Aristides Fernandez Zucco was fired from his job as president of the Dominican Refinery (REFIDOMSA) yesterday evening by President Leonel Fernandez (no relation). President Fernandez sent out Decree 576-05 yesterday afternoon, replacing Fernandez Zucco with the Presidential advisor on energy matters, Eduardo Rodriguez. This comes after dozens of young people were hospitalized after Monday’s leak from a fairly large spill of ethyl mercaptane, also known as “ethyl 30 ppm mercaptane”, a substance used to produce the identifying odor of LPG. In normal, commercial usage, it is mixed with propane at 30 parts per million. Like Liquid Petroleum Gas (Propane), ethyl mercaptane is much heavier than air and that is why it affected so many people, especially children in schools along its drift path.
Initially, Fernandez Zucco had denied that the gas came from the refinery facility in Haina, to the southwest of Santo Domingo. Recently involved in several controversies involving the refinery, including the negotiations of the Petro Caribe Agreement and the Caracas Agreement as well as with the Shell Company, Fernandez Zucco had initially contradicted the statements made by Minister of Industry and Commerce, Francisco Javier Garcia as to the origin of the malodorous vapor that enveloped large parts of Santo Domingo on Monday. Yesterday, Fernandez Zucco apologized to the nation for his handling of the information provided by the Shell Company.