Afrouasd Director denounces irregular detention attempt by J2 within university premises

Santo Domingo. The director of the Association of Officials and Professors of the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (AFROUASD), Pastor de la Rosa, rejected what happened last Wednesday, when units of the J2 unexpectedly showed up at the facilities of the Public Policy Observatory of the Faculty of Juridical Sciences, directed by Professor Fernando Peña, with the supposed intention of carrying out an irregular arrest.

“They were looking, they wanted to see him,” declared De la Rosa, referring to teacher Peña.

Read more: UASD and CREE Banreservas strengthen entrepreneurial ecosystem

As explained, the agents were intercepted by members of university security and academy officials, as they did not carry any legal document justifying their presence or possible detention. However, De la Rosa maintains that the true purpose of this action was to send an intimidating message due to the academic’s active role in public denunciations against the Barrick Gold mining company. “They were not allowed to carry out any action because, in addition to lacking a court order, what happened represents a flagrant violation of university autonomy, enshrined in the laws and in the Constitution. They were approached by officials and authorities, and were not allowed to execute their actions,” he stated. The director of AFROUASD described the intervention as suspicious and recalled that from that same place, teacher Yuniol Ramírez was kidnapped in 2017, which generated an immediate alert among university students.

“These practices take us back to the dark times of Trujillo and Balaguer, when in the twelve years dozens and hundreds of young people were kidnapped and disappeared. A person in those conditions… you don’t know what’s going to happen,” he expressed.

De la Rosa stated that they will submit a request within the university and, probably, also at the judicial level against those responsible for this act which, he assures, attacks the institutionality and the fundamental rights of citizens.