Communication towers at Cerro Maravilla where the shootings took place.

The Cerro Maravilla Incident, also known as the Cerro Maravilla Case or the Cerro Maravilla Killings (Caso del Cerro Maravilla or Asesinatos en Cerro Maravilla in Spanish, respectively) is the name given by the Puerto Rican public and media to describe the events that occurred on July 25, 1978 at Cerro Maravilla, a mountain in Puerto Rico, wherein two young Puerto Rican pro-independence activists were killed in a police ambush. July 25 is the 206th day (207th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 159 days remaining. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... See the articles discussion page for more information. ... Flag of Puerto Rico The political movement for Puerto Rican Independence (Lucha por la Independencia Puertorriqueña) has existed since the mid-19th century and has advocated independence of the island of Puerto Rico, in varying degrees, from Spain (in the 1800s) or the United States (from 1898 to the...

The incident

Carlos Soto Arriví

Arnaldo Darío Rosado

On the night of July 25, 1978 Carlos Soto Arriví and Arnaldo Darío Rosado, two independence activists of the Armed Revolutionary Movement (Movimiento Revolucionario Armado in Spanish), along with undercover police officer Alejandro Gonzalez Malavé posing as a fellow group member, took taxi driver Julio Ortiz Molina hostage and ordered him to drive them to Cerro Maravilla where several communication towers were located. Their original plan was to set fire and sabotage the towers to protest the imprisonment of Puerto Rican nationalists convicted of the 1950 assassination attempt on U.S. President Harry S. Truman and the 1954 shooting at the United States Capitol where five members of Congress were injured.^[1] State police officers were alerted of their plan prior to their arrival and the activists were ambushed and shot.^[2][3][4] The undercover agent received a minor bullet wound during the shooting, while the taxi driver was left unharmed. Image File history File links Soto_arrivi. ... Image File history File links Soto_arrivi. ... July 25 is the 206th day (207th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 159 days remaining. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... Carlos Soto Arriví Carlos Enrique Soto Arriví (December 8, 1959 - July 25, 1978) was an activist for the independence of Puerto Rico. ... Arnaldo Darío Rosado Arnaldo Darío Rosado (November 23, 1953 - July 25, 1978) was an activist for the independence of Puerto Rico from a very young age. ... Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884 – December 26, 1972) was the thirty-third President of the United States (1945–1953); as Vice-President, he succeeded to the office upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. ... The presidential seal was used by President Hayes in 1880 and last modified in 1959 by adding the 50th star for Hawaii. ... Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884 – December 26, 1972) was the thirty-third President of the United States (1945–1953); as Vice-President, he succeeded to the office upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. ... The U.S. Capitol shooting incident of 1954 was an attack on March 1, 1954 by four Puerto Rican nationalists who shot thirty rounds of a Luger and automatic pistol from the Ladies Gallery (a balcony for visitors) of the U.S. House of Representatives into the floor of the... The United States Capitol Capitol Hill redirects here. ...

Initial statements

The morning after the shootings, the officers argued that they acted in self defense, stating that they ordered the activists to surrender, at which time the activists started shooting at them and they returned fire. Initially, the taxi driver said he was under the dashboard of his cab when the shooting started and could not see who shot first,^[4] although he contradicted his statement a few days later in an interview with the San Juan Star, a local newspaper, stating that he ducked under the dashboard of the car after the three men (the two activists and the undercover agent) left the car, and that he saw 10 heavily armed men approaching.^{[citation needed]} When he emerged from the car, he saw the three men alive and two of them were being beaten by the armed men, who were later identified as policemen.^[3] This article and defense of property deal with the legal concept of excused (sometimes termed justified) acts that might otherwise be illegal. ... Taxicab, short forms taxi or cab, is a type of public transport for single passenger or small group of passengers, typically for non-shared ride. ... The San Juan Star is an english-language newspaper based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. ...

The first investigations

Then Governor of Puerto Rico Carlos Romero Barceló (PNP) praised the officers in a televised address by calling them “heroic”,^[3] stating that they acted in self-defense and stopped a terrorist attack. However, facing public pressure due to the taxi driver’s conflicting statements, the Governor ordered two separate investigations by the P.R. Justice Department in addition to the ongoing standard Police investigation, all of which concluded that the officers' actions were free of any wrongdoing, despite various inconsistencies in their stories.^[3][4] Opposing political parties, mainly the Popular Democratic Party (PDP), insisted that the investigations were just cover-ups and demanded that a special independent prosecutor be assigned to investigate.^[3] Two special investigations by the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were performed on separate occasions between 1978 and 1980, which confirmed the conclusions of the P.R. Justice Department that the officers acted in self-defense.^[5][1] Order: 5th Democratically Elected Governor Term of Office: January 2, 1977– January 2, 1985 Predecessor: Rafael Hernández Colón Successor: Rafael Hernández Colón Date of Birth: Sunday, September 4, 1932 Place of Birth: San Juan, Puerto Rico First Lady: Kate Donnally Profession: Lawyer Political Party: New Progressive... The abbreviation or acronym PNP may refer to: Plug-and-play Principles and parameters (P&P) - a linguistics framework A particular polarity of Transistor Partido Nuevo Progresista, Puerto Rican political party Peoples National Party, the ruling political party in Jamaica Philippine National Police One of the two fundamental types... The Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico —or Partido Popular Democrático de Puerto Rico (PPD) in Spanish— is a political party that stands for Puerto Rico to be a free associated state of the United States, which is also known as a commonwealth status. ... The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) is a Cabinet department in the United States government designed to enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans. ... The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the federal criminal investigative and intelligence agency, which is the principal investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ...

The second investigations

In the November 1980 general elections, Governor Romero Barceló was re-elected by a margin of 3,000 votes (one of the closest in Puerto Rico history), though his party lost control of the state legislature to the main opposing party, the PDP. This loss is widely attributed to the surrounding controversy regarding the investigations at the time.^[1] The Legislature quickly started new inquiries and hearings into the Cerro Maravilla incident. The Senate, then presided by Miguel Hernández Agosto, spearheaded the investigations by naming former Assistant District Attorney Hector Rivera Cruz to investigate.^[1] Politics of Puerto Rico Categories: Election related stubs | Elections in Puerto Rico ... The Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico is the legislative branch of the government of Puerto Rico. ... A district attorney is, in some U.S. jurisdictions, the title of the local public official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminals. ...

The second investigations performed between 1981 and 1984 by the legislature, the U.S. Justice Department, and the local press brought to light a plot to assassinate the activists and a possible, though not conclusive, conspiracy to cover-up these actions. During interviews of the Senate Investigations Committee in 1983, officer Miguel Cartagena Flores, a detective in the Intelligence Division of the Puerto Rico Police Department, testified: “When I arrived at the scene I saw 4 police officers aiming their guns at the two activists who were kneeling before them. I turned my eyes away and heard 5 gunshots".^[6] Cartagena, who was offered immunity for his testimony, would add that several hours before the shooting, he and other officers were told by Col. Angel Perez Casillas, commander of the Intelligence Division, that “these terrorists should not come down (from the mountain) alive”.^[6] His testimony was corroborated by officer Carmelo Cruz who, although he did not witness the fatal shooting, confirmed many details provided by Cartagena when also granted immunity.^[6] Immunity confers a status ojavascript:insertTags(ì,,)n a person or body that makes that person or body free from otherwise legal obligations such as, for example, lijavascript:insertTags(Ú,,)ability for damages or punishment for criminal acts. ... A terrorist is one who promotes widespread feelings of overwhelming imminent danger in order to change the mindset of the general populous, usually for political purposes. ...

Other inquiries obtained similar testimony from witnesses, including the taxi driver who now stated that the activists were “alive and disarmed” when the police removed him from the scene.^[1] The taxi driver stated that there was a short exchange of gunfire, and when he was removed to another place nearby he heard a second volley of gunfire,^[4][5] but was asked by the police and investigators of the PR Justice Department to forget about the second round of shots.^[4] The statement regarding two different volleys of shots was upheld by various people, including ex-officer Jesus Quiñones before a Federal grand jury (he quit the force shortly after the shootings), and three other civilian witnesses in a San Juan Star interview.^[4] A grand jury is a type of jury, in the common law legal system, which determines if there is enough evidence for a trial. ...

Subsequently, the legislature and local press started questioning the P.R. Police Department's, the P.R. Justice Department's, the U.S. Justice Department's, and the FBI’s actions during the first investigations, alleging corruption within the agencies and a conspiracy to cover-up evidence. Letters were sent by various community and political leaders to then Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Senator Edward M. Kennedy, asking for an inquiry into the conduct of the Federal investigations.^[4] Several letters even accused former US Attorney General Benjamin R. Civiletti of providing aid to Gov. Romero Barceló during the investigations. Two leaders from the opposing parties charged that after a December 1979 meeting between the two, the Governor, then considered as a lifelong Republican, began campaigning to deliver the 41 Democratic Party convention votes of the island for President Jimmy Carter’s (D) nomination for the presidency (ironically, Carter’s opponent for the nomination was Senator Kennedy). Almost 45 days after President Carter won the nomination by 1 delegate, the U.S. Justice Department announced that, for lack of evidence, it was concluding its investigation.^[4] A Justice Department internal memorandum that was issued the same month of Romero Barceló’s and Civiletti’s meeting would later prove that the investigations were closed even when agents were still investigating important evidence of the case which would potentially incriminate the officers, including “several unexplained contusions” on a victim’s face and the fact that one of the police officers recanted his original story, stating that there was in fact “two bursts of firing”.^[5] The U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary (informally Senate Judiciary Committee) is a standing committee of the United States Senate, the upper house of the United States Congress. ... Edward Kennedy Edward Moore Ted Kennedy, (born February 22, 1932, in Brookline, Massachusetts) is a Democratic U.S. senator from Massachusetts. ... The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. ... Benjamin Richard Civiletti (born July 17, 1935) served as the United States Attorney General during the Carter administration, from 1979 to 1981. ... The Republican Party (often referred to as the GOP, for Grand Old Party) is one of the two major political parties in the United States two-party system, along with the Democratic Party. ... Democratic Party may refer to one of many political parties of diverse political orientation: Democratic Parties United States—Democratic Party (United States) Albania—Democratic Alliance Party, Democratic Party (Albania), and Democratic Party of Albania Andorra—Democratic Party (Andorra) Australia—Australian Democrats Benin—Democratic Party (Benin) Bosnia and Herzegovina—Croatian Democratic... Speeches by important party figures are key features of the convention; here, former President Jimmy Carter addresses the 2004 Democratic National Convention. ... James Earl Jimmy Carter, Jr. ... The 1980 National Convention of the U.S. Democratic Party nominated President Jimmy Carter for President and Vice President Walter Mondale for Vice President. ...

These, and several other accusations, brought public and political pressure to all investigating agencies, which in turn led to internal revisions of evidence and procedures from the first investigations both at the local and federal level. New evidence would turn up against the police officers responsible for the killings, although all organizations would still adamantly deny any cover-up conspiracy. These second investigations led to reassignments, demotions and resignations among top officials within the PR Justice Department, including 3 different P.R. Secretaries of Justice (equivalent to state Attorney General) entering and leaving their posts in a span of six months.^[7] On November 29, 1983, three prosecutors were relieved of their duties after a report by the state Senate Investigations Committee found they had failed to properly investigate the Cerro Maravilla shootings, citing 101 specific deficiencies in two investigations.^[6] This was the third state Attorney General to oversee the investigations since the shootings occurred on 1978. In most common law jurisdictions, the Attorney General is the main legal adviser to the government, and in some jurisdictions may in addition have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions. ... November 29 is the 333rd (in leap years the 334th) day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Aftermath

The second investigations led to 10 officers being indicted and found guilty of perjury, destruction of evidence, and obstruction of justice, of which 4 were convicted of second-degree murder during 1984.^[2][7][5] The convicted officers, which were not on active duty at the time due to various reasons, were: ActiveDuty. ...

• Col. Ángel Pérez Casillas (head of the PR Police Department’s Intelligence Division during the incident; suspended)
• Lieut. Nelson Gonzalez Perez (resigned),
• Lieut. Jaime Quíles Hernandez (suspended),
• Officer Juan Bruno González (suspended),
• Officer William Colon Berríos (suspended),
• Officer Nazario Mateo Espada (suspended),
• Officer Rafael Moreno Morales (suspended),
• Officer Luis Reveron Martinez (on disability leave),
• Officer Jose Rios Polanco (suspended), and
• Officer Rafael Torres Marrero (on disability leave).

That same year, in the general elections held in November, Romero Barceló lost his gubernatorial seat against former governor and opposing party rival Rafael Hernández Colón (PPD). It is widely accepted that Romero Barceló lost the elections because of this case, since his public opinion rating had deteriorated substantially during late 1984 as the investigations progressed, and since his political rivals used his defense of the officers as an indication of a possible conspiracy.^[1][3][7] Lieutenant is a military, paramilitary, fire service or police officer rank. ... Rafael Hernández Colón (born October 24, 1936 in Ponce, Puerto Rico) is a Puerto Rican politician who was the fourth democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico for three non-consecutive terms (1973-1977, 1985-1993). ...

Undercover agent acquitted, murdered

Alejandro Gonzalez Malavé, the undercover agent who was accompanying the activists, was not indicted for his part in the slayings because he was granted immunity for testifying against other officers, but was removed from the police force due to public pressure. In February 1986, he was acquitted of kidnapping the taxi driver. His lawyer had argued that he was acting under orders and, henceforth, it was the government who was actually guilty of kidnapping, even though testimony from officer Carmelo Cruz testified that it was Gonzalez Malavé who recklessly endangered the hostage’s life. The prosecution had provided evidence that he threatened the hostage at gunpoint, drove the car, and, when the car approached the mountaintop, refused to free the hostage despite suggestions from the activists. These actions, according to officer Cruz, were contrary to standard police procedures since his primary concern should have been the safety of the hostage.^[1] Nevertheless, the PR Police Department did not reinstate Gonzalez as an active police officer, a fact that he publicly expressed resentment over, and subsequently threatened to provide incriminating evidence to the media about other individuals involved in the shootings unless reinstated.^[8]

On the evening of April 29, 1986, just two months after his acquittal, Gonzalez Malavé was assassinated in front of his mother's house in Bayamón. He received three gunshot wounds while his mother was slightly injured. A few hours later, a group identifying itself as the “Volunteer Organization for the Revolution” called local news agencies claiming responsibility. In their statements they swore to kill, "one by one", all the policemen involved in the deaths in Cerro Maravilla.^[9] The FBI considered it one of the most dangerous terrorist organizations in the United States at the time, given that it was the same organization that claimed responsibility for an attack on a Navy bus in Puerto Rico on December 3, 1979 where two Navy men were killed and 10 people injured, as well as an attack on a U.S. National Guard base on January 12, 1981 where six fighter-jet planes were destroyed.^[9] To this day, no one has been identified as a possible suspect in Gonzalez Malavé's murder, and the case remains unsolved. April 29 is the 119th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (120th in leap years). ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Bayamón (not to be confused with Bayamo, Cuba) is a city in northern Puerto Rico. ... The United States Navy (also known as USN or the U.S. Navy) is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for conducting naval operations. ... December 3 is the 337th (in leap years the 338th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... This page refers to the year 1979. ... The United States National Guard is a significant component of the United States armed forces military reserve. ... January 12 is the 12th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Public apologies

In 1992, former US Justice Department Civil Rights Division chief Drew S. Days III admitted before the P.R. Senate that the U.S. Justice Department and the FBI acted negligently during the 1978-1980 investigations of the Cerro Maravilla incident, such as rejecting interviews with key witnesses (including the taxi driver^[5]), refusing to offer immunity to certain witnesses, and avoiding various standard investigating tasks. Days stated: "I think that certainly an apology is justified with respect to the way the federal government handled its investigation: the FBI, the Justice Department, and my division . . . it was not done in the professional way that it should have been done."^[5] FBI Director William S. Sessions had made similar concessions in a written statement in 1990, stating: “In hindsight, the eyewitness should have been interviewed and a civil rights investigation initiated”.^[5] In 1984, the FBI conducted an internal review of its Cerro Maravilla Case files, and concluded that there was no cover-up effort inside the FBI, only a desire to avoid derailing “the cooperative anti-terrorism effort” with the Puerto Rican police. Their statements were accompanied with promises to improve their agencies in order to avoid similar incidents in the future.

In 2003, 25 years after the incident, former Gov. Romero Barceló admitted in a public radio interview that it was “an error of judgment” and “a premature declaration” to laud the police officers, since at that time he believed they were telling the truth about their self-defense.^[2] However, he has publicly denied any wrongdoing regarding the alleged cover-up during the first investigations.

Legacy

Ever since the final investigations ceased, there has been a much heated debate about the Cerro Maravilla incident within Puerto Rico, with some groups arguing that there are still others responsible for planning and/or ordering the plot to kill the activists as well as the subsequent cover-up, while others have argued that the incident was exaggerated by rival politicians and the media, maintaining that no conspiracy was ever present and that some of the officers incarcerated, though not all, are actually innocent.^[10] Most people tend to agree, however, that the true story behind the incident may never be resolved.

Every July 25th, Puerto Rican nationalists and independence activists gather on Cerro Maravilla to honor Carlos Soto and Arnaldo Dario, as well as to defend and celebrate the Puerto Rican independence movement. It is usually organized by the family of the victims, former members of nationalist groups, and by the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP). The mountain has also been christened by them as “El Cerro de los Mártires” (The Mountain of the Martyrs).^[8] Flag of Puerto Rico The political movement for Puerto Rican Independence (Lucha por la Independencia Puertorriqueña) has existed since the mid-19th century and has advocated independence of the island of Puerto Rico, in varying degrees, from Spain (in the 1800s) or the United States (from 1898 to the... The Puerto Rican Independence Party (Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño (PIP) in Spanish) is a Puerto Rican political party that campaigns for the independence of Puerto Rico from the United States. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Ex-agent Acquitted of Kidnapping in Puerto Rico, The New York Times, February 22, 1986, retrieved August 2, 2006
2. ^ ^a b c Romero: Mistake To Call Police 'Heroes' In Cerro Maravilla by Laura Rivera Melendez (AP), The Puerto Rico Herald, September 15, 2003, retrieved August 2, 2006
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Puerto Rican Governor Seen as Hurt by Officers' Arrest, The New York Times, October 21, 1984, retrieved August 2, 2006
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} Senators Asked to Study Puerto Rico Killing Inquiry, The New York Times, August 11, 1980, retrieved August 2, 2006
5. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Ex-Justice Official Cites 'Coverup' By FBI in '78 Puerto Rico Shootings by Jim McGee, The Washington Post, May 9, 1992, retrieved August 2, 2006
6. ^ ^a b c d Puerto Ricans Were Kneeling When Killed By Police, Officer Says, The New York Times, November 30, 1983, retrieved August 2, 2006
7. ^ ^a b c 10 From Puerto Rico Police Indicted on Cover-Up of '78 Killings by Reginald Stuart, The New York Times, February 7, 1984, retrieved August 2, 2006
8. ^ ^a b Cerro Maravilla a 25 años: Lo que queda por esclarecer (25 Years After Cerro Maravilla: What’s Left to be Cleared) by Yaritza Cardona Mercado, WRTU Radio Universidad 89.7 FM, July 24, 2003, retrieved August 2, 2006(Spanish)
9. ^ ^a b Police Agent in Puerto Rico Deaths is Assassinated The New York Times, May 1, 1986, retrieved August 2, 2006
10. ^ What Happened in Cerro Maravilla? (in Spanish) by Maggie Bob and Miguel Rocca, Pulso.org

The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ...

Further reading

• Nelson, Anne (March 1986), Murder Under Two Flags: The U.S., Puerto Rico, and the Cerro Maravilla Cover-Up, Ticknor & Fields, ISBN 0899193714

• Suarez, Manuel (September 1987), Requiem on Cerro Maravilla: The Police Murders in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Government Cover-Up, Waterfront Press (Washington, DC) ISBN 0943862361

• Suarez, Manuel (January 2003), Two Lynchings on Cerro Maravilla: The Police Murders in Puerto Rico and the Federal Government Cover Up, Institute of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture (IPRAC) Editorial House (Editorial Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña), ISBN 0865815887

William Davis Ticknor (August 6, 1810-April 10, 1864) was an American publisher in Boston, Massachusetts and a founder of the publishing house Ticknor and Fields. ... Aerial photo (looking NW) of the Washington Monument and the White House in Washington, DC. Washington, D.C., officially the District of Columbia (also known as D.C.; Washington; the Nations Capital; the District; and, historically, the Federal City) is the capital city and administrative district of the United...

Filmography

The movie ‘’A Show of Force’’ is based on the events and theories behind the incident. A Show of Force is a movie, starring Amy Irving, Andy Garcia, Lou Diamond Phillips, Robert Duvall, Kevin Spacey and Erik Estrada among others, based on events and theories surrounding the Maravilla Hill case in Puerto Rico. ...