El estado colonial y la tragedia en el Cerro Maravilla

“Conspiracy to hide the truth:” El estado colonial y la tragedia en el Cerro Maravilla según resumida por el juez federal Jaime Pieras en una decisión oficial del tribunal de distrito en San Juan

[Nota de Siglo 22: En todo asesinato político, la bala asesina sigue órdenes de muchos jefes. Quien dispara nunca es el único responsable.  Ni siquiera, y a pesar de su acción irredimible, el más importante. El gendarme que hala un gatillo es solo el eslabón, último y fatal, construido por una cadena de causas que lo forman y explican.  Su acción está en una secuencia que incluye al estado, una ideología contra disidentes y, en el mundo colonial, mensajes de la metrópoli y sus aparatos de inteligencia. En algunos casos, esos mensajes son el punto originario de la cadena. El crimen político también se alimenta de un sentido común que gobiernos, instituciones educativas y prensa crean y promueven contra aquellos con otro sentido común, uno que se considera “clínico”:  son “locos” y “terroristas” incapaces de ver las “bienandanzas” que los demás ven.  Extirparlos se transforma en acto de purificación política. En el Cerro Maravilla, el estado colonial y su ideología, expresada por el gobernador de turno, organizaron, dispararon y asesinaron a dos jóvenes independentistas. Son otros dos mártires de la lucha pro-independencia.  Y dos que, en sus últimos minutos de vida, mostraron el espíritu indómito y generoso que los recorría.  “No le hagan daño al chofer de taxi”, fue la oración final en su testamento político cuando defendieron la vida y la inocencia.  Las defendieron no para ellos y sí para otro ser humano.  Fueron así los que expresaron valores de un orden constitucional que los sabuesos y sus handlers jamás hubiesen entendido. Bajo el romerismo, el estado colonial se atrincheró en la mentira.  Pero las denuncias del independentismo representado en aquel momento por el Partido Socialista Puertorriqueño y el Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño y, sobre todo, por decisiones valientes del liderato senatorial del Partido Popular Democrático y su investigador principal, Héctor Rivera Cruz, descascararon la sarta de mentiras de la conspiración. En el ámbito jurídico, le tocó a un juez federal y anexionista, Jaime Pieras, desde la autoridad de la judicatura y a nombre del gobierno norteamericano que representaba, declarar que los anexionistas romeristas asesinaron, mintieron y sufrieron las consecuencias.  En otras palabras, un juez federal refrendó lo que el independentismo ya había dicho. Lo que no dijo fue que los autores intelectuales quedaron impunes. Aquí publicamos las palabras del juez Pieras].

In the summer of 1978, while the plaintiff was serving his first term as Governor, two young supporters of a radical nationalist pro-independence group were killed in a shooting incident with police officers at a mountain locale known as Cerro Maravilla. The police reported that the two men were killed while resisting arrest. However, the incident took on considerable political importance and was the subject of intense media coverage as evidence surfaced suggesting that Arnaldo Darío Rosado and Carlos Soto Arriví were murdered after they surrendered to the police. This incident also gave rise to a host of legal actions, both in federal court and in the courts of Puerto Rico. A brief review is in order.

On February 6, 1984, a federal grand jury for the District of Puerto Rico returned a forty-four (44) count indictment against nine (9) members of the Intelligence Department of the Puerto Rico Police for a conspiracy to: (1) obstruct justice in a criminal investigation, (2) give false testimony in depositions and before federal grand juries, and (3) suborn perjury. United States v. Moreno Morales, 815 F.2d 725, 730 (1st Cir. 1987).

In essence, the indictment charged the defendants with engaging in a conspiracy to «`prevent the citizens of Puerto Rico and law enforcement authorities of Puerto Rico and the United States from learning that Arnaldo Darío Rosado and Carlos Soto Arriví had been unlawfully brutalized and killed by officers of the Police of Puerto Rico.'» Id. (quoting from the indictment). All defendants were police officers present during the Cerro Maravilla incident. On March 28, 1985, a jury found the defendants guilty on thirty-six (36) of the forty-four (44) counts. With the exception of Colón Berríos’ conviction, which was reversed on appeal, see Moreno Morales, 815 F.2d at 752, all convictions were upheld. The defendants received different sentences, which ranged from six to thirty years.

The desire to keep the events that transpired at Cerro Maravilla secret was not limited to police officers. On October 10, 1986, an Independent Special Prosecutor filed disciplinary charges in the Puerto Rico Supreme Court for ethics violations against five different state prosecutors that participated in the initial Cerro Maravilla investigation. The complaint named the following state prosecutors: Pedro Colton Fontán, Osvaldo Villanueva Díaz, Aurelio Miró Carrión, Angel Figueroa Vivas, and Juan E. Brunet Justiniano. The Independent Special Prosecutor charged these attorneys with improper professional conduct during the investigations of the events leading to the death of Arnaldo Darío Rosado and Carlos Soto Arriví. Specifically, these attorneys were accused of hindering their own investigations and ignoring evidence supporting the proposition that Darío Rosado and Soto Arriví had been murdered. After due consideration by the Puerto Rico Supreme Court, the attorneys received severe disciplinary sanctions as the Court found that they had violated various ethical obligations during their investigation of the Cerro Maravilla murders by willfully ignoring available evidence.  See, In re Pedro Colton, 91 J.T.S. 24 (1991).

Finally, and most importantly, on January 18, 1985, various police officers present at Cerro Maravilla at the time of the incident Angel Luis Pérez Casillas, Rafael Moreno Morales, Nelson González Cruz, Juan Bruno González, Nazario Mateo Espada, Jaime Quiles Hernández, William Colón Martínez, and Rafael Torres Marrero were charged, among other counts, with first degree murder for the deaths of Arnaldo Darío Rosado and Carlos Soto Arriví. Shortly thereafter, Nelson González Cruz, Juan Bruno González, Nazario Mateo Espada, Jaime Quiles Hernández, and Rafael Torres Marrero, pled guilty to second degree murder and perjury charges. William Colón Martínez pled guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and two (2) counts of perjury. The other two defendants went to trial. On March 18, 1988, a jury found Angel Luis Pérez Casillas innocent of all charges, and Rafael Moreno Morales guilty of second degree murder as to the death of Carlos Soto Arriví. See, Puerto Rico v. Pérez Casillas, 92 J.T.S. 171 (1992). The Court sentenced Rafael Moreno Morales to a prison term of twenty-two (22) to thirty (30) years pursuant to local law. Id. After Moreno Morales’ sentence was affirmed on appeal, see Id., the last chapter of this dark and sad saga was finally over.

As these cases demonstrate, Carlos Soto Arriví and Arnaldo Darío Rosado were ambushed and murdered by Puerto Rico police officers. To protect themselves, the police officers involved created a conspiracy to hide the truth surrounding the murders. Furthermore, state prosecutors wilfully ignored available evidence during their investigations which, at the very least, suggested that police officers murdered Darío Rosado and Soto Arriví. These actions by the state prosecutors allowed the police officers involved to initially succeed in their conspiracy to hide the truth. The hearings on the Cerro Maravilla incident held by the Judiciary Committee of the Puerto Rico Senate («the Committee»), which serve as the framework upon which the complaint is based in this case, were undoubtedly the catalyst force that unmasked the truth about the murders.