Madagascar Development

Dozens of FBI agents are seizing documents and electronic equipment at the city hall of a financially struggling town in northern Puerto Rico. The special agent in charge of the FBI's San Juan division said Tuesday that agents were serving a search warrant at the government offices in Toa Baja. Douglas Leff said the FBI would turn over potential evidence to the U.S. Attorney's Office. The reason for the search isn't clear. The FBI did not release further details. The Internal Revenue Service recently froze Toa Baja's accounts because of a $1.5 million debt and the city government temporarily shut down most operations. Mayor Jorge Ortiz said he is cooperating and declined further comment. FBI agents raid financially troubled town in Puerto Rico

The federal board overseeing Puerto Rico's financial restructuring on Friday set a target date of Jan. 31, 2017 to certify a fiscal turnaround plan for the U.S. territory, and heard from bondholders and industry leaders about the merits of a draft of the proposal. The board, created this year under the Puerto Rico rescue law known as PROMESA, is working on debt restructuring talks with holders of Puerto Rico's $70 billion in bonds in an effort to pull the struggling island out of a crisis marked by a 45 percent poverty rate and shrinking population. The bipartisan, seven-member board must approve the island’s annual budgets and certify a fiscal turnaround plan submitted by its governor, Alejandro Garcia Padilla. The governor presented a draft plan last month, forecasting a financing gap as high as $59 billion over 10 years. While the plan proposes some revenue-generating measures to close the gap, it relies heavily on cutting repayments to bondholders. Board Chairman Jo...

Puerto Rican first lady Wilma Pastrana Jimenez on Monday welcomed Beatriz Areizaga Garcia, the wife of the island's governor-elect, Ricardo Rossello, to La Fortaleza, the gubernatorial residence. Pastrana Jimenez had invited her successor as first lady to visit the first family's residential area and the main halls in Santa Catalina Palace. According to a statement released by the Governor's Office, the pair discussed raising their children in the executive mansion, which was designated a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 1983. The first lady explained the restoration work on the mansion carried out under the current administration not only in terms of preserving the historic site but also to increase the safety of residents, visitors and the enjoyment of La Fortaleza for all Puerto Ricans. The meeting also allowed the incoming first lady to chat with Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla and to visit the current first lady's office, from where in recent years she has he...