The Supreme Court decision to endorse the controversial law that allows the development of hotels in previously protected fragile environmental areas has divided influential factions within the government. On one side Felix Jimenez, the tourism minister who has supported hotel construction in the Bahia de las Aguilas area since his first term in that same post in the previous Fernandez government, defends the validation. On the other side, Environment Minister Max Puig describes it as inapplicable because it lacks a sound technical basis. Meanwhile, Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito has also come out against the decision.
Defending the new law, Tourism Minister Felix (Felucho) Jimenez said that the law applies to all and agreed with its implementation. He said that the new areas should be developed in the best way possible, in a sustainable way that respects people and nature, he told El Caribe.
Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito is quoted in El Caribe saying that very few beaches are left for Dominicans. “Tourism development is important, it is true, but people in general are more important,” he stated. “I believe that it is important that our beaches have large hotels, but it is also true that if you are not a guest at the hotel you will never see that beach.”