10 IN PUERTO RICO CONVICTED OF PERJURY IN 2 MEN'S DEATHS

Copyright 1985 The New York Times

March 29, 1985

10 IN PUERTO RICO CONVICTED OF PERJURY IN 2 MEN'S DEATHS

By Manny Suarez

(SAN JUAN, P.R.) Ten police officers were found guilty tonight of 45 counts of perjury and conspiracy
to commit perjury for lying to Federal grand juries investigating the deaths of two radical advocates of
independence.

The 10 officers had been charged with 53 counts of perjury, conspiracy to commit perjury and inducing
others to commit perjury
before the grand juries. The juries were investigating the deaths on July 25, 1978, of Carlos Soto Arrivi,
18 years old, and Arnaldo
Dario Rosado, 24.

A jury in Federal District Court took 22 hours to reach a verdict in the case, which has been a burning
issue on the island since the
two were killed in a police stakeout on a mountaintop, Cerro Maravilla. The police maintained that the
two were killed after they
ignored an order to surrender and fired on the police.

Hearings Brought Charges

But the perjury charges were filed in the aftermath of 1983 hearings in the Puerto Rico Senate in which
three police officers testified
that the two young men had been killed by the police after they surrendered.

Angel Perez Casillas, commander of the Police Intelligence Division, identified by witnesses as the
mastermind of the conspiracy to
cover up the events, was found guilty of six of the eight charges against him. Rafael Moreno, one of the
officers who witnesses said
killed Mr. Soto, was found guilty of all six charges against him.

Rafael Torres Marrero, who was also said to have fired and wounded Mr. Soto, was found guilty of four
of six charges against him.

Luis Reveron Martinez, who was said to have been the officer who killed Mr. Rosado with a single
shotgun blast fired into his chest at

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 10 IN PUERTO RICO CONVICTED OF PERJURY IN 2 MEN'S DEATHS

close range, was found guilty of all five charges against him. Also found guilty were Jaime Quiles, five
counts; Juan Bruno Gonzalez,
four counts; Nelson Gonzalez, six counts; William Colon Berrios, guilty of three of four counts; Jose
Rios Polanco, two of three
counts, and Nazario Nateo Espada, three of five counts.

According to the police, Mr. Soto and Mr. Rosado were terrorists who had gone to Cerro Maravilla with
a police undercover agent,
Alejandro Gonzalez Malave, to sabotage a commercial television station's relay tower. The undercover
agent was injured in the ensuing events.

Police Called Heroes

Two days later, Carlos Romero Barcelo, then the Governor, called the police heroes. The same day, a
taxi driver, Julio Ortiz Molina,
who had been abducted by Mr. Soto, Mr. Rosado and the undercover agent, told a reporter for The San
Juan Star that the two young
men had been captured alive and unhurt after a brief exchange of gunfire.

Mr. Ortiz Molina said that he saw the police beating the two and that he had been beaten by the police.
He told the reporter that he had
been taken to a point nearby, where he heard a second volley of gunfire.

Despite two Federal grand jury inquiries and two investigations by the Puerto Rico Justice Department
that found no grounds to
prosecute, the shootings became the most critical issue confronting Governor Romero Barcelo and his
New Progressive Party's
administration.

The case was considered a major factor in the loss of both houses of the Legislature by the New
Progressives in the 1980 elections.
Governor Romero Barcelo's margin of victory dropped from 43,000 in 1976 to 3,000 votes in 1980.
Testimony Before Senate

The Senate, with the Popular Democratic Party in control, held televised public hearings in 1983 at
which three police officers testified that the two young men had surrendered. The three officers, who
testified after receiving immunity from prosecution, were Miguel Cartagena Flores, Carmelo Cruz and
Jose Montanez. They said Mr. Soto and Mr. Rosado were later killed by a police firing squad. Another
police officer, Jose Montanez, who had been at the scene, agreed later to testify for the Government.

Their Senate testimony was considered a major factor in the defeat of Governor Romero Barcelo in
1984.

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 10 IN PUERTO RICO CONVICTED OF PERJURY IN 2 MEN'S DEATHS

The Justice Department accused the police officers of perjury before the grand juries in 1979, 1980 and
1983.

Already Indicted for Murder

The 10 officers have also been indicted in the state court on murder charges in the deaths of the two
men. A date for that trial has not
been set.

Throughout the trial, which began March 5, the defense attempted to show that the police officers who
testified in exchange for
immunity had lied so they would not be charged. The defense contended the taxi driver had lied because
he was interested in pressing
a damage suit he filed several weeks after the incident against the Puerto Rico Government, charging
that the police had endangered
his life. Mr. Ortiz Molina won the suit and was awarded $35,000 in damages.

Two civilian witnesses also turned state's evidence, changing their testimony from that given in the
earlier investigations.

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