According to El Caribe newspaper, the members of Congress have been very busy of late ? selling off apartments and lands to friends and families, that is. Thirty-six sale contracts for government-owned land and sales agreements for 33 apartments were sent to President Mejia for his signature. When Congress convened on 1 June, sales of 33 portions of land and 28 apartments were on the agenda. A total of 99 sales, overall were to be handled by the legislative body. Moreover, it was learned that President Mejia had sent 151 sales contracts for apartments to Congress for approval. The same session saw the resignation of two members of the government?s Chamber of Accounts and it was decided to send the controversial new law on Protected Areas to a Special Commission. According to PLD Senator Jose Tomas Perez, land sales are a normal procedure in the Senate. He did say, however, that if a sale is for more than 500m2, it must be scrutinized by a special committee.
The same paper carries another story, this time by Arsenio Cruz, which reports that 85% of the lands at the Cruz de Manzanillo Banana Project have been given away. Of the 63,000 tareas in the project (6 tareas = 1 acre), 53,000 have been appropriated and given to people ?who will be without jobs come next 16 August.? The administrator of the project, Alberto Nunez, confirmed the giveaway, and said that they went to workers who ?have spent their energies on the state project.? The head of the Agrarian Reform Institute?s office in the area, Freddy Pena, told reporters that just 10,000 tareas would be left on which to produce bananas for export. Pena told reporters that cattle ranchers, agronomists and 200 workers at the project received plots of land. The giveaway nonetheless caught some by surprise. Bienvenido Cabrera, of the ?La Altagracia Campesino Federation?, denounced the fact that most of the land went to people who do not reside in the area, and, in his opinion, do not need the land. In the worst of cases, he said, the ?lands are sold through party hacks who are supposed to be unionists in the banana project.?