The case for sexual abuse against Fray Miguel Florenzan, director of the Colegio Agustiano in La Vega, continues to be heard in a La Vega court. The school is one of the better private schools in La Vega.
20-year old Victor Mañón Arias has come front to accuse the very influential priest. When Mañón was 11 years old his father died and his mother sought refuge in the priest of the Catholic school to help her son survive his loss. He was in sixth grade.
“He took advantage of the vulnerability of my son,” says his mother. She said he trusted the priest who named him altar boy. She declared her son was raped when he was 16 years old in the school. But when in January 2015 he traveled to a Agustiano school trip he was again raped in a hotel room. Mañón then would tell on Florenzan to the youth ministry representative.
The prosecutors said that the coordinator of the youth ministry at the time, Leidy Lespin Tapia, became aware of the sexual abuse during a school trip to Argentina. Reportedly, she confronted the priest who she says admitted to what had happened. Lespin would then resign the position, says the prosecution. Mañón’s mother, Bella Ilonka Arias, said everyone in the school was aware but the sexual abuse was hidden from her.
When Mañón returned to the school, he said he sought help from the school psychologist, who instead accused him of being responsible for the sexual abuse.
When her son went to live in the United States, she received a letter from him telling about how he was sexually abused. Victor Mañon took his case to Instagram and received the courage to denounce his case that was taken up by the La Vega prosecutors.
Other victims have come forth, around 20 persons, but these are under of pressure to not serve as witnesses to the actions of the former school director.
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Diario Libre
27 September 2018
