Commonwealths 72 billion debt. Despite this legislative action, puerto rico was not able to honor all of its debt obligations has defaulted now for a fourth time. Many critics of the bill say it still wont be enough to save the island. And here to talk more about this this morning, lydia valencia, c. E. O. And president of the Puerto Rican Congress of new jersey, and franklyn p . Rez from the National Puerto rican agenda. Promesa. . Le gusto o no . Its its necessary its far from perfect. Its very far from perfect. Yes, i think well all agree on that. I think that that is something that we can all agree on. What are the, in a nutshell, some of the issues that you have with it immediately, off the top of your head . I dont have so much of a problem with an oversight board. Yes. I do have a problem when its a control board. Okay. And, also, the fact that it doesnt have any guarantees that i think that that would play a very large role in its implementation. Franklyn, same question. I am totally against the board. Totally against it. Totally against the board. I shouldnt say totally against the board. Im totally against the promesa act because of the many deficiencies which it contains. The first and most important one is that it does not provide for an Economic Development plan to replace the section 936 taxexempt arrangement which existed prior to 1996 and which was phased out between 96 and 2002, which is what led to the economic crisis which we have in puerto rico now. Mmhmm. Promesa stands for puerto rico oversight management and economic stability act. If you had it your way and i dont think anyone would have been 100 pleased with whatever the outcome might have been what changes would you have made if you were in the position . Franklyn, you first. There would be no need for a board, or there would be no need exempted from chapter 9, or from the Bankruptcy Code, in 1983. There is absolutely no explanation for why, when they made amendments to the Bankruptcy Code back in the 80s, the excluded puerto rico from that, which prior to that, we had the ability to file for bankruptcy and reorganization. Just the way the 50 states can do. Exactly. What changes would you have made had you been in the position to say, heres what id like to see in the bill, or, heres whats necessary to stability on the island, you have to have Economic Development, you have to have job creation, all of which are not in the bill. Really, the way if you look at the bill as it stands now, talks more of a Collection Agency type situation to pay the debt, and at the cost of what is the question. The people on the other side the solution would be the job creation and Economic Development of the island. And i know that with more specifics on that, though. How do you create jobs . Well, as franklyn said, the 936 the taking away of the 936, i think, was key at this whole domino effect that has happened on the island. But thats more than 10 years ago, right . Well, it was phased out in the act the action taken by 20 years ago. It was phased out over a period of six years until 2002. But nothing replaced it. There was no replacement of incentives to bring manufacturing jobs to puerto rico. Mmhmm. And there was no plan for addressing way back the problem of overspending by the government of puerto rico, which later on, in between 2008 and violation of the constitutional provision that you cannot sell more than comes in. You cannot sell more general Obligation Bonds than tax money comes in to meet those obligations. Yeah, i dont think theres any doubt that theres a lot of blame to go around for why puerto ricos in the position that its in, but the things that youre asking for, could they have been done before july 1st, earlier this month . Well, theres a number of things that couldve been done to avoid the need for promesa and to act in such a short, irrational period. If you listen to former governor an . Bal acevedo vil . , he says that he predicted this problem would have arisen more than two years ago. There was a problem with the borrowing in 2014 of 3. 5 billion in bonds, when puerto rico, at that point, had been downgraded to almost junk status. Yes. And we borrowed another 3. 5 billion to pay off prior which was unconstitutional. Sit tight. There are some Puerto Ricans who, i wouldnt say, like the deal but went along with the deal. Well talk about them, and ill propose to you and present to you what they had to say and get your thoughts on that. When we come back, more on the promesa bill and its impact on puerto ricos financial crisis. Still ahead on tiempo, Many Americans can now legally travel to cuba for the first time in more than 50 years. We have some useful tips for you that you should know before you plan your trip to the island. Sit tight. whispering mom said i could have a midnight snack. Well, i say its late, and you need to go to bed. Why . Because i am the boss. Youre not the boss, moms the boss. Well, technically, we are cobosses. Technically, moms the boss. Mmmm. Shhh. Weve been talking this morning about the recently passed promesa bill and what it means for puerto ricos fiscal future. I want to show you something that was put up by nydia vel . Zquez in a release that she put out why i am voting yes on promesa. She says. You hear that, what runs through your mind . Franklyn, you first. I think that theres a lot of questions with respect to that statement. There are some questions about whether or not the United States government would be held responsible for the debt of puerto rico, given that we are subject to the territorial clause. And there is a guam case, which acevedo vil . , the governor, basically the Supreme Court held basically that the obligations with respect to the bonds can be both of the people of guam as well as the people of the United States because of our territorial relationship. Youre getting a little deep. I see you shaking your head. Why do you thats something that i had thought of. You know, if you have a child, and they are running credit, youre responsible, to put it in very simple terms. Please do. Responsibility for the debt that occurred. And im sure that we have a legal case. Well, let me get to what i think youre going to because her argument and part of that presentation in the release, she says, we hit a fork in the road, and the fork in the road was pass promesa, or we end up in court. And if we end up in court, were gonna lose to people with a lot of money, and its gonna drag on for years. And the result will be, hospitals dont get paid, politicians uh, police dont get paid, firefighters dont get paid. So it had b thats her argument. Why does that not hold water . Because the main argument is the fear of litigation, that everybody was gonna run to the courthouse and that the courthouse would then start imposing injunctions and freezing assets and things of that nature. Thats very far down the line. Bob menendez was arguing about the need to have more time to debate the question and look for a bill that would be much more protective of the interests of the 3. 5 million u. S. Citizens in puerto rico. But the argument was, youre out of time. There was no time. Time. It was just i think we jumped the gun. I mean, when you settle for what is being offered, i think you jump the gun. And i think we hadnt made the other payments. Not to make one other payment really wasnt going to have a vast problem at the end of the day on july 1st. There are those who would disagree with you, and well leave that conversation for continuing. But is there a lesson to be learned out of this in, shall we reactively . In the area of the Health Crisis. Well, its a Health Crisis for sure. Were heading that way. I think we need to look at that proactively. I mean, we cant wait to do what weve done with promesa, which is wait until the wolf is at the door and then try and just scare it away. Yeah. So, we need to act proactively and look at the solutions and raising that cap from the federal government. Give me something to sink my teeth into. I think the diaspora has a large role to play. I mean, its congress thats going to decide what rules in puerto rico. Mmhmm. So its congress that we need to talk to. There are very specific weve got 30 seconds, so. There are very specific things that could be done. The cabotage law, the 1917 jones act eliminate that. Why do we have to bring every product thats imported into puerto rico to jacksonville, florida, exchange it to an american flagship to ship to puerto rico and increase the expenses . The medicaid parities he medicaid parities very quickly cause i know you wanted to mention it weve got about 15 seconds a summit coming up at the end of the month. We have two things coming up at the end of the month july 24th that will be in camden, new jersey, and lydia is responsible in part for organizing that is the Constituents Assembly of the National Puerto rican agenda, where an agenda will be set forth both for the organization and for the diaspora in the United States and for puerto rico. Okay. And then on the 25th of july at the National Democratic invited everyone to come down and protest at the Democratic Convention because of the way puerto ricos being treated on parity issues and everything else. Were out of time. Well be talking about this for sure, especially as the end of the month approaches. Un placer. Thank you both for being here very, very much. Thank you so much. Thank you. Coming up next on tiempo, Many Americans can now legally travel to cuba for the first time in more than 50 years. We have some useful tips you should know about before you plan your trip to the island. Sit tight. Thats coming up next. I know you [laughs] welcome hi were your neighbors. We live across the street. Thanks for this. I see youve got Time Warner Cable like the rest of the hood. Genius. Yeah, they offer tons of free hd channels. And you can record six shows at the same time. Entertainment nirvana wow. Nirvana. Switch to Time Warner Cable for 89. 99 per month, youll get free hd channels, 100 meg internet with no data cap, and unlimited calling. Call now. Looks like youre all hooked up. Games about to start. Lets do it. Were watching here . Oh yeah. Ohh. How about you and i go watch my favorite show . Switching is easy. Youll get our exclusive onehour arrival window, a moneyback guarantee, and theres no contract to sign. Oh youve got the twc phone. Its unlimited calling to like half the world. Including mexico, canada, india, european union. Yeah. This will work as a coffee table. Dont ah it says. Fragile. Get tv, internet and phone for 89. 99 per month. Plus free installation, tv equipment, and epix included. The caribbean island of cuba is an amazing travel destination that for decades has really been off the radar for travels due to complex politics, if you will. But renewed diplomatic relations, the easing of travel restrictions, plus reestablished flights to and from the island has all resulted in major interest for those hoping to visit the island. However, before you book your some important tips you should know about, the ins and outs of traveling to beautiful cuba. Here to shed some light for us, our good friend vito echevarria, consultant from travelucion. Com, and steve marshall, c. E. O. And director from cuba ventures corporation. Welcome to you both. Good to have you back, my friend. Pleasure. Thank you. You come armed with tips, do you not . Of course, of course. Because because youre seeing a lot more people going, right . I mean, its just taken off, hasnt it . Its been picking up. I mean, one of the factors, of have been coming out about the celebrities going there. You have a situation with vin diesel in particular filming the new fast and furious film out there recently. Michael bay from transformers hes gonna be doing his film out there shortly. Right. And then you also have the chanel fashion show which was done, you know, in may. You know, so, thats been a huge factor, the whole celebrity buzz, if you will, thats making cuba a bucket list destination, if you will. So, people see that, steve, and say, i want to be like vin diesel . Exactly. [ laughter ] i want to get to the list good, practical information for all of you to keep in mind if youre thinking of heading to cuba. All right, here we go. Hiring a driver is advisable. Yes. Instead of what . Instead of you driving . Yeah, because theres an issue with if you get into a car accident out there, you could be stuck out there. The authorities will prevent you from leaving the island until the case is resolved in the courts. Wow. So we advise people you know, you can rent a car, but you still should get a driver to, you know, get you around especially in the major cities. Yeah. All right. Which is havana. And we should point out steve knows what hes talking because you lived on the island . Exactly, for 12 years. Yeah, exactly, yeah. You hablas espa . Ol . I have three cuban daughters. S . , hablo espa . Ol perfectamente. [ laughs ] it sounds good to me. Ill let you tackle the next one watch out for pickpockets. Exactly, yeah. In some of the major cities, especially in havana old havana specifically you want to just make sure your bag is closed and just keep your eye out. No, i was gonna say i mean, i wanted to stress, like, cubas still the safest country anywhere in latin america, you know, but still you should use your new york sense, if you will, new york street sense to make sure nothing happens when youre out there. Well, theyre as much aware as anyone that people are coming and people coming in big numbers. And because of the next tip that youre going to put out here bring lots of cash. Usually pickpockets like to go where theres cash. I mean, theres an issue, debit cards dont work in cuba right now. Ah, okay. So americans do need to take enough cash for their stay while theyre in cuba. Yeah. Theres still, you know, some legalities that have to be worked out between the american and cuban banking systems, you know, so thats real reason why right now american credit cards and debit cards are still no good out there, even though we have this diplomatic opening between the two countries, if you will. So, youre literally using cash to pay for your hotel . Everything. A cab, your meals, everything . Yes. All right. Bring lots of cash. Trip. Are you talking medications for everything from pharmaceuticals to, you know, shampoos, you know bandaids. Everything. Yeah, everyday stuff. Well, why its just tough to find it in cuba. The essentials that youd easily find here, you will have difficulty finding there. And theyre very pricey. When you do find them, theyre very pricey. I mean, in the past, for example, my friends were asking for such items as, you know, blond hair coloring, you know, things like that. Well, sunscreen is a big deal. Yes. Well, your skin tone perfect for the caribbean. Thank you. [ laughter ] but finding a bottle of shampoo can be a challenge . Yeah, a bit of a challenge because, i mean, the Retail Sector in cuba is very limited, and the selections not that great, you know, especially for american standards. Were really spoiled here because here in new york, in particular, every other corner has a duane reade or a cvs drugstore. Right. You dont have that in cuba. Theres no rite aids. Theres no walgreens. No, definitely not. Yeah. Steve, plan ahead for mustgo events, events like what . Cigar festival. You have the cinema festival in cuba, too. And there are also quite a lot of concerts taking place now in cuba. Okay. You know, obviously major lazer was just there, for example, right . Yeah. And youve got some big groups playing in cuba, so plan ahead for that. Now, when you say plan ahead, take it a step further. A, how far ahead . And, b, what are you planning . Well, yeah, for example, if youre gonna be doing travel, say, this coming september or december, you should do a little coming up. I mean, a perfect example is what happened last march with the Rolling Stones concert out there. I mean, who would have thought that the Rolling Stones, of all people, would be doing a gig out there . It shows you that theres interest there. All right, sit tight. Were gonna take a break. Well pick this up when we come back. More on travel tips to cuba when we come right back on tiempo. . . . . . . Not just anyone can pitch like allstar jacob degrom, but anyone could save money with geico. vo itd be great to take a break from the expected, virtually. Now, you can. Experience the new gold castle scratchoff with 3d gameplay. Play in a new dimension, only from the new york lottery. Welcome back to tiempo. Weve been talking this morning about the ins and outs of travel to cuba. Lots of travel interest right now focused on the caribbean island. Shedding light for us, vito echevarria, consultant from travelucion. Com, steve marshall, thank you both for being here. One of the things i wanted to ask you and, steve, this is more for you. Lets start here hotels. Yeah. Vito and i have been here before. Weve discussed that occupancy in the hotels can be a challenge, that they fill up quickly. Enlighten me on the difference between hotels perhaps at the shore and hotels inland, perhaps in the main in the capital. Well, currently, there are only 68,000 hotels rooms in cuba. Thats it. About 70 of those hotels are segments that have been approved for americans to visit cuba, those hotels that are on the coastline or on the beach are out of bounds. So basically only 30 so, thats around about 20,000 rooms are available for americans who are visiting cuba. And that is particularly why its really important that americans embrace the cuban private sector and use bedandbreakfasts there is an ample number of bedandbreakfasts in cuba other aspects of the private economy, such as the paladar restaurants, which are privately owned restaurants. How do you access Casa Particulares . How do you get a reservation . Well, for example, on our websites, cubahavana. Com, cubaoldhavana. Com, you can visualize and see over 450 private homes. And were actually currently uploading another 4,000 private homes across all of our million page views a year. And 33 of these visitors are now from the u. S. Give me a ballpark estimate on a weeks stay, a nights stay, however you want to well, youre looking at prices between 20 and 35 bucks a night. A night. That is the price. Very reasonable, yeah. Completely reasonable. Yeah. [ laughs ] does a little bit about what he said clarify for people that, if im thinking of going to cuba to go to the beach and throw down some pi . A coladas or some havana rum that thats not really reality. Obamas, you know, policy right now, youre supposed to go there, you know, basically for cultural educational reasons. However, if youre real savvy, if you can work out a situation where, you know, youre doing some type of research lets say the ocean or sea or whatever marine life. Marine life, that sort of thing then you have a legitimate reason for being at the beach. Because what could happen if you [ laughs ] whats the penalty or what could happen if you went under the guidance of, im going for education or art, but you end up at the beach . What could go wrong . I mean, under obamas policy, you know, americans are basically going under the honor system. So, when they check off why theyre going to cuba in the first place and say theyre going for, you know, educational cultural reasons, if they deviate from that, at some point, the Treasury Department thats ofac you know, may step in and ask that particular traveler, okay, what were you really doing out there . Okay. Yeah. Weve talked before about flights, and it seems like every other day, more and more airlines are sending more flights to cuba. However, theyre not necessarily going to the capital city, are cities holgu . N, camaguey, santiago de cuba. Those are the routes that have been given until now. Okay. Department of transportation, yeah. They cleared that recently. Whats the holdup with flights to havana . Well, whats going on is, theres a huge demand for flights to havana, of course, all the major american airlines. So, because of that, you know, theres a delay in the process, the applications. Were probably not gonna hear anything about it until, lets say, this september, in terms of which airlines are gonna be granted those routes straight to havana. And, steve, are travelers still pretty capitalcentric when theyre going to visit havana or cuba . Yeah, unfortunately, the major focus from the u. S. Is obviously havana. I guess, just historically, thats the case. Sure. But cuba has numerous 500yearold cities. And you can experience cuban culture right across the country. I mean, you know, theres no reason particularly to go specifically to havana. And you could easily visit a just spend a day in havana from trinidad. Its only a couple of hours drive. Santa clara. Santa claras another one. Yeah, santiago de cuba. Fantastic colonial city. Yeah. We got 30 seconds left. Hotels he shed light on it a little bit, but is the development continuing . I think starwood or somebody starwood has a deal to manager three hotels in havana right now. So, obviously, because of that, you know, you have this momentum taking place from other companies to strike deals with various cuban entities, you know, to really get into that market. Mmhmm. cause its only growing. I mean, there are currently over three million tourists going there, and its only gonna grow. All right, guys. Tips on traveling to and from cuba. Thank you guys both very much. Before we go, a look at the tiempo Community Calendar for this week. Today in manhattan, the annual street salsa street party and old timers stickball game comes to el barrio, located at 111th street and 5th avenue allday the event runs through 6 00 p. M. Today on long island, the 5th annual colombian pride festival comes to Eisenhower Park in east meadow. Live performances and tons of food there, as well. That event runs from 2 00 this afternoon to 9 00 tonight. Admission is free. Much . Simas gracias. Thanks for spending part of your sunday with us. Dont forget you can watch tiempo at abc7ny on the web, on your tablet, or even on your smartphone. We will see you next time on here and now, the Program Featuring the news and interests of the africanamerican community. Heres your host, sandra bookman. Coming up, reaction to the resignation of new York City Police commissioner bill bratton. How will new leadership affect the strained relationship between the nypd and the black community . And the new book, nobody casualties of americas war on well talk with its author, marc lamont hill. Later, operation backpack, providing much needed School Supplies to thousands of children in new york city shelters. Plus, Tony Awardwinning actor and singer leslie odom jr. Whats next after the broadway hit hamilton . Thats all ahead on
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