Flaws within the civil registry system in the DR has enabled members of drug trafficking cartels and others involved in organized crime to obtain forged identification cards (cedulas), according to a report in today’s Diario Libre. The newspaper says that once these are secured, criminals are able to obtain Dominican passports, open bank accounts and carry out money laundering transactions in the country.
Diario Libre mentions the case of Puerto Rican and Dominican justice fugitive Jose David Figueroa Agosto, a Puerto Rican who had four Dominican IDs (cedulas) and three birth certificates with different names. His wife, Dominican Leavy Nin Batista had an additional birth certificate and ID with which she was able to leave the country.
Diario Libre reminds readers of the case of Cuban-Americans Carlos, Jose and Luis Benitez, accused of money laundering in a US$110 million Medicare fraud case, who were able to obtain Dominican IDs, birth certificates, passports with which they fled the DR.
Cali cartel member Hector R. Espinosa (El Tio) is known to have obtained Dominican cedulas to evade justice. His fellow countryman, Colombian Luis A Santacruz Echeverri, also linked to the Cali drug cartel, and who was arrested in September 2009, had obtained Dominican residence and two IDs in the DR. Colombian Guillermo de Leon Bedoya, who was found to be in possession of eight different Dominican identities when he was arrested on 19 September 2009.
The JCE has received billions in taxpayer money to install finger and iris identification systems to eliminate identity fraud. Judging by all these cases of fraudulent identity, it is evident that the system in place does not crosscheck for multiple identities prior to issuing new IDs.