Legal or otherwise, Puerto Rican police ‘harass’ Dominicans

San Juan. – The Dominican community in Puerto Rico on Wednesday complained of continuing police brutality by local law enforcement, especially in their in businesses and other harassment they say violate their human rights.

"It’s a gross violation of civil rights. This is not a democracy, but a dictatorship disguised as a democracy" said José Rodríguez, president of the Dominican Committee for Human Rights in Puerto Rico.

In a press conference, Rodriguez cited an incident on May 1 when a group of police agents entered a business in Bayamon, near San Juan, and threatened the customers with their weapons drawn, among them the local journalist Jose Negro Matos.

Quoted by eldia.com.do, Matos said the agents told him: "You are not from here. You had to be Dominican. We have to deport you."

The incident has been denounced to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the de Rights Civil Commission, both in Puerto Rico.