Cerro Maravilla Incident
| 1978 Cerro Maravilla murders | |
|---|---|
| Location | Villalba, Puerto Rico |
| Date | July 25, 1978 (EST) |
| Target | Supporters of Puerto Rican independence |
|
Attack type
|
Assassination, Murder |
| Weapons | Machine guns, rifles, pistols |
| Deaths | 2 |
| Perpetrators | Puerto Rico Police |
The Cerro Maravilla murders, also known as the Cerro Maravilla massacre, 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 murdered in a Puerto Rico Police ambush. The event sparked a series of political controversies where, in the end, the police officers were found guilty of murder and several high-ranking local government officials were accused of planning and/or covering up the incident.
Originally declared a police intervention against terrorists, the local media quickly questioned the officers' testimonies as well as the only surviving witness for inconsistencies. Although reluctant, Carlos Romero Barceló (PNP), then Governor of Puerto Rico, ordered the local Justice Department to launch various investigations, and asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the US Justice Department to aid in the investigations, which concluded that there was no wrongdoing on the officers' part. However, after the local opposing political party launched its own inquiries, new evidence and witness testimonies surfaced which uncovered gross negligence and murder on the officers' part, as well as the possibility of a local and federal cover-up. Trials were held and a total of 10 officers were convicted of various crimes.
The incident and subsequent events have become one of the most controversial events in Puerto Rico's political history, frequently called "the worst political cover-up in the history of the island." The event is often used by Puerto Rican independence activists as an example of political oppression against the independence movement. Joy James commented that "the Cerro Maravilla massacre demonstrated the reason why colonialism was banned in the world."
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