As expected, President Hipolito Mejía has appointed four new deputy ministers at the Ministry of Interior and Police seeking to help resolve the crisis at that department which followed the transfer of its former Minister, Rafael Suberví, to the Ministry of Tourism. News reports say the new Minister of Interior and Police, Pedro Franco Badía, promptly replaced 27 bureaucrats, including eight deputy ministers. The deputy ministers had said they could not be fired by Franco Badía because they had been appointed by the President. Four of the fired deputy ministers were transferred to the Ministry of Tourism. The new deputy ministers at Tourism are Sonia Jimenez, Ana Rita Tejeda, Edgar Felix and Cesar Cabrera. They replace Tourism deputy ministers Pedro Dajer, Carlos Marquez and Jose Garcia Marcano. (30 October 2001)
