亿万富翁：为避税移居波多黎各要小心

    贫困迫使很多人干起了黑市营生，最突出的就是毒品交易。波多黎各是进入美国市场的一个绝好门户，从这个岛国起飞前往美国本土的航班都被视为国内航班。从哥伦比亚等地方偷运毒品至这个岛国非常容易，使得波多黎各成为了永不停息的毒品战中一个最危险的十字路口。2011年的波多黎各谋杀案创下了历史新高，有1,136人被杀身亡。每10万人里就有31个人被杀，这样的谋杀率是美国的7.5倍，比墨西哥高近25%。

    不只是贩毒者被杀；在入室偷盗抢劫、行凶抢劫和汽车抢劫中，一些普通公民(很多是专业人士)被杀，这些案件与毒品战总是有着渊源。圣胡安高档社区Condado的行凶抢劫案呈现上升，据报道保尔森正在考虑在这里购买一处物业。美国国家公共电台(NPR)最近的一周特别报道中就阐述了此类行凶抢劫案，凸显了这个岛国的治安乱象。《纽约时报》(New York Times)报道了一个案件，2011年夏季一位银行高管在驾驶自己的雷克萨斯(Lexus)车时，颈部中枪三弹。

    两起备受瞩目的谋杀案似乎已将波多黎各推到了边界。第一起是去年11月份的枪击命案，三届拳击冠军海克特•“马楚”•卡马科在一家夜总会门口，坐在自己的车里，遭到不明身份者的袭击。第二起是去年12月份的乔斯•艾里克•高梅兹。广告人高梅兹在遭到四位年轻人的抢劫和殴打后，身上被浇上汽油点燃。这起残忍野蛮的杀害令波多黎各举国震动，因为高梅兹遭到抢劫是在一个被认为“安全”的地区，而且他没有卷入毒品交易。瑞奇•马丁和其他波多黎各名人——他们中已无一人真正住在波多黎各——纷纷在Twitter、Facebook等社交媒体网站中抗议这起谋杀。

    暴力哪里都会有，但波多黎各的高谋杀率很快就会将这些富人们送回美国。波多黎各的新总督亚历桑德罗•加西亚•帕蒂拉上任后的第一道命令，就是要求国民警卫队在一些重要地区展开巡逻。加强安保，可能带来一些改变。虽然派遣军队进行日常巡逻这样的做法通常会受到批评，但由于波多黎各警方的无能，这可能是维持社会秩序所必须的。政治风险和高犯罪率，这样的图景对于百万富翁们似乎绝无吸引力，更别提像保尔森这样的亿万富翁了。（财富中文网）

    译者：早稻米

    The poverty has forced many into the underground economy, most notably the drug trade. Puerto Rico is an excellent gateway into the U.S. market as planes taking off from the island bound for the mainland are considered domestic flights. Smuggling drugs on the island from places like Colombia has become child's play, making Puerto Rico one of the deadliest crossroads in the never-ending War on Drugs. Murders on the island hit an all-time high in 2011 with 1,136 people killed. The murder rate of 31 per 100,000 people is six-and-a-half times higher than that of the U.S. and nearly a quarter more than that of Mexico.

    It is not just drug smugglers getting killed; ordinary citizens, many of them professionals, have been killed in a rash of fatal burglaries, home invasions, muggings, and car jackings, which have their roots in the drug war. Muggings in the posh Condado neighborhood in San Juan, the area Paulson is reportedly looking into buying a property, are on the rise. NPR recently profiled one such mugging in a week-long special highlighting the troubles plaguing the island. The New York Times told the story of a banking executive who was shot three times in the neck while driving his Lexus in the summer of 2011.

    A couple of high-profile murders seem to have pushed Puerto Rico over the edge. The first was the shooting death in November of three-time boxing champion Hector "Macho" Camacho while he was sitting in his car outside of a nightclub by unknown assailants. The second was the death of José Enrique Gomez in December. Gomez, a publicist, was robbed, beaten and doused with gasoline, and then set alight by four young men. The brutal and senseless killing shocked the nation because Gomez was robbed in a supposedly "safe" area and was not involved in the drug trade. Ricky Martin and other Puerto Rican celebrities -- none of whom actually live in Puerto Rico anymore -- took to social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook to protest the murder.

    Crime happens everywhere, but the high murder rate in Puerto Rico is enough to send the toughest plutocrat back to the U.S. in short order. The new governor of Puerto Rico, Alejandro Garcia Padilla, activated the National Guard to patrol key areas of the country as his first order. The stepped-up presence could make a difference. While sending in the troops is usually frowned upon for routine patrols, it may be necessary to retain order given the ineptitude of the Puerto Rico police force. But the political risks combined with the crime seem to paint a picture that isn't ready to bring in millionaires, let alone billionaires like Paulson.