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View Full Version : Azua is calm but fearful



NewsWhore
08-18-2009, 06:12 PM
Calm has returned to the municipality with the arrival of new policemen after the previous cops were transferred to Santo Domingo for investigations. They are suspect of complicity with drug operations in the province.
But fear continues to dominate in many barrios. Father Alberto Espinal attributes the increase in drug trafficking to a lack of opportunities and employment.
"What does Azua de Compostela mean?" As if it were a history lesson, new police commander, Colonel Ricardo Antonio Done Jaime launched the question to the more or less 10 policemen standing in front of the Police station. It is 8am and the agents are preparing for the first patrol of the day. With the morning chat, besides giving instructions, Done Jaime tries to unify the group, pooled from police corps around the country. He is trying to imbue them with some information on the territory that they have to protect from criminals.
According to the Diario Libre, in the 11 days Done Jaime has been on the job in the municipality, his cops have arrested 15 persons with alleged ties to the drug world, seized 12 kilograms of drugs, and caused a stampede of the people that dedicated themselves to committing drug "heists."
Still remaining is the most important task: Reestablishing the confidence of the citizens who fear to speak even when asked how they are. "I have nothing to say", expressed on resident of La Bombita barrio, giving evidence to the reluctance of the people to speak.
La Bombita is the barrio that was the most affected by the negative publicity after the latest drug "heist" in which three persons died, including a sergeant stationed at the La Bombita police station. After the incident and the complaints that the entire staff of the station was acting in complicity with the drug traffickers, the entire staff was transferred and, according to the neighbors, the new cops are working.
In Azua, as in other provinces of the South and other areas, micro-trafficking of drugs has gained a foothold. But here there is a new fashion: What are being called "tumbes" or heists, which means in the colloquial speech, the sale of false drugs to buyers. This interaction generates more violence than usual because of the trickery involved. According to the commentaries, the fake substances are made with ground fertilizer, lime, and other chemical components.
The exchanges are usually carried out on the outskirts of the city, as occurred in the case that opened the Pandora's Box. But some residents of La Bombita say that the heists have gone on in the very barrio and on one occasion, things went so far as to leave several wounded.
An example of the dimensions of the problem is given by Father Alberto Espinal, the parish priest for the city of Azua, He explains that in November of last year, he revealed the existence of 1,500 drug points spread out among the 10 municipalities and 22 municipal districts that make up the province of Azua.

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