SANTO DOMINGO.-Finding out from third parties about an interview in which one of her husband’s murderers claims innocence only fueled the wounds not yet healed by the murder of the major of the Dominican Air Force, José Manuel Herrán Mancebo.
This crime not only cut short the dreams of Herrán Mancebo’s family, but also revealed a network of betrayal and violence that shook military institutions and Dominican society in general.
With tears in her eyes, Maybe Guerra, Herrán’s widow, confesses that she did not even finish watching the interview in which Guillermo Antonio de los Santos, who is serving a thirty-year sentence for the case, declares himself a victim of the Prosecutor’s Office, because It made him angry and helpless.
“He has the right to defend himself and play the victim by saying that he has five children when the victims are us. In my case, I was left a widow with two children, one of them only 42 days old,” the shocked woman, who is a lieutenant colonel in the Army, told EL DÍA.
The event
The incident occurred on December 29, 2005. According to Guerra, days before they had been persecuted and even visited at their home by the named Emmil -Jaivita- Reyes, who belonged to the National Police, and Guillermo Antonio de los Santos.
Herrán was killed by multiple gunshot wounds on the way to the San Isidro Air Base, where he worked as deputy commander.
After the investigations carried out by the authorities, Colonel Pablo Velásquez was accused of masterminding the murder.
“I never imagined that someone who should be a comrade in arms could betray my husband in that way. “It was a devastating blow,” said Maybé, recalling the impact of the case.
The investigations were led by prosecutor Perfecto Acosta and Bolívar Sánchez, managing to turn the links between Reyes, De los Santos and Velásquez into evidence, as well as a “witch” whom they consulted about the security of the “operation.”
justice
The road to justice was arduous and exhausting. In August 2008, after three years of investigations and trials, the First Collegiate Court of the province of Santo Domingo handed down a sentence against those responsible for the murder.
Colonel Velásquez Taveras was sentenced to 20 years. For Maybé, this latest sentence left a bitter taste. “It is not fair that someone who planned the murder of my husband receives a lesser sentence. “He destroyed our family and betrayed the values of the institution to which both had dedicated their lives,” he expressed with obvious pain.
The process was appealed and Velásquez managed to get out of it, being acquitted by a court in San Cristóbal that Maybe describes as a space in which in those times a favorable sentence could be obtained by unholy methods.
The murder of José Manuel Herrán Mancebo not only marked the life of his wife, but also left a deep wound on his children.
The impact
“My children had to grow up without their father. It was a very difficult process, but I tried to be strong for them. “I wanted them to know that their father was a hero and that his death would not be in vain,” he said.
Facing grief and the judicial process was a monumental challenge, but Guerra found solace in the memories of her husband and the support of her family and friends.
“I will never fully recover. That pain will always be there, but I keep going because he would have wanted us to be strong,” he said with a mixture of sadness and determination.
Maybe also highlighted her husband’s legacy as a man who always fought to do the right thing, both in his personal life and in his military career.
“He believed in honesty and duty. I will never forget his smile, his dedication and the love he had for us. “Everything I do is to honor his memory,” he added.
The widow asked the judges of the Supreme Court of Justice to analyze the case carefully. “El Guille is not there because they wanted to put him there to find a victim.
From the first moment the investigations pointed out that he drove the motorcycle from where the shots were fired. “Both, with a history of hitmen.”
The motorcycle
– Property
According to Guerra, the motorcycle used for the murder was purchased in the name of the mother of the aforementioned Guillermo Antonio de los Santos, who supposedly already had a previous history of contract killings and other crimes.
A trip confirmed versions of the Prosecutor’s Office
Flight. With the support of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, prosecutor Bolívar Sánchez traveled with Perfecto Acosta to Miami, where they met with Pablo Velásquez’s wife, as part of the investigation process of the file that was presented to Justice.
Guerra says that after managing to get out of the process, Velásquez was put into retirement by the Armed Forces, but that, according to undisclosed sources, he continued to financially support the two identified as material authors.
One of them, the one nicknamed Jaivita, escaped from prison supposedly with the intention of ending Velásquez’s life, but was killed by the National Police in an exchange of gunfire.
Guerra suspects that the coverage achieved by Guillermo in his attempt to get out of prison has also been possible due to special help.
