Puerto Rico community, public demand justice after police execution of worker

A mother and father are destroyed due to the horrible death of their son. A 10 year old cries uncontrollably on his mother’s lap. A wife mourns the loss of her husband, and two daughters will never see their father again. A brother is engulfed with pain and anger. An oppressed community demands justice.

Video shows police shooting Miguel Cáceres Cruz.

At 6 p.m. on Aug. 11, 43-year-old Miguel Cáceres Cruz of the southeastern city of Humacao, in Puerto Rico, had parked his scooter along with several other motorcyclists in front of the establishment El Playerito in the barrio of Punta Santiago.

Cáceres and his friends were going to provide a motorcycle escort to a 15 year old who was celebrating her birthday. This kind of event is commonplace in Puerto Rico.

Soon thereafter police from the “elite” Division of Tactical Operations (DOT) were on the scene, supposedly complaining about vehicular traffic. Moments later Cáceres was in a pool of blood, shot four times, once directly in the back of the head.

In Puerto Rico, more often than not, an incident such as this would be immediately covered up, “whitewashed” as the saying goes. Police would act to protect one another, plant a weapon within reach of the victim and claim self-defense. But in this case, a bystander videotaped the atrocity and delivered the footage to Univision’s channel 11.

Evelyn Ramírez, daughters Michelle and Jenny, and father Miguel stand before casket of Miguel Cáceres Cruz.

The next day and during the entire week TV stations and Puerto Rico’s newspapers El Nuevo Día, Primera Hora and El Vocero showed pictures of the slaying, while their Internet editions aired the video.

The video can be seen on the Internet at www.breitbart.tv/?p=4344 and is available at other Internet sites. It shows Cáceres being grabbed and thrown to the ground. He is attacked by the cops and kicked by police officer Javier Pagán, while community residents plead with the three police agents to stop. Bystanders are heard shouting: “Stop!” “What are you doing, abusers?” “Don’t do that!”

To the shock of anyone who views the video, Pagán discharges his gun, at first shooting himself in the leg. Then, while Cáceres is on the ground and unarmed, the cop shoots him several times.

Finally, while Miguel Cáceres’ body is lying motionless and bleeding, face down on the ground, Pagán stands over Miguel’s body and shoots him again, execution style in the back of the head.

Before the video was exhibited in the media, chief of police for the Humacao region Edwin Rivera Merced defended the actions of the police as “self-defense.” In fact, in the initial police report regarding the police killing, Pagán was not even identified as the shooter.

But as the video began to be seen by the public, radio talk shows began analyzing the footage and callers took to the airways expressing their disgust, a mood of outrage developed throughout this entire island nation, which has been a colony of the U.S. since 1898.

The public mood generated by the video was so strong that the president of Puerto Rico’s Supreme Court, Federico Hernández Denton, telephoned Evelyn Ramírez, the widow of Cáceres.

This gesture from the titular head of the judicial system is unheard of. It was obvious that the atrocity has put the judicial system and police on the extreme defensive. Even Superintendent of Police Pedro Toledo, upon being confronted by reporters, was forced to admit that “the video shows Miguel Cáceres being executed.”

Miguel Cáceres Maldonado, father of the victim, told the press: “This is the worst abuse I have seen in my life. No one should be shot while lying on the ground, especially when they are lying face down.”

Mayra Vásquez, who was present at the scene said: “Everyone was yelling: ‘Don’t do it!’ ‘Don’t do it!’ ... but the policeman continued beating him. ... He killed him without compassion.”

Evelyn Ramírez, wife of Miguel Cáceres, said: “This incident has wiped out our dreams. ... We had many. ... We were a loving, beautiful and united family. ... One sees these incidents in the news, involving other people, but one never imagines it can happen to me. ... The community is saturated with police brutality. ... I want for justice to be done.” This year Ramírez would have celebrated 23 years of marriage with Cáceres.

On Aug. 15, hundreds of demonstrators expressed their anger in front of the General Headquarters of the Police Department in San Juan. Family members of youth slain by the police were present.

Maribel Rivera, whose nephew Nelson Santiago was slain by police, told reporters: “We are here to condemn police brutality. ... It is difficult to expose if you don’t have a video. Pito (Nelson Sanitago) was shot eight times by police.”

“My home town (Loiza), where Black people live, has been marked by police abuse since the days when, in order to evict Adolfina Villanueva from her home, they killed her,” said Lidia Ester Rivera Sánchez.

Participating in the demonstration were residents from the public housing projects of Villa Cañona and Manuel A. Pérez. Also present at the demonstration were the Socialist Front, Electrical Workers Union, Hostos National Movement, the Federation of Teachers, Friends of the Sea, University Workers Union, Caribbean Project for Peace and Justice, Puerto Rican Independence Party, Independent Union of Legal Aid Attorneys and others.

On Aug. 16 Cáceres was buried. The family demanded that no state police be present in the activities throughout the day. Their demands were met.

Thousands of working people, touched by the tragedy of the killing, participated. An honor guard representing various motorcycle clubs stood by Cáceres’ coffin, while the lobby and outside of the Toñito Flores Funeral Home in Humacao were jam packed.

People in the adjoining community near the funeral home waited on corners and on rooftops to pay their last respects. The almost mile-long caravan that left the funeral home literally took over the highway on the way to Punta Santiago, where the municipal cemetery is located.

Once there, Armando Cáceres, the brother of Miguel Cáceres, led a march of hundreds of residents followed by a caravan of motorbikes, cars and the hearse carrying Miguel’s body. The march lasted for almost three hours as it went through Punta Santiago demanding justice.

Crowds formed in front of establishments to see the hearse and to pay tribute. Some men and women, handkerchiefs in hand, wept while many more joined the march to the municipal cemetery, where hundreds more residents awaited the arrival of the march.

As Cáceres’ casket was taken from the hearse and carried into the cemetery, the crowds filling the streets and cemetery broke out into thunderous applause in his honor.

A banner reading “Police Assassins, We Want Justice, Enough!” was held high, as Cáceres’ casket was lowered into the grave in the presence of his parents Lidia and Miguel, wife Evelyn, his two daughters Michelle and Jenny, his brother Armando and other family. In the final moments the crowd chanted, “Justicia para Tony” (Justice for Tony). Tony was Miguel’s nickname in the community.

Due to the extraordinary public pressure, by week’s end Pagán had been expelled from the police force and charged with first degree murder, but he was immediately released on reduced bail. Allegedly he is confined to his home by electronic bracelet. Police agent Zulma Díaz de León was also charged with first-degree murder. The third agent, Carlos Sustache, has not been charged with wrongdoing.