Decree 507-26 established, on an honorary basis, a group of eleven people—nine men and two women—with experience in the legal, judicial, and journalistic fields, who will be responsible for organizing the dissemination of the new Penal Code and studying future improvements to the regulations
SANTO DOMINGO. – A former president of the Constitutional Court, retired judges from the highest courts, criminal lawyers with published work, and three veterans of Dominican journalism make up the Commission for Monitoring and Socialization of the Penal Code, formalized this week through decree no. 507-26.
Eleven individuals, all with documented experience in the country's legal or media spheres, have been selected to oversee the implementation of Law No. 74-25 on August 3rd. Below is a brief overview of each individual's background:
Milton Ray Guevara – Chairman of the Commission
Born in Samaná on May 5, 1948. He graduated summa cum laude with a law degree from the Pontifical Catholic University Madre y Maestra (PUCMM) and earned a doctorate in public law from the University of Nice, France (1975). He served as senator for the province of Samaná (1998-2000), Minister of Labor and Minister without Portfolio, Dominican ambassador to France and concurrently to the United Kingdom, Belgium, the then European Economic Community, and Yugoslavia, and president of the National Social Security Council.
He participated in the drafting committee of the 1992 Labor Code and in the committees for the constitutional reforms of 1994 and 2010. He is a founding member and was the first executive director of the Institutionalism and Justice Foundation (FINJUS).
He was the first president of the Constitutional Court of the Dominican Republic, appointed by the National Council of the Judiciary on December 21, 2011, and serving until December 12, 2023, when his term ended. He has been a professor at PUCMM, the Master's Program in Constitutional Law at IGLOBAL-Sorbonne, and UNIBE.
Leyda Margarita Piña Medrano
She graduated with honors from the Law School of the National University Pedro Henríquez Ureña (UNPHU). She pursued doctoral studies at the University of Paris II, earning a DEA in Political Studies and a DESU in Constitutional Law.
She also holds a DEA (Diploma of Advanced Studies) in Social and Group Psychology from UASD and the Complutense University of Madrid, and a postgraduate degree in Alternative Dispute Resolution from PUCMM and the University of Valparaíso, Chile. She served as First Substitute Judge of the Constitutional Court of the Dominican Republic from 2011 to 2017.
Julio César Castaños Guzmán
Born in Santo Domingo on April 8, 1955. Bachelor of Laws from PUCMM (1977), with a Master's degree in Legal Sciences and postgraduate studies in Criminal Law from UASD, and a doctorate in Fundamental Rights of Contemporary Democracy from the Complutense University of Madrid (2006).
He presided over the Central Electoral Board (JCE) in the period 2006-2010 and was appointed again by the Senate for the period 2016-2020, later extended until 2024.
In 2011, he was selected by the National Council of the Judiciary as a judge of the Supreme Court of Justice. He is also a writer and essayist.
Pedro Balbuena
Born in May 1965 in Puerto Plata. He holds a law degree from PUCMM (1988) and a master's degree in Commercial Law, Intellectual Property, and Constitutional Law. Between 1998 and 2013, he served as a judge in the Judiciary: first in the Criminal Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals and then as presiding judge of the Puerto Plata Court of Appeals, a position he held for fifteen years.
He has been a professor at the undergraduate and master's levels at PUCMM, UNIBE, UASD, the National School of the Judiciary (ENJ) and UTESA, in subjects such as Criminal Law, Criminal Procedural Law and Copyright Law.
He is the founder of the firm Pedro Balbuena, Abogados & Consultores, a founding member of the International Association of Criminal Law-Dominican Group (2020) and co-author of the book «Código Penal Comentado» (Escuela Nacional de la Judicatura, 2026).
Ricardo Rojas León
José Ricardo Rojas León, born in Santo Domingo on June 2, 1960. Journalist, graduated from the Dominican Institute of Journalists (1981) and holds a doctorate in Law from UASD (1993). He was deputy director of the newspaper Diario Libre and director of communications for the Central Bank (1995-2000).
He served as an advisor to the governor of the Central Bank between 2008 and 2018, and since February 2018 he has been a member of the Monetary Board of the Central Bank, confirmed in the position in November 2020.
He is a university professor of Constitutional and Criminal Law, a founding member of the International Association of Criminal Law-Dominican Group and co-author of the book "Annotated Penal Code".
Luz Díaz
Luz Díaz Rodríguez, criminal defense attorney. She graduated with honors from PUCMM (1996) with a law degree, postgraduate studies in Civil and Commercial Law, and over 25 years of professional experience. In 2020, she co-founded Díaz Trueba Abogados with Rosalina Trueba, a firm specializing in the resolution of litigation disputes, after having been partners in another law firm.
She teaches at PUCMM and at the Public Ministry School of the Dominican Republic, and is a founding member of the International Association of Criminal Law-Dominican Group (AIDPGD), established on June 6, 2020.
José Lorenzo Fermín
José Lorenzo Fermín graduated with a law degree (1986) from PUCMM, Santiago campus, where he also obtained a Master of Laws degree (1988) and a postgraduate degree in Corporate and Commercial Law (1998). He also holds a postgraduate degree in Economic Criminal Law (2002) from the University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain.
He was a professor at PUCMM between 1988 and 2000, where he taught Introduction to Criminal Law, General Criminal Law and Special Criminal Law, and he worked in the Public Ministry of the Judicial District of Santiago between 1989 and 2001. He is a founding partner, since 1986, of the firm Fermín & Asociados, Abogados & Consultores.
He belonged to the commission of jurists that drafted the original version of the new Dominican Penal Code (1997-2000) and collaborated on the commission that drafted the reform to the Code of Criminal Procedure. He is also a founding member of the International Association of Penal Law-Dominican Group and co-author of the book "Annotated Penal Code.".
Eduardo Jorge Prats
Born in Santiago de los Caballeros on February 14, 1964. Graduated magna cum laude in Law from PUCMM (1987), with a master's degree in International Relations from the New School for Social Research in New York (1991) and a doctorate in Law from the Universidad Externado de Colombia and PUCMM.
He was an associate lawyer at the firm Pellerano & Herrera from 1991, executive director of FINJUS from 1996, and legal consultant to the Central Bank during the government of Hipólito Mejía (2000). In 2003, he founded his own firm, Jorge Prats Abogados Consultores.
He was part of the Commission of Jurists for the Preliminary Draft of Constitutional Reform (2006-2009) and of the commission in charge of reviewing the laws developing the 2010 Constitution. He currently presides over the Dominican Institute of Constitutional Law (IDDEC) and the Hostos Center for Constitutional Studies, and is a professor of Constitutional Law and Administrative Law at PUCMM.
Alejandro Moscoso Segarra
A lawyer with over 25 years of experience. He was the District Attorney for the National District. The National Council of the Judiciary appointed him to the Supreme Court of Justice on December 22, 2011, where the full court selected him for the Second Chamber, or Criminal Chamber.
He is the author of "Telephone Interceptions and the Impact on the Fundamental Right to Privacy" and co-author of "New Annotated Criminal Procedure Code" and "Criminal Procedure: Ten Years of Interpretation 2004-2014".
He coordinated and was the rapporteur of the book "Annotated Penal Code", published by the National School of the Judiciary in 2026 and is currently the dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Law at APEC University.
Persio Maldonado
Persio Maldonado (Persio Maldonado Sánchez), born on April 26, 1952 in Santiago de los Caballeros. He studied Political Science at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) and at the Inter-American University; he is also a lawyer.
He is the founder and general director of El Nuevo Diario, a newspaper created on May 8, 1981, whose name was taken from an old Dominican newspaper known for its critical stance against the dictatorship of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo.
He is president of the Dominican Society of Newspapers (SDD), president of the Dominican Tennis Federation, and host and co-producer of the Matinal program, broadcast since 1995 by Channel 5 (Telemicro) and Telemicro Internacional.
He is a member of the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) and under his direction, El Nuevo Diario has produced a series of documentaries on Dominican history, including several dedicated to sports and the history of baseball in the country.
Hannibal de Castro
Aníbal de Jesús de Castro Rodríguez, born in Puerto Plata in 1949. He changed his studies from priesthood at the Missionary Seminary to journalism at UASD and studied Development Studies at the University of East Anglia, London, in 1979.
After graduating from high school in 1966, he began his career at the newspaper El Nacional, under the direction of Freddy Gatón Arce, and simultaneously worked at the radio station Radio HIN. He then moved to the evening newspaper Última Hora, where he became editor-in-chief and, between 1981 and 1992, its director.
He was the founder of the research magazine Rumbo and the AA Publishing House, and founder of the newspaper Diario Libre, the country's first free print publication, of which he was director between 2001 and 2004 and today he chairs the Board of Directors.
He maintains the ADC opinion column in that newspaper. In the diplomatic field, he has served as Dominican ambassador to the United States, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Belgium, as well as to the European Union; and as permanent representative to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) since November 2020, based in Madrid.
He was awarded the 2026 National Journalism Prize, granted by the Ministry of Education and the Dominican College of Journalists, among 36 journalists evaluated by a jury chaired by the CDP itself.
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