Latest news with #RepúblicaDominicana
New York Times
5 days ago
- New York Times
Owners of Doomed Nightclub in Dominican Republic Knew Roof Was Shoddy
It was 2:23 p.m. on a Monday in Santo Domingo, 379 tickets had already been sold for a big show that night at the Jet Set disco, and the club's reservations manager, Gregorio Adames, was getting worried: Chunks of the roof were falling, knocking down ceiling panels. Panels had come loose before, but he suddenly realized that the damage was more dangerous than anyone thought. The trouble wasn't the panels: It was the roof itself. 'Sir, there's an important issue that needs to be reviewed at the disco,' he wrote in a WhatsApp message to his boss, Antonio Espaillat, the club's owner and a radio station mogul, according to a 126-page criminal indictment released this weekend. When another chunk came down at 11:40 p.m., bruising a customer, Mr. Adames urged his boss to cancel the show, prosecutors said. But Mr. Espaillat was out of town, and his sister, Maribel Espaillat, who also managed the club, said she wasn't authorized to make big decisions without him. At 12:44 a.m. on the morning of April 8, the decades-old roof of the building, Santo Domingo's most popular nightclub, came crashing down, ultimately killing 235 people and injuring nearly 200 more. The victims came from nine countries; five were from the United States. One hundred and thirty children lost parents, with 15 losing both parents. The dead ranged in age from 17 to 71. The Espaillats face involuntary homicide charges and have been jailed pending a bond hearing this week. Prosecutors are asking for Mr. Espaillat to be held without bail and for his sister to be under house arrest. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Fox News
6 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Singer claims Dodgers didn't want her to sing Spanish rendition of US national anthem amid anti-ICE riots
Vanessa Hernández, known by her stage name Nezza, sang a Spanish rendition of the United States national anthem at Dodger Stadium on Saturday night, and she claimed the team wished she didn't. "El Pendón Estrellado," the official Spanish rendition of the national anthem commissioned by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945, was sung by Nezza during Saturday's Los Angeles Dodgers game against the San Francisco Giants. Nezza, wearing a Dominican Republic shirt while performing, posted a video on TikTok of a team employee telling her, "We are going to do the song in English today." "I'm not sure if that wasn't relayed," the employee said in the video. Nezza decided to sing the Spanish version anyway, saying in a later TikTok video that it was in response to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) presence in Los Angeles that has led to protests and unrest in the city. "I didn't think I'd be met with any sort of no," Nezza said in her video. "Especially because we're in L.A. and with everything happening. I've sang the national anthem many times in my life, but today, out of all days, I could not. "I just felt like I needed to do it. Para mi gente (for my people)." Fox News Digital reached out to the Dodgers for comment. The team also hasn't made any public statements about the protests that have been going on the past week in Los Angeles. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was asked about the protests, and he maintained a neutral stance. "Honestly, I don't know enough, to be quite honest with you," he said, via The Athletic. "I know that when you're having to bring people in and deport people, all the unrest, it's certainly unsettling for everyone. But I haven't dug enough and can't speak intelligently on it." Meanwhile, one of Roberts' players, veteran utility man Kiké Hernández, made a social media post on Saturday night before the game about the protests. "I may not be Born & Raised, but this city adopted me as one of their own," Hernández wrote on Instagram. "I am saddened and infuriated by what's happening in our country and our city. Los Angeles and Dodger fans have welcomed me, supported me and shown me nothing but kindness and love. This is my second home. And I cannot stand to see our community being violated, profiled, abused and ripped apart. "ALL people deserve to be treated with respect, dignity and human rights. #CityOfImmigrants." Other Los Angeles-based professional sports teams have taken a stance, including the NWSL's Angely City F.C., which gave fans "Immigrant City Football Club" T-shirts at their game on Saturday. Players were also seen warming up with the t-shirts on before their match to show support for those protesting. Nezza's Spanish rendition of the anthem came on the day of numerous "No Kings" protests, which were against the military parade in Washington, D.C., that coincided with President Donald Trump's birthday, across the country. Trump's birthday was also the 250th birthday celebration of the United States Army. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Washington Post
09-06-2025
- Washington Post
Wander Franco's attorney to ask court to exonerate his client in sexual abuse case
PUERTO LA PLATA, Dominican Republic — The attorney for Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco said Monday he will ask the court to exonerate his client of all charges in a sexual abuse case involving a girl who was 14 years old at the time of the alleged crimes. Franco, who was charged in July 2024 and is on supervised release, could face up to 30 years in prison if found guilty. 'He didn't commit the acts he's accused of,' Teodosio Jáquez told The Associated Press at the end of the fourth hearing at the Collegiate Court of Puerto Plata, a tourist city in northern Dominican Republic where the girl is from. 'They're playing their part, because their job is to accuse. However, what they have to do is prove it,' Jáquez said of the witnesses presented by prosecutors. The prosecutors say the witnesses' testimony has been vital in proving that Franco sexually abused a minor and paid her mother money for her consent. 'Today, each of these expert witnesses' statements was vital. They established not only the fact of child sexual abuse, but also that they reinforced commercial sexual exploitation and money laundering,' prosecutor Claudio Cordero said. Documents that prosecutors presented to the judge last year and were viewed by The Associated Press alleged that Franco, through his mother Yudelka Aybar, transferred 1 million pesos ($17,000) to the mother of the minor on Jan. 5, 2023, to consent to the purported abuse. The mother of the minor has been charged with money laundering and is under house arrest. Franco also has been charged with sexual and commercial exploitation against a minor, and human trafficking. Also, on Sunday he was charged with illegal possession of a handgun, prosecutors said. Franco was arrested Nov. 10 in San Juan de la Maguana after an altercation in a parking lot . No one was injured during the fight, and the handgun, a semiautomatic Glock 19, was found in Franco's vehicle, according to a statement from the Dominican Public Prosecutor's Office. Franco's attorney says the player did not have the weapon, that it belongs to someone else. 'This is a celebrity, and some media outlets are perverse in trying to harm that young man,' Jáquez added. Franco, who turned 24 on March 1, was in his third major league season when his career was halted in August 2023. He agreed to an 11-year, $182 million contract in November 2021. He is currently on Major League Baseball's restricted list after initially being placed on administrative leave. ___ AP MLB:
New York Times
05-06-2025
- Lifestyle
- New York Times
Why Immigration Raids in Puerto Rico Hit Differently
Immigration raids have been so rare in Puerto Rico that its only detention facility, in an office building next to a mall, can hold only about 20 detainees. Yet federal authorities in the U.S. territory have detained more than 500 people since President Trump took office in January. The escalation has upset many Puerto Ricans, who are American citizens, and has underscored their uneasy relationship with Washington. Nearly three-quarters of the detainees have hailed from one country, the Dominican Republic, which lies 80 miles west of Puerto Rico by boat. Many Dominicans share the same ethnic background, language and culture as Puerto Ricans, and the detentions of Dominicans have felt to many Puerto Ricans like an affront. 'It's a historical aberration,' said Néstor Duprey, an associate professor of social sciences at the Inter American University of Puerto Rico. Generations of Dominicans, as well as some Haitians, have migrated to the Puerto Rico archipelago on rickety boats from Hispaniola island, starting families and filling critical jobs in housekeeping, home health care and construction. Other than interdictions at sea and occasional raids in the capital, San Juan, federal authorities largely avoided mass immigration enforcement on the island before now. Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic 'have stronger cultural and linguistic links than, I think, most countries in the world,' said Jorge Duany, an expert on Caribbean migration, citing their accents, Catholicism and shared love of baseball. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
