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Acevedo Vilá calls for unity

In a wide-ranging inauguration speech, Gov. Aníbal Acevedo Vilá on Sunday pledged to unify a politically divided island and to make fighting Puerto Rico's growing murder rate a top priority. "The island's strength is in the unity of its people, and we have to bring everyone together," Acevedo Vilá said, standing before a crowd of more than 5,000 supporters at Luis Muñoz Marín Park. Acevedo Vilá, the U.S. territory's eighth democratically elected governor, walked more than a mile from the park, past the seaside Capitol. He supports the island's commonwealth status and served the past four years as its nonvoting representative in Congress, narrowly defeated pro-statehood candidate Pedro Rosselló, a former governor. Last week, officials declared Acevedo Vilá the winner of the recount with 48.4 percent of the votes compared with 48.2 percent for Rosselló. Two weeks ago, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston rejected the former governor's claim that about 21,000 ballots were spoiled because they were not filled out properly. The court gave jurisdiction over the ballots back to the island's Supreme Court -- which had initially ruled the votes valid -- instead of to a U.S. district judge who took jurisdiction from the high court and refused to adjudicate the disputed votes. Rosselló, who does not recognize Acevedo Vilá as the legitimate winner, did not attend the inauguration despite an invitation as a former governor. [more]