When I first came to the DR, I had visions of soon buying a finca of bare land, planting thousands of trees, and then selectively harvesting what I had grown.
Hearing that the Dominican government had control over whether or not I could do this, put a kibosh on the idea (at least in my mind). Even if you own the land, and plant the trees, and pay for the labor required to maintain your work, you really don't have entire control over your own property, unless the government of the day decides you can or cannot. That is not 'property rights' in my mind, so I decided "not in this country".
This isn't what rattled my cage though. I live in Gazcue in Santo Domingo. The thing that really attracted me here were the deeply shaded streets, and tons of grown trees, etc.
First, someone bought the house next door to the apartment building we live in. Then, they knocked it down and started digging a big hole to put up an apartment house. Then, the friggin haitians proceeded to use machetes, and cut down 5 huge trees growing in the space between the sidewalk and the street. 2 huge caobas with trunks about 30" thick, a big calabash tree and two other big boys.
All of a sudden, it looks like friggin Piantini out there, without the token scrawny palm trees. Hot sun, instead of inviting shade.
Next, on the OTHER side, the government decided to take over what has been an old abandoned big home, and convert it from a squatters nest to a new huacal. The first order of business was to cut down the three big trees between the front of the house and the street, and a big caoba that was between the sidewalk and the street.
This morning, the buggers woke me up with a chainsaw going, at about 7:30. After I got moving, I went outside, and there are 4 guys up in the huge mango tree that is on OUR property, inside the wall. This mango is about 50 feet tall, and shades the entire building in the mornings. They had already cut off 3 or 4 branches which were about 1' diameter each.
When I got the idiots in the tree to shut off the chainsaw, their "jefetito" came over and said "Que paso?" and I told him to stop cutting down a tree that isn't on their property. He responded by saying it was diseased, and rotten (which it wasn't).
Then, I asked this guy if he had permiso from Ambiente, and if he wanted to receive a demanda if he didn't stop what they were doing. yada yada yada. He responded that I was an arrogant americano and " violento" (maybe he say the vein in my forehead throbbing at him).
Instead of giving him a demonstration of my capabilities, I chose to go get my neighbor, who is one cool, duro, serio dominicano, and the two of us went out on his back stairs overlooking the tree in question. My neighbor said there was nothing we can do, and that's just how it is, and I could only respond, then who would invest anything here, if you can't even stop some bast**ds from damaging YOUR property.
Tell me it ain't so. Tell me that there aren't laws protecting the trees on your own property, not to mention big, perfectly healthy, mature trees along the street.
Thanks for listening to my rant, but I also want answers. Can they do this, with no repercussions???
Hearing that the Dominican government had control over whether or not I could do this, put a kibosh on the idea (at least in my mind). Even if you own the land, and plant the trees, and pay for the labor required to maintain your work, you really don't have entire control over your own property, unless the government of the day decides you can or cannot. That is not 'property rights' in my mind, so I decided "not in this country".
This isn't what rattled my cage though. I live in Gazcue in Santo Domingo. The thing that really attracted me here were the deeply shaded streets, and tons of grown trees, etc.
First, someone bought the house next door to the apartment building we live in. Then, they knocked it down and started digging a big hole to put up an apartment house. Then, the friggin haitians proceeded to use machetes, and cut down 5 huge trees growing in the space between the sidewalk and the street. 2 huge caobas with trunks about 30" thick, a big calabash tree and two other big boys.
All of a sudden, it looks like friggin Piantini out there, without the token scrawny palm trees. Hot sun, instead of inviting shade.
Next, on the OTHER side, the government decided to take over what has been an old abandoned big home, and convert it from a squatters nest to a new huacal. The first order of business was to cut down the three big trees between the front of the house and the street, and a big caoba that was between the sidewalk and the street.
This morning, the buggers woke me up with a chainsaw going, at about 7:30. After I got moving, I went outside, and there are 4 guys up in the huge mango tree that is on OUR property, inside the wall. This mango is about 50 feet tall, and shades the entire building in the mornings. They had already cut off 3 or 4 branches which were about 1' diameter each.
When I got the idiots in the tree to shut off the chainsaw, their "jefetito" came over and said "Que paso?" and I told him to stop cutting down a tree that isn't on their property. He responded by saying it was diseased, and rotten (which it wasn't).
Then, I asked this guy if he had permiso from Ambiente, and if he wanted to receive a demanda if he didn't stop what they were doing. yada yada yada. He responded that I was an arrogant americano and " violento" (maybe he say the vein in my forehead throbbing at him).
Instead of giving him a demonstration of my capabilities, I chose to go get my neighbor, who is one cool, duro, serio dominicano, and the two of us went out on his back stairs overlooking the tree in question. My neighbor said there was nothing we can do, and that's just how it is, and I could only respond, then who would invest anything here, if you can't even stop some bast**ds from damaging YOUR property.
Tell me it ain't so. Tell me that there aren't laws protecting the trees on your own property, not to mention big, perfectly healthy, mature trees along the street.
Thanks for listening to my rant, but I also want answers. Can they do this, with no repercussions???
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