President Hipolito Mejía flew first class to New York, courtesy of American Airlines. News reports say he was given an upgrade by the airline. President Mejía said that the state will not pay for first class travel. Any government officer who wants to fly first class will have to pay the difference, or get an upgrade, he said. Minister of Foreign Affairs Hugo Tolentino Dipp had protested that the government would only pay for him to travel in economy. According to El Siglo newspaper, President Mejía traveled to New York with a delegation of 21 persons, eight on the official delegation. He was accompanied by his wife, First Lady Rosa Gómez. The government also covered the travel expenses of Minister of Foreign Relations Hugo Tolentino Dipp; Minister of Women Yadira Henríquez; United Nations ambassador Pedro Pablo Padilla Tonos; Marino Villanueva and Jesús María Hernández of the Ministry of Foreign Relations. Also Peggy Cabral, Marina Isabel Cáceres, Carlos Guzmán, Alexis Thompson, Luís González Fabra, Lucildo Gómez, Gabriel Sánchez, Pedro Guzmán, Noemí Paredes, Goico Guerrero, Selig Rubio, Fernández García, among others.
