Carlos Vinicio Fernández Valerio granted parole after a decade in prison
The former director of the Central Anti-Narcotics Directorate (DICAN), Carlos Vinicio Fernández Valerio, has been granted parole after serving ten years of the twenty-year sentence imposed on him for his involvement in a high-profile corruption and drug trafficking case. The former officer will leave the Najayo Correction and Rehabilitation Center after having served half of his original sentence.
Background of the DICAN case
The judicial process that marked Fernández Valerio’s career originated from an operation carried out on September 27, 2014, at the Michel residential complex, located in the Isabelita II district. During said raid, authorities confiscated 950 kilograms of cocaine; however, the main irregularity detected by the Public Prosecutor’s Office was that the shipment was never reported to the National Drug Control Directorate (DNCD) nor to the National Institute of Forensic Sciences (Inacif).
Following the ratification of his sentence by the Court of Appeal in 2016, Fernández Valerio described the judicial decision as an abuse, a lack of respect, and an injustice.
Sentences handed down by the court
The First Collegiate Court of the Santo Domingo province sentenced those involved for violating Law 50-88 on Drugs and Controlled Substances, in addition to charges of criminal association and forgery of public documents. The sentences imposed were as follows:
- 20 years: Carlos Vinicio Fernández Valerio, Luciano Gómez Cabrera and Máximo Antonio Díaz Ogando.
- 15 years: Pedro José Almánzar González.
- 10 years: Félix Humberto Paulino López, Bárbaro Torres Beltrán, Agapito Muñoz Evangelista and Ramón Augusto Veras Castro.
Fernández Valerio’s release from Najayo prison marks the closing of a judicial chapter that shocked security institutions in the Dominican Republic a decade ago.
