On Wednesday, widespread public demonstrations broke out across two communities in the Dominican Republic, as hundreds of local residents rallied to demand accountability for the death of 25-year-old Carolay Taveras Morel, who was killed in an alleged premeditated vehicle attack that is currently the focus of an official manhunt.
Residents from Licey al Medio and Moca, joined by the victim’s family members, friends and other supporters, took to one of the region’s busiest thoroughfares to voice their anger. Protesters set fire to tires and blocked Duarte Highway at the key crossing connecting Licey al Medio and Canca la Reina, bringing vehicle movement through the high-traffic corridor to a standstill and creating major travel disruptions that impacted commuters and commercial traffic across the area for hours.
Preliminary law enforcement accounts outline a violent chain of events leading up to Taveras Morel’s death. The victim was reportedly in the company of a second young person when a verbal dispute erupted between the pair and the alleged suspect, Darlin Martínez Ulloa, who is known locally by the alias “Darlyn Zaza.” Investigators say that following the altercation, Martínez Ulloa allegedly got behind the wheel of his vehicle and deliberately ran over both Taveras Morel and her companion, before immediately fleeing the scene to avoid capture.
Emergency responders rushed both victims to local medical facilities, but Taveras Morel succumbed to her critical injuries shortly after arrival. The second victim remains in hospital care for their injuries, and law enforcement has not released any public update on their current condition as of Thursday.
The Dominican National Police has formally named Martínez Ulloa as the prime suspect in the killing and has already secured an official arrest warrant from judicial authorities. Active search operations are currently ongoing across the region to locate the suspect and take him into custody. Law enforcement units were also deployed to the protest site to maintain public order, clear the blocked highway to resume traffic flow, and prevent any escalation of confrontation between demonstrators and local residents.
In a public statement issued amid the demonstrations, officials have called on Martínez Ulloa to voluntarily surrender to authorities through established legal channels, rather than force law enforcement to extend the manhunt. Protesters, meanwhile, have made clear they will not end their public demonstrations until the suspect is apprehended and a full, transparent investigation into the killing is completed. They emphasized that they will continue blocking key infrastructure and staging public actions to demand full justice for Taveras Morel.