A drama that shakes the heart of the Caribbean
The air in Santo Domingo was thick with pain this Thursday, as the entire country bowed before the closed coffin of Rubby Pérez, the king of merengue, whose voice was silenced forever under the cement of the Jet Set club. President Luis Abinader, with his face carved by grief, remained like a mute guardian next to the coffin, while the tears of the mourners mixed their bitterness with the chords of the national anthem, now an elegy.
The quest: a race against death
A few blocks from the theater, among mountains of rubble that seemed to scream, rescue teams were fighting an epic battle against time. Juan Manuel Méndez, with his voice broken by the weight of 20 years of service, confessed before the cameras: “Today we accomplished the most difficult task”. His tears, dried by colleagues, were the reflection of an entire nation on the brink of the abyss.
Meanwhile, in the hospitals, Health Minister Víctor Atallah pronounced words that chilled the blood: “If the trauma is very intense, there is not much time.” The victims, with fractured skulls and shattered bones, struggled between life and death, while their desperate families toured morgues and medical centers like lost souls.
Farewell to the fallen heroes
The legendary former baseball player Octavio Dotel received a farewell worthy of legend, with hundreds of people, including the immortal David Ortiz, gathered to honor his memory. “He is a person that everyone loved,” Ortiz murmured, as the weight of the tragedy became unbearable. In Haina, Pérez’s homeland, ten coffins lined up under a leaden sky told a story of collective pain.
Among the names of the victims, stars of sport, music and politics shone: from the saxophonist Luis Solís, who died on stage, to the designer Martín Polanco, whose creativity was cut short in an instant. The endless list was a cruel reminder of human fragility.
The questions that cry out for justice
While the ambulances still echoed in memory, authorities promised a thorough investigation. When was the last Jet Set inspection? Why did the roof give way in the middle of the party? The families, between mourning and anger, demanded answers. The club, in a cold statement, assured to cooperate, but doubts had already sown their seeds in the heart of the nation.
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