Puerto Rico

RIO GRANDE, PUERTO RICO / / Manuel Maldonado showed us hummingbirds, walking sticks, giant albino snails and other rain forest residents, but couldn't find a single coqui -- although they were singing all around us. Our visit to El Yunque, the Caribbean National Forest, had been delayed that morning. The rain forest was closed because of rain. Actually, a storm that ebbed as we arrived had scattered tree limbs, and U.S. Forest Service rangers had to make sure the roads were clear. "The Taino Indians called the land sacred, so the rain up here is holy water," said Manuel, our guide and driver.

While most players are sluggish beneath the sun's sweltering heat, Coach Victor Nogueras and the players on his Puerto Rican 18-and-underbaseball team have hardly broken a sweat.Seriously.During the squad's 8-4 victory over Pennsylvania yesterday, careful inspection of the players' foreheads -- even that of equipment-laden catcher Eric Cotto -- revealed little, if any perspiration."Right now, I think it's what, 91 degrees?" asked Nogueras, standing in the dugout during the game. "This is like it is in Puerto Rico all the time.

BAYAMON, Puerto Rico -- Is Vonteego Cummings the nation's most unappreciated college basketball player? Pittsburgh coach Ralph Willard thinks so."This kid is one of the five best guards in America," Willard said after yesterday's 68-56 win over No. 4 Kentucky. "He's one of the best one [point] or two [shooting] guards in America. At the end of the season, the NBA will prove that with its draft. He can play two positions at the next level. He can play three for us. He just hasn't gotten his due because of what has happened to us."

It's been said that Puerto Rico celebrates nearly twice as many holidays a year as its stateside neighbors. But of all the festive activities that take place on this subtropical island in the eastern Caribbean, none are welcomed with more gusto than those surrounding the Christmas season.Festivities last much longer than in mainland cities to the north, although not everyone agrees on just when they actually begin. For some, Dec. 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, marks their official opening, while others contend that the ball gets rolling as early as Thanksgiving.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- High-ranking police officials trained by the FBI and armed by a U.S. marshal formed a secret unit that may have committed political murders in an effort to destroy the Puerto Rican independence movement in the 1980s, government investigators here say.Calling itself the "Defenders of Democracy," the group "was designed to kill and persecute people for their political beliefs," said Sen. Marco Antonio Rigau, chairman of the Puerto Rican...

BARCELONA, Spain -- It has been the most consistent phase of the United States' game plan. The Americans love to steal bases. And hit and run. They want to take the extra base, and keep the pressure on the opponent.Yesterday, the U.S. baseball team was unstoppable. It scored three runs in the first inning on four hits and three steals. The United States scored three more in the third with one hit and two steals.It eventually added up to 10 stolen bases and an 8-2 victory over Puerto Rico that advanced the United States to the four-team medal round that also includes Cuba (5-0)

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - From all preliminary indications, the vagabond Montreal Expos will be very well-received when they play 22 games in San Juan, Puerto Rico, this season, and that could mean even more games there next year. There has been speculation that Major League Baseball and the players union could agree to stage half of the Expos home schedule in Puerto Rico in 2004 if no decision has been made on relocating the franchise permanently to Washington or another site. "You're open-minded," Major League Baseball Players Association executive director Donald Fehr said on Thursday.

Though he never saw him play, he idolizes Roberto Clemente as a "role model for everybody in Puerto Rico."He can see his biggest critic in the mirror because "I get mad. I expect a lot of myself and when I don't come through, I need to say something loud, get it out."That's Luis Matos, the talented center fielder of the Frederick Keys who led the Orioles organization with 43 stolen bases last year and is making steady progress toward Baltimore.Only 20, the native of Bayamon, Puerto Rico, still has a lot to learn, according to Frederick manager Andy Etchebarren, but his talent is evident.

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Orioles center fielder Luis Matos underwent successful surgery yesterday at Johns Hopkins Hospital to insert a rod in his fractured right shin. He was allowed to return home last night and will be on crutches for about 10 days. The surgery was performed by Dr. Andrew Cosgarea, an orthopedic specialist. Matos was "in recovery and doing fine," said Orioles head trainer Richie Bancells. "He'll basically have to stay off [his leg] for about two weeks and then he'll go home to Puerto Rico if everything goes well.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - With 120 killings logged in less than seven weeks, slayings in Puerto Rico are running at a pace that could make 2004 the commonwealth's deadliest in a decade. "We recognize the number of murders is way too many," said police Superintendent Augustin Cartagena, in office only three weeks. "We are sending a message to the gang members and drug dealers that this is going to stop." So far this year, an average of five people are slain in Puerto Rico every two days - a rate that, unless it's curbed, could push the number of slayings on the island past 900 this year.