Spanish
Santo Domingo.– With a choked voice and the pain etched on her face, Ángela Quezada, maternal aunt of Carlos Daniel Díaz Peña, recounted how in a matter of weeks her family went from joy to tragedy.
The child of just two years old, who previously lived under the care of his grandmother, passed away on May 16th after being a victim of alleged abuse while under the custody of his father and stepmother, Elisa Valdez.
“My sister went to the United States looking for a better future for her children. The boy was raised by my mom, but his dad took him one weekend and never returned him,” expressed Ángela with helplessness, when assuring that from that moment the family lost contact with the minor and her seven-year-old sister.
The young mother and aunt reports that Elisa Valdez, the partner of the child's father, had known him for only three months, and yet she was made primarily responsible for the care of the little ones. "We found out things bit by bit, we no longer knew how Carlitos was doing," she said through tears.
The case exploded when, on Tuesday, May 13, the family received an urgent call: Carlos Daniel was suffocating with a sheet. Elisa said she was in the bathroom when it happened, but then changed her version several times. The child was taken to the Dr. José Vinicio Calventi General Hospital, where he remained intubated until he died four days later.
The family asserts that the evidence is clear: photographs show bruises, contusions, a fractured arm, and even burns on the knuckles. The death certificate indicates that he died from severe traumatic brain injury, cerebral anoxia, and internal hemorrhage.
“We want justice. It cannot be that they took that healthy and happy child from us, only to return him dead, full of blows and without answers,” insisted Ángela Quezada, who has taken on the role of family spokesperson along with her siblings.
This painful case is part of the special report of the program Bajo El Foco, which is broadcast on El Seis and the platforms digital of De Último Minuto. The report offers exclusive testimonies, images of the child before and after the event, as well as the desperate cry of a family that demands truth, justice, and that it not be repeated.
