Former President Leonel Fernandez said in a press conference yesterday that he feels politically persecuted by the authorities. He said agents of the National Department of Investigations (DNI) trail him constantly. “I feel persecuted in the DR, my telephones at home and at my office are tapped and wherever I go I am followed by the DNI, in a way so rude that if any of the members of my security corps stop them they only say they are following orders,” he said. He said that every time he intervenes in the public debate he receives threats from a member of the Ministerio Publico (government’s legal force.) Fernandez pointed to recent incidents of lack of tolerance of free speech by the Mejia administration, such as the case of citizens being arrested for publicly criticizing the government. “Today there are omens and clouds on the democratic political horizon pushed by forces that are in government and know no limits, have no checks, that believe that all is possible and with that they will provoke a situation of ungovernability,” he said. Fernandez made a call to sensible behavior, rational moderation and prudence so that peace prevails among Dominicans. He urged a stop to the efforts to customize the Constitution to extend terms of congressmen, to remove judges of the Supreme Court and to annihilate the leading opposition party, the PLD. He reiterated that the Corruption Prevention Department (Depreco) does not have the authority to question him. However, he said he would appear before District Attorney Maximo Aristy Caraballo if he cited him for questioning regarding management of government funds while in office. Attorney General Virgilio Bello Rosa repeated his request yesterday to question the former statesman and 15 of his collaborators. Minister of Foreign Relations Hugo Tolentino Dipp also got into the volley of accusations saying that the Ministry is prepared to provide documentation to prove irregularities were committed in the last six months of the Fernandez government that would support sending Fernandez to jail. He said that one of the best ways is to take photos of the homes where Fernandez and his colleagues lived before and after entering government and ask them where they got the money to live the way they do today.
