It has come to light that a former naval systems engineer, Gustavo Isidro Zayas, whose death was announced yesterday, was
killed under mysterious circumstances about which the police are reluctant to comment. Zayas, who was retired from the
Dominican navy, was once the assistant to Presidential aide Martin Abreu Pimentel, who was killed outside the Trio Cafe in
May 2002 in a drug-related incident. Zayas himself had recently been undergoing rehabilitation treatment for substance
addiction. The newspapers are reporting that Zayas’ last words were “no-one gets me out of my house without an attorney”,
as he was shot by a group of men who arrived at his house in a dark-colored SUV in the early hours of Sunday morning. The
men apparently were posing as DNCD (drug enforcement) agents, leading some to believe the incident was a bungled attempt
to kidnap their victim. The 37-year-old man lived comfortably in the Gala district of Santo Domingo, but was said to fear
for his life, employing the protection of up to eight bodyguards. Not all of them, however, were on duty on Sunday.