By Tom Soto
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Published Aug 23, 2007 8:08 AM
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.
Family demands: no state police at funeral
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.
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