On Aug. 14 Judge Ana Rivera Vicenty of Hato Rey, Puerto Rico, formally charged police agent Javier Pagan Cruz with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Miguel A. Caceres Cruz on Aug. 11 in the eastern city of Humacao. The authorities hadn’t decided whether to charge the two agents who accompanied Pagan Cruz during the incident, Zulma Diaz de Leon and Carlos Sustache Sustache. The judge set bail at $500,000 for Pagan Cruz, who was in the Rio Piedras medical center being treated for a bullet wound in the leg. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) opened a separate inquiry into the incident on Aug. 13.

The arrest and investigation came after Channel 11 television aired a videotape an Humacao resident made of the incident, which reportedly started when Caceres Cruz insulted the police in an argument over a
traffic jam caused by a 15th birthday party. There was scuffle during which Pagan Cruz’s gun went off, striking him in the leg, according to police. The video appears to show Caceres Cruz, who was unarmed, on the ground as Pagan Cruz shot him four times at close range. The two other agents watched, and then all three agents left the scene.

On Aug. 15 human rights organizations, unions and political groups held a demonstration at police headquarters in San Juan to protest police brutality in Puerto Rico. According to the Puerto Rican Bar
Association’s Civil Rights Commission, police brutality has caused six deaths since 2000. FBI spokesperson Harry Rodriguez said on Aug. 13 that the agency had opened 55 civil rights violation cases from January 2003 to May 2007; only one led to an indictment. [El Diario-La Prensa (NY)
8/14/07 from correspondent, 8/15/07 from AP, 8/16/07 from EFE; International Herald Tribune (France) 8/13/07 from AP]

On Aug. 16, police agents shot Luis Andres Rodriguez Maya dead in his home in the southwestern village of Cabo Rojo, apparently during an early-morning drug raid. Police said that they had been fired on and a
weapon was recovered; some agents told a reporter that Rodriguez Maya had been shot in the back.