PACIFICATION" CONTINUES IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Santo Domingo
One hundred and twenty-eight persons murdered, 26 missing, 171 wounded, 359 jailed, 49 beaten and 87 raids -- this is the balance sheet of violations of the dignity and worth of the human person in the Dominican Republic in 1966 as compiled in the Annual Provisional Report of the Dominican Association for Human Rights, which was recently published in this city. The report consists of 23 mimeographed pages.
“Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says," the report points out, "'Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.'"
It adds that "it appears that misfortunes have not ceased on the tragic road the Dominican Republic is upon. The year 1966 does not present an optimistic balance with regard to human life. The balance is still very negative.
"Our association offers its annual provisional report on the violations of the dignity and worth of the human person with sorrow and tragedy in our hearts. Many Dominicans have disappeared. Hate and disorder reign in Dominicana."
Those killed, wounded, kidnaped, jailed, beaten, belong to parties in opposition to the government. The assassinations and kidnapings began under the provisional government of Dr. Héctor Garcia Godoy, the present Dominican ambassador to the United States. They have continued under the government of Dr. Joaquin Balaguer, who took office July 1, 1966. :
As Juan Bosch put it (see World Outlook March 10, p. 271), "To define the present situation in the Dominican Republic, a single word is sufficient -- decomposition."
During the present year the arrests, kidnapings, raids and assassinations have continued.
The most outstanding cases include the journalist, lawyer and trade-unionist Guido Gil, who represented the Dominican Republic at the Tricontinental Conference held in Havana in 1966. Gil was kidnaped by police agents near San Pedro de Macoris, 75 kilometers’ from Santo Domingo two months ago. Up to now he is still missing.
Another case was the murder of Orlando Mazara, leader of the Movimiento Revolucionario 14 de Junio [Revolutionary Movement of June 14], in La Horma, San José de Ocoa, 135 kilometers west of Santo Domingo. He waskilled by a mixed patrol of soldiers and police who accused him of preparing guerrilla war.
At Mazara's funeral in Santo Domingo, the police fired at the mourners, mortally wounding a 15-year-old youth.
A resident of Salcedo, 140 kilometers north of here, charged that the terror "reigning in recent weeks in this city and the surrounding countryside has been increased with new acts of repression." This report appeared in the March 19 El Caribe.
According to this daily, José Miguel Reyes MA4rquez declared that "the persecution, arrests and torture against humble and revolutionary sectors of Salcedo and the surrounding area was ordered by the comandante of the police in this locality."
It added that a construction worker was arrested; “he was submitted to throttling and savagely beaten. He was then released. Taken by three persons to the Pascasio Toribio hospital, he was denied medical attention."
The three persons who took him to the hospital, “protested against the refusal to give him medical attention. The health center called the police; the three persons were arrested later and beaten so severely right in the street that they were running with blood."
AUSTRALIAN