Carnival is suspended for the murder of an 11-year-old boy

The Santiago Carnival Organizing Committee reported that the celebration of the carnival activity in the monumental area on Sunday, February 19 in Santiago de los Caballeros has been canceled. The decision was made following the death of Donaly Joel Martinez, an 11-year-old pre-adolescent, last Sunday at the hands of a National Police corporal in the middle of an incident allegedly caused by the volume of a speaker while they were enjoying this activity in this city. Other federations and carnival groups have backed the measure, and the carnival will return with its final parade next Sunday, the 26th, at 2:00 p.m., according to the statement.

Following the death of a child at the hands of police officers in this province of Santiago de los Caballeros, the Federation of Piglets and Comparsa of Santiago (Felecsa) announced through its members that they will not participate in the carnival festivities this coming Sunday. “We are not going to parade until it is clarified and there is justice made for this incident. “My people come first, today the victim was that man’s son, tomorrow he can be mine,” Ernesto Almánzar, a folklorist known as “El Indio del agua,” expressed in dismay and pain at the burial of the deceased child.

Likewise, the National Union of the Dominican Carnival (UNACARDO) issued a statement in response to what they called a “horrendous crime” raising its “voice of indignation at the events that occurred in the city of Santiago last night where a police contingent attacked several families who celebrated the carnival party. “It has to hurt us because a boy who was playing baseball had his future life taken away from him, and they also imprisoned his father,” Almánzar said his voice breaking.