Antonio Reynoso, the director general of the Oficina Técnica de Transporte Terrestre, the office in charge of regulating transport in the DR, announced the provisional appointment of Nelson Estevez to the OTTT Santiago regional office. The incumbent, Guillermo López, who had just been appointed by the present government, was temporarily relieved by the post after Santiago Judge Alina Paulino sentenced him and six other transport union members of Santiago to six months in jail and an indemnification of RD$3 million to Caribe Tours, a local bus company. Caribe Tours had sued the union members after suffering damages to their vehicles when the union members in 1998 tried to impede them from transporting passengers along routes they did not want competition on. Judge Paulino condemned Rafael Antonio Rodríguez, Felix Antonio Alvarez Vargas, Francisco Fernández Peña, Eduardo Díaz Rodríguez, Miguel Tejada Alvarez, Ambiorix Almonte Rodríguez and López for violation of Articles 307 and 479 of the Penal Code. The sentence could not be immediately applied as the District Attorney for Santiago said he would "study" the judgement, commented El Siglo columnist Aristofanes Urbaez. Urbáez said that there is no excuse for the DA to not heed the ruling of the judge that affects the appointed director of the OTTT in Santiago who he says led the burning of a Caribe Tours bus prior to occupying the post.
