Dominican Republic 1972

Police Gun Down Dominican Leftist


Published: June 10, 1972;
Source: Intercontinental Press, Vol. 10, No. 27 p. 804;
Transcribed: by Amaury Rodriguez, 2016.

Transcriber’s note: This article appeared in Intercontinental Press (IP), a weekly magazine published in New York on behalf on the Fourth International from 1963 to 1986. I thank Pathfinder Press for granting me permission to post this article.


Angel Rincón (Anibal), an activist in the MPD (Movimiento Popular Dominicano-Dominican Popular Movement), [1] was shot to death by police in Santo Domingo on June 24. According to a report in the June 25 issue of El Nacional, the victim had been the object of constant harassment by the police. On several occasions his apartment had been broken into. He was killed by one bullet, which struck him in the head. Members of his party charged that his murder was part of a plan to eliminate various leaders of the MPD. “Immediately following the murder of Rincón,” reported Rafael Reyes Jerez, “members of the police force surrounded the spot and arrested dozens of young people, including two young girls who were just passing by the area.”

A police spokesman asserted that Rincón had been shot while a street meeting was going on. “But neighbors pointed out that there never was at any time a street meeting going on in that area, but that they did hear ‘a lot of shooting.'” A police source admitted that Rincon had been shot by two members of the police force, but claimed that they had first been shot at. The source did not explain why none of the police had been wounded.


Notes

1. The Movimiento Popular Dominicano (MPD) was the largest Maoist organization at that time.