Wednesday at dawn, residents of Santiago, made a macabre discovery in the Ercilia Pepín park on the street Sabana Larga, about 50 meters from the University Hospital Jose Maria Cabral y Báe in the Dominican Republic, where a man of Haitian origin, tied hand and foot was hanged on a tree.

The body of the victim, was dropped by the competent authorities and sent to the National Institute of Legal Medicine (INACIF) to conduct an autopsy.

Colonel Damián Arias Matos, the police spokesman, said that the members of the Department of Homicides, with the representative of the Public Ministry had opened an investigation.

In relation to this matter, two Dominicans were questioned as well as three other persons of Haitian origin, accustomed to frequent this area. Police said that the interrogation were aimed at collecting information that could lead to the arrest of the author of this crime, but that does not mean that the interviewees had any connection with the victim.

According to preliminary information, it appears that the victim aged about 23, was known as 'Tulile" according to the identification made by his countrymen. He worked as a shoeshine boy near the hospital "Cabral y Báez" and also made commissions for lenders to get money.

Some police sources said on condition of anonymity, believe that the victim could have been robbed of a winning lottery ticket of 6,000 pesos, but no hypothesis is rejected on the cause of the murder.

Especially, that another event that occurred this week might suggest the hypothesis of a racist crime (hypothesis not mentioned by the Dominican Police) Recall that this week the residents of the community of sector Los Ciruelitos (Santigo) had burned the flag of the Republic of Haiti, in what they said to be a gesture of rebellion against the the left-to of the Dominican Government "face the invasion of Haitian immigrants without papers" and launched "Haitian outside, they want war, they will have war"...

Note that in Santiago, Santo Domingo and other cities of the Dominican Republic, there are committees or anti-Haitian groups who oppose the attempts of an alleged plot to merge the two Nations the island. They present themselves as patriots, ardent defenders of the Dominican Nation.

SL/ HaitiLibre