Page 12 - atoday
P. 12
A12
WORLD NEWSMonday 7 March 2016
At Press Time:
Economic crisis on voters’ minds in Puerto Rico primary
publican primary, his sec- ple who voted in 2012, due
ond win of the race for the
GOP presidential nomina- in part to a sharp reduction
tion.
It wasn’t clear how many in the number of polling
delegates the contest
awards him. places caused by budget
The U.S. territory’s three su-
per-delegates have com- cuts.
mitted to Rubio.
If a candidate gets more Voters said in interviews
than half the votes, he gets
all the delegates. If no one that they want a U.S. presi-
gets half, the delegates
are divided proportionally. dent who will help the is-
In addition officials say the
votes that some 6,000 in- land emerge from a de-
mates cast on Friday won’t
be available until Wednes- cade of recession and a
day.
Rubio also won Minnesota. debt crisis that threatens
Edwin Mundo, electoral
commissioner for Puerto basic government services.
Rico’s Republican Party,
estimated that more than “We need a radical
30,000 people participat-
ed, a fraction of the peo- change,” 53-year-old
Richard Suarez said as
he waited to cast a bal-
lot for U.S. Sen. Marco Ru-
bio in Guaynabo, a city in
Former Puerto Rico Governor and National Committeeman for the Republican Party of Puerto the San Juan metropolitan
Rico’s General Assembly Luis Fortuno shows his vote for Florida’s Senator Marco Rubio before vot-
ing during the U.S. territory’s Republican primary in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Sunday March 6, 2016. area. “Otherwise, we’ll be
(AP Photo/Carlos Giusti) stuck in the same situation
and will have to keep ask-
DANICA COTO voters in Sunday’s Repub- election in November but ing the U.S. government for
Associated Press lican primary in the U.S. is- they can take part in the
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) land territory of Puerto Rico. party primaries. favors.”
— A deep economic crisis Residents of the island can- Florida Sen. Marco Rubio
was on the minds of many not vote in the general has won Puerto Rico’s Re- Raul Octaviano, a 65-year-
old retiree, declined to say
which candidate he fa-
vored, but said it would be
someone who would help
EU, Cuba nearing deal to normalize relations the island deal with eco-
nomic conditions so grim
that tens of thousands of
HAVANA (AP) — After “We have covered all the signed immediately. during a crackdown on Puerto Ricans have moved
two years of negotiations, chapters of the agree- Since 1996, EU policy to- dissent. The EU instituted
Cuba and the European ment,” chief EU negotiator ward Cuba has been guid- limits on high-level visits to to the mainland, mostly to
Union are close to sealing Christian Leffler said, add- ed by the so-called Com- the island, reduced cultural
an agreement to normalize ing that the sides ended mon Position, which rules cooperation and began Florida, in the largest exo-
relations that soured two two days of talks on Friday out full relations with Ha- inviting dissidents to visit Eu-
decades ago, officials said with substantial progress. vana until it makes reforms ropean embassies in Cuba. dus in decades.
this weekend. Cuban and His Cuban counterpart, in areas such as more di- Leffler said it was a coin-
EU negotiators said talks Deputy Foreign Minister verse political participation cidence that Mogherini “It’s a terrible situation,”
could be concluded for Abelardo Moreno, said and freedom of expression. would visit shortly before
the March 10-11 visit to Ha- the agreement could be Relations hit a nadir in 2003 President Barack Obama’s Octaviano said. “There is
vana by EU foreign policy ready for Mogherini’s visit after Cuba imprisoned 75 historic March 21-22 trip to
chief Federica Mogherini. although it would not be government opponents Cuba. no solution on the horizon.
The decisions that have to
be taken will be painful.”
A decisive victory, with
more than half the vote,
would give one candidate
all 20 delegates at stake.
