Incidents shed light on Dominican Republic’s feared generals

Santo Domingo.- The Curator of the Dominican Resistance Memorial Museum (MMRD) on Monday denounced being threatened during the questioning of former Armed Forces Secretary, retired general Ramiro Matos Gonzalez, into the torture and murder of Manolo Tavarez Justo and his freedom fighters in Dec. 1963.

Quoted by listin.com.do, Luisa Peña Diaz said among the people that made the threats figure a Sergeant assigned to the Justice Ministry, whom she’s willing to identify to authorities.

"No one is above that sir, and we are going to explode you," De Peña says the Sergeant told her, whose name wasn’t immediately available because he walked away to avoid photographers.

She said that a woman, also among the people waiting outside the Prosecutor’s Office during the questioning, when Matos exited, yelled that he had blood in his hand, and one of his escorts, also a retired general, responded that if Tavarez’s group surged again they’d kill them again.

"Is that a confirmation of the action for which Ramiro Matos is being questioned?" Peña asks, adding that the response may shed light on the crime against the freedom fighters who rebelled to defend the elected government headed by Juan Bosch.

Yesterday’s incident reveals the latent traces of Rafael Trujillo’s Tyranny (1930-1961), and which has led to impunity of many murders committed by active and retired generals.

Deputy Justice minister Bolivar Sanchez will question the retired general again on May 2.