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Santo Domingo.– Authorities identified a storekeeper as the suspected organizer of the sea crossing of 94 undocumented migrants that have been missing since Nov. 19, when they sailed in a fragile boat towards Puerto Rico, the Dominican navy said Friday.

The suspect is Ramon Rafael Carrion Brito, a resident of the southeastern town of La Romana that family members of the missing persons accuse of "recruiting people to make a dangerous crossing," the navy said.

The suspect, whom the authorities are urging to give himself up, has several criminal charges against him for organizing illegal crossings and was tried for drug trafficking in 1994, but was not convicted.

The boat, which sailed from Boca Chica for the comparatively affluent U.S. commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is being searched for by the navy with the help of the missing persons' families in a wide maritime area between this point and La Romana.

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COMMENTS
7 comment(s)
Written by: juanb, 29 Nov 2008 1:04 AM
From: Dominican Republic
Who amongst us believes that this is the guy?
Written by: corky01, 29 Nov 2008 9:08 AM
From: United States
The Skipper and Gilligan are at it again!
Written by: gmiller261, 29 Nov 2008 9:25 AM
From: United States

Then the guy goes to jail for MURDER !

How unclear is his involvement?
Written by: PilarRodriguez, 29 Nov 2008 9:55 AM
From: Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo
If the storekeeper Ramon Rafael Carrion Brito is the recruiter, then somebody else is the sailor, the captain of the "yola". It is always a group of people, a chain of accomplices , who plan and do these trips. Authorities should investigate deeply and send every one involved in the mortal trip to where they all belong, "jail".
Written by: miloskorac This user is banned, 29 Nov 2008 11:34 AM
From: Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo and Punta Cana
How many dead people before to legalize this trips.
Que lo legalizan, que abren fronteras gringos.
It is happening again and again and again. There are many boats in DR and many desperate people who wants to escape to "future" (read: to country where are going to be treated as scum).

I would even make a Bridge, Punta Cana, isla de Mona, Porto Rico.
Leonel can do it. Maybe a metro to Porto Rico?

Milos Korac
Written by: generoso, 29 Nov 2008 1:08 PM
From: United States, Santo Domingo
Ramon Rafael Carríon Britó
Sounds like a Haitian name,
must be a Haitian, deport him then!
Written by: Aissedei, 1 Dec 2008 9:33 AM
From: Puerto Rico, On a rock.. PR
Yeah, good idea miloskorac. Then after you get that bridge built so that the US can allow all the Dominicans in to the US we can go invite all the Mexicans, Salvadorenos, Guatamaltecos, SudAmericanos, Chinos, Hindues y todos los otros q' quieren venir...of course by then the influx of low wage workers will far outnumber the jobs and then the situation will be just as bad in the US as everywhere else. Get real. Dominicans are not the only ones trying to immigrate for a better life but if any country opens their borders and allows millions of people to come in it will negatively affect the country and it's economy. The US may relax immigration laws but they will not ever completely open the borders nor should they be expected to.
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