merits, all available naval resources were, either placed on the carrier itself or allocated to the development of the carrier’s air complement. Capital ships like battleships, heavy and light cruisers still received a substantial amount of the budget, but the importance of the Japanese had cleared shifted to their new first strike platform: the aircraft carrier.
Carrier Profiles
1. Taiho Class (Great Phoenix)
The Taiho had the distinction of being Japan’s first carrier to be fitted with a redundant damage control system that would had enable the flatbed to operate at the same profile even if she was damaged. Taiho was also the first carrier developed by Japan to incorporate an armored flight deck area. The deck’s thickness was in the range of 75 to 80mm. The Japanese believed that this level of reinforcement would have allowed the deck to withstand hits from up to 1,000lbs of free fall bombs. An armored belt of 5.9” circled the hull structure. But, as with most of Japan’s other carriers design, the Great Phoenix lacked armored platting hangars, a design flaw that would prove to be fatal for the entire carrier fleet. Taiho design was comparable to that of the famous Shokaku-class, except that it incorporated a large Island structure similar to that founded on the original Hiyu design. The other major departure from the Shokaku design was that the Great Phoenix’s bow was enclosed instead of the open air bow on pass vessels. This was done in order to provide the Taiho with an improve sea going capabilities. This new bow arrangement allowed the Taiho to have a more robust (33%) hangar space available for ordinance and fuel storage. The Great Phoenix was designed with a low center of gravity to improve the ship’s seaworthiness. As a result, the carrier had only to hangar elevators, one in the aft and the other in the forward area. With only two designated hangar areas available, the Taiho did packed an impressive cargo of aircrafts. Up to 75 front line plus 10 reserve aircraft could be embarked on the ship.
The new aircraft carrier was fitted with the newly designed Type 98 antiaircraft (AA) gun. This new gun was a 100mm demon that can shot at ranges up to 21,300 yards. Six dual mounts housed three of these awesome guns on each side of the hull. Seventeen of the triple 25mm guns were placed around the flight deck as well as in the Island superstructure. The Taiho also carried the two of the new Japanese Type 21 radar array. One was paced atop of the island while the other lay in the lower aft section of the structure. Taiho was completed in March 1944 and immediately was transferred to the Imperial Navy’s Mobile Fleet based at Singapore, where it was assigned to take over the flag of the Mobile Fleet.
Carrier Specifications
Total Displacement 29,300tons
Hull Length 855’-0”
Beam Area 91’-0”
Draft Section 32’-0”
Top Operational Speed 33 knots
Combat Range 10,200 nautical miles
Crew Complement 1,751
Taiho first extended combat action saw her launching strike aircrafts against a US carrier fleet in the morning of June 19th, 1944, when she was hit by one torpedo from the USS Albacore. Originally, the officers of the Taiho though that the hit was superficial and that the carrier would be able to sustained until it reached port, but in reality, the impact was more profound. The impact wave of the hit cracked the main aviation fuel tanks in the forward elevator area. As the fuel began to mix with sea water, the carrier’s crew demonstrated their under training in damage control tasks, a weakness that had already proven fatal to many of their companions in other flatbeds. They opened all hatches around the ship’s two hangar areas in an attempt to steam the water flow. It was to no avail. Because just four hours after the impact, the damage control crew turned on all of the hangar’s extractor fans thus setting up a massive explosion the blew the sides of the hangars. At this moment, the resulting fires began to consolidate and a second, most violent explosion shook up the ship. The hull was compromised and power was lost. Two hours later, the ship buckle under its own weight finally sinking with around 400 men trapped below the rupture deck.
2. Unryu Class (Unryu, Amagi and Katsuragi)
The Unryu class had the distinction of being Japan’s last front line carrier design of the war. The Unryu was a departure from the advance Taiho class. With this class, Japan returned to its original carrier designs roots. Speed above armor and protection was the rule instituted on the Unryu. The Unryu class was an attempt to match carriers with the US. In fact, the whole class was a crash curse on carrier construction. In 1941, the Navy ordered the development of six new flatbeds as soon as possible. The time requirement prevented Japanese shipyards to maximize what they had learned on the Taiho and Shokaku classes. To maximize their construction, all of six the carrier’s proposed on this class were designed along the lines of the Hiryu class. The first three hulls were laid in mid 1942, while the next three were to be under construction by the autumn of 1943. Those three never made it out of the yard. When the program was terminated in the spring of 1945, these three units (Ikoma, Katsuragi and Kasagi) were nearly a three quarters up. There were initial speculation that if the class was able to perform adequately, eleven additional units would have been ordered.
The Unryu class boats possessed almost the same hull structure, armor plating and hangar space distribution of the Hiryu. Their only structural difference was the Island placement. In the new class, the Island was located forward on the starboard side of the ship. As with others Japanese carrier designs, only two elevators were fitted to the boats. Two main hangar areas were able to storage 57 operational planes with seven reserved units as backup. The carriers of this class were armed with the same Type 89 guns as in the Hiryu boat. Three of the 89s were placed on each side of the carrier’s upper hull area. Sixteen triple and three single fire 25mm antiaircraft guns were also fitted around the flatbed’s superstructure. An additional four triple and thirteen single 25s were installed, giving the Unryu class an impressive array of 76 AA guns. The class was also the first of its kind in Japan to carry six 28 barrel 4.7” rocket launchers for short range action. Another distinction for the carriers was that they were the first platforms to be incorporated with a radar system since its design. Two of the Type 13 radars arrays were installed. One at the island’s mainmast and the other on the four hinged radio antenna.
Carrier Specifications
Total Displacement: 17,150 tons Unryu
17,260 tons Katsuragi
17,460 tons Amagi
Hull Length 742’-0”
Beam Area 72’-0”
Draft Section 26’-0”
Top Operational Speed 34 knots (Katsuragi 33 knots)
Combat Range 8,000 nautical miles
Crew Complement 1,595
Of the three completed ships of the class, only one actually saw active combat. And that action only involved the ferrying of aircrafts and ammunition to the Japanese garrison in the Philippines during the last stages of the war. Unryu, the lead boat, was commissioned in August 1944 and immediately was assigned to the Mobile Fleet. In December she was tasked to carry airplanes into Manila Harbor. On the 9th, while in transit to the Philippines, the Unryu was spotted by the submarine USS Redfish. The Redfish proceeded to put two torpedoes into the port side of the carrier hitting the half-filed aviation fuel tanks. The ensuing explosion sent the boat to the bottom with nearly 1,350 of its crew compliment. The other two carriers, the Amagi and Katsuragi were commissioned in October 1944. Neither embarked on any ocean going travel, mostly because of Japan’s massive fuel shortages. In March 1945, the Amagi was lightly damage in an American raid on Kure. On July 25th, a more intense bombardment damaged the Amagi’s hull integrity and she sank within minutes. Amagi had the distinction of being the last Japanese carrier sunk in combat. Katsuragi, who also received heavy damage during the 24th raid, survived the war. She was issue to the Allies as reparation payment and was ultimately scrapped in the fall of 1946.
3. Shimano Class
The largest carrier built during World War II, Shinano would remain the biggest flatbed in the world until the US Navy deployed its first series of super carriers in the 1950s. Shinano was original conceived as the last of the Yamato class super battleships. Laid in May 1940, work of the battleship stopped by June 1942. In August the Japanese Navy decided that the era of the big gun wagons was over and, still coping with the losses suffered at Midway, decided to convert the Shinano to an aircraft carrier. Work on the conversion started in September. At the time, Japanese naval leaders envisioned a new role for the huge hulled ship: floating fortress. The Shinano would become the next step in the evolution of the aircraft carrier, Japanese commanders thought at the time. Aircrafts from small decked carriers as well as long range land based planes would use the Shinano as sort of refueling and re-supplying platform. Thus in the design of the ship’s structure, only one hangar deck area was implemented. This reduced the amount of planes, 47, that new flatbed could carry. These planes were primarily for self defense purposes.
The Shinano’s design closely resembled that of the Taiho’s. The ship’s was fitted with an armored flight deck of three inches. Two elevators served the hangar area which was divided into two separate compartments. The forward hangar area was only covered by shutters, while the rear area was completely enclosed. A huge island structure, with a slanted stack, was placed the same way as in the Taiho’s. A massive armored belt, over eight inches in thickness, covered the other hull area. Additional armored platting, 7.5 inches worth, was installed on the machinery and magazine’s areas. Two pairs of Type 89 AA were placed on the forward and rear areas of each hull side. Between 30 and 33 triple 25mm guns were mounted all around the deck area. Twelve short range rocket launchers were also added. Two Type 21 radar systems were placed on the ship. One in forward area of the island and the other in the aft. These were augmented by two additional Type 13 arrays. One installed on the mainmast and the other on the forward port side of the radio antenna.
Carrier Profile Characteristics
Total Displacement: 62,000tons
Hull Length 873’-0”
Beam Area 119’-0”
Draft Section 34’-0”
Top Operational Speed 27 knots
Combat Range 10,000 nautical miles
Crew Complement 2,400
Apart of being the largest carrier built at the time, Shinano had also the distinction of having the shortest life span of any carrier in WW II. Commissioned in the morning of November 18th, 1944, Shinano departed the Yokosuka docks on the 28th for final fittings at Kure. On the early hours of the 29th, she was torpedo by the USS Archerfish. Although the damage was not considered sever, the ship did not had its full complement of counter flooding and damage control systems. As the ship continued its voyage, the flooding, checked by the crew at first, began to overmatch the ship’s countermeasures. Power was lost and after eleven hours, the mighty ship capsized tanking with her 1,350 crewmembers.
In the end, Japan felt victim of what the saw before the war commenced as its biggest weakness: their small industrial base. Of the three carrier classes developed during the war, only the Taiho’s and Shinano’s represented any real opportunity. One, the Taiho, was not properly exploded mostly because Japan could not build them in numbers; the other, Shinano, although very promising, became irrelevant due to its late entry into the war. The Unryu class was Japan’s last attempt at matching the Americans in carriers. They were easy to mass produce because of its simplicity of design. This same trait also worked against them. By the time the class was ready for action their boats were easily outclassed by the new American flatbeds.
It was Japan’s lack of industrial material, know-how and experience work force that accounted for the small number (only five ships were developed) of new carriers during the war. In contrast, the United States developed and deployed 17 front line carriers during that same period.
Sources:
Warship International, Volume 1, International Naval Research Organization, Holden 1982
Aircraft Carriers, David Brown, Arco Publishing Company 1977
The Imperial Japanese Navy, BG Gordon & AJ Watts, MacDonald 1971
Friday, December 31, 2010
Weather and human error, most likely causes of crash chopper in Puerto Rico
Details of the night when a National Guard chopper went down paint a picture of human error, exacerbated by bad weather.
The error was probably caused by a series of bad weather patterns that showed up in the flight profile of the aircraft.
On Dec. 20, a National Guard chopper carrying six people went down in the waters just north of the coast of Río Grande during a mission sponsored by the Justice Department.
Five bodies have been recovered so far. The other is still missing and presumed dead.
In the early evening, at least two radar systems in the island painted the area between Loiza and Ceiba in red, meaning that there was a high degree of bad weather, including thunderstorms with lighting associated with them.
According to Weather Underground, an online radar system, the area was seriously contaminated with several bad weather patterns.
The flight pattern of one mile off the coastline and the operational ceiling at the time, 400 feet, suggested that the pilots of the downed UH-72 Lakota were trying to avoid rough weather.
Several experts, who preferred to remain anonymous, have told the Daily Sun that the debris recovered from the fuselage points to a violent collision at sea.
There are two ways to down a troubled chopper if the pilot has some control of the aircraft, even without power.
One is a controlled crash landing and the other is forced landing.
There are two recent examples of these types of landing.
In the last decade, the local police department has landed two choppers, in the sea, with partial control. One of those instances occurred while chasing a high speed boat believed to be carrying illegal drugs.
The parts of the fuselage recovered from the latest crash suggest that the landing was not a controlled one.
The destruction seen and the matter in which the bodies were found points to a collision speed of 100 to 120 knots, or 100 mile per hour.
At a 400 foot ceiling, meaning that the aircraft crashed violently, argues one expert, destroying the insides of the cockpit, which explain the absence of security harnesses on each of the five bodies found.
According to Defense policy, the search and recovery effort will be conducted by Army aviation regulations.
A team of three aviation accident specialists from Fort Rucker, Ala., with the assistance of two officials from the Coast Guard Board, based on Virginia and a member of the Puerto Rico National Guard, a physician, are conducting the investigation.
In an effort to recover the remains of the missing airman and the rest of the fuselage, including the cabin, Defense contracted the services of Titan Maritime LLC, a world renowned salvage company that has provided services for the Pentagon for decades.
The debris recovered is in storage at the Muñiz Air Base in Carolina.
There are rumors that the crash was caused by several of the Lakota’s instruments -- including the multi functional display and vehicle engine monitor display -- which could have shorted out due to malfunction provoked by high temperatures in the cabin.
That theory has been partially dismissed by investigating officers.
The Daily Sun has learned that the main theory which could have led to a crash landing was the weather and a possible disorientation on the part of the crew.
Investigators are also mulling whether there was a struggle between the pilot and co-pilot in a frantic effort to gain control of the chopper.
The absence of radio communication and even a cell phone call, also points to the fact that the aircraft suffered from a catastrophic and sudden crash, which suggests a forced landing due to crew disorientation.
The mission started a month before the actual flight occurred when Justice Secretary Guillermo Somoza met with National Guard Adjutant General Antonio J. Vicéns, to discuss details of a multi-pronged operation involving at least two targets.
Several sources told the Daily Sun that besides Vieques, at least one luxury marina in the eastern section of the island was a target.
It all started on Dec. 20 at the Aviation Assistance Area of the Army National Guard at the Isla Grande Airport.
Around 5:50 p.m., Guard officials submitted the flight plan for the Lakota, as well as four other choppers, including three Black Hawks and one Kiowa reconnaissance helicopter.
The Lakota is part of the United States Army Light Utility Helicopter fleet. In 2006, Defense selected the rotary-winged aircraft as a replacement for its aging fleet of Vietnam-era Kiowa choppers.
At 6:40 p.m., the Lakota took off from the base en route to Vieques, on a trip intended to take from 15 to 25 minutes.
According to Vicéns, the Lakota was assigned the task of an aerial command center for the overall mission, including Vieques and possibly the Puerto Del Rey Marina in Ceiba, where it was scheduled to touch down after completing its mission.
The Lakota was the second aircraft dispatched from Isla Grande that night.
First to depart was a Blackhawk, followed by the rest of the force several minutes later.
The magnitude of the operation could be measured by the allocation of National Guard resources. In a 35-minute period, the force dispatched almost half of its available helicopters.
As it took off, the Lakota maintained radio and radar contact with the other members of the fleet as well as with the San Juan Radar Station at the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport.
In fact, the pilot of one of the Blackhawks, José García, confirmed that twice during the flight, the Lakota maintained contact with the other members of the fleet through the radar station.
“We had communication with [the Lakota] twice before 7 p.m., and in none of those communications did the pilot express any problem with the aircraft," García said. "Nor did he report anything unusual about the weather.”
Around 7 p.m., García reported that he had noticed the absence of the Lakota and started to search from Loíza to Río Grande, ultimately landing his Blackhawk in the coastal area outside the Hotel Meliá in Río Grande. It was approximately 7:40 p.m., he said.
Another Blackhawk came to his aid to look for the missing Lakota. The initial search lasted about two hours.
García said he was near the Sandy Hills condominiums when he decided to turn back and start looking for the missing aircraft.
“At no time during my return did I encounter a bad weather pattern. In fact, I flew by visual flight rules, not instrumentation,” said the experienced aviator.
He recalled there were several rainy areas to the east of his positions. According to his recollection, the bad weather area was a mile off the coast of Río Grande, where the Lakota apparently crash landed.
Garcia argued that during the Lakota’s two communications with the SJRS, the pilots never mentioned bad weather.
His assumption was that the Lakota had to have gone through the bad weather area without any trouble.
After several passes through the area, Garcia’s chopper landed back in Ceiba and at 8:02, the Coast Guard took control of the search.
For four hours, the Coast Guard and several other National Guard helicopters searched the area until the initial debris began to appear at midnight.
The UH-72 Lakota is the backbone of the U.S. National Guard. The downed aircraft was brought to the island in May and had its last inspection on Dec. 14, six days before the fatal crash.
By Raul Colon for the Puerto Rico Daily Sun
The error was probably caused by a series of bad weather patterns that showed up in the flight profile of the aircraft.
On Dec. 20, a National Guard chopper carrying six people went down in the waters just north of the coast of Río Grande during a mission sponsored by the Justice Department.
Five bodies have been recovered so far. The other is still missing and presumed dead.
In the early evening, at least two radar systems in the island painted the area between Loiza and Ceiba in red, meaning that there was a high degree of bad weather, including thunderstorms with lighting associated with them.
According to Weather Underground, an online radar system, the area was seriously contaminated with several bad weather patterns.
The flight pattern of one mile off the coastline and the operational ceiling at the time, 400 feet, suggested that the pilots of the downed UH-72 Lakota were trying to avoid rough weather.
Several experts, who preferred to remain anonymous, have told the Daily Sun that the debris recovered from the fuselage points to a violent collision at sea.
There are two ways to down a troubled chopper if the pilot has some control of the aircraft, even without power.
One is a controlled crash landing and the other is forced landing.
There are two recent examples of these types of landing.
In the last decade, the local police department has landed two choppers, in the sea, with partial control. One of those instances occurred while chasing a high speed boat believed to be carrying illegal drugs.
The parts of the fuselage recovered from the latest crash suggest that the landing was not a controlled one.
The destruction seen and the matter in which the bodies were found points to a collision speed of 100 to 120 knots, or 100 mile per hour.
At a 400 foot ceiling, meaning that the aircraft crashed violently, argues one expert, destroying the insides of the cockpit, which explain the absence of security harnesses on each of the five bodies found.
According to Defense policy, the search and recovery effort will be conducted by Army aviation regulations.
A team of three aviation accident specialists from Fort Rucker, Ala., with the assistance of two officials from the Coast Guard Board, based on Virginia and a member of the Puerto Rico National Guard, a physician, are conducting the investigation.
In an effort to recover the remains of the missing airman and the rest of the fuselage, including the cabin, Defense contracted the services of Titan Maritime LLC, a world renowned salvage company that has provided services for the Pentagon for decades.
The debris recovered is in storage at the Muñiz Air Base in Carolina.
There are rumors that the crash was caused by several of the Lakota’s instruments -- including the multi functional display and vehicle engine monitor display -- which could have shorted out due to malfunction provoked by high temperatures in the cabin.
That theory has been partially dismissed by investigating officers.
The Daily Sun has learned that the main theory which could have led to a crash landing was the weather and a possible disorientation on the part of the crew.
Investigators are also mulling whether there was a struggle between the pilot and co-pilot in a frantic effort to gain control of the chopper.
The absence of radio communication and even a cell phone call, also points to the fact that the aircraft suffered from a catastrophic and sudden crash, which suggests a forced landing due to crew disorientation.
The mission started a month before the actual flight occurred when Justice Secretary Guillermo Somoza met with National Guard Adjutant General Antonio J. Vicéns, to discuss details of a multi-pronged operation involving at least two targets.
Several sources told the Daily Sun that besides Vieques, at least one luxury marina in the eastern section of the island was a target.
It all started on Dec. 20 at the Aviation Assistance Area of the Army National Guard at the Isla Grande Airport.
Around 5:50 p.m., Guard officials submitted the flight plan for the Lakota, as well as four other choppers, including three Black Hawks and one Kiowa reconnaissance helicopter.
The Lakota is part of the United States Army Light Utility Helicopter fleet. In 2006, Defense selected the rotary-winged aircraft as a replacement for its aging fleet of Vietnam-era Kiowa choppers.
At 6:40 p.m., the Lakota took off from the base en route to Vieques, on a trip intended to take from 15 to 25 minutes.
According to Vicéns, the Lakota was assigned the task of an aerial command center for the overall mission, including Vieques and possibly the Puerto Del Rey Marina in Ceiba, where it was scheduled to touch down after completing its mission.
The Lakota was the second aircraft dispatched from Isla Grande that night.
First to depart was a Blackhawk, followed by the rest of the force several minutes later.
The magnitude of the operation could be measured by the allocation of National Guard resources. In a 35-minute period, the force dispatched almost half of its available helicopters.
As it took off, the Lakota maintained radio and radar contact with the other members of the fleet as well as with the San Juan Radar Station at the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport.
In fact, the pilot of one of the Blackhawks, José García, confirmed that twice during the flight, the Lakota maintained contact with the other members of the fleet through the radar station.
“We had communication with [the Lakota] twice before 7 p.m., and in none of those communications did the pilot express any problem with the aircraft," García said. "Nor did he report anything unusual about the weather.”
Around 7 p.m., García reported that he had noticed the absence of the Lakota and started to search from Loíza to Río Grande, ultimately landing his Blackhawk in the coastal area outside the Hotel Meliá in Río Grande. It was approximately 7:40 p.m., he said.
Another Blackhawk came to his aid to look for the missing Lakota. The initial search lasted about two hours.
García said he was near the Sandy Hills condominiums when he decided to turn back and start looking for the missing aircraft.
“At no time during my return did I encounter a bad weather pattern. In fact, I flew by visual flight rules, not instrumentation,” said the experienced aviator.
He recalled there were several rainy areas to the east of his positions. According to his recollection, the bad weather area was a mile off the coast of Río Grande, where the Lakota apparently crash landed.
Garcia argued that during the Lakota’s two communications with the SJRS, the pilots never mentioned bad weather.
His assumption was that the Lakota had to have gone through the bad weather area without any trouble.
After several passes through the area, Garcia’s chopper landed back in Ceiba and at 8:02, the Coast Guard took control of the search.
For four hours, the Coast Guard and several other National Guard helicopters searched the area until the initial debris began to appear at midnight.
The UH-72 Lakota is the backbone of the U.S. National Guard. The downed aircraft was brought to the island in May and had its last inspection on Dec. 14, six days before the fatal crash.
By Raul Colon for the Puerto Rico Daily Sun
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Puerto Rico without medical airlift?
In February, the island could be left without a medical emergency airlift because the government does not pay the only company that provides this vital service.
Several physicians operating at the Río Piedras Medical Center interviewed by the Daily Sun, told horror stories of patients arriving at the trauma center near death because of road transportation, which takes longer than an airlift.
“There were a lot of cases when the individual could be saved, but because they were not transported through air, they die en route. Air transportation is imperative in some high trauma cases,” said a doctor who wished to remain anonymous.
The main reason family or doctors choose land transportation is to save money, according to consensus.
Several other doctors confirmed the statement of the need for a reliable airlift capability.
Accurate data on the number of deaths attributed to a lack of an emergency airlift capability were not available, but most experts and industry insiders placed the number at more than a dozen every year.
The island has already been without a medical airlift service since Aero-Med filed for Chapter 11 bankrupcy in 2008, ceasing all operations that year until Dec. 2009.
Then, in March 2010, after providing the government with service for nearly two months without receiving compensation, the company shut down again until the Centro American and Caribbean Games started in July.
Mounting government debts are financially strangling Aero-Med, Puerto Rico’s sole helicopter medical airlift company, to the point that many board members are questioning the wisdom of continuing to operate.
Over all, the government owes the company in excess of $600,000 in current and back payments.
For a corporation with an operational overhead of $200,000 a month, that’s a critical debt to be carrying and one that can’t continue for much longer.
Aero-Med President José Hernández argued that without a real resolution of the payment situation, his company will be hard pressed to continue operating past early 2011.
“We gave the government service in January and February waiting to see what their attitude would be regarding payment,” Hernández said.
The government failed to pay, forcing the company to close the much needed operation once gain.
When the Mayaguez 2010 games were set to start, the government was forced to pay Aero-Med to provide services.
The Daily Sun has learned that many persons inside Gov. Fortuño’s administration were not too keen to have the service back in operations, mainly due to the outstanding balance it had accumulated with the company.
An administration official suggested the idea that the Coast Guard and National Guard could supply the choppers for the airlift, if needed.
“We resumed operations on July 17 after we told the government we would not operate during the Games because of the outstanding debt.
Four days prior to the Games they decided to contract us,” Hernández said.
The list of debtors starts with its biggest client, the Automobile Accident Compensation Administration (AACA), which owes the corporation more than $300,000 and accounts for 48 percent of its transported patients.
Since the Mayagüez event, the AACA has reduced the overall size of its debt from $500,000 to the current level but the agency and the other government institutions that use the services have not signed their service contracts as discussed after the incident.
Nearly all the injured covered by AACA are car accident victims who must be transported.
The Health Department had an outstanding balance of $100,000 and the Corporation for the State Insurance Fund owes $45,000.
The Health transfers are usually crime victims, trauma patients, and even babies, such as one 11-day old infant the company moved from a mountain town to the Río Piedras Medical Center on Christmas Day.
To add to the problem, the service contracts between two of those agencies, AACA and the Department, are set to expire soon.
The agreement with the CSIF expired two years ago, and still the coporation keeps flying injured workers, including a Puerto Rico Electrical Power Authority line worker who suffered an accident on the job.
The contract with the CSIF is important to the government, because they are the agency that compensates for work-related accidents involving primary workers like police officers, fire fighters and even emergency personnel.
But the CSIF has been negligent in their management of the situation.
Despite not having a signed contract with Aero-Med, officials from the Fund routinely call up the company for an airlift.
“There’s a person there (CSIF), Dr. García, who calls us every time he needs an airlift, and promises us payments and contract signings, but after the service is provided, he disappears,” Hernández said.
Conversations regarding the service agreement with the Health Department is set to start next week. The deal with AACA is still in the early stages.
Aero-Med is also facing another situation, the refusal to pay for transporting injured individuals who do not fulfill certain criteria.
AACA does not cover the transportation of people who have been in accidents involving four-track trucks, victims under the influence of alcohol and illegal drugs, victims without a valid driving license and individuals who are not yet identified when the lift is ordered.
Early in the year, Health Secretary Lorenzo González told Hernández that he would be requesting a monthly allocation from the Legislature to cover the expenses regularly.
The problem is that as of today, no allocation or other disbursement has been approved or is under discussion at the Capitol.
Overall, Aero-Med made between 35 to 45 trips a month this past year, a figure that pales in comparision to the almost 90 monthly flights it performed a decade ago.
By Raul Colon for the PR Daily Sun
Several physicians operating at the Río Piedras Medical Center interviewed by the Daily Sun, told horror stories of patients arriving at the trauma center near death because of road transportation, which takes longer than an airlift.
“There were a lot of cases when the individual could be saved, but because they were not transported through air, they die en route. Air transportation is imperative in some high trauma cases,” said a doctor who wished to remain anonymous.
The main reason family or doctors choose land transportation is to save money, according to consensus.
Several other doctors confirmed the statement of the need for a reliable airlift capability.
Accurate data on the number of deaths attributed to a lack of an emergency airlift capability were not available, but most experts and industry insiders placed the number at more than a dozen every year.
The island has already been without a medical airlift service since Aero-Med filed for Chapter 11 bankrupcy in 2008, ceasing all operations that year until Dec. 2009.
Then, in March 2010, after providing the government with service for nearly two months without receiving compensation, the company shut down again until the Centro American and Caribbean Games started in July.
Mounting government debts are financially strangling Aero-Med, Puerto Rico’s sole helicopter medical airlift company, to the point that many board members are questioning the wisdom of continuing to operate.
Over all, the government owes the company in excess of $600,000 in current and back payments.
For a corporation with an operational overhead of $200,000 a month, that’s a critical debt to be carrying and one that can’t continue for much longer.
Aero-Med President José Hernández argued that without a real resolution of the payment situation, his company will be hard pressed to continue operating past early 2011.
“We gave the government service in January and February waiting to see what their attitude would be regarding payment,” Hernández said.
The government failed to pay, forcing the company to close the much needed operation once gain.
When the Mayaguez 2010 games were set to start, the government was forced to pay Aero-Med to provide services.
The Daily Sun has learned that many persons inside Gov. Fortuño’s administration were not too keen to have the service back in operations, mainly due to the outstanding balance it had accumulated with the company.
An administration official suggested the idea that the Coast Guard and National Guard could supply the choppers for the airlift, if needed.
“We resumed operations on July 17 after we told the government we would not operate during the Games because of the outstanding debt.
Four days prior to the Games they decided to contract us,” Hernández said.
The list of debtors starts with its biggest client, the Automobile Accident Compensation Administration (AACA), which owes the corporation more than $300,000 and accounts for 48 percent of its transported patients.
Since the Mayagüez event, the AACA has reduced the overall size of its debt from $500,000 to the current level but the agency and the other government institutions that use the services have not signed their service contracts as discussed after the incident.
Nearly all the injured covered by AACA are car accident victims who must be transported.
The Health Department had an outstanding balance of $100,000 and the Corporation for the State Insurance Fund owes $45,000.
The Health transfers are usually crime victims, trauma patients, and even babies, such as one 11-day old infant the company moved from a mountain town to the Río Piedras Medical Center on Christmas Day.
To add to the problem, the service contracts between two of those agencies, AACA and the Department, are set to expire soon.
The agreement with the CSIF expired two years ago, and still the coporation keeps flying injured workers, including a Puerto Rico Electrical Power Authority line worker who suffered an accident on the job.
The contract with the CSIF is important to the government, because they are the agency that compensates for work-related accidents involving primary workers like police officers, fire fighters and even emergency personnel.
But the CSIF has been negligent in their management of the situation.
Despite not having a signed contract with Aero-Med, officials from the Fund routinely call up the company for an airlift.
“There’s a person there (CSIF), Dr. García, who calls us every time he needs an airlift, and promises us payments and contract signings, but after the service is provided, he disappears,” Hernández said.
Conversations regarding the service agreement with the Health Department is set to start next week. The deal with AACA is still in the early stages.
Aero-Med is also facing another situation, the refusal to pay for transporting injured individuals who do not fulfill certain criteria.
AACA does not cover the transportation of people who have been in accidents involving four-track trucks, victims under the influence of alcohol and illegal drugs, victims without a valid driving license and individuals who are not yet identified when the lift is ordered.
Early in the year, Health Secretary Lorenzo González told Hernández that he would be requesting a monthly allocation from the Legislature to cover the expenses regularly.
The problem is that as of today, no allocation or other disbursement has been approved or is under discussion at the Capitol.
Overall, Aero-Med made between 35 to 45 trips a month this past year, a figure that pales in comparision to the almost 90 monthly flights it performed a decade ago.
By Raul Colon for the PR Daily Sun
Monday, December 27, 2010
Puerto Rico, crime capital of the United States
Statistics usually paint a complete picture and this is the case of the massive crime wave ripping the island this year.
The most important of them all, murders, are up 8 percent compared to 2009.
Police data shows that as of Dec. 25, there have been 962 reported violence deaths, 72 more than in 2009 and on pace to creep to the thousand plateau.
By comparison, in 2009, there were 13,600 murders in the entire United States, including its territories.
That’s mean that Puerto Rico accounts for almost 8 percent of all violence deaths in the U.S. despite having less than a fraction of one percent of its population.
Of the 13 police regions, 8 have reported an increase in deadly crime compared to the previous year.
Four of them, Arecibo, Bayamón, Caguas and Mayaguez have seen a double digit increase.
Caguas has the dubious distinction of having the largest increase in number of murders, going from 62 in 2009 to 81 so far this year.
Percentage-wise, Mayaguez has experimented the highest hike, a 46 percent increase (24 in 2009 to 35 this year).
Even Aibonito has seen an increase in killings (20 percent) from the previous year.
Once again, the most fertile ground for killing on the island is the metropolitan area.
San Juan reports 196 killings as of Dec. 25th, a 5 percent increase over 2009. Bayamón follows the deadly trail with 169 reported murders, 13 more than the previous year.
Ponce breaks the metropolitan monopoly when it comes to crime, as they have seen 119 killings in 2010.
Carolina rounds out the list of regions with 116.
But not only murders are on the rise, robberies have increased 10 percent from 2009.
The police have reported 6,764 robberies this year, 604 more than in 2009.
In this area, Bayamón is the undisputed leader with 1,845 robbery attempts, a 28 percent hike from 2009.
San Juan follows with 1,768, a 17 percent increase.
The only bright spot in the damaging statistics is the palpable decrease in rape cases reported.
Figures provided by the police show a dramatic 33 percent reduction in that area of crime, going from 55 in 2009 to 37 so far. e acts aside from murders.
Data showed a solid, 21 percent decrease in the number of assault cases filed (2,644 compared to 3,364 in 2009).
Another statistic that points downward is crime against property, with an overall decrease of 7 percent (57,803 in 2009 compared to 53,563 this year).
Those types of crimes involve car theft, which is barely down a fraction of 1 percent (only 13 less than in 2009) and illegal appropriation, down 12 percent.
Still, the high number of killings seems to disguise any improvement in crime prevention.
The almost 1,000 murders for the year are the clearest indication that the Fortuno administration had failed in crime prevention.
It also means that police superintendent Jose Figueroa Sancha is incapable of handling the island’s biggest problem and as such, he needs to resign immediately.
That’s the opinion of Popular Democratic Party (PDP) lawmaker Eder Ortiz who once again called for, not only the dismissal of Figueroa, but for a complete overhaul of the crime fighting strategy.
“The strategy of fighting crime is a shame. First of all, it is obvious to anyone that it is not working. The government needs to provide mire than a media show every time they enter a residential complex,” Ortiz said.
Golpe al Punto (Blow to the Drug Point) is one of the most criticized crime prevention program for Ortiz to its lack of depth as it is only targeted to one sector, according to Ortiz.
“That program has been an utter failure. Crimes keep happening on those areas and with a relentless pace. The police should change strategies and instead of focusing on drug addicts, should start looking for the killers,” Ortiz said.
For the PDP Senator, the Superintendent and the Justice Department needs to shift their focus from what he called “rounding out drug addicts” to a full target of those individuals who have actually pulled the trigger in murders.
“We need to focus of getting those who actually kill people. Here, the Police and Justice Department have been concentrated on napping the addicts and the people who finance the drug trafficking, but the real problem is the murders,” he said.
To combat the alarming murder rate on the island, Ortiz suggested a new focus.
First, he believed in the integration of a medial program to treat drug addicts in order to ease the weight on crime fighting in that area, moving it to the health system.
The idea seems to have broad base support as New Progressive Party Sen. Carmelo Rios and presume PDP gubernatorial candidate, Sen. Alejandro Garcia Padilla, have backed the idea.
Second, the police must concentrate the majority of their resources in solving killings.
“I would assign 2 or 3 investigative agents to each murder case until it is solved. That way, the cases should be handled with more depth and better results would be expected.”
Ortiz also proposed that instead of entering the public residential complexes with police units, the government should sent detachments of specialist from other agencies in order to pave the way in the recovery of the sector targeted.
The PDP legislator argues for an intervention by the Family, Health, Education and Sport and Recreation Departments every time a Golpe al Punto operative is mounted.
“The different agencies should move inside the complex to provide social help to those individuals and families in order to offer them an alternative,” Ortiz said.
By Raul Colon for Puerto Rico Daily Sun
The most important of them all, murders, are up 8 percent compared to 2009.
Police data shows that as of Dec. 25, there have been 962 reported violence deaths, 72 more than in 2009 and on pace to creep to the thousand plateau.
By comparison, in 2009, there were 13,600 murders in the entire United States, including its territories.
That’s mean that Puerto Rico accounts for almost 8 percent of all violence deaths in the U.S. despite having less than a fraction of one percent of its population.
Of the 13 police regions, 8 have reported an increase in deadly crime compared to the previous year.
Four of them, Arecibo, Bayamón, Caguas and Mayaguez have seen a double digit increase.
Caguas has the dubious distinction of having the largest increase in number of murders, going from 62 in 2009 to 81 so far this year.
Percentage-wise, Mayaguez has experimented the highest hike, a 46 percent increase (24 in 2009 to 35 this year).
Even Aibonito has seen an increase in killings (20 percent) from the previous year.
Once again, the most fertile ground for killing on the island is the metropolitan area.
San Juan reports 196 killings as of Dec. 25th, a 5 percent increase over 2009. Bayamón follows the deadly trail with 169 reported murders, 13 more than the previous year.
Ponce breaks the metropolitan monopoly when it comes to crime, as they have seen 119 killings in 2010.
Carolina rounds out the list of regions with 116.
But not only murders are on the rise, robberies have increased 10 percent from 2009.
The police have reported 6,764 robberies this year, 604 more than in 2009.
In this area, Bayamón is the undisputed leader with 1,845 robbery attempts, a 28 percent hike from 2009.
San Juan follows with 1,768, a 17 percent increase.
The only bright spot in the damaging statistics is the palpable decrease in rape cases reported.
Figures provided by the police show a dramatic 33 percent reduction in that area of crime, going from 55 in 2009 to 37 so far. e acts aside from murders.
Data showed a solid, 21 percent decrease in the number of assault cases filed (2,644 compared to 3,364 in 2009).
Another statistic that points downward is crime against property, with an overall decrease of 7 percent (57,803 in 2009 compared to 53,563 this year).
Those types of crimes involve car theft, which is barely down a fraction of 1 percent (only 13 less than in 2009) and illegal appropriation, down 12 percent.
Still, the high number of killings seems to disguise any improvement in crime prevention.
The almost 1,000 murders for the year are the clearest indication that the Fortuno administration had failed in crime prevention.
It also means that police superintendent Jose Figueroa Sancha is incapable of handling the island’s biggest problem and as such, he needs to resign immediately.
That’s the opinion of Popular Democratic Party (PDP) lawmaker Eder Ortiz who once again called for, not only the dismissal of Figueroa, but for a complete overhaul of the crime fighting strategy.
“The strategy of fighting crime is a shame. First of all, it is obvious to anyone that it is not working. The government needs to provide mire than a media show every time they enter a residential complex,” Ortiz said.
Golpe al Punto (Blow to the Drug Point) is one of the most criticized crime prevention program for Ortiz to its lack of depth as it is only targeted to one sector, according to Ortiz.
“That program has been an utter failure. Crimes keep happening on those areas and with a relentless pace. The police should change strategies and instead of focusing on drug addicts, should start looking for the killers,” Ortiz said.
For the PDP Senator, the Superintendent and the Justice Department needs to shift their focus from what he called “rounding out drug addicts” to a full target of those individuals who have actually pulled the trigger in murders.
“We need to focus of getting those who actually kill people. Here, the Police and Justice Department have been concentrated on napping the addicts and the people who finance the drug trafficking, but the real problem is the murders,” he said.
To combat the alarming murder rate on the island, Ortiz suggested a new focus.
First, he believed in the integration of a medial program to treat drug addicts in order to ease the weight on crime fighting in that area, moving it to the health system.
The idea seems to have broad base support as New Progressive Party Sen. Carmelo Rios and presume PDP gubernatorial candidate, Sen. Alejandro Garcia Padilla, have backed the idea.
Second, the police must concentrate the majority of their resources in solving killings.
“I would assign 2 or 3 investigative agents to each murder case until it is solved. That way, the cases should be handled with more depth and better results would be expected.”
Ortiz also proposed that instead of entering the public residential complexes with police units, the government should sent detachments of specialist from other agencies in order to pave the way in the recovery of the sector targeted.
The PDP legislator argues for an intervention by the Family, Health, Education and Sport and Recreation Departments every time a Golpe al Punto operative is mounted.
“The different agencies should move inside the complex to provide social help to those individuals and families in order to offer them an alternative,” Ortiz said.
By Raul Colon for Puerto Rico Daily Sun
Friday, December 24, 2010
Local party to re-organize
The Popular Democratic Party will have a new organizational structure behind its presumed nominee for governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla.
In announcing the changes, Rep. Jaime Perelló, Chairman of the PDP Special Rules Committee, gave his first profound endorsement of García Padilla as his party’s next gubernatorial candidate.
Among the changes in the new platform are the creation of 12 new regional directorates and the introduction of a women-only vice-presidency.
Other institutions created by Perelló’s proposal are the Auxiliary Theme Secretaries which would concentrate the resources of health, security issues, economic and education in separate organizations.
The Committee also called for the introduction of an Auxiliary Professional Youth Secretary as well as the development of 16 sectoral organizations to include experts in the fields of the environment, agriculture, labor issues, sports, and handicapped persons.
“We started this work more than a year ago with visits to the base of the party. In fact, this new proposal placed the organization structure of the party closer to the base, which included the special communities, among other sectors,” Perello said.
According to the freshman lawmaker, the new organizational model would fundamentally alter the structure of the island’s oldest political institution.
The proposal now has to be approved by the PDP Governmental Board, which seems like a "slam dunk."
After their approval, the platform would need to be ratified by the Program and Rules Assembly.
Once approved, the party would begin its re-organization effort at a General Assembly, which should be convoked no later than May.
“It’s my understanding that by April or March, the majority of the organization of the party should be completed and that includes the selection of the party’s president,” Perelló said.
The PDP lawmaker made no secret who should occupy that post in light of the 2012 elections.
“I believed that Alejandro García Padilla, who has my support, is the person who would be sitting in that position. He has done the work with the base and has been involved in the reorganization effort since the start,” Perelló said.
In an effort to provide continuity in case of a transition, the PDP would make the post of secretary general a permanent one with a term limit of four years.
The party president will nominate the person, who will then have to be confirmed by the governing board.
The Committee’s proposal calls for the nomination to be made no later than two years prior to the electoral process. In order to shield the position from political influences, the person occupying the post can not be a candidate until the second election cycle following his or her separation from the post. Aiding the Secretary will be three regional coordinating offices, that of finance and innovation and new media strategy organizers.
Each new coordinator will report directly to the secretary, who will then pass on the information to the PDP Governing Board for action.
The base of the decisional structure is composed of the party’s serving mayors, municipal committee presidents, the regional youth organization leader, the president of the women’s group, municipal legislators, electoral coordinators, sitting state legislators and the coordinator of public workers.
Both the public workers and the regional youth coordinator are new posts. The proposed organization will have representatives from all 78 island’s municipalities.
Each new municipal coordinator will report to one of 12 regional presidencies, who, in turn, will report to the national president for the organization.
To provide a solid financing foundation, the party is restructuring the financing director office. The plan calls for a complete coordination between each candidate’s campaign finance officer and the party’s financial officer.
The creation of the women-only vice-presidency is another novel concept by the seven-decade old party.
It is believed that Reps. Carmen "Yulín" Cruz and Brenda López de Arrarás are vying for the spot.
Cruz confirmed her aspirations.
“Since 2005 when the Popular Women Organization presented the concept of a party’s vice-presidency to be occupied by a woman, we have supported it. When the proposal is ratified we will be viewing for that position,” Cruz said.
Meanwhile, the PDP’s most thorny issue, — the enhancement of the current commonwealth status — is under discussion.
There’s a veil of secrecy surrounding the meetings of the status Committee, but Cruz, who is part of the group, confirmed that a final report on their discussions should be available by January.
The new definition of enhancement would be centered on the basis of three premises, argued Cruz.
One is that the commonwealth should not be considered a colonial or territorial status, as is currently is. The other is that it maintains a viable political association with the United States and that the U.S. citizenship would be guaranteed for further generations.
“We are in the process of finalizing the details. There’s already a preliminary document ready on the basis of enhancement that included the development of the economy and political powers under the commonwealth,” Cruz said.
In announcing the changes, Rep. Jaime Perelló, Chairman of the PDP Special Rules Committee, gave his first profound endorsement of García Padilla as his party’s next gubernatorial candidate.
Among the changes in the new platform are the creation of 12 new regional directorates and the introduction of a women-only vice-presidency.
Other institutions created by Perelló’s proposal are the Auxiliary Theme Secretaries which would concentrate the resources of health, security issues, economic and education in separate organizations.
The Committee also called for the introduction of an Auxiliary Professional Youth Secretary as well as the development of 16 sectoral organizations to include experts in the fields of the environment, agriculture, labor issues, sports, and handicapped persons.
“We started this work more than a year ago with visits to the base of the party. In fact, this new proposal placed the organization structure of the party closer to the base, which included the special communities, among other sectors,” Perello said.
According to the freshman lawmaker, the new organizational model would fundamentally alter the structure of the island’s oldest political institution.
The proposal now has to be approved by the PDP Governmental Board, which seems like a "slam dunk."
After their approval, the platform would need to be ratified by the Program and Rules Assembly.
Once approved, the party would begin its re-organization effort at a General Assembly, which should be convoked no later than May.
“It’s my understanding that by April or March, the majority of the organization of the party should be completed and that includes the selection of the party’s president,” Perelló said.
The PDP lawmaker made no secret who should occupy that post in light of the 2012 elections.
“I believed that Alejandro García Padilla, who has my support, is the person who would be sitting in that position. He has done the work with the base and has been involved in the reorganization effort since the start,” Perelló said.
In an effort to provide continuity in case of a transition, the PDP would make the post of secretary general a permanent one with a term limit of four years.
The party president will nominate the person, who will then have to be confirmed by the governing board.
The Committee’s proposal calls for the nomination to be made no later than two years prior to the electoral process. In order to shield the position from political influences, the person occupying the post can not be a candidate until the second election cycle following his or her separation from the post. Aiding the Secretary will be three regional coordinating offices, that of finance and innovation and new media strategy organizers.
Each new coordinator will report directly to the secretary, who will then pass on the information to the PDP Governing Board for action.
The base of the decisional structure is composed of the party’s serving mayors, municipal committee presidents, the regional youth organization leader, the president of the women’s group, municipal legislators, electoral coordinators, sitting state legislators and the coordinator of public workers.
Both the public workers and the regional youth coordinator are new posts. The proposed organization will have representatives from all 78 island’s municipalities.
Each new municipal coordinator will report to one of 12 regional presidencies, who, in turn, will report to the national president for the organization.
To provide a solid financing foundation, the party is restructuring the financing director office. The plan calls for a complete coordination between each candidate’s campaign finance officer and the party’s financial officer.
The creation of the women-only vice-presidency is another novel concept by the seven-decade old party.
It is believed that Reps. Carmen "Yulín" Cruz and Brenda López de Arrarás are vying for the spot.
Cruz confirmed her aspirations.
“Since 2005 when the Popular Women Organization presented the concept of a party’s vice-presidency to be occupied by a woman, we have supported it. When the proposal is ratified we will be viewing for that position,” Cruz said.
Meanwhile, the PDP’s most thorny issue, — the enhancement of the current commonwealth status — is under discussion.
There’s a veil of secrecy surrounding the meetings of the status Committee, but Cruz, who is part of the group, confirmed that a final report on their discussions should be available by January.
The new definition of enhancement would be centered on the basis of three premises, argued Cruz.
One is that the commonwealth should not be considered a colonial or territorial status, as is currently is. The other is that it maintains a viable political association with the United States and that the U.S. citizenship would be guaranteed for further generations.
“We are in the process of finalizing the details. There’s already a preliminary document ready on the basis of enhancement that included the development of the economy and political powers under the commonwealth,” Cruz said.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Puerto Rico's legislator covering domestic violence?
Two Popular Democratic Party lawmakers and members of the panel investigating Rep. Luis Farinacci mingled with him the same day he called his estranged wife to allegedly threaten her.
The two, Rep. Luis Vega Ramos and Carlos ‘Charlie’ Hernández, failed to notify the Ethics Committee that they had had direct contact with the Ponce legislator just hours prior to the incident being investigated.
On July 14 at 9:46 p.m. Farinacci called his wife, Liza Yahaira Rivera, and allegedly threatened her.
The call forced Rivera’s parents to make the complaint to the Ethics Committee.
Rivera’s cellular calling record indicated that the call made by Farinacci was from Santurce, San Juan.
Farinacci told the police he had made the call from “between two sectors of Ponce.”
As members of the committee, both legislators should have told the body that they were with Farinacci hours before the call to his wife was made, but as of Wednesday, neither had notified the Committee.
According to several sources who attended the event at an Isla Verde hotel, Farinacci was seen talking to Hernández several times during the activity, attended by the entire PDP House delegation with the exception of Reps. Carmen “Yulín” Cruz and Brenda López de Arrarás.
The activity was promoted by Rep. Jaime Perelló.
López, like Vega and Hernández, is a member of the committee evaluating Farinacci’s actions.
There is also evidence that after Farinacci made the threatening telephone call to his wife, he made at least 14 other calls to friends and relatives, including a cousin, trying to enlist their help in dissuading Rivera from going to the police.
According to information obtained by the Daily Sun, at least two of the persons Farinacci called tried to convince Rivera not to go to the police with the complaint of domestic violence.
Rivera told the caller that she would go forward with the complaint because “he threatened my parents as well.”
It is strange enough that he called his wife the same day he showed up at the activity with another woman whom he introduced to at least one lawmaker as his “girlfriend.” But more information is forthcoming.
One PDP legislator who attended the event told the Daily Sun, on condition of anonymity, that there were several more “troubling actions.
“He was drinking for much of the activity. There was some strange behavior with the date he brought to the event,” said a PDP legislator.
According to three sources, Farinacci and the unnamed “girlfriend” had a falling out at the event.
“I hear that he (Farinacci) told another lawmaker that he had a problem with the woman he took to the activity,” said a PDP representative who wished to remain anonymous.
Sources said that Rep. Lydia Méndez also heard the same story at the event.
Farinacci also received a call at 3:30 that afternoon from the now ex-legislator Iván Rodríguez Traverzo, one of his closest friends.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
PDP hopueful blast majority
He is a presumed gubernatorial nominee and soon to be his party’s standard bearer. He is also one of the first to dispute Gov. Fortuño’s claim that the island’s economic outlook is improving.
Alejandro García Padilla is not buying administration statements that Puerto Rico is headed in the right direction.
Unlike most of his peers, the first-term Popular Democratic Party senator is usually one of the first to arrive at the Capitol.
He is regularly seen entering his senatorial office no later than 8:30 in the morning.
“It’s a ritual I learned a long time ago,” said Padilla. “In the morning, especially early, we are able to start the day with a flood of ideas and a fresh mind to tackle the many problems facing the island,” Padilla said.
Most on his mind lately is the state of the economy.
“This is the number one issue on the mind of Puerto Ricans, but the Fortuño administration has failed miserably,” Padilla said.
The PDP lawmaker questioned the comments made by administration officials citing that the island’s economic outlook is improving. He also rejects the idea that a recovery is underway.
Early in the week, the administration cited an improved classification of the island’s debt as an indicator that the economic situation was improving.
To offset that claim, Padilla pointed to data from the Center for the New Economy that showed that economic activity had receded on the island by 2.6 percent the last year.
The Center has a non-profit blog managed by Sergio Marxuach, an advisor to former PDP Gov. Sila M. Calderón.
In his trips to small towns such as San Germán, Aguas Buenas and Cayey, the PDP senator has found that the people are not experiencing what he referred to as the “so-called recovery.”
“People in those towns are laughing at the comments that the economy is improving. The reality is that the economy is depressed. We are generating a negative growth every quarter since Fortuño took over.”
Padilla argued that several well known economists who had heavily criticized the government of Gov. Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, are now blasting the financial measures of the current administration.
The economy is only the tip of the provincial iceberg, according to the at-large senator. He claims that the policies implemented by the NPP-led government have strangled health care and destroyed the island’s education system.
“There’s no area in which real progress can be measured. The public is not fooled by hollow words of encouragement. They know the difference and they know that the island is in dire state,” he said
Padilla blasted the comments made by New Progressive Party Secretary General Héctor Morales, saying that he has found “renewed hope on the streets of Puerto Rico.”
“He must have been on a trip somewhere when he heard that comment, not on the island. That’s a ridiculous statement,” he said.
The senator challenged Morales to stroll the streets of Puerto Rico and he would find out how deep the despair runs.
To express his point, Padilla recalled a conversation he had with an Aguas Buenas business man who has been operating a small shop in the center of the town for 56 years.
“He told me that this was the worst year in the history of his business. People of our age have never seen Puerto Rico in the situation we are currently in,” he said.
On the matter of the forced resignation of former NPP lawmaker Iván Rodríguez Traverzo, Padilla referred to it as a “wakeup call.”
“The vote has serious implications; it is not a folk exercise. What is happening in the legislature and the government is the direct result of the November 2008 vote.”
Padilla readily expressed that the person who came second in the 2008 election for the 16th House District, PDP hopeful Antonio “Tony” Rodríguez Quiles, would have been a much wiser choice for the voters of San Sebastián, Las Marías and Isabela.
Padilla called the San Sebastian lawyer who lost to Rodríguez by 3,500 votes “a first class citizen with an impeccable background.”
The pointed reference was an intentional comparison to Rodríguez’s checkered background.
“The NPP party ignored the red flags concerning Rodríguez. Give the NPP one term in control of the legislature and the public will see scandals like this one.”
The first-time lawmaker explained that members of his party had anticipated what the result of an NPP takeover of the legislature and the executive branch would entail.
“We told the country that the governor would fire public employees and months after he took over he fired 30,000 public servants. The vote has consequences and this is another one of them,” Padilla said.
Alejandro García Padilla is not buying administration statements that Puerto Rico is headed in the right direction.
Unlike most of his peers, the first-term Popular Democratic Party senator is usually one of the first to arrive at the Capitol.
He is regularly seen entering his senatorial office no later than 8:30 in the morning.
“It’s a ritual I learned a long time ago,” said Padilla. “In the morning, especially early, we are able to start the day with a flood of ideas and a fresh mind to tackle the many problems facing the island,” Padilla said.
Most on his mind lately is the state of the economy.
“This is the number one issue on the mind of Puerto Ricans, but the Fortuño administration has failed miserably,” Padilla said.
The PDP lawmaker questioned the comments made by administration officials citing that the island’s economic outlook is improving. He also rejects the idea that a recovery is underway.
Early in the week, the administration cited an improved classification of the island’s debt as an indicator that the economic situation was improving.
To offset that claim, Padilla pointed to data from the Center for the New Economy that showed that economic activity had receded on the island by 2.6 percent the last year.
The Center has a non-profit blog managed by Sergio Marxuach, an advisor to former PDP Gov. Sila M. Calderón.
In his trips to small towns such as San Germán, Aguas Buenas and Cayey, the PDP senator has found that the people are not experiencing what he referred to as the “so-called recovery.”
“People in those towns are laughing at the comments that the economy is improving. The reality is that the economy is depressed. We are generating a negative growth every quarter since Fortuño took over.”
Padilla argued that several well known economists who had heavily criticized the government of Gov. Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, are now blasting the financial measures of the current administration.
The economy is only the tip of the provincial iceberg, according to the at-large senator. He claims that the policies implemented by the NPP-led government have strangled health care and destroyed the island’s education system.
“There’s no area in which real progress can be measured. The public is not fooled by hollow words of encouragement. They know the difference and they know that the island is in dire state,” he said
Padilla blasted the comments made by New Progressive Party Secretary General Héctor Morales, saying that he has found “renewed hope on the streets of Puerto Rico.”
“He must have been on a trip somewhere when he heard that comment, not on the island. That’s a ridiculous statement,” he said.
The senator challenged Morales to stroll the streets of Puerto Rico and he would find out how deep the despair runs.
To express his point, Padilla recalled a conversation he had with an Aguas Buenas business man who has been operating a small shop in the center of the town for 56 years.
“He told me that this was the worst year in the history of his business. People of our age have never seen Puerto Rico in the situation we are currently in,” he said.
On the matter of the forced resignation of former NPP lawmaker Iván Rodríguez Traverzo, Padilla referred to it as a “wakeup call.”
“The vote has serious implications; it is not a folk exercise. What is happening in the legislature and the government is the direct result of the November 2008 vote.”
Padilla readily expressed that the person who came second in the 2008 election for the 16th House District, PDP hopeful Antonio “Tony” Rodríguez Quiles, would have been a much wiser choice for the voters of San Sebastián, Las Marías and Isabela.
Padilla called the San Sebastian lawyer who lost to Rodríguez by 3,500 votes “a first class citizen with an impeccable background.”
The pointed reference was an intentional comparison to Rodríguez’s checkered background.
“The NPP party ignored the red flags concerning Rodríguez. Give the NPP one term in control of the legislature and the public will see scandals like this one.”
The first-time lawmaker explained that members of his party had anticipated what the result of an NPP takeover of the legislature and the executive branch would entail.
“We told the country that the governor would fire public employees and months after he took over he fired 30,000 public servants. The vote has consequences and this is another one of them,” Padilla said.
Puerto Rico lack facilities for the handicapped
A lot more needs to be done in order to guarantee full access to the handicapped at the island’s recreational facilities.
The problem is such that most stateside travel agencies advertising Puerto Rico as a tourist destination, note that the island has “minimal facilities for the handicapped.”
Nearly all of Puerto Rico’s 3,010 passive parks have a ramp for use by the handicapped, but they lack specialized recreation systems for disabled individuals, especially children.
More troubling still, at most of the island’s top sport venues, such as the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum, the Hiram Bithorn Stadium and the Rubén Rodríguez Coliseum, have only a few designated bathrooms for handicapped persons.
Twenty five years after the implementation of Law 44, known as the Anti-discrimination against Handicapped Persons Act of 1985, there’s still a lot of ground to be covered when it comes to providing disabled individuals a better quality of life.
According to the latest figures, 26 percent of the population, or roughly 1 million people, have some form of disability.
“A lot has been achieved in the last 25 years, especially in the area of acceptance. Now, the people with disabilities are more visible and are getting out more,” said José Montalvo, director of administrative officials at the Handicapped Persons Advocacy Office.
Montalvo said that because the disabled are venturing out more to sporting competitions and other events, the lack of proper bathroom facilities has become more pressing.
“Sometimes the venue has only one bathroom area designated for the handicapped. That’s one area per floor. If that bathroom is full, the person must wait or move to another floor,” said Montalvo.
His comments came during a hearing by the House Family Affairs and Community Committee, chaired by New Progressive Party Rep. Elizabeth Casado.
“This is a problem we need to discuss further. We need to look out for solutions. We have done a lot, but there’s still a long road to cover before we can give justice to people with disabilities,” Casado said.
The Committee is reviewing the merits of Senate Bill 1744, authored by Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz, which calls for 40 percent of all sport recreational facilities to have facilities for the handicapped by 2020.
Although the bill is well intentioned, it could be difficult to enforce because most parks and passive recreation facilities are in the hands of the municipalities.
According to Sports and Recreation Department Secretary Henry Neumann, his Department has already transferred facilities to 68 municipalities.
“Many island parks and facilities are in the hands of the municipalities in accordance with Law 120. Only 10 towns are still pending transfer,” Neumann said.
Transfer means that the municipalities control the facilities, which makes any modification to the parks difficult due to the lack of funds.
“Getting parks ready to receive the disabled is not as expensive as many think. The specialized equipment needed to get more recreation for those with a handicap are basically the same system but with a few modifications,” Montalvo said.
There is also a problem with the parks in residential areas.
Most recreational facilities located in access- controlled residential complexes belong to the residents, making it impossible for the government to regulate the systems for the handicapped.
The Daily Sun visited five such complexes in the metropolitan area and found that none have specialized platforms for the disabled. The only facility available was the access ramp.
The problem is such that most stateside travel agencies advertising Puerto Rico as a tourist destination, note that the island has “minimal facilities for the handicapped.”
Nearly all of Puerto Rico’s 3,010 passive parks have a ramp for use by the handicapped, but they lack specialized recreation systems for disabled individuals, especially children.
More troubling still, at most of the island’s top sport venues, such as the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum, the Hiram Bithorn Stadium and the Rubén Rodríguez Coliseum, have only a few designated bathrooms for handicapped persons.
Twenty five years after the implementation of Law 44, known as the Anti-discrimination against Handicapped Persons Act of 1985, there’s still a lot of ground to be covered when it comes to providing disabled individuals a better quality of life.
According to the latest figures, 26 percent of the population, or roughly 1 million people, have some form of disability.
“A lot has been achieved in the last 25 years, especially in the area of acceptance. Now, the people with disabilities are more visible and are getting out more,” said José Montalvo, director of administrative officials at the Handicapped Persons Advocacy Office.
Montalvo said that because the disabled are venturing out more to sporting competitions and other events, the lack of proper bathroom facilities has become more pressing.
“Sometimes the venue has only one bathroom area designated for the handicapped. That’s one area per floor. If that bathroom is full, the person must wait or move to another floor,” said Montalvo.
His comments came during a hearing by the House Family Affairs and Community Committee, chaired by New Progressive Party Rep. Elizabeth Casado.
“This is a problem we need to discuss further. We need to look out for solutions. We have done a lot, but there’s still a long road to cover before we can give justice to people with disabilities,” Casado said.
The Committee is reviewing the merits of Senate Bill 1744, authored by Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz, which calls for 40 percent of all sport recreational facilities to have facilities for the handicapped by 2020.
Although the bill is well intentioned, it could be difficult to enforce because most parks and passive recreation facilities are in the hands of the municipalities.
According to Sports and Recreation Department Secretary Henry Neumann, his Department has already transferred facilities to 68 municipalities.
“Many island parks and facilities are in the hands of the municipalities in accordance with Law 120. Only 10 towns are still pending transfer,” Neumann said.
Transfer means that the municipalities control the facilities, which makes any modification to the parks difficult due to the lack of funds.
“Getting parks ready to receive the disabled is not as expensive as many think. The specialized equipment needed to get more recreation for those with a handicap are basically the same system but with a few modifications,” Montalvo said.
There is also a problem with the parks in residential areas.
Most recreational facilities located in access- controlled residential complexes belong to the residents, making it impossible for the government to regulate the systems for the handicapped.
The Daily Sun visited five such complexes in the metropolitan area and found that none have specialized platforms for the disabled. The only facility available was the access ramp.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Farinacci's to wait until Saturday
Friday’s hearing against Rep. Luis Farinacci was abruptly postponed until this afternoon.
Scheduled to testify today are the policeman who took the initial domestic violence complaint, Agent Edgardo Márquez, and Marilyn Ortíz, a friend of Farinacci’s wife.
The hearing is slated to start at 1 p.m. in Audience Room 6 at the Luis A. Ferrer building in front of the south side of the Capitol.
The embattled Popular Democratic Party lawmaker was set to appear before the Ethics Committee to defend himself against charges filed by several family members of his still wife, Liza Yahaira Rivera, when the postponement call came.
“I received a call from my lawyer stating that the hearing was postponed until today. I willl not divulge the time of the call but it was early,” Farinacci said.
He also condemned the presence of Ortíz in the proceedings because, according to him, she was never directly involved in the events.
“She was never involved in the procedure. I have no idea why she is there since she was not a witness to anything,” Farinacci said.
He once again sounded optimistic that in the end, the truth would be revealed and that he would be exonerated of all charges.
Chairwoman, New Progressive Party Rep. Liza Fernández, told the Daily Sun that it was Farinacci’s attorneys who requested the postponement.
The cancellation caught the PDP members on the Committee by surprise. According to the ranking PDP member on the Committee, Rep. Carlos ‘Charlie’ Hernández, the postponement was announced during a telephone call from Fernández and not through regular channels.
“I, like all of the members of our delegation received a call in the morning stating that the hearing was postponed until today. They did not give us a reason for the postponement,” Hernández said.
There were questions regarding the status of the PDP members on the Committee.
On Tuesday, Fernández requested that House Speaker Jenniffer González expel Hernández and fellow lawmakers Luis Vega Ramos and Brenda López de Arrarás citing infractions to the confidentially code that covers all hearings of the Committee.
On the same day, Vega and López revealed that the NPP members on the Ethics Committee decided to alter, unilaterally, the contents of a final report that called for the expulsion of NPP Rep. Iván Rodríguez Traverso.
That prompted Fernández to ask for the expulsion. As of press time, González had not ruled on the request.
In the meantime, the PDP delegation wants Fernández to summon Rivera on the basis that she is the only one that can corroborate what was actually said during the telephone call that sparked the domestic violence complaint.
“We were ready to assume our duties on the Committee. We want to give Farinacci due process, but for that we need the full testimony of all people involved,” Vega said.
López echoed her fellow party member’s desire.
“In an open and just process, we need to hear from all the people involved. As of today, the main person, his wife, has refused to talk to us and this is an important part of the procedure,” López said.
Scheduled to testify today are the policeman who took the initial domestic violence complaint, Agent Edgardo Márquez, and Marilyn Ortíz, a friend of Farinacci’s wife.
The hearing is slated to start at 1 p.m. in Audience Room 6 at the Luis A. Ferrer building in front of the south side of the Capitol.
The embattled Popular Democratic Party lawmaker was set to appear before the Ethics Committee to defend himself against charges filed by several family members of his still wife, Liza Yahaira Rivera, when the postponement call came.
“I received a call from my lawyer stating that the hearing was postponed until today. I willl not divulge the time of the call but it was early,” Farinacci said.
He also condemned the presence of Ortíz in the proceedings because, according to him, she was never directly involved in the events.
“She was never involved in the procedure. I have no idea why she is there since she was not a witness to anything,” Farinacci said.
He once again sounded optimistic that in the end, the truth would be revealed and that he would be exonerated of all charges.
Chairwoman, New Progressive Party Rep. Liza Fernández, told the Daily Sun that it was Farinacci’s attorneys who requested the postponement.
The cancellation caught the PDP members on the Committee by surprise. According to the ranking PDP member on the Committee, Rep. Carlos ‘Charlie’ Hernández, the postponement was announced during a telephone call from Fernández and not through regular channels.
“I, like all of the members of our delegation received a call in the morning stating that the hearing was postponed until today. They did not give us a reason for the postponement,” Hernández said.
There were questions regarding the status of the PDP members on the Committee.
On Tuesday, Fernández requested that House Speaker Jenniffer González expel Hernández and fellow lawmakers Luis Vega Ramos and Brenda López de Arrarás citing infractions to the confidentially code that covers all hearings of the Committee.
On the same day, Vega and López revealed that the NPP members on the Ethics Committee decided to alter, unilaterally, the contents of a final report that called for the expulsion of NPP Rep. Iván Rodríguez Traverso.
That prompted Fernández to ask for the expulsion. As of press time, González had not ruled on the request.
In the meantime, the PDP delegation wants Fernández to summon Rivera on the basis that she is the only one that can corroborate what was actually said during the telephone call that sparked the domestic violence complaint.
“We were ready to assume our duties on the Committee. We want to give Farinacci due process, but for that we need the full testimony of all people involved,” Vega said.
López echoed her fellow party member’s desire.
“In an open and just process, we need to hear from all the people involved. As of today, the main person, his wife, has refused to talk to us and this is an important part of the procedure,” López said.
Monday, October 4, 2010
ZELMAL
By Raul Colon
The Republic Aviation Corporation’s F-84 ThunderJet was one of the first air superiority fighters, powered by a jet engine, in the United States Air Force (AF) arsenal. It was also one of the most intriguing experimental platforms ever designed.
Between 1952 and the fall of ‘57, no less than two hundred tests of various systems involving ThunderJet were performed. One of the most unusual involved a program called Zero Length Launch and Mat Landing (ZELMAL).
More at: http://www.aviationearth.com/republic-aviation-corporation%e2%80%99s-f-84-thunderjet/
Friday, October 1, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
Medics fight for certification
The head of the Puerto Rico Medical and Surgeons Board, Dr. Alicia Feliberti, vehemently defended the organization’s obligatory membership, while at the same time, drawing a line on the sand against those who want to eliminate it.
For more than three hours, Feliberti, who became the head of the Board earlier this year, fended off accusations and arguments from several members of the House Governmental and Health Committees, who probed her on the matter.
“We strongly believe in obligatory membership. Back in 2001, the medical professionals voted to once again make membership obligatory. Since then, it has been that way. We see no reason for any change to the status and will defend against any attempt to destroy the Board,” Feliberti said.
The president of the organization cited the voluntary aspect of the Board as the main reason for ongoing obligatory membership, expressing that if it was not for the inscription dues, the Board could not perform the civic activities it currently does.
Among the activities mentioned by Feliberti were the obligatory 20 credit certification seminar each physician needs to complete every year, the voluntary clinics the Board offers and the orientation prevention campaign it has embarked since 2001.
Her comments came at the beginning of the Committee’s hearing into House Bill 2770 which calls for an addendum to Law 77, in order to eliminate the obligatory membership to the Board as a requirement to practice medicine on the island.
According to the bill’s proponent and Chairman of the Government Committee, New Progressive Party Rep. Johnny Méndez, he have received more than 400 certified letters from doctors asking to amend the law and allow for membership to be voluntary.
The medical board is one of the newest professional organizations in Puerto Rico. It was created back in 1994.
Since then it has regulated the practice of medicine on the island, until 1997, when obligatory membership was abolished. The Board once again took control of the profession in 2001, but with the creation in 2009 of the Board for the License and Medical Conduct, it main regulatory function was again passed on to the State.
In 1997, a similar measure that allowed for voluntary membership was signed into law by then-governor Pedro Rosselló. According to Feliberti, the law had a dramatic effect on the Board’s membership as it dropped to 2,600 associates, from a high of 9,000 in 1996.
In 2001, the Popular Democratic Part controlled legislature rewrote the law, providing the mechanism of a referendum inside the medical profession to determine if they once again wanted membership to be obligatory.
Currently, the Board has a membership of 10,562 health providers. Tuition for inscription is $ 300 annually, with an operating annual budget of just above $3 million.
“If this bill passes, most of our members will no doubt leave the Board. Our institution provides a valuable service to the community. It does more than regulate our profession. It gives back to the people with non-profit programs, such as helping our island combat the recent dengue epidemic,” Feliberti said.
The head of the Board also criticized what she called “a small group” of physicians who, for the second time, is asking for voluntary membership.
“Democracy calls for participation. We had our referendum and it was for obligatory membership. The time for those who opposed it has passed,” Feliberti said.
Her comments were quickly condemned by Méndez who stated that “democracy is not served when only a few are allowed to vote and those who do not participate in the electoral process are counted one way.”
Feliberti admitted that in the referendum of 2001, the Board counted votes from non-participants in the process, as affirmative to the obligatory option.
Méndez asked Feliberti to provide the Committee with the acts of the 2001 referendum as well as the financial records of the organization for the past five years. He gave her until Wednesday to submit the requested documents.
Politics and counter charges dominated most of the session as NPP lawmakers blasted Feliberti for her recent comments to the media that stated that the NPP-controlled legislature is out to “destroy the Board because of is political views.”
House Vice-President, Angel Rodriguez asked Feliberti to tone down the rhetoric so that dialogue can flourish.
Maybe one of the lighter moments of the day came when PDP Rep. Jaime Perelló asked the physicians who jam packed the House session room, to openly express their opinions on the matter.
Only one medical professional raised his hand to demand an end to obligatory membership.
The Committee also heard from two of those 400 health providers who expressed that, because of their belief in voluntary membership, the Board has made several referrals to their internal Ethics Committee.
“Because the State took control of the regulatory aspect of the medical profession in 2009, the Board does not have a regulatory function, thus the obligatory aspect of membership should be abolished immediately,” Dr. Natalio Debs, a plastic surgeon said.
Concurring with Debs was Dr. Humberto Quintana, a local cardiologist who in the past has openly campaigned for the abolition of obligatory membership.
“To make voluntary membership is to allow those who truly believe in the functions the Board provides, an opportunity to remain. This would make the organization’s top structure more appreciative of the rank and file member, something it has failed to do so far,” Quintana said.
For the head of the House Health Committee, NPP Rep. José Torres, both arguments are equal , but his opinion is that all associations must be voluntary in nature.
“I have expressed in the past that there is a need to make an open electoral process in the organization. We need to devise a mechanism wherein everyone can participate and not take their absent votes for one thing or another,” Torres said
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