"I had abandoned this dream years ago, but God is who decides when"
SANTO DOMINGO.- At 12:30 p.m. yesterday she arrived alone, driving her all terrain vehicle and quickly entered the parking area of her residence in the Cacicazgos sector.
Early in the morning on the day following the one when the Senate of the Republic chose her as the first Public Defender (Ombudsman, or woman in this case) in the history of the country, she took a taxi and visited her companion of the list of candidates for the post, the popular doctor, Felix Antonio Cruz Jiminian.
"The great Dominican humanist, Cruz Jiminian, is my personal and particular friend, is a warm person, a national symbol I would say, of humanism," she said with emotion about the doctor y philanthropist from Cristo Rey.
She also visited the tomb of her parents in the Maximo Gomez Cemetery, where she prayed and made a commitment with a new responsibility of national rank.
She does not use a cell phone, "because I have too many people that call me," and she reaffirms this when questioned as to whether starting now she won't have to do this (use a cell phone) as part of her functions in this technological era. "We humans who were born free spirited like me, we don't change," she argued.
To the three reporters that waited for her in front of her house, in the rain, she revealed that "I come from the Tabernacle of the Lord, from asking the Lord for wisdom and knowledge, like Salomon said, so that He gives me the patience, the light to know how to behave among these people where we have different ways of being and thinking differently, like it should be."
She has already occupied, in 1996, the difficult post of District Attorney of the National District, where she stood out for the energy with which she exercised her functions and her worry for the mistreatment of children. One of the candidates, Cruz JIminian, Iraima Capriles or her was not imposed, she stressed.
"Excuse my clothes but I am coming back from walking and from there I went to the cemetery and to Cruz Jiminian's, besides this is my style, I am not going to change it," she said.
"The Public Defender is a title, but here that are thousands of natural defenders of human rights, thousands, that do not have the title is something else, but they are good at defending the human rights of these people," she continued saying, although she was hurriedly pushing to doorbell of her house.
She thanked Jesus Christ for her election, and said that only with Him does she have any commitments, besides with the poorest of this country, where she said she was from. More than a political leader, she is known as a friend of the departed President Joaquin Balaguer.
Her duties and priorities
Among the priorities for when she begins to exercise her new duties, she stresses the fact that she has a goal of "exciting" the conscience of the wealthy, of the State, the corporations and the companies so as to see how increase the spirit of the young people.
She is worried that there are more than 300,000 young university students that do not have jobs, others in inform jobs, besides that arrive as deportees from the United States.
Another point on her agenda is to lighten the load which she feels the country has with the boys and girls who are young thieves at best.
By working on these issues she trusts that there will be improved public safety.
"To have a safer, more humane, more Christian, to raise the spirit of the needy so that one day they can have hope and it is all together that we have to raise this hope," she said.
Law 19-01 of 1 February 2001 establishes that the functions of the People's Defender (Ombudsman) are to safeguard and protect the fundamental rights of the people, the collective and diffuse interests and the environment.
Assessment
For Servio Tulio Castaños Guzman, the vice-president of the Institutionalism and Justice Foundation (Finjus), Zoila Martinez has the experience and the character needed to exercise the function of People's Defender.
"Zoila Martinez is a stateswoman, she has the conditions, she went through a vetting process," he said.
For Castaños, it is important that the country understand that the People's Defender is not an "agitator" but rather a spokesperson for society with the State. What stands out is that among the attributes of the job is that she can investigate and submit to justice.
Early in the morning on the day following the one when the Senate of the Republic chose her as the first Public Defender (Ombudsman, or woman in this case) in the history of the country, she took a taxi and visited her companion of the list of candidates for the post, the popular doctor, Felix Antonio Cruz Jiminian.
"The great Dominican humanist, Cruz Jiminian, is my personal and particular friend, is a warm person, a national symbol I would say, of humanism," she said with emotion about the doctor y philanthropist from Cristo Rey.
She also visited the tomb of her parents in the Maximo Gomez Cemetery, where she prayed and made a commitment with a new responsibility of national rank.
She does not use a cell phone, "because I have too many people that call me," and she reaffirms this when questioned as to whether starting now she won't have to do this (use a cell phone) as part of her functions in this technological era. "We humans who were born free spirited like me, we don't change," she argued.
To the three reporters that waited for her in front of her house, in the rain, she revealed that "I come from the Tabernacle of the Lord, from asking the Lord for wisdom and knowledge, like Salomon said, so that He gives me the patience, the light to know how to behave among these people where we have different ways of being and thinking differently, like it should be."
She has already occupied, in 1996, the difficult post of District Attorney of the National District, where she stood out for the energy with which she exercised her functions and her worry for the mistreatment of children. One of the candidates, Cruz JIminian, Iraima Capriles or her was not imposed, she stressed.
"Excuse my clothes but I am coming back from walking and from there I went to the cemetery and to Cruz Jiminian's, besides this is my style, I am not going to change it," she said.
"The Public Defender is a title, but here that are thousands of natural defenders of human rights, thousands, that do not have the title is something else, but they are good at defending the human rights of these people," she continued saying, although she was hurriedly pushing to doorbell of her house.
She thanked Jesus Christ for her election, and said that only with Him does she have any commitments, besides with the poorest of this country, where she said she was from. More than a political leader, she is known as a friend of the departed President Joaquin Balaguer.
Her duties and priorities
Among the priorities for when she begins to exercise her new duties, she stresses the fact that she has a goal of "exciting" the conscience of the wealthy, of the State, the corporations and the companies so as to see how increase the spirit of the young people.
She is worried that there are more than 300,000 young university students that do not have jobs, others in inform jobs, besides that arrive as deportees from the United States.
Another point on her agenda is to lighten the load which she feels the country has with the boys and girls who are young thieves at best.
By working on these issues she trusts that there will be improved public safety.
"To have a safer, more humane, more Christian, to raise the spirit of the needy so that one day they can have hope and it is all together that we have to raise this hope," she said.
Law 19-01 of 1 February 2001 establishes that the functions of the People's Defender (Ombudsman) are to safeguard and protect the fundamental rights of the people, the collective and diffuse interests and the environment.
Assessment
For Servio Tulio Castaños Guzman, the vice-president of the Institutionalism and Justice Foundation (Finjus), Zoila Martinez has the experience and the character needed to exercise the function of People's Defender.
"Zoila Martinez is a stateswoman, she has the conditions, she went through a vetting process," he said.
For Castaños, it is important that the country understand that the People's Defender is not an "agitator" but rather a spokesperson for society with the State. What stands out is that among the attributes of the job is that she can investigate and submit to justice.