The requests for protection from the possible effects of the DR-CAFTA trade agreement have flooded the government offices and caught the bureaucrats unprepared for the onslaught. Industries and agricultural entities are seeking protection from the consequences of the free trade agreement. According to the El Caribe, the government officials had no idea of the magnitude of the problem according to the president of the Senate Commission on Industry, Commerce and Free Zones, Alejandro Santos. He said that the commission that he heads met with an un-named “go-between” to discuss with President Fernandez the effects of the DR-CAFTA agreement. According Santos, the message they got from the President was “the Executive had not considered the dimension of the observations made on the DR-CAFTA, when 33 institutions presented their points of view on the FTA proposal.”