LOVERS OF DEMOCRACY --
Knowledge Management Archive
Washington, DC USA

THE NEW FACES OF JUSTICE IN PUERTO RICO

Below we quote, in full, an English language translation of the press release offered by the Judicial Branch of the Commonwealth Government of Puerto Rico issued July 2, 2009,

JUDICIAL BRANCH GETS NEW JUDGES OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

The Judicial Branch of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico received last July a new group of judges who were sworn to office in the Court of First Instance. They were received in the Office of Court Administration (OAT) by the Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, Hon Federico Hernandez Denton, and the Managing Director of the TAO, Hon Sonia Ivette Velez Colon.

Swore to their positions as judges and senior judges: Hon Lilia Ortiz Puig, Hon Aida Nieves Figueroa; Hon Enid Rodriguez Molina Osorio, Hon James Lamb, The Honorable Gloria L. Lebron Nieves, The Honorable Ada Lopez Santiago (in photo, fourth from the left), Reinaldo Santiago Concepcion Hon, The Honorable George L. Gisela Reyna Toledo, and Alfonso Fernandez Hon. Municipal judges sworn As the Hon Mary L. Cruz Rodriguez Aleida Ramos Manso Hon.

The Office of Support Services for Judges and Judges of the TAO offered initial guidance. The new judges and judges began a training period in the Puerto Rican Judicial Academy to be completed before taking their respective chambers.

The announcement of new judges comes just in time for the appointment of The Honorable Ada Lopez Santiago as the the new judge, actually, the fifth judge, appointed to preside the lawsuit by Las Colinas against Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, and many other finance institutions and their lawyers for antitrust violations and revendication of Las Colinas Properties, presently pending action in the Court of First Instance, of Fajardo, Puerto Rico. In October 2009, Las Colinas discharged their attorney, Lcda. Grace Monge-La Fosse, for failure to protect the constitutional rights of Las Colinas. This action was followed by resignation of the presiding Judge in the case, the Honorable Jose R. Negron Fernandez, who was charged by Las Colinas President Vigdor Schreibman with unethical practices, for engaging in a forbidden relationship of affinity: former law partners of the Judge, in the law firm of bank super lawyers Fiddler González & Rodríguez, represented co-defendant Banco Popular in the closing of a $1 billion dollar Citibank sale. The same law firm signed the complaint in a 1977-78 lawsuit against Las Colinas in U.S. District Court in Puerto Rico, for execution of the same inexistent $4,000,000 mortgage that is contested in this case.

Las Colinas claims the lender tried to consolidate Las Colinas Properties for their mortgage on the whole property but the property is divided by Rio Demajagua. The consolidated farm could not, therefore, be inscribed nor could a mortgage constituted upon an inexistent consolidated farm have legal existence according to Article 61 of the Mortgage Regulation, as interpreted by the General Directorate of Registries of Spain, and the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico. Gaztambide v. Sucn. Ortiz, 70 D.P.R. 412, 423 (1949).

Satellite Image of Las Colinas Properties at Bahia Demajuaga, Puerto Rico (2008)
Image Courtesy of Google

Las Colinas has authorized Mr. Schreibman to prosecute the lawsuit, as attorney-in-fact, governed by the law of the case, with approval of the Court of First Instance, of Fajardo, or perhaps, with the Court's suggestion that Las Colinas first obtain a review of the matter by the Supreme Court of the United States.

If the lawsuit is successfull, Mr. Schreibman who is the controlling stockholder of Las Colinas, plans to offer a life-lease to all current residents of the property. This will allow a change in focus from speculative housing that has little or no community character, or community facilities, to the ideal of the OMNICAPITAL COMMUNITY, with exceptional education and employment opportunities, which residents will enjoy supported by entitlement to fifty-percent of the net income of the property under an IRREVOCABLE DECLARATION OF TRUST that Mr. Schreibman plans to authorize.

In the Court Order notified November 25, 2009, the new presiding judge in Las Colinas case, The Honorable Ada Lopez Santiago, has placed first on the callendar of Court concerns, the question of compliance with Rule 8.5 of the Rules of Civil Procedure, 32 L.P.R.A. App. III R 8.5 (2000), related to Language. This should prove to open an exciting dialogue about the development of a bilingual society and government in Puerto Rico free from discrimination, as required by the Bill of Rights of Puerto Rico, which provudes, among other things, that "[n]o discrimination shall be made on account of race, color, sex, birth, social origin, or political or religious ideas." See e.g., Molina v. U.R.H.C., 114 D.P.R. 295 (1983) (per curiam) 14 Official Trans. of Opinions of the Supreme Court 382, 398-400 (citing Journal of Proceedings of the Constitutional Assembly, Sec. 1 (1952); Carlos Romero Barceló, A trip on the “Blue” Danube (Caribbean Business, November 19, 2009). In his News Column, former Governor Romero Barceló, writres:

When cultures reject change at all cost, they stop developing and eventually shrivel and disappear. To grow and become stronger, cultural behavior must open its doors to outside differences and adapt the positive influences, thereby broadening, improving and strengthening its culture.

For instance, the rejection by many “Commonwealth” supporters and independence advocates of the development of a bilingual society in Puerto Rico is based on an inbred rejection of American cultural influences on our cultures. Such an attitude limits the growth and enrichment of Puerto Ricans’ cultural experiences.

I, for one, was fortunate to have received a bilingual education and have therefore had the opportunity to read and enjoy “Don Quijote de la Mancha” in Spanish and King Henry V, Hamlet and other Shakespeare plays in English, while also enjoying “Cantinflas” in Spanish and Bill Cosby and Bob Hope in English. Had I not learned English, I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy a great deal of literature and historical books in the language in which they were written. Obviously, my having received a bilingual education has enriched and broadened my cultural development.

Updated December 11, 2009.