Last Tuesday, Argenis Contreras, identified as the material author of the death of lawyer and university professor Yuniol Ramírez, arrived in the country to answer for the charges against him.
With his arrival on Dominican soil, after escaping to the United States just over three years ago, questions arise:What motivated Yuniol’s death and how did the events of that tragic October 11 take place?
According to the chronology compiled by the Public Prosecution Service (MP), the professor’s death was not an ‘isolated event’ as it all began on June 19, 2017 when Yuniol, in his capacity as a lawyer, was the former director of the Metropolitan Office Bus Services (OMSA), Manuel Antonio Rivas, la provision of documentation on the bus units rebuilt by that institution between 2012 and 2017.
However, the information was never delivered, which motivated Yuniol to file an appeal with the higher administrative court on September 20 of the same year.
In view of the attorney’s action, the former director of OMSA contacted Argenis, who, according to the MP, was a person of his fullest confidence as he served as his “special adviser” and general supervision manager of the institution. to find a ‘solution’ to the conflict that had arisen.
For these purposes, Rivas also contacted Faustino Rosario Díaz, former financial director of OMSA, and Eddy Rafael Santana Zorrilla, former supplier to the company, who also lent themselves to a financial agreement with the victim so that “whatever was necessary to resolve the situation was paid for”.
And the countdown began. On October 4, just 7 days after the murder, Zorrilla met the professor at the Cienfuegos restaurant of the Jardines del Embajador hotel, where Yuniol told him that “he would withdraw the lawsuit if he were handed RD $ 2 million and US $ 100,000” of which the two million were for the alleged persons who had sent him to file the appeal of amparo and the one hundred thousand dollars for him and his work team.
However, the former official explained to Yuniol that “the amount was a lot” I could only give him RD $ 4 million to “shut up”.
And so they agreed, two days later they met at the Texaco gas station, where Argenis followed the meeting from his vehicle and verified the delivery of the money. Zorrilla gave Yuniol a million pesos and promised that the remaining money would be given to him after he stopped the lawsuit.
The day came. On October 11, Argenis arrived at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD), where the professor was teaching, and called him to say “I wanted to talk to him”.
According to the evidence collected in a security video obtained by the MP, Moments after the victim entered the van, Argenis shot him in the head and fled with his body.
Here comes a new defendant on the scene: Víctor Elisander Ravelo Campos, “El Herrero,” who coordinated with Argenis the coordination of Yuniol’s lifeless body and the verification of the evidence that could accuse him.
Later, José Antonio Mercado Blanco, “El Grande”, moved with Argenis to the Arroyo Varía Gorge in Manoguayabo, where Before throwing the body into the water, they tied it up with chains, padlocks and cement blocks.
The macabre plan continued with the hiding the vehicle and firearm used by ArgenisFor the first time, the defendant contacted Lilian Francisca Suarez, who in turn spoke to Juan Díaz Agüero to keep the vehicle at his home, where it was left.
Later, Heidy Carolina Peña, Argenis’s wife, was ordered to hide the gun in her room.
For all this, Argenis already had his feet out of the country, because one day after committing the deed, he bought a plane ticket to Miami, United States, presumably to “ escape Dominican justice. ”
Arrival in the country and interrogations
According to a notice from the Department of Deportations to the Office of the Special Prosecutor for the Prosecution of Administrative Corruption (PEPCA), Argenis was deported from the United States on a federal flight on Feb. 2.
Immediately, the accused arrived in the country, the head of the PEPCA, Wilson Camacho, made his arrest official, and Argenis was transferred to the preventive prison at the Ciudad Nueva Palace of Justice while the MP interrogates him.
As of last Tuesday, he has undergone three extensive interrogations at the attorney general’s office, where he has testified before PEPCA prosecutors.
Last Thursday, the PGR requested a year of protective custody as a coercive measure by Argenis against those charged with murder, concealment of a body, criminal association and administrative corruption.