Guillermo Moreno García, who served as Attorney General of the Dominican Republic from 1996 to 1997, also was a presidential candidate for the Movement for Independence, Unity and Change (Movimiento Independencia, Unidad y Cambio – MIUCA) during the country’s 2008 elections.

After his defeat in those elections, Moreno García created his own leftist party, Alianza País, and will run for the presidency again in the upcoming 2012 elections. His supporters hope that his various accomplishments will cast his candidacy in a positive light and raise his popularity.  

Perhaps one of Moreno García’s most noticeable achievements was his involvement in the Orlando Martínez case. A famed Dominican journalist, Orlando Martínez Howley was killed on March 17, 1975 during the rule of former President Joaquín Balaguer (1960-1962, 1966-1978, 1986-1996).This president’s second term became known as the “12 years of Balaguer,” a very dark era in Dominican history due to Balaguer’s totalitarian inclinations.

Orland Martínez Howley was just one of hundreds of young people killed or “disappeared” during this period. Although General Joaquín Pou Castro participated in this violent crime against Martínez, neither he nor the other involved perpetrators were persecuted at the time. In fact, justice began to be acheived only when Dominican Republic opinion forced Balaguer to jail the murderers. But in a matter of weeks, the government released the detainees and even promoted them. Click to keep reading