Dominican President Abinader says he is “very affected” by the Liz María case; will announce citizen safety plan

Santo Domingo, DR

President Luis Abinader announced that next week he would present his plan to improve citizen safety and security.

When expressing his regret for the murder of a nine-year-old girl named Liz María in the Isabelita sector in Santo Domingo East, the president said that he would announce a reform to the National Police in the next week.

“Like the whole country, I am very affected. We have four days in the Government, but I can assure you that we will work with the reform of the Police and prevention to deal with cases like that (that of the minor Liz María) does not occur in the Dominican Republic. They fill us with sadness but also fill us with anxiety about justice,” said the president at the Catalonia hotel, where the deputies participate in a training session on legislative techniques. 

He assured that in the case of the under-nine-year-old, they will do everything possible so that the person is convicted, and that is why “we also have to review how we can make those sentences stronger than those that exist now, much stronger.” 

Liz María disappeared last Sunday around 8:00 in the morning when she was supposedly going to look for a cell phone that a neighbor would give her.

A video surveillance camera captured the moment when Liz entered the alley where her executioner, Esterlin Francisco Santos (El Panadero), resides. At the same time, another video shows when the defendant leaves his residence with a bag in his hands that allegedly contained the minor’s body.

The accused is in prison, and the authorities have not yet recovered the nine-year-old minor’s body.