Hundreds of Red Cross volunteers barricaded the Santo Domingo headquarters of the organization to protest the Mejía administration’s appointment of a transition board. Decree 673-00 on 31 August dissolved the present board presided by Clever Read Cabral and appointed a board that in three months time should call an extraordinary assembly of volunteers to choose the new authorities of the organization. Members of the new commission are: Pedro Garcia Araujo, president of the Red Cross in Bonao; Andres Mateo, president of the Red Cross in the National District (Santo Domingo); Icelso Abreu, president of the Red Cross in Moca; a delegate of the International Red Cross or the International Red Cross Federation, and Ligia Leroux de Ramírez, president of the new commission. Clever Read Cabral, nevertheless, said that instead he would hand over the institution to the International Red Cross Federation, that has an office within the Santo Domingo Red Cross headquarters. Read Cabral says he does not accept the government decision and will take the case to the Supreme Court. He argues that the Red Cross is an autonomous organization, and that Law 41-98 gives it the authority to choose its own directors.
