December 20, 1983

JUSTICE OFFICIAL IN PUERTO RICO RESIGNS IN RIFT

The crisis within the Administration of Gov. Carlos Romero Barcelo over revelations that the police may have killed two suspected
terrorists while they were begging for mercy deepened today with the resignation of the Cabinet's third Secretary of Justice in five
months.

In a letter of resignation, Secretary of Justice Carmen Rita Velez Borras cited deep ''differences with the Governor over the role the
Justice Department should play in the investigation of the events at Cerro Maravilla on July 25, 1978.''

Her two predecessors, Hector Reichard, who was dismissed by the Governor on July 29, and Gerardo Carlo, who resigned Sept. 16,
had differed publicly with Governor Romero Barcelo over how to handle the case.

Cerro Maravilla is the mountaintop in the Toro Negro State Forest where Carlos Soto Arrivi, 18 years old, and Arnaldo Dario Rosado,
24, were killed in a police ambush. The two were suspected of having gone to the mountaintop to sabotage a commercial television
station's relay transmission tower.

Police Cleared Earlier

Two investigations by the Puerto Rico Justice Department in 1978 and in 1981 absolved the police of all wrongdoing, concluding that
they fired in self- defense after the young men ignored an order to surrender and opened fire.

The police held to that version for five years, repeating it in a grand jury investigation in 1979 by the civil rights division of the United
States Justice Department and in depositions taken in a $2 million damage suit filed by the relatives of the two radicals.

The story started to unravel two weeks ago when three policemen testified before a Puerto Rico Senate committee that the two men
had surrendered unhurt after a brief exchange of gunfire. The officers testified that the two were beaten and kicked by the arresting
officers, then shot at very close range while on their knees.

The three officers testified after receiving immunity from prosecution from the Senate and from the United States Justice Department.
The Federal Government initiated a new investigation to determine whether perjury or obstruction of justice occurred in the 1979
Federal civil rights investigation.

Special Prosecutor Favored

In her statement announcing her resignation, Mrs. Velez said she opposed the Governor's order for what she considered a third
investigation by the Puerto Rico Justice Department. She said such an investigation could involve a conflict of interest because it
would have members of the department looking into the role played by others who took part in the earlier investigations.

Considerable evidence was presented in the Senate's televised public hearings that Justice Department officials coerced witnesses and
overlooked evidence that would have disputed the police version.

Mrs. Velez had proposed that a position of Special Prosecutor should be created with guaranteed freedom to investigate all facets of
the case. The Governor originally opposed this but changed his mind after the testimony of policemen on how Mr. Soto and Mr.
Rosado were killed. He and the Senate, however, are feuding bitterly over how much independence and authority the special
prosecutor should be given.

Sources at the Governor's mansion, La Fortaleza, have let it be known that the Governor plans to veto a bill approved by the
Legislature last week that would give the special prosecutor virtually unlimited power to file criminal and administrative charges against
anyone he found to have been implicated in the case. The Governor favors only authority to file criminal charges.

Now, the Governor's Office said, Mr. Romero Barcelo is leaning toward scrapping the idea of a special prosecutor altogether, and
have the Justice Department embark on the third investigation.