The party leadership of the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM), including its president José Ignacio Paliza and secretary general Carolina Mejía, sent a letter to 69-year old veteran deputy Eugenio Cedeño as part of a disciplinary process in response to the recent controversial statements made by the legislator. The legislator has been in the press for his support to several of the controversial clauses in the Penal Code that recently passed in the Senate and has been introduced for review in the Chamber of Deputies.
Eugenio Cedeño has served four terms in Congress and was reelected for another — 2006-2010, 2010-2016, 2016-2020, 2020-2024 and now 2024-2028. A lawyer, previously he had served as prosecutor for the court of appeals of San Pedro de Macoris. He presides the committee of tourism and is part of the human rights and ethics committee in the Chamber of Deputies in the National Congress.
Notwithstanding, his public statements regarding the rights of parents to discipline their children with a beating, that men have the right to unwilling sex with their wives, and his views on child marriage have made headlines in recent years.
Cedeño made recent public statements suggesting that a man can remove a condom during sexual intercourse to impregnate his wife without her consent. The remarks were widely criticized for being misogynistic and potentially promoting violence against women.
Now the ruling PRM has distanced itself from Cedeño’s statements, stating that they are unacceptable and violate the party’s principles of respecting women’s rights and rejecting gender-based violence. This is the same political party whose majority passed the Penal Code with the clauses, with the vote of Cedeño but also with that of his fellow members of the PRM. The party echelons were mute until Cedeño issued his infamous sexist statement that was the drop of water that overflowed the glass and brought him back into the limelight.
The PRM leadership in Congress left him out of the committee that is reviewing the Penal Code. Cedeño says he will participate in the committee, even when he is not allowed to vote. The members of the Penal Code committee with the right to vote are Alexis Jiménez, Gustavo Sánchez, Fior Daliza Peguero, Rosa Hilda Genao, Isabel de la Cruz, Servia Iris Familia, Rafaela Alburquerque, Sadoky Duarte, Ramón Bueno, Soraya Suárez, Jesús Sánchez, Aníbal Díaz, Saury Mota, Pedro Martínez, Elías Wessin, Braulio Espinal, Máximo Castro Silverio, Rafael Castillo and Mélido Mercedes.
The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Alfredo Pacheco (PRM-National District) has announced his intent to pass the Penal Code before the end of the present legislature on 25 July 2024. The bill would then move to the Presidency for enactment or rejection. The Penal Code did not pass in the past Danilo Medina administration when it was vetoed twice by then President Medina.
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15 July 2024