Police arrested several Ministry of Public Works employees yesterday in the National Park of the East after they continued with the construction of a major trail through the protected area, toppling thousands of trees, as reported today in Hoy newspaper. The workers also affected property belonging to the Desarrollo Dominicus Americanus, which called in its private police. Adolfo Lopez Belando, member of the Coalition for the Defense of Protected Areas, said that the park administrator, Luis Cordero had to intervene when some 40 men were cutting down trees for the trail.
Cordero said that the Ministry of Public Works staff was being led by an engineer, and one of their vehicles was identified as CA478. “It is not possible that the Minister of Public Works should be breaking the law by ambushing private property and protected areas,” he said.
Cordero added that the Ministry of Environment is doing all it can, but that right now has two ministries against it – Tourism and Public Works – that want to take over park territory at any cost.
On Tuesday, the Coalition denounced the fact that the Ministry of Public Works had opened up a trail of more than two kilometers by 50 meters wide, in violation of the law. The Coalition has complained to UNESCO and the UN Environment Program, as well as to President Fernandez asking for Presidential Decree 686-05 to be revoked. This decree created a tourist development commission for strips of land excluded from the Protected Areas Sectorial Law. Lopez was speaking in the company of engineer Eleuterio Martinez and Gabriel Artilio. Two days ago, the Coalition asked for the indictment of Public Works Minister engineer Manuel Perez Gomez for breaking the Environment Law. It is also calling for the Transparency and Ethics Commission to look into current government officials who may be involved in real estate or tourist development businesses directly or through relatives, in protected areas such as Parque Nacional del Este.