The newspaper Listín Diario and the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) yesterday held the forum on crime, security and violence, with the participation of prominent experts in the field and a significant attendance of young students from the state academy.
The forum, which seeks to create a more efficient and sustainable national strategy on these issues in the Dominican Republic, was held in the Aula Magna of the UASD.
18 experts in criminology, criminal law, psychology and investigations participated, along with authorities from the Public Ministry and the National Police.
They all spoke in at least four panels in which various topics on violence, the economic model, inequality and the social crisis were addressed. Strategies, limits and challenges of citizen security and the rule of law were also presented.
The last panel closed with contributions on research and proposals for security in the country.
The fundamental idea of the forum “is that we can propose an approach strategy that allows us to consolidate the achievements already obtained in the reduction of homicide rates and other variables,” explained the director of Listín Diario, Miguel Franjul, in his welcome words.
The director of Listín Diario, Miguel Franjul, was in charge of the opening speech of the forum.
“Our desire is to foster debates and understandings, giving the floor to the people and their most legitimate representatives in defining their aspirations to build a society less exposed to the dangers posed by acts contrary to the law, dangers that threaten not only human lives, but also the very coexistence between all of us,” he added.
While the rector of the UASD, Editrudis Beltrán, said that the academy is consolidating itself “as the ideal space for the in-depth analysis of national problems,” by sponsoring the state academy this forum.
Beltrán stressed that the event coincides with the 50th anniversary of the death of the student leader Sagrario Díaz by the regime of Dr. Joaquín Balaguer, on April 14, 1972.
Editrudis Beltrán, rector of the UASD, said that at the state academy they know firsthand the pain generated by crime and intolerance.
“We know firsthand the pain caused by crime and intolerance,” said the rector. “However, we have persisted as a beacon of noble science for the Dominican Republic, transforming pain into solutions generated from our classrooms, institutes and research,” he added.
The Attorney General of the Republic, Yeni Berenice Reynoso, spoke at a keynote conference and presented an x-ray of crime and violence in the country. The judge proposed a national pact to address these problems.
The forum was based on an editorial proposal from this media outlet published on March 16, which was immediately accepted by the UASD.
Panelists
The forum was developed in the form of panels, whose participants were the demographer Frank Cáceres; the sociologist Leopoldo Artiles; the specialist in gender studies and human rights, Mirna Jiménez; the jurist Jottin Cury (son); the sociologist and researcher Juan Miguel Pérez; the economist Francisco Tavárez; the specialist in youth studies, Juan Leoner Brito, and the social worker Felipe Enmanuel Díaz.
Also the jurist with experience in constitutional law, José Miguel Vásquez; the jurist specialized in criminal law, Jhon Garrido; the jurist and analyst, Raymundo Mejía; the deputy director of Dicrim, Isaías José Tamárez Santiago; the jurist and dean of the Unapec law school, Alejandro Moscoso Segarra; the lawyer, politician and former deputy Pelegrín Castillo; the jurist and academic from the Universidad Nordestada, Claudio Aníbal Medrano Mejía; the executive commissioner for Police Reform of the Dominican Republic, Luis Ernesto García, and the institutional representation of the Association of Security Companies.
