I has gotten progressively worse since the mid-seventies. Drug drops on the south coast means an easy distribution channel into the US. I think they neutered a big ops center to plan interdiction efforts throughout the Caribbean basin (PROC or CBRN, can’t remember now). A previous governor’s PD executed a group of terrorists and there was an uproar that handicapped crime fighting efforts since. You get all of that plus a very high unemployment rate and a bribable police force and you end up with a mess.
A big turning point was when a drug traffic group took kids on a school hostage. It was a wakeup call, signifying their dominance and the destruction of what had been the order, safety, and morality in the island.
God bless Fortuno, and Godspeed to his efforts.
You must be referring to 1978, when police officers caught two terrorists who were attempting to blow up a transmission tower on Cerro Maravilla, a mountain located in the Municipality in Villalba. Unfortunately, the officers shot the two in cold blood after they had surrendered.
Opponents of the island's administration at the time, including the separatist left, did the utmost to place the blame on then-Governor Carlos Romero Barceló, accusing him of having ordered the execution (it was not uncommon to hear the Governor's political enemies refer to him as a "murderer"). In the end, there was no evidence to support the accusations against Romero, but police officers implicated in the crime were convicted and served long prison sentences.