The Dominican Republic is in shock. The Presidency has ordered three days of official mourning. The sorrow is collective. In the midst of a hot summer Monday morning, around noon, 55-year old Orlando Jorge Mera, the country’s Minister of Environment since August 2020, was murdered in his office. The Presidency confirmed the murderer, was a childhood friend of the late minister.
Adjunct Attorney General Yeni Berenice Reynoso identified 56-year old Fausto Miguel Cruz de la Mota as the person who shot seven times at Orlando Jorge Mera in his office at the Ministry of Environment.
After committing the crime, the man left the Ministry by a back staircase to take refuge in the Iglesia Jesucristo Sumo Sacerdote. From there he would turn himself in to the Public Ministry and the Police. The director general of the Police Major General Eduardo Alberto Then and Adjunct Prosecutor Yeni Berenice Reynoso received Cruz de la Mota at the church when he was turned in to the Public Ministry.
The outcome of the official investigations are pending. Preliminary reports indicate Cruz de la Mota was involved in a discussion with the minister who had not authorized an environmental permission for illegal aggregate extraction in a river. The extractions were related to Cruz de la Mota’s business dealings with Cementos Cibao, a cement manufacturer. The muckraking journalists Ricardo Ripoll and Eduardo Sánchez Tolentino at Somos Pueblo and Altagracia Salazar for Altagracia Salazar El Patio addressed the difficult mafias Jorge Mera went against in his day-to-day at the Ministry of Environment.
News stories report that Cruz de los Santos was a classmate of the late Orlando Jorge from the Colegio Loyola.
N Digital reported that Cruz and Jorge Mera were childhood friends and this is why he was allowed to enter the office of the minister bearing firearms. N Digital reports that Cruz de la Mota is an importer of the Carandai brand guns for his Armería Miguel Gun Shop. His firearms business is locatd at Av. 27 de Febrero 102. Other companies linked to Cruz de la Mota are Servicio y Seguridad Leones, a values and security operation and Compañía de Guardianes Los Trinitarios. Also Inversiones San Sebastian, a real estate developer.
Noticias SIN reports that the website of the Dominican Air Force indicates that Cruz de la Mota is the son of Major General Pilot Fausto Miguel Cruz Ramirez, who was Chief of Staff of the Dominican Air Force between 1988 and 1990 during the government of Joaquin Balaguer. Cruz Ramirez had been retired in 2003 during the government of former President Hipólito Mejía.
N Digital reports that the Cruz and Jorge Mera were alone in the office of the minister when the discussion got heated ending in the seven shots that killed Jorge Mera.
Media reports indicate that National District Mayor Carolina Mejía was in the building on her way to a meeting with the Minister. She was late. She was evacuated from the building.
Orlando Jorge Mera had made a name for himself as a highly respected Minister of Environment who operated by the law.
Jorge Mera is the son of former President Salvador Jorge Blanco. At the time of his death, he was also the political delegate for the ruling Modern Revolutionary Party in the Central Electoral Board (JCE). His wife is the Dominican ambassador to Brazil, Patricia Villegas. His son, Orlando Jorge Villegas is a deputy in the Chamber of Deputies. He has a daughter, Patricia Victoria. He is also survived by his sister, Dilia Leticia.
Diario Libre reports that Dilia Leticia Jorge Mera said she was devastated. She said her brother was her friend and advisor. Jorge Mera is deputy vice president of Innovation, Transparency and Attention to Citizens at the Administrative Ministry of the Presidency.
In sending his condolescences, the director of the Dominican Port authority, Jean Luis Rodriguez described Jorge Mera: “Dismayed by what happened to our friend and Minister of the Environment, Orlando Jorge Mera. A decent politician, dedicated to work for his country, but above all a great human being. My heartfelt condolences to his family.”
Jorge Mera was known as a simple, accessible and law-abiding government officer. Muckracking TV and radio journalist Altagracia Salazar called Jorge Mera, “an environmental martyr.”
The media today brings multiple stories of the man who sought to organize the job at the Ministry of Environment and get people to comply with the law. He resisted all the pressures from inside the government and out.
Verbacious Pesident Luis Abinader did not have words to remark on the loss of his close friend in politics and in personal life when the news broke. Instead, the Presidency issued a short note read by spokesman of the Presidency, Homero Figueroa.
Orlando Jorge Mera’s son, deputy Orlando Salvador Jorge Villegas published a short note from the family via his Twitter account. The statement ends with a line whereby the Jorge family states it pardons the killer because Orlando Jorge Mera was not one to hold a grudge.
As reported, President Luis Abinader visited on Monday, 6 June 2022 in the evening the Jorge Villegas residence to express his condolences. The newspaper says that visibly shocked, the President had commented that it had been a very sad day that had brought everyone down. He spoke of the need for a campaign against violence and arms. He said society is sick and people are fighting for anything.
“I think the world has to reflect. This must change, the only thing that violence leaves behind is more violence and more tragedy”, emphasized the President as he left the house.
The funeral procedures will start with a mass with the presence of the body of Orlando Jorge at the Presidential Palace. Next a public wake will be on Tuesday, 7 June at the Blandino Funeral Home. He will then be buried at the Cristo Redentor Cemetery.
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7 June 2022