The Green Day celebrations by campaigners for the preservation of Loma Miranda yesterday, Wednesday 10 September 2014, brought together more than 2,000 people, mostly students, in La Vega’s Duarte Park, in front of the Immaculate Conception Cathedral.
During the rally, headed by the Bishop of the diocese of the province, Monsignor Antonio Camilo, and amidst a major police presence, speakers criticized President Danilo Medina and his arguments for vetoing the law that declared Loma Miranda a National Park. The Monsignor reminded the President that “being respectful does not mean humbling oneself,” in reference to the concession contract that the Falconbridge Dominicana mining company has with the state, that Medina mentions in his letter of observations to the Congress regarding the national park designation of Loma Miranda.
The prelate insisted that the mining companies come to exploit and to harm the natural resources, and that the country, since it is an island, cannot live without water. “They have a lot of land in Canada, they can go there,” stated the cleric, after recalling that Loma Miranda is a legacy of God to the Dominican people and they have to protect it.
According to Diario Libre, several politicians spoke out against the veto of the Loma Miranda legislation, but the newspaper noted that most people in the park were students from local Catholic schools.
He warned that this struggle would not stop and he called on all the parishes of his diocese to carry out actions peacefully. “Some people believed that there would be violence, well there was none. As a pastor I cannot allow the wolves to harm the sheep,” said Camilo, who repeated several times: “we are not salaried pastors working for money; we serve God and the church.”