Former President Joaquin Balaguer says he will become a firm opponent to the Mejia administration if the President decides to go ahead with the construction of sports venues in the Mirador del Este Park in the east side of Santo Domingo. “If that is built there, the government can have me from here on as an opponent, aware of all its acts,” said Balaguer. He described as monstrous the idea of building the sports venues in the park. “I have been a very good friend of President Hipolito and I have helped him in any way I can that is good for the country,” he said. “But I am rigorously against this idea, and I will not give in to what they propose to build there,” he said. A protest was held on Sunday with ecologists, architects, sports leaders, community leaders and politicians gathered in protest. Peter Morales, a former governor of the Columbus Lighthouse (the monument adjacent to the Mirador del Este Park) headed the protestors. Among them were former Vice President Jaime David Fernandez (a frequent user of the Mirador del Sur Park), the political secretary of the PRSC, Federico Antun Batlle, Father Rogelio Cruz of Cristo Rey and Julio Subero of the National Basketball Commission. The park was built as a green space for the city of Santo Domingo. Those who oppose the construction of the sports venues fear they will change the nature of the park. Advocates say the contrary would happen as the plans also call for an artificial lake, an amphitheater, a train, a children’s park and the planting of more trees than will be destroyed. President of the Panamerican Games Organizing Committee, Dr. Jose Joaquin Puello, has said that President Mejia will have the last word. Mejia favors the construction of facilities for field hockey, archery, handball, tennis, ping pong, badminton and gymnastics at the park. A Commission of the Pan American Sports Organization is coming at the start of August to observe the progress of the preparations for the Games. The honorary President of the Dominican Olympic Committee has bitterly complained about the new sports installations which have reduced and are continuing to reduce the green areas at the Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Center. Santo Domingo’s main parks — Mirador del Sur, Mirador del Norte, Mirador del Este, Botanical Gardens, National Zoo, National Aquarium, Los Tres Ojos, Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Center — went up during Balaguer’s administrations.
