The Chamber of Deputies, which consists of practically the same legislators who approved the Barrick contract for the Pueblo Viejo gold mine in the first place, is now condemning the contract. The president of the Chamber, Abel Martinez, who was the president of the Chamber at the time of the original approval, now says that the Dominican people know, as do the executives at Barrick Gold, that their abuse is coming to an end.
PRSC spokesman Rogelio Genao said that the government needed to turn its words into deeds and renegotiate the contract.
The Chamber said, via its Economic Committee, that the deadline President Danilo Medina gave in February, for Barrick to sit down at the table and renegotiate is now up.
At the time, Medina said in a state of the nation address to the nation that for every US$100 that Barrick earned from exporting gold, they kept US$97 and the Dominican Republic only kept US$3.
In addition two campaigning movements have asked the government to nationalize the Barrick Pueblo Viejo mine and use the money to pay the external debt and improve the living standards of Dominicans.
www.diariolibre.com/noticias/2013/04/16/i379515_oficialistas-opositores-dominicanos-piden-renegociar-contrato-barrick-gold.html