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General Juan Tomas Taveras Rodriguez, who was forcibly retired from the Police after publishing critical comments, wasn’t being insubordinate or rude when he decided to go the civil courts to challenge a ruling that he considered in violation of the Police’s Organic Law. Taveras was disciplined by the Police Department for expressing his opinions on police reform in his column in the Clave Digital online news service.

“Police General Rafael Guillermo Guzman Fermin didn’t comply with that law and that is why I took the case to civil court,” he stated. Quoted in Hoy, he said, “How is it that the law is good enough for the Chief to sanction me for it, but not good enough so that I can appeal it?”

Speaking on his forced retirement, the General said it bothered him that his case had been made public, but added that he doesn’t want to return to the Police, on the grounds that he doesn’t want to be part of an institution that breaks its own laws.

He told the press, nevertheless, that he plans to keep a low profile for the time being.