Dominican president, defense chief honor a most feared assassin

Santo Domingo.- He was one of Dominican Republic’s mostfeared assassins during dictator Rafael Trujillo’s reign of terror, butpresident Danilo Medina and Defense minister Sigfrido Pared saw fit to head amilitary graduation ceremony in his honor.

It’s unlikely that the 51 cadets graduated to Second Lt. at theFrank Felix Miranda Air Force Academy on Thursday had even heard of Maj. Gen. Fernando A. Sánchez (Tunti) and much lessof the former Air Force Chief of Staff’s leading participation in 1961 kidnappingand murders of six of the heroes who executed Trujillo on May 30, 1961.

Sanchez together with Ramfis Trujillo, headed the murders of RobertoPastoriza, Huáscar Tejeda, Pedro Livio Cedeño, Salvador Estrella Sahdala, ModestoDíaz and Tunti Cáceres at Hacienda Maria, in Nigua San Cristobal.

But Pared and Air Force Chief of staff Ramón HernándezHernández justified dedicating the commencement ceremony to Sanchez.

"Understand that we cannot delete history and, forbetter or worse, there are people who are already in history, they have hadtheir marks, some negative and others positive, and each institution reserves theright to mention these people, such as general Fernando Arturo Sánchez, who wastwice chief of staff of the Air Force," Pared said.

Hernandez affirms that it was the cadets themselves who chosethe notorious name when they began their studies four years ago.

Sanchez, who had fled to Spain together with RamfisTrujillo in late 1961, “mysteriously” reappeared in the late 1970s, keeping alow profile while working as the head of the dog handlers at the Canodromogreyhound track.

Reaction

UNACEPTABLE! wasthe first of likely many to come reactions to the news. The expression came onTwitter by the Fundación Hermanos de la Maza, to honor the two brothers whoformed part of the Heroes de 30 de Mayo.