Chapter 1 Introduction | 25 14. 15. The IACHR visited the Dominican Republic between December 2 and 6, 2013. 12 The members of the delegation were Commissioner José de Jesús Orozco Henríquez, Commissioner Tracy Robinson, Commissioner Felipe González Morales, Commissioner Dinah Shelton, Commissioner Rosa María Ortiz, Commissioner RoseMarie Belle Antoine, and Emilio Álvarez-Icaza Longoria, the Commission’s Executive Secretary; Elizabeth Abi-Mershed, Assistant Executive Secretary; Catalina Botero, Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, and a support team from the IACHR’s Executive Secretariat: Álvaro Botero Navarro, María Isabel Rivero, Gloria Gordon, Hilaire Sobers, Marta Tavares, Sofía Galván, Imelda González, Yuri Romaña, Catalina Martínez, Ronald Soltes, and Victoria Fernández. During the visit, the Commission met with Dominican officials, affected persons, civil society organizations and international agencies headquartered in the Dominican Republic. At the meetings held with State officials, a wide range of actors provided information that was helpful in preparing this report. 16. The following are among the officials with whom the IACHR delegation met: the President of the Dominican Republic, Danilo Medina Sánchez; the Minister of the Presidency, Gustavo Adolfo Montalvo Franco; the acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Trullols; the Legal Advisor to the Executive Branch, César Pina Toribio; the Deputy Minister of the Presidency, Henry Molina Peña; the Advisor to the Minister of the Presidency, Josué Fiallo; the Minister of Education, Carlos Amarante Baret; the Minister of Public Health and Social Assistance, Lorenzo Wilfredo Hidalgo Núñez; the Minister of Labour, Rosa Maritza Hernández; the Minister of the Interior and Police, José Ramón Fadul; the Attorney General of the Republic, Francisco Domínguez Brito, who was accompanied by the Special Prosecutors for Human Rights, Children and Adolescents and Domestic and Gender Violence; the Director General of Immigration, José Ricardo Taveras Blanco; the Deputy Director General of Immigration, Santo Miguel Román; and the representative of the Dominican Republic to the OAS, Ambassador Pedro Vergés. The IACHR also met with Abel Martínez Durán, Speaker of the House of Deputies, and the House of Deputies’ Committee on Human Rights, International Relations and Human Development; the Secretary General of the Central Electoral Board, Ramón Hilario Espiñeyra Ceballos, the National Director of the Civil Registry, Dolores Fernández, the Director General of the Office of the Inspector of the Central Electoral Board, Juan Bautista Tavares, the Legal Advisor to the Central Electoral Board, Alexis Dicló Garabito, and other officials from the Central Electoral Board; staff of the Specialized Body for Terrestrial Border Security (CESFRONT) in Jimaní and Dajabón, and officials from the Office of the Director General of Immigration at the Haina Immigration Detention Center. 12 In performing its function of promoting the observance and protection of human rights in the hemisphere, the Inter-American Commission has conducted 95 on-site visits and dozens of working visits to various OAS member States to observe, analyze and make recommendations aimed at protecting the human rights of persons under those States’ jurisdiction. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights | IACHR