March 24, 1976 - Kidnapping and murder of Chagui. He disappeared while driving his sister’s car, which she had lent him so he could go to work, on the condition that he pick up his nephew at 5:00 p.m. from daycare and then pick up his sister from work.
March 25, 1976 – Early in the morning, his body was found inside the car on the shoulder of Highway #PR-1, in the jurisdiction of Caguas, across from the General Foods offices, near the intersection with Highway #175.
Following a private investigation, the Puerto Rican Socialist Party classified the death of Santiago Mari Pesquera as a political assassination.
Forensic pathologist Rafael Criado told the press that the fatal shot was fired from a foot away from the victim’s right temple with a .38-caliber revolver. He concluded that the victim had struggled with the killer because he had scratches, bruises, and contusions on his neck and mouth. His shirt was torn. “In addition,” said Criado, “his right hand was clenched into a fist, which is clear evidence that Santiago put up a fierce struggle when he realized he was about to be killed.”
March 26, 1976 - Funeral of the murdered young man, where his father, Juan Mari Brás, delivered a speech urging people not to succumb to revenge.
Henry Walter Coira Story, 23, a neighbor and friend of Chagui and his brothers, was arrested as a suspect in the murder. The police’s own accounts suggested that the suspect did not act alone. Henry Walter Coira’s father had him admitted to the Dr. Julia Psychiatric Clinic.
In an FBI memo dated March 26, 1976, which was later made public in 1996, the Puerto Rico Police formally requested that the FBI “in writing, the Puerto Rico Police requested that all files, documents, or information in any format that this agency has provided to the FBI be specifically exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act and its amendments, and the Privacy Act of 1974. Consequently, any agency that subsequently receives such information is bound by this request.”
March 28, 1976 - A judge filed charges of first-degree murder against Henry Walter Coira Story, along with two charges of violating firearms laws, and set his bail at $125,000 during a hearing at which the defendant was not present. The judge allowed him to remain at the Dr. Juliá Psychiatric Clinic.
March 29, 1976 – Henry Walter Coira was transported from the psychiatric hospital to police headquarters for questioning. The press reported that during the trip, Coira uttered some unintelligible words and showed no emotion whatsoever. At a press conference, Colonel Héctor M. Lugo reported that Coira had been taken to his office for questioning regarding the murder and would then be brought before Judge Montañez Delerme in Caguas so that the judge could decide whether to imprison him or return him to the hospital. Colonel Lugo reported that Coira had developed a phobia against independence activists and against Mari Pesquera.
In a separate press conference, Representative Carlos Gallisá of the PSP stated that they would conduct their own investigation because, while it is known who pulled the trigger, they are not convinced that Walter Coira acted alone. He reported that independence leaders know there are other individuals who instigated Coira to commit the crime and took advantage of his psychiatric condition.
The judge ordered the defendant to be admitted to the State Penitentiary in Río Piedras.
October 8, 1976 - The medical certificate regarding Henry Walter Coira states: “Chronic paranoid-type schizophrenic reaction, mentally incompetent,” signed by José R. Vigoreaux, M.D., Psychiatrist. The defendant remains in custody but does not plead competent to stand trial, and therefore no trial is held.
1976—Independent investigations by the Puerto Rican Socialist Party point to the Cuban Edberto Berdut as a suspect. His car was seen at the scene where Chagui was kidnapped and at the location where the car with the body was abandoned.
January 2, 1981 - Carlos Romero Barceló was sworn in for a second term as governor after winning (in the opinion of many, fraudulently) the November 1980 general election. Romero Barceló (PNP) defeated Rafael Hernández Colón (PPD) for governor in November 1976. In this second election (1980), he was trailing in the count when the power to the computerized system went out; when the system was restored, it appeared that he was winning. The Puerto Rican Senate remained in the hands of the PPD term as governor after winning (in the opinion of many, fraudulently) the November 1980 general election.
January 29, 1981 - Henry Walter Coira Story undergoes a new psychiatric evaluation at the Psychiatric Hospital at 10:00 a.m. and is declared fit to stand trial. The trial is expedited.
February 9, 1981 – At a court hearing, the defendant is declared fit to stand trial.
February 16, 1981 – Coira pleads guilty to second-degree murder.
March 17, 1981 – Coira is sentenced to 10 to 25 years in prison for murder, 1 to 3 years for illegal use of firearms, and six months for illegal possession of firearms. The trial was completed in 19 days, and the crime is “officially” resolved.
March 18, 1981 — Mari Brás’s attorney went to court and was surprised to find that the sentencing hearing had taken place the previous day. Mari Brás, who had not been notified of the trial and who, upon learning of it, had requested a hearing for the sentencing, had been summoned to appear on March 18. The hearing was held on March 17. Mari Brás denounced the trick and called it a cover-up.
1983 – The Puerto Rican Senate holds the famous Cerro Maravilla Hearings. These hearings concluded that the deaths of two young men, Carlos Soto Arriví and Arnaldo Darío Rosado, were the result of a sting operation carried out by the Puerto Rican Police under the direction of an undercover agent named Alejandro González Malavé, who had infiltrated the independence movement. During the hearings, prosecutor Emilio Duprey Tacoronte, who was in charge of the Santiago Mari Pesquera case at the time of the murder, stated that the Mari Pesquera case should be investigated more thoroughly because it could be similar to the Cerro Maravilla case.
1985 - Following the Cerro Maravilla hearings and Governor Carlos Romero Barceló’s election defeat, the Department of Justice reopened the case under the supervision of prosecutor Crisanta Rodríguez, who concluded beyond a doubt that Henry Walter Coira Story did not act alone and that others were involved in the murder.
June 4, 1986 - Inmate Henry Walter Coira changed the list of people authorized to visit him. He removed the family members who had been visiting him and added a list of Cubans.
June 5, 1988 - Antonio de la Coba, a Cuban exile terrorist based in Puerto Rico, appears on the list of visitors Henry Coira received that day. Gloria Gil, a reporter for the Cuban exile newspaper La Crónica, also visited him that day and conducted an interview with him inside the Oso Blanco State Penitentiary, which she later published in La Crónica. The publication features photos of Henry Coira with Gloria Gil in the Oso Blanco courtyard. It is unknown how the reporter obtained permission to
June 5, 1988 - Antonio de la Coba, a Cuban exile terrorist based in Puerto Rico, appears on the list of visitors Henry Coira received that day. Gloria Gil, a reporter for the Cuban exile newspaper La Crónica, also visited him that day and conducted an interview with him inside the Oso Blanco State Penitentiary, which she later published in La Crónica. The publication features photos of Henry Coira with Gloria Gil in the Oso Blanco courtyard. It is unknown how the reporter obtained permission to interview him and to enter the prison’s inner courtyard.
1989 - A woman appears on the visitor list as Henry Coira’s wife. It is unknown how they met or how they got married while he was in prison since 1976.
September 8, 1989 - Henry Coira was released from prison. His wife picked him up at Camp Zarzales and took him to live in Miami.
March 27, 1991 - Puerto Rico’s chief prosecutor, Pedro G. Goico Amador, requests information from the FBI regarding Santiago Mari Pesquera and Henry Coira. Specifically, he asks whether Coira was an FBI employee, whether there are any reports or documents written by Coira or referring to him, and under what circumstances they were obtained.
May 23, 1991 - Prosecutor Goico Amador receives a response from the FBI stating: “Please be advised that your request for information regarding the FBI file on Santiago Mari Pesquera and Henry Walter Coira is governed by the Privacy Act (Title 5, United States Code, Section 552). The Privacy Act imposes specific restrictions and prohibitions on the disclosure of information protected by the statute. These restrictions, together with the FBI’s policies and procedures regarding the discretionary release of information in our records, are strictly enforced in accordance with the Privacy Act.”
1993 - The New York-based “Center for Constitutional Rights,” at the request of Juan Mari Brás, submits a petition to the U.S. Department of Justice asking it to disclose the information it has regarding the murder of Santiago Mari Pesquera.
March 19, 1996 - The Center for Constitutional Rights writes to Juan Mari Brás regarding the results of its efforts to have the Department of Justice release the documents it holds concerning the murder of Santiago Mari Pesquera. In the letter, they indicate that the FBI restricted the information and that they intend to appeal this decision, although they believe the appeal will not be successful. They include the FBI memorandum dated March 26, 1976—two days after the murder—which has been redacted in several places.
1993–2000 - Under the governorship of Pedro Rosselló González of the New Progressive Party, the Department of Justice conducted no investigation whatsoever. The case file was left to gather dust in the Department’s basement. The newspaper *El Vocero* reported on the memorial service held for him at the Old San Juan Cemetery and noted that “federal authorities have not yet disclosed everything they know.”
January 2, 2001 - Sila María Calderón is sworn in as governor.
2001 - The Department of Justice appoints Prosecutor José Virella to take charge of the case.
January 22, 2002 - The Puerto Rico Senate Judiciary Committee holds public hearings to investigate the murders of Santiago Mari Pesquera and Carlos Muñiz Varela, among others. During the hearings, it comes to light that Prosecutor José Virella received a death threat. Rosa M. Mari Pesquera, Chagui’s sister, presents a statement. There was no follow-up to the hearings.
January 2, 2005 - Aníbal Acevedo Vilá of the Popular Democratic Party takes office as governor.
September 26, 2005 - Prosecutor José Virella asks Luis Fraticelli, Director of the FBI in Puerto Rico, to cooperate in declassifying any information they may have regarding the murder of Santiago Mari Pesquera. The request went unanswered.
March 24, 2006 - As they have done every year since the murder took place, family and friends went to the Old San Juan Cemetery to lay a wreath and urge the U.S. government and authorities in Puerto Rico to release the documents they have regarding this crime. That day marked the 30th anniversary of the murder.
December 26, 2007 - Prosecutor Sarimar Andreu takes over the case and sends a letter to David M. Hardy, head of the FBI’s Records Management Division, complaining that the FBI had not responded to the request for information made in 2005. She also asks for information about Henry Coira.
January 28, 2008 - Prosecutor Sarimar Andreu and the chief prosecutor of the Puerto Rico Department of Justice, José M. Delgado Rodríguez, write to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) requesting information on any records they may have related to Santiago Mari Pesquera and Henry Walter Coira.
May 7, 2008 - The chief prosecutor of the Puerto Rico Department of Justice, José M. Delgado Rodríguez, sends information requested by the Central Intelligence Agency and asks that they not close the request made under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
December 15, 2008 - Juan Mari Brás, father of Santiago Mari Pesquera, requests from the Puerto Rico Department of Justice a copy of the entire investigation file on the murder, including communications with the FBI requesting information and the FBI’s responses. No response has been received to this request.
December 29, 2008 - Governor Acevedo Vilá sends a letter to U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, asking him to intervene with the FBI to have it declassify and send to the Puerto Rico Department of Justice all the information it has on the case.
January 2, 2009 - Luis Fortuño of the New Progressive Party is sworn in as governor.
November 29, 2009 - The Mari Pesquera family requests a meeting with Attorney General Antonio Sagardía to provide information and submit a series of declassified documents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that could shed light on the murder of Santiago Mari Pesquera. The request is ignored by the attorney general.
December 2, 2009 - The Commission for Truth and Justice held a press conference to release declassified documents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confirming that in January 1976, two months before the assassination of Santiago Mari Pesquera, the FBI knew of a plot to assassinate Juan Mari Brás, Chagui’s father. Mari Brás and his family were never warned of the plot or the threats against their lives.
September 10, 2010 - Juan Mari Brás, the father of Santiago (Chagui) Mari Pesquera, dies at the age of 82 of natural causes, with the case of his son’s murder still unsolved.
January 2, 2013 - Alejandro García Padilla of the Popular Democratic Party takes office as governor.
2014 - The Department of Justice, headed by César R. Miranda, Esq., appoints prosecutor Pedro Tomás Berríos Lara to continue the investigation.
March 13, 2014 - Senator María de Lourdes Santiago writes a letter to the Secretary of Justice, César R. Miranda Rodríguez, urging him to continue the investigation into the murders of Santiago Mari Pesquera and Carlos Muñiz Varela so that justice may be served.
March 25, 2014 - Secretary of Justice César R. Miranda Rodríguez, responds to Senator María de Lourdes Santiago’s letter, reiterating that they will continue investigating the case and pledging not to remain inactive.
November 24, 2014 - As part of the process of scanning the file compiled by the Puerto Rico Police Intelligence Division on Juan Mari Brás, documents were found identifying FBI agents Arturo Rivera and Donald Huppert, who were aware of the plans by Cuban terrorist groups based on the island to kill the independence leader and socialist. The files were handed over to Juan Mari Brás following the successful class-action lawsuit Noriega v. Governor, which exposed the Puerto Rico Police Department’s unconstitutional practice of gathering information on pro independence citizens in order to hinder their ideological activities. The files on Juan Mari Brás cover the years 1947–1987.
November 28, 2014 - Santiago Mari Pesquera’s family met with Secretary of Justice César R. Miranda and handed him FBI memos mentioning the Puerto Rico Police Department’s request to keep the case and the entire investigation exempt from the Freedom of Information Act.
February 11, 2015 - The Superintendent of the Puerto Rico Police, José L. Caldero López, sent a letter to James B. Comey, Director of the FBI in Washington, D.C., a letter stating that, 38 years after the crime, the Puerto Rico Police Department sees no reason to justify continuing the exemption under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in the Santiago Mari Pesquera murder case. For this reason, he requests that the ban on releasing the documents be lifted to allow for full access to the information and to clarify the circumstances surrounding this historic case. He also wrote to the Attorney General to inform him of the request made to the FBI.
August 26, 2016 - Given the lack of follow-up communication, a letter was sent to Secretary César Miranda demanding that the case not be closed.
June 4, 2019 - The family sent a letter to Attorney General Wanda Vázquez Garced, requesting a meeting to learn about the progress of the investigation. The Attorney General did not respond to the letter.
March 17, 2021 - The family sent a letter to the newly appointed attorney general, Domingo Emanuelli, requesting a meeting to discuss the next steps in the investigation and asking that the new administration demand that the FBI hand over the documents in its possession that could lead to the identification of those responsible for the murder.
April 12, 2021 - Mari Mari Narváez and Rosa Mari Pesquera, members of the family, meet with Secretary of Justice Domingo Emmanuelli, Undersecretary of Justice Wanda Casiano, Chief Prosecutor Melissa Vázquez, Prosecutor Pedro Berríos, and prosecutors Néstor Acevedo and Ángel García Rodríguez.
February 10, 2025 - Congresswomen of Puerto Rican descent, Nydia Velázquez and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, sent a letter to the directors of the FBI and the CIA demanding that they declassify all documents and information they have regarding the murders of Santiago Mari Pesquera and Carlos Muñiz Varela.
