Murder Under Two Flags: The U.S., Puerto Rico, and the Cerro Maravilla Cover-Up

I have to admit, the book HALF of the book starts off with a history of Puerto Rico turnover to the U.S. and its aftermath. My first reaction was " I THOUGHT THIS WAS A BOOK ON CERRO MARAVILLA....WHEN IS THIS AUTHOR FINALLY GOING TO GET TO THE CERRO MARAVILLA!!!" When I finally did get to that part of the book I realized that the previous information was ESSENTIAL to prepare for the impact of what happened at Cerro Maravilla. If you like learning, culture, history, politics, government, espionage, murder mysteries, action packed stories, law, violence, human rights, civil rights, conspiracy theories, PUERTO RICO.....this book IS FOR YOU! It took me 4 days to finish the book. The reason why this book interested me is because I remember seeing the hearings (on mainland u.s. spanish channels) as a little girl and all I remember is that once the investigation started involving the governor suddenly it wasn't shown on tv anymore....even at the age of.... 7...... and...... on the "mainland"......Cerro Maravilla had my attention so much so that I HAD to read this book! AMAZING!

It's been 102 years since the United States invaded Puerto Rico in 1898, and perhaps more telling that Puerto Ricans are no more sure of their future today than they were in 1898. Anne Nelson's book is an extremely good read which reveals much of the complexities of the Puerto Rican existance under two flags, the root causes of the independence movement in Puerto Rico, and provides a telling example of the mainland's perception of Puerto Ricans over the last 100 years, mixed in with the scenes of a brutal murder of two young idealists at the hands of the Puerto Rican police, with, some say, the knowledge of the FBI. Ms. Nelson has done her homework well, I found her assessment of what we Puerto Ricans call the "Ay Bendito!" to be right on the mark. She writes: "Puerto Rican... have a gentle note of self-deprecation to their national humor; if anything, their stories involve the smallest farm, the slowest horse, the shortest tree." If you like U.S. History, then you will enjoy the first half of this book as it relates to the Spanish-American War, if you like true crime stories, then you will enjoy the second half of this book. It's a keeper, five stars just for the history portion alone.

"Murder Under Two Flags : The U.S., Puerto Rico, and the Cerro Maravilla Cover-Up," by Anne Nelson, was the inspiration for the 1990 film, "A Show of Force," and is an interesting, disturbing case study on the ugliness politics can be in Puerto Rico. The book, which revolves around the "Cerro Maravilla" incident that occurred on July 25, 1978, was the biggest political scandal to rock the U.S. Commonwealth ever. In the incident, two young independence-sympathizers were ambushed and brutally murdered by police forces. The police claimed that the two so-called "terrorists" were going to blow up a broadcast tower, while others doubted this claim. After a heavy investigation, a senate hearing was held in Puerto Rico, where it was determined that a political cover-up was involved here. The pro-statehood governor at the time, Carlos Romero Barcelo, had been implicated of planning the murder of the two youths, in order to boost his sagging popularity two years before he was up for re-election. What was uncovered shattered the reputation of Romero Barcelo, Puerto Rican police, the FBI, and especially that of the New Progressive Party (also known as PNP in its' Spanish-acronym) who favors statehood for the island, even though statehood has been rejected in each and every political referendum since the U.S. took over.Author Anne Nelson. first begins her book with a discussion of Puerto Rican history before the Spanish-American War of 1898, when Spain ceded the island to the United States. She goes on to discuss early U.S. relations and policies, a discussion and history on each of the island's main parties, and finally the "Cerro Maravilla' incident, which is a very disturbing chapter in the democratic history of the Americas. The use of photographs were interesting, and the chart showing the damage one of the bodies suffered (over 40 bullets and massive swelling due to continuous beatings) show that this was both a unusual and cruel way for two people to die, especially if they were unarmed. Ms. Nelson, unbiased look at this scandal did open many eyes to the injustice many political-minorities not only in Puerto Rico but elsewhere (the PAN party in Mexico is a great example, especially after their rising star and presidential candidate Donald Luis Colosio was assassinated in 1991, reportedly by henchmen hired by the PRI party, who had ruled the country for over 70 years without any opposition). It would have been more interesting to see the actual photographs of the bodies at the murder scene, seeing that they had already appeared on the front page of the island's newspapers the day after the incident. In a turn of events, Romero Barcelo who had served as the island's non-voting representative in the U.S. Congress during much of the 1990's was defeated for re-election in the fall of 2000. People cited he Cerro Maravilla incident and his party's (PNP) massive corruption and cover-ups during the administration of PNP governor, Pedro Rosello, as the reas