After Wesolowski was removed, Lopez said he didn’t know what prompted that action and suggested it might have been a result of a personal conflict with Puerto Rico Archbishop Roberto Gonzalez Nieves | The Vatican says it is co-operating with prosecutors in the Dominican Republic who are investigating its envoy for alleged sexual abuse of teenage boys

Dominican Cardinal: Vatican Will Probe Ex-Envoy

It is believed to be the first known sex abuse investigation against a high-ranking Vatican official in recent times.

By AP | September 11, 2013

In this March 15, 2013 photo, Archbishop Josef Wesolowski, papal nuncio for the Dominican Republic, greets people after a Mass in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Authorities in the Dominican Republic will look into allegations of child sex abuse against Wesolowski, following his abrupt removal from his post by the Vatican, Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito said Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2013, noting that his office is aware only of rumors. (AP Photo/Manuel Diaz)

The Dominican Republic’s Catholic archbishop has confirmed that the Vatican will investigate the country’s recently removed papal envoy over allegations of child sex abuse.

Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez told reporters late Tuesday that Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski will be investigated by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the office that deals with abuse allegations.

“This is an extremely serious issue, very serious, the most serious of its kind for the Holy See,” Lopez said.

It is believed to be the first known sex abuse investigation against a high-ranking Vatican official in recent times, though former Vatican officials have also been accused after they left Rome.

Lopez said he personally traveled to the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis to talk about the allegations involving the 65-year-old Wesolowski.

“I compiled some reports. There were confidential reports, but obviously I have no evidence for those,” he said. “It’s up to the Holy See to investigate.”

A Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, previously said the church was investigating Wesolowski, but gave no details, and Dominican church officials denied they involved allegations of child sex abuse.

Lopez’s comments come shortly after Dominican prosecutor Bolivar Sanchez said he has interviewed seven boys between 13 and 18 years old as part of the investigation. He said three of them work on the streets of the capital of Santo Domingo while the remaining four live elsewhere. Local news media have said some of the youths shine shoes.

Sanchez declined further comment except to qualify some of the teens’ allegations as coherent.

Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito said if the government finds any concrete evidence against Wesolowski, it would seek his extradition. He noted, however, that the Dominican Republic has no extradition agreement with the Vatican.

Wesolowski was removed on Aug. 21 after serving as the Vatican’s representative in the Dominican Republic since 2008. His whereabouts are unclear.

Dominican prosecutors launched their investigation last week, largely in response to local media reports of allegations of sexual misconduct by Wesolowski as well as a friend and fellow Polish priest, who is also outside the country.

After Wesolowski was removed, Lopez said he didn’t know what prompted that action and suggested it might have been a result of a personal conflict with Puerto Rico Archbishop Roberto Gonzalez Nieves.

Wesolowski had also served as apostolic delegate to the U.S. territory.

Gonzalez’s spokesman, Samuel Soto, said he did not have any immediate comment on Lopez’s remarks or the ongoing investigation.

Pope Benedict XVI had named Wesolowski to the post in 2008. He had previously served as papal nuncio in Kazakhstan, Tadjikistan, Kyrgzstan and Uzbekistan and Bolivia.

He was ordained a priest in 1972 and entered the Vatican’s diplomatic service in 1980, serving in Vatican embassies in Africa, Costa Rica, Japan, Switzerland, India and Denmark, the Catholic news agency Zenit reported when he was named Dominican nuncio in 2008.

Vatican denies shielding envoy over sex abuse in Dominican Republic

Ambassador recalled to Rome before Dominican Republic prosecutors announce investigation

Saturday, 14 September, 2013, 3:46am

Associated Press in Vatican City

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Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski. Photo: AFP

The Vatican says it is co-operating with prosecutors in the Dominican Republic who are investigating its envoy for alleged sexual abuse of teenage boys.

The explosive case has raised legal questions about the Holy See's responsibilities when accused priests come from within its own ranks.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi denied the Vatican was trying to shield Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski by recalling him to Rome before Dominican prosecutors had announced their probe.

Wesolowski was recalled on August 21 and relieved of his job as apostolic nuncio after the archbishop of Santo Domingo, Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez, told Pope Francis about the allegations in July.

Dominican prosecutors announced their probe last week, largely in response to local media reports of allegations of misconduct by Wesolowski, 65, as well as a friend and fellow Polish priest, who is also outside the country.

Dominican prosecutor Bolivar Sanchez said he interviewed seven boys, aged between 13 and 18. Three of them worked on the streets of Santo Domingo, while the remaining four lived elsewhere. Some of the youths shine shoes. Sanchez described some of the allegations as coherent.

Wesolowski is the highest-ranking Vatican official to be investigated for alleged sex abuse, and his case has raised questions about whether the Vatican, by removing him from Dominican jurisdiction, had effectively placed its own church investigation ahead of that of authorities in the Caribbean nation.

Lombardi said: "His recall is by no means an effort to avoid taking responsibility for what might possibly be verified."

He said that early this month the Vatican had told the Dominican ambassador to the Vatican that it would co-operate with Dominican authorities with whatever they might need.

The Vatican's own rules for conducting sex abuse investigations under church law call for co-operation with civil authorities and reporting abuse allegations to police where such laws require it. Those norms were crafted in the wake of the explosion of sex abuse cases in 2010, where thousands of people came forward around the world detailing abuse by priests who were never reported to police, even though their bishops knew they were paedophiles.

Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito said if the government found any concrete evidence against Wesolowski it would seek his extradition.

http://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1309212/vatican-denies-shielding-envoy-over-sex-abuse-dominican-republic 

Puerto Rico's health secretary resigned Friday amid a controversy over the death of 10 patients at a public hospital due to a bacterial infection.

Puerto Rico Hospital Deaths Investigated, Health Secretary Resigns

Published September 14, 2013

EFE

• 
  EFE

Puerto Rico's health secretary resigned Friday amid a controversy over the death of 10 patients at a public hospital due to a bacterial infection.

Francisco Joglar informed Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla of his "immediate and irrevocable" resignation, though he did not give any specific reasons for his decision, nor did he even mention the controversy.

"All my actions and decisions have been taken for no other purpose than what I have honestly understood to be the well-being of citizens and the protection of the best interests of Puerto Rico," Joglar said in his note.

This week it was revealed that over the past few months, 10 patients died who had been admitted to the intensive care unit of the University of Puerto Rico Hospital in the San Juan suburb of Carolina, something that from the first both the medical center and the island's health authorities linked to the spread of the Acinetobacter baumannii bacteria.

Joglar on Thursday blamed the hospital for what happened, for not respecting the procedures recommended to keep the bacteria from spreading.

"It is unacceptable that any medical institution should violate the procedures for managing infections and so endanger people's health. This is a serious matter," he said.

For its part, the hospital's Board of Directors confirmed Friday that the director of the medical center, Domingo Nevarez, will remain in his position and that an investigation is underway. EFE

Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/health/2013/09/14/puerto-rico-probe-hospital-deaths-health-sec-resigns/#ixzz2etuuUXOM

“It is very troubling when law enforcement authorities have to arrest a corrupt federal employee who is alleged to have undermined our nation’s security..." | The corruption is widespread and getting worse

TSA OFFICER ARRESTED FOR HELPING SMUGGLE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

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by TONY LEE 14 Sep 2013, 10:56 AM PDT 21POST A COMMENT

On Friday, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officer for allegedly "conspiring" to smuggle illegal immigrants into the country.  

According to the Justice Department, David Alexander Díaz-Torres in Orlando, FL and "five others were charged in a 13-count indictment for bringing, transporting, harboring, and shielding illegal aliens within the United States.

On March 24 of this year, Diaz-Torres allegedly allowed "a group of Brazilian nationals" who were being smuggled to cities like New York, Boston, and Philadelphia through a TSA security checkpoint without asking any questions at the Luis Munoz International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico. 

“It is very troubling when law enforcement authorities have to arrest a corrupt federal employee who is alleged to have undermined our nation’s security, our overall safety, and the public trust and confidence we place in those chosen to protect and serve,” Rosa Emilia Rodriguez Velez, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico, said in a statement. “The Justice Department’s commitment to preventing human smuggling, bringing smugglers to justice and assisting victims has never been stronger.”

Diaz-Torres faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail. 

Security Fail: TSA Agent Smuggles Illegal Aliens

Posted by Gateway Guest Blogger on Saturday, September 14, 2013, 9:15 AM

 

 

By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton
NoisyRoom.net

Photo: AP

A TSA agent and 5 others were caught red-handed bringing Brazilian nationals across our border illegally:

A Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agent was arrested Friday for conspiring to smuggle illegal aliens into the country.

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers arrested David Alexander Díaz-Torres in Orlando, Fla., according to the Justice Department.

Díaz-Torres and five others were charged in a 13-count indictment for bringing, transporting, harboring, and shielding illegal aliens within the United States.

According to a Justice Department press release, a group of Brazilian nationals were smuggled through the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Díaz-Torres allegedly allowed the Brazilians through a TSA security checkpoint without questioning them.

The group then flew to New York, Boston, and Philadelphia on commercial flights.

The corruption is widespread and getting worse, ushering in not only illegals, but terrorists. An ‘event’ that rocks the US is not a matter of if, but when. We are essentially borderless with no real security protecting our nation at our gateways.

- See more at: http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2013/09/security-fail-tsa-agent-smuggles-illegal-aliens/#sthash.T4OQTiY3.dpuf

Before God, We Are All Family - video by Human Rights Campaign

Published on Sep 9, 2013

Before God captures the lives of five families and their journeys across the rocky road of reconciling faith, sexuality, gender identity, ethnicity and familia in the current social climate which insists these are un-reconcilable.
Funder: Thomas A. Plein Foundation

Human Rights Campaign To Release Film On Latino Families Of Faith And LGBT Issues (VIDEO)

LGBT Weekly:

WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the educational arm of the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, has announced the premiere of the film Before God: We Are All Family Oct. 1 at the GALA Hispanic Theater in Washington, D.C.  The film tells the story of five religious Latino families who have lived with the sting of repressive church teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity.

“This short documentary is a story of reconciliation and will be meaningful for anyone who has longed to find a way to bring together who they are, whom they love and what they believe,” said Dr. Sharon Groves, director of the HRC Religion and Faith Program.

“Familia – family – is at the center of the intersection of faith, sexuality and culture for Latinos.  This film brings these worlds together in ways we have not seen before,” said Lisbeth Melendez Rivera, national coordinator for A la Familia, a project under HRC’s Religion and Faith Program.

Read the whole story at LGBT Weekly

Before God, We Are All Family

 Human Rights Campaign·

Director FBI habla sobre grupo investigador de rama judicial - El Vocero de PR - Published on Aug 29, 2013

Published on Aug 29, 2013

Carlos Cases, director del FBI de Puerto Rico e Islas Vírgenes brinda detalles sobre el grupo que estará a cargo de investigar la rama judicial a partir del 1ro de octubre de 2013.

Director FBI habla sobre grupo investigador de rama judicial

 El Vocero de PR·

Published on Sep 8, 2013

Protestan veteranos desde El Capitolio de Puerto Rico. Decenas de veteranos marcharon desde El Capitolio hasta La Fortaleza el 6 Septiembre 2013, reprochando la administración politiquera del gobernador Alejandro García Padilla, y denunciaron que se les está faltando el respeto.

» Veteranos marchan contra Gobierno por menospreciarlos y no respetar reclamos - EFE
06/09/13 21:00 from alejandro garcia padilla efe - Google News
EFEVeteranos marchan contra Gobierno por menospreciarlos y no respetar reclamosEFESan Juan, 6 sep (EFE).- Medio centenar de veteranos de guerra marcharon hoy por San Juan en protesta contra el gobernador de Puerto Rico, Alejandro García ...

Veteranos Protestan Contra Garcia Padilla

 Luis Anthony·

Puerto Rico leaders speak in U.S. Senate on referendum, island’s political future - 08/01/2013

Puerto Rico leaders speak in U.S. Senate on referendum, island’s political future

 by Brian Latimer, @brainlatimer 

12:23 pm on 08/01/2013

The leaders of Puerto Rico’s top three political parties spoke in front of a Senate panel to discuss their voters’ preferences on statehood, commonwealth or independence for the island.

The meeting with the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources was a direct result of a plebiscite held in November 2012 regarding the current status of Puerto Rico. Voters were asked two questions: the first asked if people favored the current status as a commonwealth or not, and the second listed the alternatives. The status options included becoming a state, and total independence. The White House, however, said the vote was unclear because 466,000 people did not specify a preference on an alternative status, primarily because the current commonwealth option was left out.

Alejandro García-Padilla, the governor of Puerto Rico and a leader in the Popular Democratic Party, supports an augmented version of the island’s current commonwealth status.

The governor argued people did not support the enhanced commonwealth proposition because it was not explicitly listed on the ballot in November. He did not elaborate on the definition of said status after Sen. Ron Wyden, Sen. Murkowski, and Sen. Martin Henrich all asked him to explain how that system would operate. At the hearing, several senators questioned whether an enhanced commonwealth would give Puerto Rico the right to ignore certain federal laws.

“No one is trying to mislead you if they tell you we want to pick [laws] — the commonwealth option needs to be on the ballot and address the issue of a non-state jurisdiction,” Governor García-Padilla said.

Pedro R. Pierluisi, the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico and President of the New Progressive Party, which advocates statehood, says Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens and deserve—and have demanded—a “democratic and dignified status in Congress.”  Pierluisi said any Commonwealth option should be excluded from future discussions.

“You cannot solve the problem of our status by including the very option rejected by our people,” Commissioner Pierluisi said. “… People were asked if they want Puerto Rico to have current status and responsed resoundingly, ‘NO.’ The options should only be statehood, free association, and independence.”

Rubén Berríos, the president of the Puerto Rican Independence Party, says although a majority of Puerto Ricans favored statehood, those who advocated for independence should still have their voices heard. He says a decision on Puerto Rico’s status should be made soon because people have been fighting for a change for decades.

“Inevitably, in any case, Congress will have to face its responsibility and make real determination possible,” he says. “Such demands an informed choice to our inalienable right to independence for our own nationality.”

He also called out Governor Padilla at the end of the meeting, saying his option cannot work for Puerto Rico.

“Mr. Chairman, nobody knows what Enhanced Commonwealth means,” he started. “They’ve been trying to define it for half a century. It is judicial hocus pocus.”

Senator Lisa Murkowski, the only senator born in a previous territory—Alaska— said now that a majority of Puerto Ricans have voted against the current commonwealth status, they must decide on whether or not the territory becomes a state or gains independence.

“It’s long been my position that the process for determining Puerto Rico’s preferred political status should come from Puerto Rico and not D.C.,” Murkowski says. “Just as the residents of Alaska and Hawaii did — as the last two states admitted to the union. It appears to me that a majority in Puerto Rico do not favor the current status.”

A view of the Puerto Rican Capitol building. Photo/AP Images

A Presidential Status Plebiscite for Puerto Rico?

by LD Guest Blogger Charles R. Venator-Santiago on 07/23/2013

On July 17, 2013 the House Appropriations Committee approved the fiscal year 2014 Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations bill, which included a request by President Barack H. Obama to fund a voter education drive enabling a status plebiscite for Puerto Rico. This measure dismisses several initiatives by Puerto Rican political parties and potentially makes the resolution of the island’s political status a matter of civil rights.

As I have noted on several past postings, the United States annexed Puerto Rico in the aftermath of the Spanish-American War of 1898 and promptly ascribed it an unincorporated territorial status, a new territorial status invented to rule territories not destined to become states of the Union. Congress has not changed the constitutional status of Puerto Rico since 1898. Puerto Rico has remained an unincorporated territory for 115 years.

Notwithstanding, since 1900 both the Federal and the Puerto Rican legislatures have debated legislation and enacted laws providing for a change in the island’s constitutional status. Since 1900, Congress has debated upwards of 114 and the Puerto Rican legislature more than 100 (I am still counting) status bills. In 1967, Congress authorized the first and only status plebiscite granting Puerto Ricans an opportunity to choose among three status options, statehood, independence and the Commonwealth/unincorporated territorial status. The Puerto Rican legislature authorized three status plebiscites in 1993, 1998, and 2012. In every instance the pro-statehood party has held control of the office of the Governor and the Puerto Rican legislature. 

As I discussed in a previous posting, both the language and counting of votes of the 2012 Plebiscite on Puerto Rico’s Political Status led to contentious interpretations. Critics argued that the two-part plebiscite was designed to limit the ability of Puerto Rican voters to choose the Commonwealth option, the prevailing status choice of the Puerto Rican electorate. In addition, the Puerto Rican government did not count blank ballots, which under Puerto Rican electoral law represent a legitimate form of electoral protest. Pro-statehood advocates argued that the Statehood option garnered a majority of votes (61%) in the 2012 plebiscite. Everyone else noted that when counting blank or protest ballots, the Statehood option garnered a mere 45% of the ballot, a percentage consistent with the outcomes of all prior status plebiscites (both Federal and local).

Notwithstanding statements by the White House suggesting that President Obama would recognize the outcome of the 2012 plebiscite, the President’s Budget of the U.S. Government for the Fiscal-Year 2014 contained a request to fund a Puerto Rican plebiscite. More specifically, the President’s 2014 budget requested “$2,500,000 for objective, nonpartisan voter education about, and a plebiscite on, options that would resolve Puerto Rico’s future political status, which shall be provided to the State Elections Commission of Puerto Rico” (Appendix, DOJ 2014: 735). In other words, the ensuing funding would be allocated to the U.S. Department of Justice, which would in turn grant it to the State Elections Commission for the development of a voter education campaign (about the status options) and an ensuing plebiscite.

On May 15, 2013 Puerto Rican Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi, a member of the Puerto Rican pro-statehood PNP and also a conservative member of the Democratic Party, introduced the Puerto Rico Status Resolution Act (H.R. 2000). The purpose of the Act is to “provide for a federally authorized ratification vote” or referendum on pro-statehood interpretation of the results for the 2012 plebiscite.

The ongoing legislative debates raise four important issues. First, President Obama’s request to fund a federal plebiscite for Puerto Rico sends a clear message that he does not recognize the outcome of the 2012 plebiscite (and by extension H.R. 2000). This position is consistent with earlier statements by President Obama indicating that he would only support an outcome that reflected a substantive majority of the vote (presumably at least a two-thirds majority). Ironically, Resident Commissioner Pierluisi is on record stating that his bill is not incompatible with the President’s plebiscite.

Second, the President’s initiative also rejects the proposal by Puerto Rican Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla to hold a local constitutional convention and an ensuing referendum on the status question. In the latter case, Puerto Rican political parties would assume a central role in drafting a law that could resolve Puerto Rico’s status question and the local electorate would merely vote to ratify or reject the proposal. Governor Garcia Padilla, however, is on record supporting President Obama’s plebiscite.

Third, the President’s plebiscite potentially circumvents Congress. The power to conduct a status plebiscite is inherent to Congress’ powers under Article 4, Section 3, which establishes that Congress has the power to administer territories (clause 2) and to admit new states (clause 1). To this extent Congress is responsible for enacting legislation authorizing a plebiscite on the status of Puerto Rico. Notwithstanding, the House Appropriations Committee recently approved the President’s request for funding. Whether Congress will approve this budget is another matter.

In my opinion a fourth, and perhaps more interesting implication, is that the President’s proposal links the status plebiscite to the Department of Justice’s voter education mandates. To this extent, it is possible to argue that the President’s plebiscite opens a backdoor to the courts by making the status plebiscite a voting rights or civil rights issue. This latter interpretation raises other constitutional questions, but these are beyond the scope of this blog at this time.

Charles R. Venator-Santiago is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and the Institute for Latino/a, Caribbean and Latin American Studies at the University of Connecticut

The commentary of this article reflects the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Latino Decisions. Latino Decisions and Pacific Market Research, LLC make no representations about the accuracy of the content of the article.