The Dominican Minister of the Environment, Orlando Jorge Mera, was shot dead this Monday in his office, three sources from the ministry informed AFP. An armed man broke into a meeting that Mera, 55, held weekly with his deputy ministers and opened fireaccording to the officials who spoke confidentially.
“The information we have handled so far indicates that in the morning hours of today (Monday) the Minister of the Environment lost his life when he was attacked in his office with a firearm. Miguel Cruz, the person identified as the shooter, was a personal friend of the late Minister”, said the spokesman for the Presidency, Homero Figueroa, later.
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A team of agents from the police anti-kidnapping unit entered the building to search for the shooter, who, according to the local press, He was barricaded in the ministry’s headquarters, but he has already been arrested.
The alleged shooter he was a close friend of the victim, so he had access to the security area.
“From the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources we are dismayed by the situation presented this Monday morning,” this institution, which was evacuated by the authorities, wrote earlier on Twitter.
From the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources we are dismayed by the situation presented this Monday morning, so far we do not have details of the situation that occurred in the ministry’s facilities.
— DR Ministry of the Environment (@ambienterd) June 6, 2022
The three agents, who identified themselves as anti-kidnapping and were armed with rifles, accessed the Ministry by climbing the outer fence of the compoundbefore dozens of journalists stationed at the scene.
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Jorge Mera was the son of former president Salvador Jorge Blanco and held his position since the beginning of the Government of President Luis Abinader, in August 2020. Lawyer and leader of the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM), Jorge Mera was married to the Dominican ambassador to Brazil, Patricia Villegas, and leaves behind two children.among them the deputy Orlando Jorge.
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AFP
