Mi imperfect nation
On a given Saturday, the main newspaper in Puerto Rico could be very depressing. It was on April 10, 2010. The first page shows the news of a two year old girl who was dead when she arrived at the hospital. Her tiny body was bruised and showed human bite markings. The girl’s biological father was arrested. Witnesses interviewed said they could always hear the high-tone arguments he and his wife had most of the time, while the girl’s maternal grandfather reacted by saying that he was aware the child was being abused and that his wife – the girl’s grandmother—once called the Department of Families and Children. The information provided by the paper regarding this issue is quite ambiguous. This is my translation of El Nuevo Dia, page 4: “The maternal grandfather said that Gisselle’s mother had notified the Department of Families and the Police about an alleged child abuse pattern [in this family]. However, the following sentence states: “The Secretary of the Department of Families, Ms. Yanitzia Irizarry, said that the couple did not have a record of child abuse.” The people started to wonder, Did they ever investigate?
On the next page (5), there’s an article related to eight year old Lorenzo González-Cacho’s death. A month after his tragic the Puerto Rico Police Department was still behind in an investigation should have been concluded.
Lorenzo, a child who excelled in soccer and was admired by friends and teammates, died on March 9, 2010, after being hit in the head with a sharp object. That night, he was in his home along with his mother Ana Cacho, his two sisters (ages 13 and 5) and two men who were visiting Mrs. Cacho until well past midnight. The Cacho residence lies in an upper-middle class suburb in Dorado, Puerto Rico. It was not until Lorenzo’s younger sister noted that Lorenzo was bleeding on his bed the boy's mother realized what happened. Still, an hour and a half elapsed until Lorenzo was taken to an emergency room. People started to speculate about this case, including that the boy’s mother, Ana Cacho, might have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol, but this theory was discarded after the mother underwent a drug screening test which, authorities say, was negative. Inexplicably, the laboratory where Cacho went to have the tests done was vandalized a few days after she was there.
As days passed and became weeks, and still no one was arrested, the residents of Puerto Rico became even more interested and involved in this case: a young innocent boy received a mortal blow in his own home, while sleeping on his bed. What appeared to be obvious to all Puerto Rican citizens was not for the police investigators on the island: (a) at the crime scene there were three adults and three children (b) one child is now dead (c) there were no hiding or fleeing suspects to be caught; and (d) that the forensic pathologist confirmed that Lorenzo was brutally murdered.
Meanwhile, Ana Cacho hired three prominent lawyers, because she has the financial means to do so, and has remained silent.

On the other hand, the Department of Families, headed by Yanitzia Irizarry, took a long time to intervene and remove the girls from the maternal aunt's house, where they were staying, even after it was known that their mother was being questioned as a suspect. It is obvious that the girls may feel inhibited in providing information that may incriminate their own mother while staying inside the family. Now that the girls are physically separated from the maternal family, they might be able to communicate what they saw or heard that night.
The popular opinion here in Puerto Rico was that, for some unknown reason (including protecting someone that may be involved in the murder), the investigation was delayed unnecessarily. In addition, people believed that the Police Department, led by Jose Figueroa Sancha, seemed to cater a special treatment to Cacho. People seemed to agree that, if the crime had been committed in a humble and marginalized sector, the story would have been otherwise: someone would have been prosecuted earlier.

The Internet became a forum where people expressed their frustration and pain regarding what they call lack of justice for Lorenzo. After reading the opinions posted by different people in different groups, the concerns of the vast majority of the residents of Puerto Rico about this case were:

Why is Lorenzo's mother silent? Many of the women who wrote their ideas are mothers, and they stated they “would not hesitate to cooperate with the investigation” and that, instead of remaining silent, they would “scream from the rooftops all they know about the case”. The comments in the Facebook group "Justice for Lorenzo" are sometimes overwhelming: "Ana Cacho, speak up at once and be free." Or: "This Ana, to me, is a worthless mother." And: "I cannot understand this woman, she has a stone inside her chest instead of a heart."

On top of everything, Ana's lawyers organized an odd press conference to clarify to the media and the people of Puerto Rico that the mother’s silence responds to their explicit instructions. However, the Facebook user with the pseudonym Palabras Encadenadas provided the following information: “In the practice, very few lawyers would suggest their clients to exercise their right to remain silent… which is likely to be taken negatively by the judge ... and that would cast doubt about the guilt of the accused ...

To make things worse, these internet groups circulated photos which showed Ana Cacho in a variety of social activities, mostly holding alcoholic drinks, and a in a carefree attitude.

People also wonder: why such an unusual delay in this particular case? Forum users described their feelings about this as: "Outraged ... because connections, power, and money in this case prevail over justice”. Others spoke directly to the authorities: "Mr. Governor, Mr. Secretary of Justice we have been waiting for 31 days and we still don’t know what happened to this child. The murderer is still free and we want justice ".

Another common topic was: why does social class distinction exist in the justice system? A participant wrote: “If justice does exist, it must be [delivered equally] to everyone, no one can be excluded, otherwise it would no longer be justice”.

Despite the public outrage, the Police Chief Josí Figueroa Sancha announced to the media that he didn’t foresaw a deadline for the completion of the investigation. Meanwhile, people are still demanding justice for Lorenzo, if not worldly, then heavenly: "I trust God that soon we will know who committed this horrendous crime against this little angel," wrote another contributor to the group.

In April 2010 the Director of the Department of Families was interviewed by Associated Press reporter Omar Marrero. She disclosed that in Puerto Rico “at least 200 children are abused every month,” and that many more cases go unreported. Even though the majority of the reported cases have to do with negligence (for example, not paying attention to a child’s medical problem or school progress) there are still many cases of physical and emotional abuse and even child exploitation. This last item includes forcing the children to work (in farms or family businesses) even though they are not of legal age to work—which is 16 in Puerto Rico.