The Ministry of Environment arrested Central Romana company employees who were found to have cut down trees and were fencing in an area within the National Park of the East in La Altagracia province, as reported in Hoy newspaper. The Ministry of Environment told the newspaper that the seven Central Romana workers did not have permission to topple dozens of trees or build several kilometers of road within the protected area.
Francisco Micheli, public relations spokesperson for the company, confirmed that CR had ordered the fencing of their property, which lies in the protected area. Micheli alleges that changes in jurisdiction freed up part of the property that is located in the park. “We have fenced in lot 25 that we share with businessman Popy Bermudez to avoid any confusion over its ownership,” he told Hoy reporters.
Micheli denied that there was indiscriminate toppling of trees. But Angel Daneris Santana, deputy minister of protected areas and biodiversity at the Ministry of Environment told the newspaper that the destruction was “devastating for the habitat”, especially of the crabs in the area, and the indiscriminate cutting of trees was very damaging to the ecology.
Santana said that the offenders had arrived by boat from the Las Tortugas area and had cut their way through to the site without the required authorization from the Ministry.
The Ministry accuses them of violation of Arts. 15, 25, 19, paragraph I, arts. 33 and 35 and 140 of Law 202-04 and resolution 550 of 17 June 1982 on cutting down trees, opening of trails and removal of materials within the National Park of the East.
The Ministry confiscated a boat, a Daihatsu truck with the CR logo on it, as well as equipment, all of which are in Police and Navy custody.
The Coalition for the Defense of Protected Areas held a press conference yesterday and said that the workers claimed someone by the name of Montas from Central Romana’s engineering department had sent them there. The Coalition says that while the new Sectorial Law of Protected Areas 202-04 mutilated a coastal stretch of 25 kms, park area continues to be the Ministry of Environment’s responsibility.
As reported in El Caribe, the Coalition suspects that the work was in preparation for the construction of a tourism complex.
To access this property and carry out any work, the parties must have permission from the Ministry. “That is why the National Park of the East land that falls under a new category cannot be occupied, let alone developed,” they state.