Yet another brutal crime has gripped the Dominican Republic, with the oldest newspaper in the country reporting that Alexis Feliz Matos, a 47-year-old resident of the coastal town of Barahona, was beaten to death with a concrete block during a robbery.
Teenage hands killed for candy money. El Caribe |
Mr. Feliz did not survive the savage beating which saw his arm nearly ripped off from the heavy bashing to which it was mercilessly subjected. The National Police arrested a 16-year-old and his 14-year-old accomplice, who for legal reasons are not being identified as their case proceeds to trial.
According to reports, Mr. Feliz lost his life over 50 pesos (US$1.09,) with the National Police detailing how the two teenagers ambushed the 47-year-old, leaving him bleeding to later die of his injuries in a local hospital.
Although the Dominican Republic is a booming tourism economy, wealth inequality has risen along with the visibility of violent crime involving petty amounts of money, to the extent that no one is shocked when someone is killed for resisting to hand over their cell phone to teenagers much like the two that murdered Mr. Feliz.