The trending topic on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, 27, 28 and 29 October 2019, has been the arrest and jailing of a young professional who when at the Licey vs Escogido ball game at the Quisqueya Ball Park was critical of the flaunting of wealth by the president of the Chamber of Deputies Radhamés Camacho. From his seat, Máximo Eladio Romero Marcial observed Camacho splurging with the purchase of a very expensive bottle of whisky at the game.
Romero said he was offended by the flagrant flaunting of fortune by Camacho. Watching with indignation, he called out to Camacho to buy him and his friend a couple of beers. In reply, the media reveals that ballpark security would interrogate him in his seat. When Romero Marcial left the stadium he was handcuffed and arrested and taken by pickup to the La 40 jail in Cristo Rey where he was obliged to spend the evening. He was released in the morning with no charges pressed.
Máximo Eladio Romero Marcial admitted to naming Camacho “corrupt.”
“Regardless how much of a president of the CD you are, one cannot act with the arbitrariness and the little tolerance Radhamés Camacho showed”, PRM deputy Faride Raful stressed in an interview. Raful added: “Here when you question a person’s wealth, the person feels offended, but as officials we have the obligation to account for the public funds we handle and we cannot prohibit anyone from expressing what they feel about us, because that is a right enshrined in the Constitution.”
The congresswoman who is running for senator for the National District for the PRM opposition party, advocated for the right of citizens to freedom of expression and citizens’ right to demand transparency from those who manage government funds.
Romero said he was offended by the flagrant flaunting of fortune by Camacho.
The incident was streamed live by his friend Ed Henríquez on his Instagram account. The video shows how law enforcement agents try to impede the filming.
Romero works in a private company and as a career advisor to university students. The videos show he remained calm at all times. He is a graduate in business administration with a masters in human development.
Lawyer José Martínez Brito described the arrest as “an abuse of power.” He urged Romero to press charges. He said the arrest was a prelude of a dictatorial regime and should not happen in a democracy.
Lawyer Namphi Rodríguez lamented that a citizen who in his indignation would insult the president of the Chamber of Deputies, be arrested without justification. Rodríguez said this was an abuse of power and violation of the personal liberty of the citizen.
Camacho would later deny he had ordered the arrest. He said it was routine action by the ballpark security. He said it was the security of the ballpark that had independently acted. He said he was not aware of the arrest and had found out in the morning.
Nevertheless, the ballpark security denied it had to do with the arrest that occurred after Romero Marcial left the stadium.
Camacho is known for his rapid rise from a lower middle-class public school teacher to being a wealthy government officer. For many years he had refused to publish his wealth statement.
The Constitutional Court ruled in 2016 (TC/0075/16) that it is not a crime in the Dominican Republic to call a government officer a thief. The Constitutional Court said that to criminalize the action would be to limit the freedom of expression and opinion of citizens. The court only gives a defamation category to the revealing of matters related to the private life of the government official.
Local media also pointed out the differences in how Trump handled being booed at a recent World Series baseball game.
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29 October 2019