Category: Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico creates special committee to investigate hate crimes

LGBTQ Nation • Sunday, June 13, 2010 • Filed under: Puerto Rico • Comments (0)

Puerto Rico’s Attorney General has announced the creation of special committee to investigate hate crimes in the island territory, where advocates say gay and transgender people are the victims of an “epidemic” of violence.

The announcement was greeted by cheers from activists who complain the government has yet to invoke 2002 legislation establishing harsher penalties for crimes based on sexual orientation or gender identity, according to the Associated Press.

The new government committee involves agencies including the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Juan, police officials and the island’s civil rights commission, according to a statement release by the attorney general late Friday.

“With the creation of this committee, we will document the extent of hate crimes,” said Attorney General Guillermo Somoza Colombani, who added that the data will help develop policies to attend to the victims.

Continue reading…

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Suspect pleads guilty in brutal slaying of gay teen in Puerto Rico

LGBTQ Nation • Wednesday, May 12, 2010 • Filed under: Puerto Rico • Comments (0)

The man accused of the brutal murder of a gay teenager in Puerto Rico last November pleaded guilty on Wednesday and was sentenced to 99 years in prison.

Mercado (left) was murdered by Matos on November 12, 2009

Juan José Martínez Matos, who had been scheduled to go on trial Monday for the murder of Jorge Steven López Mercado, confessed to the crime during a hearing in Caguas, and told the court he understood the consequences of his actions, according to a report in Edge.

Prosecutors contend Martinez stabbed Lopez to death before he decapitated, dismembered and partially burned his body before dumping it along a remote roadside near Cayey on Nov. 12, 2009. The gay teenager’s murder sent shockwaves across Puerto Rico and around the world. Continue reading…

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Authorities agree to investigate Mercado’s death as hate crime

LGBTQ Nation • Sunday, November 29, 2009 • Filed under: Puerto Rico • Comments (0)

Mercado vigilPuerto Rican authorities have agreed to investigate Jorge Steven López Mercado’s murder as a hate crime after they met with local representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Nuevo Dia reported William Ramírez, executive director of the ACLU and of the University of Puerto Rico’s Legal Clinic, pointed out to Puerto Rico Department of Justice Secretary Antonio Sagardía the Commonwealth has a history of “not investigating hate crimes cases” like the one he said to which Juan A. Martínez Matos reportedly has confessed.

“The ACLU has tried to get the government to accept its responsibility to investigate cases… that are hate crimes, particularly that of young Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado,” said ACLU director William Ramírez.

“We should not be satisfied with the possibility the federal government will do what our government is not interested in doing; which is to protect every citizen,” he said. Continue reading…

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Jorge Steven López Mercado, teen slain in Puerto Rico, laid to rest

LGBTQ Nation • Tuesday, November 24, 2009 • Filed under: Puerto Rico • Comments (0)

Lopez MercadoFootage from the funeral of Jorge Steven López Mercado in Toa Alta, Puerto Rico, on Monday shows his grief-stricken mother remembering the moment she accepted her son as gay.

According to a translation provided by the blogger Blabbeando, Myriam Mercado recalls the moment an emotionally upset Steven told her he was gay.

“Aw, son … if I loved you, now I will love you more,” she said.

Mercado’s body was found decapitated, dismembered and partially burned in a wooded area near Cayey on Friday, Nov. 13.

Juan A. Martinez Matos was arrested a few days later, and will be charged with first-degree murder and four other counts, according to the prosecutor. Continue reading…

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Suspect in killing of Puerto Rico teen may claim ‘gay panic’ defense

LGBTQ Nation • Thursday, November 19, 2009 • Filed under: Puerto Rico • Comments (3)

Juan Antonio MartinezSAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The man charged with first-degree murder in the killing of a gay teenager in Puerto Rico will likely use “gay panic” as a defense, reports UPI.

Juan A. Martinez Matos, 26, a married father of four (pictured), confessed he was cruising the “red light” district of Caguas, a city south of San Juan, looking for women and picked up 19-year-old Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado thinking he was a woman, a police report said.

When the two went into a house “the suspect (allegedly) found out that Lopez was a man, after Lopez made sexual advances, and as a result of the rage, Matos did what he did,” the report quoted in the newspaper El Nuevo Dia said. Continue reading…

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Suspect to be charged with murder in slaying of gay teen in Puerto Rico

LGBTQ Nation • Wednesday, November 18, 2009 • Filed under: Puerto Rico • Comments (0)

Jorge Steven Lopez MercadoThe suspect in the brutal slaying of a gay teenager in Puerto Rico will be charged Wednesday with first-degree murder and four other counts, the prosecutor in the case told CNN.

Juan A. Martinez Matos was arrested late Monday in connection with the slaying of Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado (pictured), whose decapitated, dismembered and partially burned body was found Friday afternoon on a road in central Puerto Rico.

In addition to murder, Martinez Matos is expected to be charged with three weapons violations and one count of hiding evidence.

Prosecutors are weighing whether to recommend that Martinez Matos be charged under federal hate crimes law.

“The brutality of the slaying and the fact that he was openly gay leads us to believe it was very possibly a hate crime,” said Pedro Julio Serrano of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Continue reading…

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Suspect arrested in brutal murder of gay Puerto Rican teen

LGBTQ Nation • Tuesday, November 17, 2009 • Filed under: Puerto Rico • Comments (0)

Steven Jose Lopez MercadoA suspect has been arrested in the slaying of a 19-year-old Puerto Rican man, police said Tuesday.

Jorge Steven López Mercado (pictured) was found decapitated, dismembered and partially burned Friday in a wooded area near Cayey on the island of Puerto Rico.

“The brutality of the slaying and the fact that he was openly gay leads us to believe it was very possibly a hate crime,” said Pedro Julio Serrano of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Authorities are investigating whether the killing involved sex, Guayama police Commander Hector Agosto Rodriguez told WLII-TV.

Guayama prosecutor Jose Bermudez identified the suspect as John A. Martinez, 26. Continue reading…

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Gay teen found brutally murdered in Puerto Rico

LGBTQ Nation • Monday, November 16, 2009 • Filed under: Puerto Rico • Comments (0)

Steven Jose Lopez MercadoThe body of a gay teenager was discovered this past weekend, found burned and decapitated on the island of Puerto Rico.

Jorge Steven López Mercado’s body was found decapitated, dismembered and partially burned in a wooded area near Cayey on Friday, Nov. 13. His friends became concerned after he failed to meet them at a popular gay club in the San Juan’s Santurce neighborhood.

Investigator Angel Rodriguez’s assertion López, 19, somehow caused his own death sparked widespread outrage and anger among Puerto Rican activists.

“When these type of people get into this and go out into the streets like this, they know this can happen to them,” Rodriguez said a statement local media outlets broadcast and reported.

Gay groups are planning protests and acts of remembrance for the student, who was said to be studying fashion.

According to a CNN iReport by Christopher Pagan, Lopez Mercado was “well-known” and “very loved” in Puerto Rico’s gay community.

Members of the U.S. gay community are asking authorities to investigate whether the slaying was a hate crime because of the victim’s sexual orientation, said Pedro Julio Serrano of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

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