Judicial documents obtained by AP reveal a possible motive in this week's fatal shooting of a government minister in the Dominican Republic. The papers say the suspect had been denied environmental permits for various business projects.
One of the permits that slain former minister Orlando Jorge had denied had been submitted by his longtime friend and now suspect, Fausto Miguel de Jesús Cruz de la Mota, who served as intermediary between the companies and the ministry. That particular permit involved a request to export 5,000 tons of used batteries, according to the documents obtained by The Associated Press.
They also described Cruz as a “cold and calculating murderer” and are seeking one year of preventive prison as the investigation continues.Shortly after Monday’s killing, police arrested Cruz at a church dozens of blocks away after telling a priest he committed a crime and handed over a gun to him. “I campaigned, and they’re not helping me,” exclaimed Cruz when he arrived at the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources before the shooting on the morning of June 6, according to the documents.