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US soldiers fight crime in Puerto Rico's heartland
By MIKE MELIA, Associated Press Writer Mike Melia, Associated Press Writer – Sun Jun 13, 12:37 pm ET
AIBONITO, Puerto Rico – Cradling an M-16 rifle,
Army National Guard Lt. Anthony Santiago stares down cars at a police checkpoint in his latest mission: helping to stem a vicious [COLOR=#366388! important][COLOR=#366388! important]crime [COLOR=#366388! important]wave[/color][/color][/color] in [COLOR=#366388! important][COLOR=#366388! important]Puerto [COLOR=#366388! important]Rico's[/color][/color][/color] central mountains.
The island's once-tranquil heartland has become a new refuge for drug gangs flushed out of the big cities, local officials say, prompting
Gov. Luis Fortuno to deploy [COLOR=#366388! important][COLOR=#366388! important]National [COLOR=#366388! important]Guard [/color][COLOR=#366388! important]troops[/color][/color][/color] to help police restore the peace.
Despite some ambivalence toward American troops, crime-weary
Puerto Ricans say they are desperate for reprieve following one of the U.S. Caribbean territory's most violent years on record.
To Santiago, who previously served with the Army's
82nd Airborne Division, manning a checkpoint here makes him feel like he is back in Iraq except for the lush green surroundings and the [COLOR=#366388! important][COLOR=#366388! important]lack [COLOR=#366388! important]of [/color][COLOR=#366388! important]respect[/color][/color][/color] shown by criminals compared to the suspected militants he detained during the war.
"In Iraq, your enemy is going to try to kill you, but when you catch them they're cooperative," he said. "Here in
Puerto Rico, if you have to detain somebody for any reason, they are not very cooperative. They insult you and everything else."
Fortuno initially dispatched soldiers to the capital,
San Juan, and other high-crime [COLOR=#366388! important][COLOR=#366388! important]metropolitan [COLOR=#366388! important]areas[/color][/color][/color] in February, then agreed to send them to the mountains a month later at the request of local mayors. As many as 1,000 will be activated across the island. The guardsmen — whose role is restricted to backing up police — will stay until year's end as 1,000 new [COLOR=#366388! important][COLOR=#366388! important]police [COLOR=#366388! important]recruits[/color][/color][/color] complete training at their academy.
Puerto Rico, which had its third-worst year on record in 2009 with 894 slain, is on track for just as bloody a year as the island struggles with a grinding recession.
New York City, which has twice the [COLOR=#366388! important][COLOR=#366388! important]island's [COLOR=#366388! important]population[/color][/color][/color], had only 466 slayings last year.
Most of the violence is blamed on
gangs battling for control of the cocaine and heroin trade. The island of 4 million people is a [COLOR=#366388! important][COLOR=#366388! important]major [COLOR=#366388! important]transshipment [/color][COLOR=#366388! important]point[/color][/color][/color] for drugs bound for the U.S. mainland.
But what is startling many
Puerto Ricans is the surge in crime outside metropolitan areas.
Noel Torres Roca, police chief for the central [COLOR=#366388! important][COLOR=#366388! important]mountain [COLOR=#366388! important]region[/color][/color][/color], has tallied at least 11 murders so far this year in his five-town district, slightly ahead of last year's rate and well beyond those of tranquil decades past.
He attributes the rise to the migration of traffickers chased out of big cities by law- enforcement crackdowns and the construction of highways in the past decade that have made the island's center more accessible to everyone, including criminals.
"People from San Juan came and contaminated what we call the 'jibaros,' the people who work in agriculture, and convinced them you can make more money in drugs, or selling guns or stolen cars," Torres said.
Some of the crime has been brutal.
Earlier this month, gunmen opened fire inside a restaurant in the mountain town of
Morovis, killing two men and a 15-year-old boy who was there to watch a basketball game on television. One of the slain men, a visitor from the San Juan area, was reportedly a suspect in a double homicide in which the bodies were found inside a torched car in nearby Orocovis.
Last Monday, U.S. agents and police arrested Elvin Torres [COLOR=#366388! important][COLOR=#366388! important]Estrada[/color][/color], a man described as the island's biggest cocaine importer, in a raid on a ranch in the nearby town of
Coamo. Officials say the arrest is evidence that criminals are using the region to hide from authorities.
The National Guard soldiers, many of whom come from the area, have been startled by the level of crime in their sleepy hometowns.
"With all the homicides, people don't want to go out now like they used to," said Santiago, 34, who is a native of Orocovis.
Torres said the soldiers are helping to reduce crime. By pairing off with his officers, he said they free up police to cover more of his territory.
"We need to cover some very big areas that we could not before this because we do not have much personnel," the police chief said. In Aibonito, a town of 25,000 people nestled in the island's central mountains, Santiago and his troops ride inside police
By MIKE MELIA, Associated Press Writer Mike Melia, Associated Press Writer – Sun Jun 13, 12:37 pm ET
AIBONITO, Puerto Rico – Cradling an M-16 rifle,
Army National Guard Lt. Anthony Santiago stares down cars at a police checkpoint in his latest mission: helping to stem a vicious [COLOR=#366388! important][COLOR=#366388! important]crime [COLOR=#366388! important]wave[/color][/color][/color] in [COLOR=#366388! important][COLOR=#366388! important]Puerto [COLOR=#366388! important]Rico's[/color][/color][/color] central mountains.
The island's once-tranquil heartland has become a new refuge for drug gangs flushed out of the big cities, local officials say, prompting
Gov. Luis Fortuno to deploy [COLOR=#366388! important][COLOR=#366388! important]National [COLOR=#366388! important]Guard [/color][COLOR=#366388! important]troops[/color][/color][/color] to help police restore the peace.
Despite some ambivalence toward American troops, crime-weary
Puerto Ricans say they are desperate for reprieve following one of the U.S. Caribbean territory's most violent years on record.
To Santiago, who previously served with the Army's
82nd Airborne Division, manning a checkpoint here makes him feel like he is back in Iraq except for the lush green surroundings and the [COLOR=#366388! important][COLOR=#366388! important]lack [COLOR=#366388! important]of [/color][COLOR=#366388! important]respect[/color][/color][/color] shown by criminals compared to the suspected militants he detained during the war.
"In Iraq, your enemy is going to try to kill you, but when you catch them they're cooperative," he said. "Here in
Puerto Rico, if you have to detain somebody for any reason, they are not very cooperative. They insult you and everything else."
Fortuno initially dispatched soldiers to the capital,
San Juan, and other high-crime [COLOR=#366388! important][COLOR=#366388! important]metropolitan [COLOR=#366388! important]areas[/color][/color][/color] in February, then agreed to send them to the mountains a month later at the request of local mayors. As many as 1,000 will be activated across the island. The guardsmen — whose role is restricted to backing up police — will stay until year's end as 1,000 new [COLOR=#366388! important][COLOR=#366388! important]police [COLOR=#366388! important]recruits[/color][/color][/color] complete training at their academy.
Puerto Rico, which had its third-worst year on record in 2009 with 894 slain, is on track for just as bloody a year as the island struggles with a grinding recession.
New York City, which has twice the [COLOR=#366388! important][COLOR=#366388! important]island's [COLOR=#366388! important]population[/color][/color][/color], had only 466 slayings last year.
Most of the violence is blamed on
gangs battling for control of the cocaine and heroin trade. The island of 4 million people is a [COLOR=#366388! important][COLOR=#366388! important]major [COLOR=#366388! important]transshipment [/color][COLOR=#366388! important]point[/color][/color][/color] for drugs bound for the U.S. mainland.
But what is startling many
Puerto Ricans is the surge in crime outside metropolitan areas.
Noel Torres Roca, police chief for the central [COLOR=#366388! important][COLOR=#366388! important]mountain [COLOR=#366388! important]region[/color][/color][/color], has tallied at least 11 murders so far this year in his five-town district, slightly ahead of last year's rate and well beyond those of tranquil decades past.
He attributes the rise to the migration of traffickers chased out of big cities by law- enforcement crackdowns and the construction of highways in the past decade that have made the island's center more accessible to everyone, including criminals.
"People from San Juan came and contaminated what we call the 'jibaros,' the people who work in agriculture, and convinced them you can make more money in drugs, or selling guns or stolen cars," Torres said.
Some of the crime has been brutal.
Earlier this month, gunmen opened fire inside a restaurant in the mountain town of
Morovis, killing two men and a 15-year-old boy who was there to watch a basketball game on television. One of the slain men, a visitor from the San Juan area, was reportedly a suspect in a double homicide in which the bodies were found inside a torched car in nearby Orocovis.
Last Monday, U.S. agents and police arrested Elvin Torres [COLOR=#366388! important][COLOR=#366388! important]Estrada[/color][/color], a man described as the island's biggest cocaine importer, in a raid on a ranch in the nearby town of
Coamo. Officials say the arrest is evidence that criminals are using the region to hide from authorities.
The National Guard soldiers, many of whom come from the area, have been startled by the level of crime in their sleepy hometowns.
"With all the homicides, people don't want to go out now like they used to," said Santiago, 34, who is a native of Orocovis.
Torres said the soldiers are helping to reduce crime. By pairing off with his officers, he said they free up police to cover more of his territory.
"We need to cover some very big areas that we could not before this because we do not have much personnel," the police chief said. In Aibonito, a town of 25,000 people nestled in the island's central mountains, Santiago and his troops ride inside police