3 Strangest, Hard To Forget Unsolved Crimes in Latin America
They say, "What's life without a little mystery?" But some mysteries are just too mind-boggling that it borders on confusion. For Latin America, it's been the case for its many unsolved crimes.
These unsolved crimes don't just baffle residents of Latin America but also people from other parts of the world. Unsolved crimes aren't new to Latin America, as it is in other parts of the world. It just so happened that some have been more popular than others.
Do you have time to put on a thinking cap and bust open these cases? Who knows, you might be the one to solve these long-standing mysteries.
Read on to learn more about some of Latin America's top strangest unsolved crimes, as listed by We Are Mitu.
Las Cruces Bowling Alley Massacre
On February 10, 1990, two men shot seven people inside the Las Cruces bowling alley in New Mexico. Their victims, including four children, were all killed in execution-style. Both killers escaped from the damages before the authorities arrived.
This coming February marks its 31st year, with only surviving victims as of February 2020. Four people died during the bowling alley execution, while one more died a year later, Las Cruces Sun News noted.
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On a March 2020 report from ABC 7 KVIA, it said that many tips came to investigators after a $30,000 reward was offered for any information leading to the arrest of the suspects.
"We're going to do this as if this is the first time we've received this (information)," said Det. Amador Martinez said at the time.
Since no suspects are conclusively connected to the crime, he didn't have much information to offer. Even though some suspects have already been investigated in the past, investigators decided to do it all again.
Cerro Maravilla Murders
Deep in the night of July 25, 1978, Carlos Soto Arriví, 18, and Arnaldo Darío Rosado, 24, were accompanied by an undercover police officer named Alejandro González Malavé.
Malavé posed as a member of the Armed Revolutionary Movement, which the two were also part of. He then took a taxi driver hostage and told him to drive to the top of the mountain Cerro Maravilla.
The three planned to sabotage communication towers on the mountaintop in protest of some Puerto Rican freedom fighters' imprisonment, reported Liberation News.
Malavé alerted the police that confronted the two youth and killed them. It was one of the most controversial cases in Puerto Rico's history. Many stories started contradicting each other, many accusing the police of a cover-up.
Statements from the taxi driver and other witnesses poked holes in the police's claim that they acted in self-defense.
U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and the Federal Bureau of Investigation performed special investigations in 1978 and 1980, but the case was closed due to "lack of evidence."
However, Puerto Ricans did not want to let the case go. After the second wave of investigations, it was proven that the cops did not act in self-defense.
The Assassination of Señor óscar Romero
On the morning of March 24, 1980, El Salvador's archbishop, Oscar Arnulfo Romero, was shot as he was saying mass. The murder became one of the most notorious unsolved crimes of the cold war in Latin America. However, the motive was clear.
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Romero was very vocal about the death squad slaughter in the U.S. backyard, said The Guardian. He served as the "voice of those without voice," telling soldiers not to kill.
The U.S. promised there would be justice, but all came to nothing. There was no hitman, gun, or witnesses to shine any light on the case.
Since then, Romero became known as Saint óscar Romero, reported The New Yorker. He was named a saint after a Salvadoran man prayed to him for his wife, who slipped into a coma after giving birth. His wife survived.
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