Teresa Meccia de Palma, the former Argentine ambassador to the Dominican Republic, left the country on 15 August, two days after her replacement officially presented his credentials to the then President, Joaquin Balaguer. Mrs. Meccia de Palma’s family has been implicated in the brutal slaying of 12-year-old Jose Rafael Llenas Aybar on 3 May. During a small farewell party held for the ex-ambassador in a hotel in the capital, demonstrators gathered outside the building and mounted a protest against the diplomatic immunity which the Palma-Meccia family has enjoyed throughout the investigation of the murder of the young boy.
The two confessed killers of Jose Rafael Llenas Aybar, Mario Jose Redondo Llenas and Juan Manuel Moline Rodriguez, are reported to have implicated the son of Mrs. Meccia de Palma, Martin Luis Palma Meccia, in the case. At first it was believed that Mr. Palma Meccia had left the D.R. on 2 May, one day before the murder, but it was discovered three weeks ago that he left on 6 May. In addition to the alleged evidence against Mr. Palma Meccia, newspaper, radio and television news reports have mentioned the possible involvement of Mrs. Meccia de Palma’s husband, Luis Palma, in international drug trafficking, although it is unclear how this accusation has a bearing on the murder.
The Dominican Foreign Minister at that time, Caonabo Javier Castillo, said throughout the case that the lifting of diplomatic immunity would be practically impossible in view of the terms of the Vienna Convention of 1961. The Attorney General for the National District, however, has said on several occasions that the decision to request a lifting of the immunity was in the hands of President Balaguer, who has not publicly spoken on the matter.
The investigation of the case, which had been suspended for three weeks, is now set to continue, as the prosecutor for the Santo Domingo Court of Appeals, Cecilio Perez Gomez, has granted Judge Alexis Henriquez Nuñez a 30 day extension of the original 60 day period to conduct preliminary questioning. The change in personnel in the judicial system, however, could slow the process down with the new government of Dr. Leonel Fernandez.