In a week where eight out of every ten stories in the newspapers and on the talk shows were about the on-going search for Cesar Emilio Peralta (aka Cesar the Abuser), Dominican officials have yet to talk to the now arrested Dominican drug capo. For many, this is a puzzle. For others, it prompts many conspiracy theories.
The Colombian authorities, headed by the Interpol and Criminal Investigation Agency chief Fabio Lopez Cruz, have told Dominican reporters that they have yet to talk to the Dominican authorities who had proclaimed locally that they were carrying out intense dragnets and vehicle-to -vehicle searches for the fugitive. It would be the Colombian Police, together with US Marshals that would arrest Peralta in Cartagena, Colombia last week.
The Colombian authorities say they have evidence Peralta had been in Colombia since 20 August 2019 when the Dominican authorities announced an operation to arrest him. Previously, Peralta had operated freely and openly in the Dominican Republic.
As reported by the Colombian Police, Peralta was first located in Barranquilla, from where he moved to Cartagena after surviving a murder attempt. The Colombian Police say that Peralta used a Colombian ID in the name of another person.
Since the arrest on 2 December, the US authorities have been questioning the smuggling kingpin in Cartagena and later in the maximum-security prison in Bogota where he was sent.
According to Lopez Cruz, the United States has not yet formally requested the extradition of Peralta, and in Colombia, the local authorities are interested in questioning Peralta concerning his alleged tentacles in the sex trade there. The Colombian authorities could formulate charges on these counts or he could be extradited.
Although the Colombian Police say they are quite welcome to participate in the interrogation of Peralta, Dominican authorities have been the big absentee in the case. The Dominican authorities also have not requested his extradition. The Attorney General Jean Alain Rodríguez instead has given the green light for Peralta’s extradition to the United States.
Meanwhile, in the Dominican Republic, President Danilo Medina named Attorney General Jean Alain Rodriguez to be the sole spokesman for the local judiciary on matters concerning Cesar Emilio Peralta. N Digital reports the decision was reached after a meeting on Thursday, 5 December 2019 at the Presidential Palace. Present were Defense Minister Rubén Darío Paulino Sem; National Police director Ney Aldrín Bautista; the president of the National Drug Control Agency (DNCD) Felix Alburquerque Comprés, the president of the National Investigations Agency (DNI) Sigfrido Pared Pérez, and Attorney General Jean Alain Rodriguez.
Journalist Juan Bolivar Diaz, in a feature published in Acento, focuses on the complacent attitude on behalf of Dominican law enforcement and other government entities regarding Peralta and his years of known illicit activities in the country. Diaz remarks that despite receiving 50 tax notifications, the many businesses under the Peralta entertainment corporation were never shut down and instead openly flourished.
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El Dia
9 December 2019