Puerto Ricans Angry That U.S. (Ashcroft) Overrode Death Penalty Ban

[kskiska]

SAN JUAN, P.R., July 15 — This island, it is safe to say, hates capital punishment. It has not had an execution since 1927. It outlawed the practice two years later and wrote this antipathy into its Constitution in 1952: "The death penalty shall not exist."

That is why a federal trial here, in which the Justice Department is seeking the execution of two men accused of kidnapping and murder, has left many Puerto Ricans baffled and angry.

Local politicians, members of the legal establishment, scholars and ordinary residents have denounced the trial, now in its second week. They call it a betrayal of the island's autonomy, culture and law, in particular its Constitution, which Congress approved in 1952 as part of the compact that created Puerto Rico's unusual and frequently uneasy association with the United States mainland.

Not even relentless daily testimony about the gory crime — the kidnapped man was shot and dismembered — has softened the outrage voiced by many here.

"Although we are talking about some facts that are very gruesome, the people of Puerto Rico do not approve in any way of capital punishment," said Arturo Luis Dávila Toro, the president of the Puerto Rico Bar Association.

more…
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/17/national/17RICO.html?hp

[Ponderer]

1. Unfortunately, federal law prevails

Even in a commonwealth.

[madrchsod]

2. well maybe

they will decide to be either a state or a soveriegn nation but no matter what they choose it`s another nation of people pissed off at bush and his klan

[Fenris]

3. What a bizarre country we live in

A country in which the fundamentalist head of the Justice Department tells a U.S. commonwealth that they must execute people. Am I just crazy, or does this seem weird?

(And yes, I do understand that it is a federal trial and the feds have the upper hand, but it still seems strange.)

[RainDog]

4. yes, it is insane

it is insane that people who call themselves Christian support the killing of people by the state.

it is insane that America is the only western nation which still kills people, especially given the record of error.

it is insane that Ashcroft holds the position that he does and every day I think this must just be a horrific nightmare and America will wake up and Ashcroft and Cheney and Bush and DeLay and all the other fascists will be gone.