Let’s act fast to remove the “devil’s acid”

Contemplating the photos by award-winning photographer Orlando Badías of women burned with “devil’s acid,” is an act that fills us with horror at the sight of such utter devastation, it is a moment when we think of the relics of savagery that survive in certain people, almost always in males dressed as men. And to know that it has become frequent in our country for scorned males to attack their female or former female partners with this evil mixture.

We cannot allow such savagery to continue to be expressed in Dominican society. We cannot continue to see how the international press displays, with legitimate astonishment, photos of women with their faces, their breasts, their backs, and their legs burned with “devil’s acid.” It is the worst counter-propaganda that can be made to a nation whose executives worldwide display the goodness of the Dominican Republic to attract tourists and to attract investment.

Therefore, we must all sympathize with the anger of the President of the Republic and with his determination to put an end to this diabolical phenomenon. We must act; we must find a way to keep the “acid of the devil” away from the immoral males. We cannot remain in the sermon, in verbal condemnation, in anger, in the journalistic statement to reassure a public opinion alarmed by this horrifying inexcusable inhuman behavior.

We are pleased that Public Health, Pro Consumidor, and the General Directorate of Medicines, Food and Health Products are looking for ways to regulate the sales of the chemical elements whose mixture produces the “devil’s acid.” These public entities should approach Codia and the organizations that group plumbers, ironmongers, and importers of these products so that together they can explore effective and practicable ways to control the sale of the chemicals in question.

Society is waiting for decisions.