The PRSC’s Presidential candidate Eduardo Estrella has expressed his distaste for the fact that the country is having to import rice. Rice is a staple food and a major domestic crop, and Estrella attributed the imports to the government’s “improvisation and lack of capacity.” The authorization to import 500,000 quintals of rice comes just a few months after the Ministry of Agriculture ordered the burning of large areas of rice cultivation due to a supposed surplus. In a puzzling contrast, the Listin Diario carries an editorial column hailing the country’s alimentary self-sufficiency, giving the credit to President Hipolito Mejia’s administration: “It is a fortunate country that achieves self-sufficiency in times of crisis, and its inhabitants are lucky to be able to savor this beautiful reality, which with everybody’s will and effort we will continue to enjoy beyond 16 May 2004.”