Police Chief Major General Jose Armando Polanco Gomez has defended the performance of the police agents who took part in the persecution and death of Jean Carlos de Leon, alias Cacon, on Friday, 4 January. Police had accused Cacon of killing police lieutenant Pedro de la Cruz. De la Cruz was the director of the Anti-Narcotics division of the police in the Municipality of Santo Domingo North. The Police have not explained the reasons for the murder of the lieutenant on 29 December 2012.
Diario Libre reports that Reynaldo Estevez Ramirez, who was reportedly accompanying Cacon when the latter is said to have fired at the superior officer, turned himself in on Thursday, 3 January and will stand trial.
The case became more controversial after the chief of the Police declared publicly that he preferred Cacon not to turn himself in voluntarily. Polanco Gomez defended Police actions during a supposed armed confrontation in the early hours of Friday, 4 January as correct, as reported in Diario Libre. Caco was killed by eight bullets in several parts of his body. The chief of the Police said he was willing to go to any court to defend Police performance. National Human Rights Commission president Manuel Maria Mercedes said on Friday, 4 January that Cacon would be turned in on that same day.
In his editorial on Saturday, 5 January, Adriano Miguel Tejada of Diario Libre comments that in any other part of the world the chief of the Police would have been fired for his statement that many are reading as a “chronicle of a death foretold”.
“Here, in contrast, he will be applauded by the general public. Dominicans have not succeeded in developing awareness that the authorities cannot be given more power than what is granted by the constitution and the laws. The thin line between living in freedom and a state subject to the arbitrary actions of the authorities should never be crossed. One has to admit that the Police is overwhelmed by events and has many deficiencies, but its chiefs have to make a greater effort to respect the law and human life,” he warned.
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