Higuey’s Bishop Nicanor Pena revealed that one of the girls who was sexually abused in a San Rafael de Yuma orphanage has identified at least one priest as an aggressor. The bishop would not corroborate this version of events, but says that the authorities should be able to investigate the case freely, whether those involved are connected to the Church or not. The cleric told El Caribe newspaper, whose reporters broke the story, that the Ciudad de los Ninos San Francisco Javier was closed at the request of the district attorney.
The representative of the Vatican in the Dominican Republic, Timothy Broglio, told El Caribe that the case should be left up to the Dominican justice system. “Above all else, there must be proof,” he said. To avoid any such similar situations, according to Broglio, those entrusted with child care centers need to be carefully evaluated.
El Caribe brought this story to the public after complaints were filed regarding the rape of some 20 girls and alleged acts of bestiality forced upon the children lodged at the institution in the province of La Altagracia, marking the second time in two years that the orphanage has had to defend itself against accusations of sexual misconduct.
Bishop Pena says that he will hire a group of Mexican nuns to reopen the center, closed for several months now since the investigation was opened. He said controls would be established so that these types of aberrations do not recur.
The charges include the statement of a six-year-old boy, who gave details on orgies that included the center’s pet dog.
“In Yuma, many had heard of or suspected what was going on in the home. But the accusations took two years to come out into the open. We need to eradicate this culture of silence. Justice is only possible when the crime comes to light. Let us not abandon this fight,” says an editorial today in El Caribe, which also says that impunity can no longer be on the side of delinquents and pimps.