Puerto Rican

Washington--Sen. Pat Moynihan, D-N.Y., thinks he has spotted an old serpent in today's political garden. ''Nativism!'' he exclaimed when a Senate committee killed a bill that would have authorized a Puerto Rican referendum on that island's political future.Every president since Truman has affirmed Puerto Rico's right to choose to retain commonwealth status or opt for independence or statehood. The 1988 Republican platform endorsed statehood.In the resistance to a referendum, Senator Moynihan sees ''nativism, the close associate of racism.

Since the congressional supercommittee appears unable, or unwilling, to take a lesson from Indiana or Virginia -- where Republican governors have made spending cuts and delivered budget surpluses without damaging the social safety net -- members might wish to consider Puerto Rico and what its governor, Luis Fortuno is doing. Mr. Fortuno is Puerto Rico's first Republican governor in 42 years. In 2009 when he took office, the U.S. territory had a $3.3 billion budget deficit. Three years earlier, Moody's Investors Service downgraded the commonwealth's bond rating to junk status while in deep recession.

WASHINGTON -- The Navy should vacate its World War II-era bombing range off Puerto Rico in five years and until then curtail its bombing and gunnery practice by up to 50 days a year, according to the recommendations of a presidential panel.But the findings of the four-member panel, expected to be released soon, are being rejected by Puerto Rican leaders, who say the report does not go far enough. They are bitterly opposed to any more bombing on tiny Vieques Island, where a security guard was killed in April by an errant 500-pound bomb from a Marine Corps fighter jet."

The Broadway-bound revival of West Side Story that opened Wednesday in Washington has dirt on its shins and blood under its fingernails. It is urgent, explosive and revved up with testosterone from the moment the curtain rises and Riff, the leader of the Jets, stalks on stage and stares hard at the audience. We are unnerved. It is dark, and the neighborhood is rough. Maybe we can sidle past him. Nothing bad has happened. Yet. We are watching the out-of-town tryout for a production that has been generating buzz since July, when the director, Arthur Laurents, was interviewed in T he New York Times.

WASHINGTON -- Eager to ease a political and national security headache, the Clinton administration has decided to mediate the fate of a Puerto Rican island that has served as a Navy bombing range for 58 years, administration sources said yesterday.Undersecretary of Defense Rudy F. de Leon has been selected to try to resolve the issue with Puerto Rican officials, who are demanding that the bombing stop and are pressuring Vice President Al Gore and Hillary Rodham Clinton, a likely New York Senate candidate, to side with them.

PROBABLY NO one thought George W. Bush's election as president would doom the U.S. Navy's use of Vieques Island for target practice. The military, most Republicans and Puerto Rican demonstrators expected the opposite. President Bush's decision that the Navy go elsewhere within two years is cheering to many Puerto Rican citizens of the United States who found the bombardment of the island a relic of colonialism. It is welcome to the fewer than 10,000 persons, many of them fishermen, many of them hearing-impaired from years of bombardment, who live on Vieques, which is east of Puerto Rico but within the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

In Puerto Rico, perfection is equated with Felix "Tito" Trinidad, whose face graces anti-drug posters and soft-drink adds on the island and who's known for his charitable contributions. A college student for two years, Trinidad, now 28, quit to become a boxer. Trained by his father, Felix Trinidad Sr., and often accompanied to his fights by his wife, Sharon, and three children, "Trinidad always has projected this perfect fighter, perfect family man image," said HBO commentator Larry Merchant.

One of the best things a critic can experience is walking into a show so alive with creativity that it's hard to settle down and concentrate on one work at a time. That's the case with "Ceramica Puertorriquena Hoy/Today," a show that brings the work of 22 Puerto Rican ceramics artists to Baltimore's School for the Arts.A lot of the show's energy derives from the fact that there doesn't seem to be any dominant influence or style at work here. A few of the pieces are at least theoretically functional, but all exist primarily as sculpture, and no artist's work looks like that of any other.

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton told his national security adviser in July that it was "wrong" for the Navy to continue using a bombing range in Puerto Rico that many island leaders want closed -- even though the president had just created an independent panel to determine the future of the 58-year-old range.In a handwritten note to his national security adviser, Samuel R. Berger, on July 26, the president signaled his support for a leading Puerto Rican activist who had urged Clinton to abandon the range on Vieques Island.

WASHINGTON -- Puerto Rico's governor supported yesterday the resumption of nonexplosive bombing at the Navy's politically contentious firing range on Vieques, after President Clinton said the Navy would vacate the range two years earlier than initially proposed. Gov. Pedro Rossello said he supports a Clinton administration plan that would provide $40 million in development aid to the island of Vieques in exchange for the immediate use of nonexplosive ordnance for 90 days per year, down from 180 days per year using live bombs.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A throbbing plena beat, blaring from a speaker truck, rattled centuries-old houses around a sun-bleached plaza. Barack Obama clutched a water bottle in the tropical heat. "Hola Puerto Rico!" he shouted to hundreds of cheering islanders - and a few surprised cruise-ship passengers - in Old San Juan. So began that most Puerto Rican of campaign activities: the caminata. Following the speaker truck, and trailed by supporters, Obama strolled the cobblestoned streets of the walled city, shaking hands, signing autographs and pausing every so often to wiggle his hips to the music.

The secret to Puerto Rican cuisine is the distinctive sofrito. The Puerto Rican version is made with culantro (saw-leaf coriander, a relative of cilantro) and ajies dulces, sweet cooking peppers. I adapted today's recipe from Joel Rodriguez, executive chef at San Juan's Ajili Mojili, celebrated for serving authentic Puerto Rican cuisine, "cocina criolla." Puerto Rican-Style Chicken and Rice Makes 2 servings 1/2 medium green bell pepper, seeded and cut into cubes 4 medium garlic cloves, peeled 1/2 small onion, peeled and quartered 1 small tomato, cored and cut into quarters 1/2 cup cilantro leaves, plus 2 tablespoons for garnish (divided use)

WHAT TO DO This week in Ocean City 1. HAVE A SUNDAE IN THE PARK / / The free family concert series continues at Northside Park (127th Street and the Bay) tonight with a tribute to Elvis from Jesse Garron. 2. HUNT FOR CROCS / / The ubiquitous summer shoe is a big seller at Coconut Kids, a children's boutique at 8001 Coastal Highway. The store also carries surf wear. 3. SEE A MERMAID / / More than 200 likenesses of mermaids can be seen in an exhibit at the Ocean City Life-Saving Station Museum.

In Baltimore for barely two days, Felipe Carrasquillo was once-and-for-all convinced yesterday that he's ready to leave Puerto Rico to work as a police officer on the city's toughest streets. In his eyes, the city is clean, the Police Department is well-organized and the people - at least the few he has met - are nice. And then there's the chance to earn more money and better benefits, compared to what he has been earning in law enforcement on the Caribbean island. "It's the true American dream," Carrasquillo said.

In a push to hire more bilingual officers who can communicate with the city's growing Hispanic community, the Baltimore Police Department is planning a weeklong recruiting mission to Puerto Rico next month. Police officials say they've begun advertising in newspapers and hanging banners in the streets of the Caribbean island in an effort to lure potential recruits. Officers expect to meet with hundreds of candidates, and conduct interviews and testing during the trip, which starts June 4. Maj. Edward Schmitt, director of personnel, said the excursion is meant for the department to keep pace with the demographic changes affecting the city.

Skirt steak makes me think of France and plenty of pommes frites, or the American West with a kiss of mesquite, but I never thought of skirt steak, or any beef for that matter, in connection with Puerto Rico. But there I was during a recent trip, eating skirt steak and loving it. Perhaps it was the relative tenderness of the beef, or perhaps it was the sofrito, a savory blend of pureed peppers, onions, cilantro and garlic used in the Caribbean as a seasoning base or marinade. This medley of flavors brought out a delectable smokiness in the beef.

NEW YORK -- In the days just before he was shot to death execution-style in a Queens restaurant, journalist Manuel de Dios Unanue told several people about the large manila envelope with explosive information that he was about to mail to Puerto Rico.He even showed it off -- addressed and with postage stamps affixed -- while dining with four friends the week before his death.The contents, Mr. de Dios said, would implicate anti-Castro Cuban terrorists, for the first time, with top Puerto Rican and U.S. law enforcement officials in secret death squads that operated for years on the island.

WASHINGTON -- Navy officials acknowledged last night that they were delaying the departure of a two-star admiral for Puerto Rico, citing the reluctance of island officials to resume talks on the future of a controversial bombing range.Rear Adm. Kevin Green had been due to arrive in Puerto Rico tomorrow to open discussions with leaders on the use of the Vieques bombing range for nonexplosive bombs.Green's appointment was a key part of a plan announced this week by President Clinton and Defense Secretary William S. Cohen.

Bishop Nicholas C. Dattilo, 71, leader of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg, died Friday at a hospital in Camp Hill, Pa., where he had been a patient since Feb. 7. He had suffered from heart problems and other ailments, according to the Rev. T. Ronald Haney, a spokesman for the diocese. Bishop Dattilo had led the Harrisburg Diocese for 14 years. The 15-county diocese has about 235,000 Catholics, 89 parishes and about 135 active priests, according to its Web site. During his tenure, he was known for consolidating parishes and overseeing the construction of a diocesan hall and a priest retirement home, Father Haney said.

For 62 years, the U.S. Navy's hulking presence kept Vieques, a Puerto Rican tropical idyll, frozen in a Cold War time warp. During those decades when the military used Vieques' beaches for bombing practice, this serenely beautiful, 21-mile-long island off Puerto Rico's east coast saw only a few thousand visitors a year, mostly harried urbanites seeking a respite from noisy, crowded San Juan. Paradoxically, the Navy preserved the beauty of Vieques for posterity. Now the Navy is gone, driven away by protests after a fighter jet missed its target and a stray bomb killed a local civilian in 1999.