Astrid Piñeiro Vázquez, Puerto Rico’s women’s advocate (procuradora de las Mujeres), said on Thursday, November 12, that the Puerto Rico Police Bureau is still investigating the deaths of two women whose bodies were found in Yabucoa and Ponce, incidents she placed on November 8. Speaking at a press conference at La Fortaleza, Piñeiro Vázquez said it is still too early to determine how either case should be classified and that it falls to the Police Bureau to present its findings once the investigations conclude.
She said she is in continuous communication with the Police Bureau and received information about the investigations before the press conference. "However, it is still very premature to reach a determination on the classification, since they are still under investigation," she said. She added that the investigations are fairly advanced but offered no details on the findings.
Separately, Piñeiro Vázquez confirmed that complaints filed with her office against the former secretary of Corrections were dismissed on jurisdictional grounds, without reaching the merits. She said that determination does not establish whether the allegations are true or false. "I precisely did not want it understood that we were treating them as either true or as lies either," she said.
She said the complainants were advised of other options available to them, including reconsideration at the judicial level, and stressed that her role is to protect possible victims and that the complainants themselves will decide what steps to take. "These people know the rights they have, and it will be they who make the determinations," she said.