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Erick Prometeo Media

New prosecutor office and gender unit open in Santiago Rodríguez

Attorney General Yeni Berenice Reynoso opened the ordinary prosecutor office and the Comprehensive Care Unit for Gender, Domestic and Sexual Violence of…

--- The context --- In Santiago Rodríguez, seeking justice in cases of gender, domestic or sexual violence could mean travelling dozens and, in some cases, hundreds of kilometres to another locality. That distance weighed on victims and families who needed nearby care, clear guidance and a timely response from the Public Ministry within their own province. --- The facts --- Attorney General Yeni Berenice Reynoso opened the ordinary prosecutor office and the new Comprehensive Care Unit for Gender, Domestic and Sexual Violence of Santiago Rodríguez in the municipality of San Ignacio de Sabaneta. The opening forms part of the improvement plan to make Public Ministry services more efficient and to guarantee more timely responses for the population across the country. The facilities are located at Pedro Thomas street, corner of Las Mercedes, number 37, in San Ignacio de Sabaneta, and were blessed by priest Frandy Martínez, of the San Ignacio de Loyola Church. The prosecutor office and the unit will have prosecutors, assistant lawyers, forensic psychologists, forensic doctors and a social worker on their staff. --- The positions --- Reynoso said in reported terms that her administration works to guarantee quality services throughout the country and that one of her objectives is to bring quality justice to every corner of Dominican territory. She noted that more than 311 complaints are received locally and that, when comprehensive services open, cases increase not because there is more violence, but because people trust the system more. The attorney general also said in reported terms that she has never shared the view that major works, innovations and transformation should stay in the big cities. She recalled that provinces and municipalities such as Puerto Plata, Sosúa and Villa Isabela, Sánchez in Samaná, Villa Hermosa in La Romana, La Guáyiga in Pedro Brand, Haina in San Cristóbal and Neiba in Bahoruco have already been reached. For her part, Sumaya Rodríguez, the prosecutor of Santiago Rodríguez, praised in reported terms the improvements applied to services and said that a way of bringing justice closer to people is becoming real, recognising their rights and reaffirming that human dignity admits no distances or territorial differences. Rodríguez presented the attorney general with an award for her significant contributions to justice in the Dominican Republic. --- What remains unknown --- Reynoso recalled that during 2025 more than 73 thousand cases of gender, domestic and sexual violence were received across the national territory, and she said in reported terms that this figure should lead society to reflect on the present and future of the family, of young people and of society in general. The scale of that national record helps explain why a comprehensive unit in a province far from the capital matters well beyond the opening ceremony itself. Provincial and municipal authorities attended the event, including Governor Glehany Azcona and Senator Antonio Marte, as well as the president of the National Drug Control Directorate, Vice Admiral José Manuel Cabrera Ulloa, and Deputy Attorney General Wilson Camacho. Representatives of the Superior Council of the Public Ministry, the national directorate against gender violence and the career directorate also took part, alongside military, judicial and public defence authorities from the region. --- Unanswered questions --- Will the new unit reduce the journeys that victims from Santiago Rodríguez must make to other provinces to seek care? How will the number of complaints in Sabaneta evolve now that the comprehensive service operates within the municipality itself? Will the team of prosecutors, forensic psychologists, forensic doctors and a social worker be enough to respond quickly to the demand reaching the new headquarters? --- EPM analysis --- The central value of the opening is proximity. A people-centred model, as the attorney general described it, begins by understanding the lives of those who need assistance and by preventing distance from becoming another barrier to reporting. If staff act with the empathy and humility they were urged to keep, the trust that makes complaints grow can also become effective protection and serious follow-up in each case file handled at the new office. 📌 EPM Take: In EPM's view, opening this prosecutor office and comprehensive unit in Sabaneta is the right decision because it brings an essential service closer to those who need it most and recognises that dignity does not depend on place of residence. The challenge starting now is to sustain the promised quality every day, with humane care, professional rigour and responses without delays that could put lives at unnecessary risk. If that practice holds consistently, the new headquarters can transform the province relationship with Dominican justice over time. That closeness, sustained over time, is what the population expects from this new institutional stage in the province and from its staff.
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