Despite meetings with the head of the National Refinery, and despite the announcement of a 7 percent reduction in government use of fuels, and despite the suggestion that government officials use mini-buses to accompany the President on his official trips around the country to save fuel, yesterday the President on his journey to the Basilica de la Altagracia in Higuey was accompanied by a caravan full of dozens of SUVs and other gas-guzzlers sporting official license plates. El Caribe reports that nine vehicles, not counting the presidential RV, even accompanied the President from the helipad to the entrance of the Cathedral. And when the President drove around Higuey to visit three other sites, the line of vehicles was much larger, with many of the luxury vehicles only driven by the chauffeurs.
President Mejia himself had urged Dominicans to save on fuel, given the present Venezuelan political crisis that has impeded shipments from that supplier, and the imminent war in Iraq.
