Award-winning rapper, Cardi B, is offering a $10,000 reward for information that would lead to the arrest and prosecution of two unidentified suspects who threw “devil’s acid” on a young Dominican teenager over the weekend, critically injuring her.
Yocairi Amarante Rodríguez, 19, was in a public car around Padre Castellanos in Santo Domingo when the two suspects, who were on a motorcycle, threw the dangerous substance on her, El Diario reports. In a video footage of the incident, the victim can be seen coming out of the vehicle after the attack and being attended to by onlookers. The motive behind the attack is unknown.
Taking to her Instagram on Tuesday, the rapper, who is of Dominican heritage by way of her father, condemned the incident and offered a monetary reward for any lead on the assailants.
“Dear people of the Dominican Republic, I am going to tell my father to contact the Attorney General’s Office or anyone in the Dominican Republic, and I am going to offer $10,000, not pesos, $10,000, to whoever he finds is responsible for throwing that Devil’s Acid on that girl,” her translated Spanish caption read. “The persons responsible for this must be brought to justice. Envy makes people do ugly things, and I’m going to offer ten thousand dollars, so grab it.”
Popular Dominican radio host and producer, Santiago Matías, also offered $5000 for any valuable information on the case.
Known locally as “ácido del Diablo”, attacks on unsuspecting victims with the highly dangerous chemical – which is primarily made with sulphuric acid and is used to unclog pipes and drains – is very rampant on the Caribbean island, El Diario reports. In 2014, the country’s Congress approved a bill proposing 10 to 20-year sentences for perpetrators behind “devil’s acid” attacks. The bill is yet to be enacted.
A 2012 report by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada also revealed attacks with the chemical are mostly done against women, with over 3000 reported between 1994 and 2012.
“The patient is no longer seeing and she is likely to lose her vision,” a doctor said about Rodríguez’s condition, El Diario reports. “She is a patient in critical condition, with burns in 40% of her body surface, burned by chemicals. They are quite deep burns, unfortunately it was a caudal head, that is, from the head, which is why it affected her face.”
The specialist added: “We are doing everything possible that we can do for her, but I repeat that she is a patient who is in very critical condition.”
The victim’s mother also called for justice for her daughter. “I want justice for my daughter, this cannot go unpunished. My daughter is in the intensive care room,” she said.
