Earlier this week, a fire at La Victoria National Penitentiary, the largest prison in the Dominican Republic and the single largest prison facility in the Caribbean, claimed at least 11 lives. The tragedy worsens a humanitarian crisis that is already at a high level of desperation. Initially, the Dominican government reported three deaths, which was…
In a March 14 letter to the editor of Americas Quarterly, international human rights lawyer Víctor Mosquera Marín called on U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to apply “the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms” as well as for Blinken to live up to his commitment to “[stand] to governments” that violate…
U.S. Special Presidential Advisor for the Americas Christopher J. Dodd traveled to the Dominican Republic from March 7 through 9 in a visit that “underscores” the U.S. commitment to “defend democratic governance and the rule of law”, according to the State Department. Special Advisor Dodd attended on the sidelines of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)…
The Dominican Republic’s Public Ministry has been plunged into scandal yet again for violating international standards of human rights as well as Dominican law. This week, a leak coming from the ministry named prosecutor Francisco José Polanco Ureña as the subject of an embezzlement investigation, plastering his image and the news across the Dominican press…
Writing in the influential Dominican daily, El Nuevo Diario, journalist Carlos Lara said the intimidation and persecution of Judge Ana Lee Florimón and her family by “an unidentified group within the Public Ministry” is “regrettable and unacceptable and should receive all the repudiation of Dominican society.” Lara said the prosecutors responsible for persecuting the judge…
Activists and NGOs take the lead with international bodies while the governmentdenies, downplays and launches attacks The outcry over human rights abuses in the Dominican Republic has intensified thanks to the leadership of local civil society groups and international organizations, while the Dominican government remains in full denial. This week, the head of the influential…
Attorney General and Human Rights Groups Order Investigation and Demand Accountability The alleged persecution of Judge Ana Lee Florimón has lit a fire of controversy in the Dominican Republic. Last week, Judge Lee Florimón accused prosecutors in the Public Ministry of engineering a campaign of harassment, where she and her family have been followed by…
Government spin on human rights abuses provokes anger before Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Conflict broke out yesterday between human rights advocates and representatives of the government of the Dominican Republic as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) reviewed proof of the “inhuman” treatment and conditions in the country’s justice system at a public…
Judge denounces “public discredit campaign” and harassment of family;New facts support an investigation of Public Ministry by U.N. Special Rapporteur Human rights abuses in the Dominican justice system, already under fire before international bodies, took a dramatic turn last week at the Second Investigative Court of the National District in Santo Domingo. In open court,…
Focus Shifts to Special Rapporteur Receiving Evidence on Arbitrary Arrest Carried Out by Berenice, Camacho A United Nations human rights body has sent a clear signal to judges and courts in the Dominican Republic: they must push back against prosecutors who “systematically interrupt” the right to a defense and illegally prolong preventive detentions. In fact,…
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