Puerto Rico - Articles - Zimbio

Puerto Rico VS Mexico Boxing Rivalry

Wed, 24 Jul 2008 02:04:00 GMT

posted by mwrr26

Puerto Rico VS Mexico Boxing Rivalry

This Saturday Miguel Cotto VS Antonio Margarito will be the latest installment of the Puerto Rico VS Mexico Boxing Rivalry. Not only that, it should be Fight of The Year.

Here is a good article on the Puerto Rico VS Mexico Boxing Rivalry: MEXICO VS PUERTO RICO: WHEN THE STARS COLLIDE

GREAT PUERTO RICAN FIGHTERS

Miguel Cotto is the latest in a long line of wonderful prizefighters from Puerto Rico. Like the best of his compatriots, he is highly diverse; when facing a puncher, he can move and box with the best of them. When he's the puncher, there may not be a more dangerous young guy at 140 pounds. He's young still and growing, but shows poise beyond his years and has consistently faced stiff competition. Will he be remembered among the great Puerto Rican fighters when he's done? Only time will tell, of course, and he's got a very tough act to follow. Here's one man's list, presented in alphabetical order, of the best fighters Puerto Rico has produced.

Wilfred Benitez
Benitez was the best defensive fighter of his era, and not by a little. You just had to see him fight once to know it. If you saw him boxing rings around the great Antonio Cervantes, at 17 years old for cripes' sake, or Carlos Palomino or Roberto Duran, you knew how special he was. He hated to train and loved to party but if you want to see one of the smoothest defensive fighters of the last 50 years, get a tape of prime Benitez. He was pure magic.

Hector Camacho
There are those who still don't take Camacho seriously because of his persona and ring style, but the Camacho who tore through a pair of divisions in the early 1980s was a very good fighter. He beat Rafael Limon, Rafael Solis, Jose Luis Ramirez, Freddie Roach and others. Even later on he was still too good for Ray Mancini, Vinny Pazienza, Howard Davis and Greg Haugen (he also lost to Haugen). And he proved his heart once and for all when he lasted the distance with Julio Cesar Chavez, despite taking a terrific beating.

Esteban DeJesus
DeJesus wasn't only the first guy to beat Roberto Duran. He beat a lot of talented fighters, such as Ray Lampkin and Johnny Gant and Alfonso Frazier. Duran will forever overshadow him, but what's terrible about being second best to maybe the greatest lightweight ever? Of DeJesus' five career losses, two were to Duran, one was to Antonio Cervantes, and another was in his very last fight, to Saoul Mamby. That's nothing to be ashamed of.

full article: http://www.hbo.com/boxing/features/greatest/pr_fighters.html

THE GREAT MEXICAN FIGHTERS

1. Julio Cesar Chavez - Widely regarded as the greatest Mexican fighter of all-time, although old timers will debate you on that. They favor Olivares, Miguel Canto or maybe even Sanchez. Whatever they think, Chavez won world titles at 130, 135 and three times at 140 and retired with a record of 108-6-2 with 87 KOs. He was unbeaten in his first 91 fights (although a draw to Pernell Whitaker was a gift) before Frankie Randall beat him by well deserved split decision. One of his greatest performances was his last-second stoppage of Meldrick Taylor on March 17, 1990, a brilliant and brutal night in which Taylor administered a boxing lesson but took a beating from which he never fully recovered. Chavez used suffocating pressure, body punching and crushing right hands to wear men down and beat them up. He was 88-0 when he and Whitaker fought in San Antonio. He was a lesser fighter after that but he was also 31 and a veteran of an inordinate amount of ring wars. It will take a lot for someone to remove him out of this No. 1 ranking.

2. Ruben Olivares - One of the two or three best bantamweights ever to fight, Olivares held that title through two reigns between 1969-72 before moving up to twice win the WBC featherweight title. A powerful puncher, Olivares won his first 60 fights, 55 by knockout on the way to posting a record of 88-13-3 (78 KO). Perhaps no 118 pounder ever punched harder than Olivares. He could box but most often chose not to, relying instead on a shot to the liver and a menacing style that was all about coming forward. Classic Mexican brawler, Olivares was loved by Mexican fight fans. His three wars with Bobby Chacon are typical of why.

3. Salvador Sanchez - Sanchez (44-1-1) never lost a title fight and defeated a roster of top opponents like Danny Lopez (twice), Azumah Nelson, Wilfredo Gomez, Juan LaPorte and Ruben Castillo before dying at 23 in a car wreck. He had made nine successful defenses of the featherweight title at the time of his death. Sanchez was not the typical Mexican brawler but rather a defensive expert and sharp counter puncher. His greatest night was when he destroyed Gomez, who was 32-0-1 at the time, in eight technically perfect rounds.

4. Miguel Canto - A defensive master, he's the Mexican version of Willie Pep. He successfully defended the flyweight title a record 14 times, winning all but one of those fights by 15-round decision, a record that will never be approached for dominance by virtue of pure boxing skill.

Canto finished 61-9-4 with only 15 knockouts with four of those losses coming at the end of his career and most of the rest in the first two years of it. He was more difficult to hit than Sandy Koufax.

Full article: http://www.hbo.com/boxing/features/greatest/great_mexican.html

(although Erik Morales need to be added to the Top Ten)

Depending on who's doing the counting, there have been nearly five dozen world title fights between boxers from Mexico and Puerto Rico and most have been classic brawls.

"In other countries people go crazy to see a soccer game between Spain and Italy, Italy and England," said boxing writer Gerardo Fernandez of the Puerto Rican daily Primera Hora. "Well, it's the same ambience for a boxing match between Mexico and Puerto Rico."

It's not hard to figure out why. They are Latin American lands with similar backgrounds and cultures. And in both lands, boxing is revered.

"They're two countries in which boxing is the national sport," said Jose Sulaiman, president of the World Boxing Council. "It's the sport that's in their hearts. There's a special rivalry over which Latin country has the best boxers."

Puerto Rico-Mexico rivalry packs a real punch

The Rest is Up to You...

Michael Porfirio Mason
AKA The Peoples Champ
AKA The International Playboy's International Playboy
AKA Lo Mas Frio
The Guide to Getting More out of Life
http://www.thegmanifesto.com

Everything's Coming Our Way Santana

RALFI PAGAN OOH BABY BABY

Puerto Rico to Regulate E-waste?

Wed, 24 Jul 2008 02:33:24 GMT

posted by ioman01
TemasEtUnam

A Temas Note: As you know, The Temas Blog is first and foremost about Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Is Puerto Rico (PR) part of LAC? Many don’t include it in their classification of LAC because of its ties to the US. Others do, citing its geographic location and its sociocultural ties to Spanish-speaking LAC. My own feeling is that if it was not under US jurisdiction, there would be no debate. In this particular case, I choose to discuss what PR is doing because I believe that there is some chance that its example may be studied and copied elsewhere in the region.

While many in the North American electronics industry have been focusing their attention on bills regarding waste electronics in states such as Hawaii, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma and Rhode Island, legislation has moved forward in a US jurisdiction that is not a state, Puerto Rico (PR) — catching some in the industry by surprise. On 23 June the lower house of PR’s legislature, the Chamber of Representatives, approved an e-waste bill.

The bill now goes on to the Puerto Rican Senate for its consideration. Will it pass there? Some in industry say no way, but then again, some of those same people told me the same thing about the Chamber of Representatives 2-3 years ago when I wondered aloud then about the PR e-waste bill…

Scope

The product and component coverage of the bill is quite broad. It covers cathode ray tubes (CRTs), “cellular equipment” and “electronic equipment.” What are considered to be “cellular equipment” for the purposes of this bill? As presently defined, this category includes:

cell phones, including removable component parts necessary for its functioning, such as batteries and SIM cards;
handheld devices that have integrated cellular telephony capability, such as Blackberries, certains PDAs (such as Treos) and I-phones;
beepers;
cell phone accessories, such as chargers, wireless headsets, additional batteries and synchronizers;
any personal communication device utilizing the cellular telephone network introduced into the market after the bill becomes law.

The bill specifically excludes from “cellular equipment” wireless systems for vehicles (such as OnStar) and wi-fi cards and sticks to link computers to a wireless network.

What is considered “electronic equipment”? As presently drafted, the bill defines this category to cover all equipment with integrated circuits or transistors, including:

cellular equipment (as defined above)
televisions and video monitors, whether they utilize CRTs or plasma or liquid crystal flat screens, and projection systems;
computers, whether fixed or portable, that contain integrated circuits, and their peripherals, including modems, scanners, printers and their cartridges, expansion cards, memory cards, disc drives, routers (whether wired or wireless);
PDAs, portable video games, tracking units and GPS devices;
wireless radio, television or data transmitters;
digital amplifiers, equalizers or editing or control consoles;
control or routing boxes for cable or satellite television;
recorders utilizing either magnetic or optical digital media;
video game consoles, whether household or commercial;
any of the aforementioned equipment that can be installed in motor vehicles or boats as optional add-ons;
digital photocopiers;
inverters and backup power supply;
rechargeable batteries for the aforementioned equipment that contain nickel, mercury or lithium.

The bill makes clear that “electronic equipment” does not encompass motor vehicles, boats, aircraft, farm or manufacturing equipment, nor kitchen, refrigeration or household or commercial laundry devices. It also does not apply to power cables, communication cables or antennas that do not contain processors.

Key Bill Provisions of the Bill

Landfill Ban: CRTs and cellular and electronic equipment would be banned from landfills;
Take-Back Participation Requirement: Anyone wishing to import, sell or distribute cellular or electronic equipment must prove that they participate in a Recycling and Disposal Plan approved by the Solid Waste Authority (Autoridad de Desperdicios Sólidos - ADS) and the Environmental Quality Board (Junta de Calidad Ambiental - JCA). Enterprises could either have their own plan or participate in a consortium or “association” of enterprises and/or industries.
Registration, Reporting, E-Waste Processing Fee: All manufacturers, importers and distributors of cellular or electronic equipment sold in PR would have to register with the JCA and annually provide certain data, proof of their participation in an approved Recycling and Disposal Plan, and proof of payment of the “electronic waste processing fee”. As currently drafted, the initial fee would be US$5,000 each, in subsequent years would be calculated based on a “market participation quota” formula.
Retailer Obligations: All retailers of cellular and electronic equipment would be required to obtain from manufacturers, importers or distributors proof that they are properly registered with the JCA. All retailers of cellular and electronic equipment would have to provide consumers with information on the benefits of recycling and “opportunities provided by industry and/or [the ADS] for this process.” They would also have to “promote and provide incentive” for recycling.
E-Waste Classification: The JCA would have to classify end-of-life electronic equipment as “special waste” and set regulations for their management, disposition, reuse and recycling in Puerto Rico, “fixing requisites that they deem necessary in order to protect human health and the environment.”
Environmental Licensing: All collection, storage, recycling, processing or final disposition would be subject to environmental licensing, and the JCA could modify or revoke licenses if it feels it needs to. The JCA could impose fines of up to US$25,000 per infraction.
Studies and Programs: The ADS, in cooperation with registered manufacturers, importers and distributors, and collectors and processors, would have to prepare a study characterizing the e-waste market in PR, as well as a general strategy for the management of cellular and electronic equipment and CRTs. The Authority also would be in charge of designing a program for “orphan equipment”.
Conditions on Returns, Passing on Costs to Consumers: All collection centers that are part of an approved Plan of a particular manufacturer, importer or distributor would be obliged to take back the end-of-life equipment manufactured, imported, distributed, sold or offered for lease by them or by other enterprises in the e-waste consortium to which they belong, regardless of the date when the consumer bought the equipment. The consumer cannot be charged for this service at the time of return. Retailers operating an e-waste return center can limit free return to their center to the brands they sold or leased, or to those of other origin only when the consumer is acquiring new equipment through that retailer. Retailers operating return centers can incorporate into the bill for purchases of new equipment some of the cost of operating the center, minus the anything related to their registration fees with the JCA.
Exports: Any export of e-waste would be subject to a licensing procedure under the JCA.
No Laxer Protection: Neither the JCA nor the ADS shall authorize any e-waste program based on transporting the collected waste to be disposed or destroyed without processing in a jurisdiction with less strict laws or regulations. They also are not to approve programs that consist only collection, disassembly and storage, or any process deemed contrary to health and environmental protection.

Important Note: Currently, most of these provisions have a deadline in the bill of January 2008. This obviously has to be changed in the Senate (unless the legislature really intends to have retroactive application, which I seriously doubt); the question is to what target date.

Copyright © 2008 The Temas Blog. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact legal@temasactuales.com so we can take legal action immediately.
Plugin by Taragana

El Morro the Ultimate Defense

Mon, 24 Jun 2008 11:16:00 GMT

posted by TheFloridaHoosier

El Morro
This massive fortification "Castillo de San Felipe Del Morro" means "Castle of St. Philip of the Headland." Named for the patron Saint of Spain's King Philip 11. It is the oldest of two great forts that anchored the sea and landward defenses of San Juan.

The second fort San Cristobal which lies just southeast of here was the primary defense from land.
The fort construction began in 1539 with the building of a round tower made of stone and resembling the chess piece known as a "rook".El Morro slowly evolved to it's present shape from 1539 until 1786. Approaching El Morro from the land side , one can't help but notice how low to the ground it is constructed, this was done to offer as small a target as possible to attacking forces.
That fact , along with the moat made it extremely difficult to scale the walls of the fort.
El Morro was the first line of defense for San Juan, batteries of cannon on four of six levels were deadly deterrents to enemy warships.
The sixth level of guns pointed landward to protect the fort from attack by land. A wood drawbridge spanned the moat and beyond that was a cleared plain so that attacking forces would have no cover.All the gunpowder was hidden underground so as to prevent the invaders from blowing up the ammunition.
The fort was an important line of defense for several hundred years as it protected Puerto Rico from invasions from the French, English,pirates and others until the Spanish American War when possession was given to the United States following Spain's defeat in that war. after which time it was an important line of defense for protecting the Panama Canal in World War 1 and 2.
Today , The San Juan National Historic Site is managed by The National Park Service. These weathered battlements, so important in protecting Puerto Rico from enemy occupation , are important landmarks in the historical and cultural heritage of not only the island but the whole Western Hemisphere.

Earn money for promoting your eBay items!

Gary is a Travel Writer and Photographer, see More of his Articles!

Status

Fri, 7 Jun 2008 06:53:41 GMT

posted by mattsanchez

Politicians will do funniest things on the campaign trail and Hillary Clinton is not an exception. Like a firefly caught in a jar, the struggling former First Lady has zig-zagged the tiny commonwealth island of Puerto Rico to attract as much attention as possible to her candidacy. Out of desperation, she may just compromise the country she hopes to lead.

So far, the Democratic primaries have been like a long running Spanish speaking soap opera, even if you don't understand the language, it's easy to tell the good guys from the bad; the music changes when the bad guy speaks and the reaction are always exaggerated, melodramatic. Hillary has had to be dramatic too.

Politics in Puerto Rico can usually be reduced to one word "Status". In several referendums, Puerto Ricans have had to chose between three scenarios: independence, statehood or commonwealth.

Three Choices, no decisions.

Puerto Ricans are extremely nationalistic, but the idea of full independence is a political pipedream. If Americans want to observe a massive evacuation of nearly four million people, try declaring Puerto Rico an independent state.

The last referendum in Puerto Rico barely went in favor for maintaining the status quo as a commonwealth, but what if the majority of Puerto Ricans voted for statehood? Should an island nation, with Spanish as an official language, become the 51st state?

Although the American/Puerto Rican soap opera goes back over a century, the drama continues. For the overwhelming majority of Puerto Ricans there are far too many advantages to being associated with the United States of America; every year Puerto Ricans teeter between victimhood and patriotism, like an abused wife, battered and beaten, but too dependent to leave the home.

Because of their status, Puerto Ricans pay very little or no federal income taxes, but reap the benefits of billions of dollars in federal funding. Unlike much of Latin America, Puerto Rico has a modern infrastructure with a comparable per capita income—despite disproportionate welfare rolls.

For the poor, there are tons of entitlements from subsidized housing to student loans. What's even more difficult to quantify are the immaterial things like the use of the American dollar as currency, a stable political process and the protection of the United States military.

The current governor was indicted after a campaign finance scandal—he supported Senator Obama--and is currently waiting trial. Of all the Spanish-speaking island nations, Puerto Rico has never known a dictator.

Although Puerto Ricans are American citizens, they are not eligible to vote in American presidential elections, unless they change their residency to the United States. Puerto Ricans are, however, free to travel and establish residency in the United States without travel restrictions.

A Billingual Country?

The main problem of Puerto Rican statehood is that history, society and culture will always make Puerto Ricans different from Americans—no matter how intimate the ties between the two nations may be.

My grandfather, born and raised in Puerto Rico, was an Army medic during the 1st World War, but despite Puerto Ricans serving in every conflict since, Puerto Ricans voted to kick the Navy out of Vieques, mostly because they viewed the American military as occupational force.

No matter what the politicians say, the admittance of Puerto Rico as the 51st state would not be the welcoming of new immigrants to a freshly adopted homeland; it would be the introduction of a parallel people into the national body—a state in name alone. An artificial nationality for a distinct culture and separate people.

Due to the elections, the soap opera goes on and both Democratic candidates are determined to add to the drama. Senator Clinton believes "disenfranchising Puerto Rico is like disenfranchising the District of Columbia". After a huge victory on the island, the senator "wants Puerto Ricans to have the same rights as others Americans to determine your future."

Unfortunately, statehood advocates do not expect Puerto Ricans to actually become Americans, they would just like to acquire the benefits of statehood, while politicians are far too eager to dole those benefits out.

Let's hope the next president will be wise enough to keep Puerto Rico exactly where it is, a separate nation with close ties to the 50 states beside it.

Keeping Community Vibrantly Alive

Tue, 25 Jun 2008 23:08:30 GMT

posted by DFord

Ivan Vega lives in the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Northwest Chicago. As gentrification continues to expand into the Puerto Rican part of the neighborhood, it has become more difficult for residents and businesses to stay connected to their heritage. Out of doing Landmark Education’s Self-Expression program, Vega decided to start a project and contribute to the community he loves. His goal is to inspire community members about their heritage by having them take part in documenting the Puerto Rican Flag. Vega is calling his project The Flag Project (TFPR): Bridging the Gap Between Communities.

“Puerto Ricans have been displace since the mid-1960s, causing them to relocate,” says Vega. “Out of this, Humboldt Park was the first Puerto Rican community created. Now gentrification threatens encroaches on businessess and families, forcing them outside of their community.”

The project honors and creates an awareness of the flag as both a symbol of pride as well as an item of historical significance. By pairing up young students with professional photographers, TPFR seeks to capture the Puerto Rican flag in its many forms around Chicago and the Humboldt Park community, which will then be displayed in a photo documentary.

A collaboration of student, community and professional photographs are being combined in a three part series of poster collages, which will be displayed in an exhibit this fall and then made into a community book. The posters will also be displayed at the Puerto Rican festival/Fiestas Puertorriqueñas which runs June 10-15. Throughout the festival TFPR will supply disposable cameras at a booth for the community patrons who wish to take part in the process of documenting the Puerto Rican flag.

Vega raised the money for the posters, and enrolled American Family Insurance to provide him a free booth at the festival.

If you would like to obtain more information on this project, or to schedule an interview with Vega, please contact Elizabeth Hoffman at (414) 315-9944 or email eh.prflagproject@gmail.com.