Santo Domingo, DR. – The passing of the infant Yazlin Isabela, which occurred under the custody of a Non-Profit Association (ASFL) in Santiago, an entity subcontracted by the State, has exposed a crisis of transparency and alarming negligence in the Dominican child protection system.
In an appearance this Tuesday on the program ‘Esto No es Radio Show’, Juan Graciano Cruz, the father of the minor, denounced that ten months after the loss of his daughter, who was just three months and twelve days old, the judicial system continues to deny him access to the official autopsy results. The lack of this forensic document constitutes a critical barrier that prevents transforming visual evidence of negligence into concrete criminal charges. This void of answers shifts the conflict from the medical sphere to the realm of the State’s legal responsibility, where the institutional machinery seems to have been activated not to protect the victim, but to shield the officials involved.
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The intervention of the protection system originated when Juan Graciano Cruz, detecting that the girl’s mother was going through an extreme mental health crisis —even going so far as to cut her veins—, went to the juvenile court seeking to safeguard his daughter. However, instead of recognizing the suitability of the father, who offered to pay out of his own pocket for drug tests for himself and the mother in the face of accusations of alleged “vices” launched by prosecutor Angelina Santos, the system decided to displace the parent’s claim.
Prosecutor Angelina Santos, whom the father directly points to for her actions, ordered the transfer of Yazlin Isabela to the National Council for Children and Adolescents (CONANI) after a provisional guardianship with an aunt failed. The minor was admitted to the ‘Red de Misericordia’ facility in Santiago, directed by Olga Mariano Boa Fernández de Arrocha. Barely ten days after her admission, the family was summoned to the prosecutor’s office where they were notified of the baby’s death.
The center’s official version alleges a “seizure.” However, the father claims to possess compelling photographic evidence that contradicts this thesis: the infant showed traces of milk flowing from her eyes and ears, an unequivocal sign of pulmonary aspiration due to alleged lack of supervision while being fed. This contradiction between the version provided by the NPO ‘Red de Misericordia’ and the physical evidence captured by the father makes the INACIF autopsy the definitive forensic piece to break the wall of silence.
Juan Graciano Cruz, transformed into a symbol of the fight against bureaucratic indifference, has made his position clear to the authorities who are now betting on oblivion:
“I will not rest because I promised her at the grave. As long as I am alive, have my two feet and my mouth to speak, I will keep moving forward like a soldier.”
