The late Mr. Herrera, on the left. Facebook

Former police officer and self-confessed neo-nazi Ronald Javier Herrera Borges took his own life on Saturday. Mr. Herrera was found in his home located in the neighborhood of La Capri, part of the populous Desamparados canton of the San Jose province.

The suicide note posted on Facebook by Mr. Herrera asks for forgiveness while labeling himself a coward, a bad parent, a dubious friend, and a rotten husband who could not continue among the living.

In his note, Mr. Herrera wrote about a final letter written to three women in his life; he would also like his head to be shaven prior to burial. He would like to be dressed in jackboots and suspenders with no shirt, just the flag of Costa Rica wrapped around him. He would like the caretaker to leave his piercings intact. He would like to be buried next to his father; if this proves to be too expensive, cremation (“just like the Vikings,” he mentioned) would do.

The final requests by Mr. Herrera include: playing a specific playlist labeled “Murdock,” which can be found stored in his smartphone, at his wake while someone dressed as the Grim Reaper stands silently.

In 2012, The Costa Rica Star learned about an investigative report on Mr. Herrera by Jose Melendez of Mexican news daily El Universal. Mr. Herrera made headlines when his neo-nazi tendencies were revealed by means of his own social media updates. At the time, Mr. Herrera was an officer of Fuerza Publica, the national police force of Costa Rica.

It was on his Facebook Timeline and photo albums that Mr. Herrera declared himself a sympathizer of neo-nazi ideology. The photographs depicted Mr. Herrera along with other young men, displaying assault rifles, neo-nazi symbolism and paraphernalia.

Mr. Herrera’s ideology was found to be incompatible with the principles of Fuerza Publica, and thus he was summarily dismissed in the wake of national outcry by many people who did not deem him fit for the national police. The investigative report by El Universal, which questioned whether neo-nazi ideology had infiltated the ranks of Fuerza Publica.

When Mr. Herrera was dismissed, the Ministry of Public Security issued a statement that indicated:

“It is intolerable for a democracy and her police force to allow individuals who sympathize with human rights violations to serve as law enforcement officers. Fuerza Publica is a non-belligerent entity, therefore officers cannot belong to movements that not only conform to xenophobe attitudes but also go against the values the police aims to uphold.”

Mr. Herrera’s embrace of neo-nazi ideology, which is often found in white supremacist groups was an odd choice for a young man born and raised in Costa Rica; nonetheless, his affiliation to this movement caught the attention of the local antifa (Antifascist International) group that threatened Mr. Herrera. Although antifa groups around the world believe in keeping the peace, they have been known to fight against Nazism, racism and xenophobia through violent means.

The final missive by Mr. Herrera reads:

I bid goodbye with pain; it was either this (suicide) or dying from a sickness that is eating me up from the inside.

 

Sincerely,

 

The coward who could not take it anymore “Murdock.”