Following a commemorative march on Saturday, 26 August 2017 in Parque Colon in the Colonial City, social organizations are calling for a governmental truth commission to compile a list of the supposed 20,000 Dominicans who are reported as victims of state disappearances.
The Memorial Museum of the Dominican Resistance organized the march to honor the memory of over 20,000 Dominicans said to have forcibly disappeared during both Rafael Trujillo’s dictatorship and the administration of Joaquin Balaguer.
According to Luisa de Peña Díaz, director general for the Museum, they were trying to keep the memory alive of those who disappeared and they are now demanding the government account for the host of missing family members and create a truth commission. “We demand a real and official listing of people who were victims of state terrorism in the 20th century,” she said.
The event took place ahead of the International Day of Victims of Forced Disappearances on 30 August, which was first initiated by the United Nations in 2010 after requests were made by the Latin American Federation of Relatives of the Detained-Disappeared.
The Dominican Republic’s forced disappearances happened between the years 1930-1960 and 1966-1978.
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Telesur TV
29 August 2017
