The vile murder of environmentalist Roberto Viqueira, at the hands, according to authorities, of a neighbor with whom he had long been in dispute, has once again confronted our society with the unspeakable horror of the consequences of resorting to violence and intolerance to resolve everyday differences.
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The string of cases like this is truly staggering. The man who killed two brothers over a neighborhood dispute in the middle of a courtroom in Caguas. The woman who attacked another woman with bats and blows, in broad daylight, on a public street. The young woman who assaulted a nurse, also on a public street, in San Sebastián. The woman who insulted and assaulted the manager of a fast food restaurant.
Even the case of the man accused of murdering the individual who allegedly assaulted his daughter, whose actions were praised by many, also falls among the examples of people who resorted to violence, in this case the most extreme imaginable, to resolve a dispute that should have been addressed through institutional channels.
The pages of many newspapers could be filled solely with reports of these sad events. People record them on their cell phones and share them on social media. Many others share them, make them go viral, and comment on them. Some find them amusing and imitate them. It is a sordid, ongoing spectacle of degradation and incivility that reflects very poorly on Puerto Rican society.
We ask ourselves, as in that old campaign promoting values, what is wrong with us, Puerto Rico? What is causing us to react so intemperately to situations that could be resolved in many other ways? What could be going through the mind of a person who, as the authorities say happened with the murderer of Viqueira in Yauco, empties a revolver into a neighbor over a simple dispute? Where is our gentle, joyful, and compassionate nature—the one that makes people call us “the land of ay bendito”?
The most notorious cases are magnified, of course, by social media and by the morbid curiosity of all those who, upon seeing them, continue to spread them. However, this is not a minor problem, nor is it something that can be ignored or left unchecked. The climate of tension, largely a result of the endless difficulties of life in Puerto Rico, needs attention, both from the authorities and from society.
One cannot ignore the fact, for example, that the two cases of neighborhood disputes cited—the one in the Caguas Court and the one in Yauco—were both in court. For years, there have been complaints about the slowness of mediation processes between neighbors in the courts. There may be room for improvement there.
Nor does the impunity that sometimes results from these cases help. In March, all of Puerto Rico saw a woman destroying another woman’s car with a bat, then assaulting her on a public road. The victim of the brutal attack—for reasons known only to her—did not want to press charges. For this reason alone, the attacker suffered no consequences despite having committed such serious crimes in front of the entire country. The public saw and took note.
It should be noted, however, that this is not an issue that is solely the responsibility of the government. It is true that slow processes, institutional incompetence, impunity, and all the stressors that are part of everyday life in Puerto Rico often push our tolerance to the limit. But it is up to each of us to draw on our values, our character, and understand that, at the end of the day, violence and intolerance do not solve any problems and, on the contrary, create many more.
For ourselves, for our families, for our country, let us learn that we can live in peace with one another.
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This content was translated from Spanish to English using artificial intelligence and was reviewed by an editor before being published.
