The Minister of the Environment of the Dominican Republic, Orlando Jorge Mera, was shot to death on Monday, when a friend interrupted a routine meeting he was holding in his office.
Although for several hours there was no official version neither from the ministry that Mera presided over nor from the police authorities, the Dominican Presidency confirmed the event, as did the relative of the deceased minister, who released a statement lamenting the death-
According to the first information provided by local media, an elite team of the Police entered the building to search for the attacker who, according to the local press, barricaded himself in the ministry headquarters and was finally arrested.
“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,” said the spokesman for the Presidency, Homero Figueroa, quoted by the AFP agency.
“Miguel Cruz, the person identified as the one who fired the shot, was a personal friend of the deceased minister. The person responsible is in the custody of the national police and the Public Ministry. The reasons for the act are under investigation,” added Figueroa.
Cruz, the man identified as the alleged attacker, being a close friend of the victim, had no problem entering the ministry’s headquarters in Santo Domingo.
The alleged person responsible for Mera’s death, a “childhood friend”
Mera’s family published a statement in which they lamented the tragedy and confirmed that their attacker was a “childhood friend”, whom they forgive but whom they do not refer to by name.
“The circumstances of the incident and its consequent investigation are in the hands of the competent authorities. We are certain that these will reach a good destination, until the facts are clarified and justice is served. We fully trust our authorities (…) Our “The family forgives the perpetrator. One of the greatest legacies of our Orlando was not to hold a grudge.”
Shortly before, the ministry headed by Mera had issued a statement regretting the situation, although it did not explain the nature of what happened at the office’s headquarters.
“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.
Bartolomé Pujals, executive director of the government’s Innovation Cabinet, was one of the first official voices to confirm the murder. “Her death of him is a tragedy,” he wrote on his Twitter account. “We Dominicans have to unite to achieve a pact for peace and peaceful coexistence. No more violence.”
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Orlando Jorge Mera was always a courteous, decent person, his participation in politics always revolved around ideas. His death is a tragedy. We Dominicans have to meet once more to achieve a pact for peace and peaceful coexistence. No more violence.
– Bartolomé Pujals (@BartolomePujals) June 6, 2022
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The EFE agency reported that a group of agents from the unit Dominican Republic Police anti-kidnapping accessed the Ministry of the Environment, following the attack.
The three agents were armed with rifles and entered the building by scaling the outer fence of the compound, in front of dozens of journalists.
The police have not officially informed regarding the event, nor has it confirmed whether there have been hostages in the building, which is cordoned off by numerous members of the security forces. Sources confirmed to EFE that Minister Jorge Mera died following being shot.
Who was Orlando Jorge Mera
Mer was 55 years old. He was a lawyer and founding member of the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM). Was appointed Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources in August 2020.
Jorge Mera was the son of former president Salvador Jorge Blanco and exercised his position since the beginning of the Government of President Luis Abinader, in August 2020.
Graduated in Law, he was married to the Dominican ambassador in Brazil, Patricia Villegas, and leaves two children, including one who is a deputy, called Orlando Jorge.
