We demand an end to illegal DGM incursions that lead to crimes such as theft, murder and rape.
On April 5, a few days after the publication of the open letter led by Amnesty International in collaboration with local organizations, including the #HaitianosRD Collective, in which the Dominican authorities were asked to put an end to racist immigration policies that violate the Constitution and the laws. A new racist crime occurred during an operation to persecute migrants: the rape of a minor under 14 years old by an Air Force soldier who was operating under the orders of the General Directorate of Migration ( DGM). The majority of Dominican society woke up that day, shocked by this crime perpetrated by a soldier serving the DGM. Even the President of the Republic, who is not in the habit of commenting on crimes perpetrated during immigration operations against the Haitian community, declared on April 15 that the full weight of the law would be applied to the author of the rape.
According to the complaint filed by human rights defenders from Verón-Punta Cana, province of La Altagracia, and formally ratified by the victim’s mother, on April 5, 2024, hooded agents of the DGM arrived at dawn in the neighborhood where the victim lived. They raided house to house. The young woman was alone at home when she was sexually raped by agent Paulino de la Cruz, identified and charged by the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), while another DGM agent watched outside of the House.
The representative of the National Commission for Human Rights, Santiago Molina, declared in denouncing this case that he knows of many others in which the victims and their families do not dare to file a complaint, for fear of impunity and reprisals by the authorities. In 2022, the #HaitianosRD Collective became aware of a case of rape of a young Haitian woman by police officers in a detachment in Santo Domingo Este. The young woman, who was raped when she went to the detachment to inquire about the arbitrary detention of a member of her family for non-approval of her passport, received threats and preferred not to file a complaint but return to Haiti. Beyond the fact that the government is trying to wash its hands of these cases of violence by indicting one of the perpetrators, or even by dissociating the DGM from the crime, impunity continues to be the norm and the most serious thing is that the government continues to enable the conditions in which these types of crimes are carried out.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office announced in a press release published on April 27 that it had obtained the imposition of three months of preventive detention against De la Cruz, but it omits a very important fact for the case and for our community: he is a soldier and is assigned to the DGM. An editorial in the Acento media outlet points out that De la Cruz had likely been working for the DGM for at least six months, and we doubt, like this editorial, that the DGM intends to distance itself to avoid accountability or responsibility. responsibilities in this matter, since ultimately the responsibility for this violation corresponds primarily to this institution.
It is extremely disturbing that the only person charged in this rape case is military officer De la Cruz. This soldier was part of a unit of 13 members who participated in the operation to persecute illegal immigrants in this community. This is reason enough for everyone to be charged with this serious crime of unlawful trespass. But furthermore, it is common knowledge that the national press reported that De la Cruz had the complicity of at least one other immigration agent, whom he ordered to leave the house and stand guard at the outside while he committed the rape.
Every week, DGM units carry out raids in the early hours of the morning, searching homes without court orders or the presence of public prosecutors, forcing locks or breaking down house doors. We have previously denounced the fact that these searches systematically violate the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution of the Dominican Republic itself as well as in international standards on the presumption of innocence and the inviolability of housing, the right to personal freedom , property and the right to personal integrity. .
In these illegal operations carried out by the DGM, agents generally act hooded and without identification, which does not guarantee that each detained person knows the identity of the person detaining them and under what charges they are being detained. In these illegal operations of the DGM, money and cell phones are frequently stolen, bicycles and motors are seized, among other property, and even sexual violations are committed. Many detentions blatantly violate Migration Law 285-04 and its regulations which prohibit separating families, detaining infants and the elderly, as well as pregnant or breastfeeding women. It is therefore a question that beyond the accusation and the future conviction against De La Cruz, the government puts an end to the policy of racist persecution and the illegal operations of the DGM, by restoring legal and constitutional guarantees, currently suspended de facto to the detriment of Haitians, Dominicans of Haitian origin and black Dominicans.
In conclusion, we demand a real investigation that deepens and establishes all local responsibilities for the crimes committed on April 5 in La Altagracia, including the illegal raids, and that establishes the responsibility of the hierarchical superiors who ordered the commission of these illegal acts searches, in addition to establishing the complicity of the DGM agent during the commission of the violation. Likewise, we emphasize our demand that arbitrary arrests based on racial profiling and irregular raids cease, as these are illegal operations that facilitate the criminal activities of DGM agents. The government has the responsibility to put an end to these directives which promote atrocious crimes and must answer to international authorities.
Socialist Workers Movement of the Dominican Republic
May 4, 2024
