August 23, 1984

NEW INQUIRY IN PUERTO RICO SHOOTINGS

(SAN JUAN, P.R)  The Senate of Puerto Rico will investigate whether Federal officials helped cover up the circumstances of the killing of two young radicals by the police six years ago, it was announced today.

''We will make every effort to get at the truth by subpoenaing witnesses here and in the United States,'' said Miguel Hernandez Agosto,
the President of the Senate.

The controversy involves the death of two alleged terrorists, Carlos Soto Arrivi, 18 years old, and Arnaldo Dario Rosado, 24, who
were killed July 25, 1978, on a mountaintop called Cerro Maravilla. According to the police version, the two were about to sabotage
a television station's relay tower and were gunned down when they ignored an order to surrender.

Two subsequent investigations by the United States Department of Justice did not dispute the police account, but a later inquiry by the
Puerto Rico Senate uncovered evidence that the two surrendered to the police after a brief exchange of gunfire and were later slain,
while kneeling, by a police firing squad.

3 U.S. Officials Cited

Mr. Hernandez Agosto named James P. Turner and Daniel Rinzel, officials in the Justice Department's civil rights division, and John J. Hinchliff, an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as subject to subpoena.

Mr. Hinchliff, who was the special agent in charge of the F.B.I.'s San Juan office, is now stationed in Phoenix. Mr. Hernandez Agosto
said Mr. Rinzel and Mr. Turner remain in the Justice Department headquarters in Washington.

''They would have to explain why the Federal investigations failed despite abundant evidence available to them that the police lied when they said they fired in self-defense,'' the Senate President said.

Early this year, after the Senate report, the Justice Department's civil rights division opened a new investigation and filed charges of
perjury and obstruction of justice against 10 of the police officers.

Department Won't Comment

Mr. Rinzel said today that in view of that case it would be inappropriate for him to comment on the Senate inquiry announced today. A spokesman in Washington said the Justice Department would also have no comment.

The department's first investigation of the Cerro Maravilla case began in 1979 after reports that the police account was inaccurate. The
civil rights division suspended that inquiry for lack of evidence in early 1980.

It was reopened later that year after Lieut. Julio C. Andrades of the Puerto Rico police, who took part in the operation, agreed to
provide new evidence in exchange for immunity from prosecution. According to F.B.I. memos made available under the Freedom of
Information Act, Lieutenant Andrades testified that the two suspects had surrendered and were killed while unarmed.

Although several other witnesses disputed the official version, the investigation was terminated after it was reported that Lieutenant
Andrades had failed a lie detector test.

Investigators Methods Questioned

The report by Senate investigators said the Federal authorities never released the polygraph operator's report, so it was impossible for
them to determine where Lt. Andrades had failed.

The Senate investigators contended that the Justice Deparmtent had not asked witnesses who told conflicting stories to take lie
detector tests, that all the arms used by the police were not accounted for and that the clothing worn by the victims had not been
properly analyzed.

They also noted that the F.B.I. accepted the appointment of Capt. Angel Perez Casillas as coordinator between the bureau and the
Puerto Rico Police. It was Captain Perez Casillas who planned and supervised the original Cerro Maravilla operation.

When the F.B.I. wanted to question a police officer, the report said, they asked Captain Perez Casillas to arrange the appointment and
at one point gave him a list of all the police witnesses they wanted to question.

The report also quoted at length from several Justice Department memos indicating that the investigators were very concerned with
not tarnishing the reputation of the pro-statehood administration of Gov. Carlos Romero Barcelo. The first memo, dated three days
after the shooting, reported that the controversy over the two deaths was being fanned by newspapers and newsmen who favored
independence for Puerto Rico in an effort to cause ''embarrassment to the pro-statehood movement.''