Washington – A report from College of Lawyers of Puerto Rico (CAAPR) points out that at least 20 Puerto Ricans are on death row in the United States, 12 fewer than seven years ago.
The majority of cases of Puerto Ricans or descendants of Puerto Ricans who may be subject to the death penalty are from Pennsylvania, with nine, and Florida, with 5.
The president of the CAAPR International Law Commission, Carmelo Campos, who prepared the report, alluded to “the most recent execution of a Puerto Rican in the United States,” that of Ángel Nieves Díaz, which occurred on December 13, 2006 in Florida. .
Campos recalled that the execution of Nieves Díaz generated dismay, since it took about 40 minutes – twice as long as usual – and required a second dose of the lethal drugs, because during the process the needles were inserted incorrectly.
Mr. Campos, who is also part of the CAAPR Commission on the Death Penalty, argued that the drop in death penalty cases “clearly illustrates the trend of how the death penalty has lost ground in the United States in recent years. years”.
“Between 2013 and 2020, Maryland (2013), Delaware (2016), Washington (2018), New Hampshire (2019) and Colorado (2020) have abolished the death penalty,” he said.
The report was released on the 91st anniversary of the abolition of capital punishment in Puerto Rico.
“91 years after having statutorily abolished the death penalty in our country, in the midst of this pandemic, we value human life even more,” stressed the president of the College, Edgardo Manuel Román Espada.
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