SANTIAGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC – Police in the Dominican Republic are investigating the killings of two transvestites in the northern city of Santiago.

Eduardo Padilla, 23, and Ramon Martinez, 26, were apparently tortured before being killed, Central Cibao Police District spokesman Col. Jesus Cordero Paredes said.

One of the men was stabbed 40 times and his eyes were torn out, the police spokesman said, adding that the victim was also severely beaten in the genitals, arms, face and other parts of his body.

The other victim was bound, stabbed, burned, had his legs broken and was stuffed into a bag, Cordero Paredes said.

The killers apparently tortured the two transvestites in a “cruel” fashion, the police spokesman said.

Two suspects identified by the victims’ relatives as “friends” of the men have been arrested, Cordero Paredes said.

Over the past three years, male prostitutes have taken to the streets of Santiago, a conservative city where homosexuality is frowned upon, at night.

Many of the male prostitutes, according to complaints filed with police, have been shot, hit by cars and robbed. EFE