In a decision on 19 September 2018, the judges of the Third Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice confirmed that the property titles that had been issued to individuals in the Bahía de las Aguilas beach area of Pedernales are not valid. The court, chaired by Judge Manuel Herrera, and composed of Robert Plasencia and Moisés Ferrer, adopted the decision after declaring inadmissible the titles and rejecting 25 appeals filed by several who had claimed the lands and now are sentenced to pay the legal costs.
The court, entrusted with land, labor, litigation, administrative and contentious-tax matters, confirmed the judgment of the Superior Land Court issued on 24 February 2016, regarding plot 215-A of Cadastral District 3, of the municipality of Enriquillo in the province of Pedernales, in the southwest. This is an area of 4,530.6 tareas (1 tarea= 626 square meters). However, other cassation appeals related to the other plots, 40 and 215B, remain pending.
The case of Bahía de las Águilas has been known in the courts since 1997, when the complaint was filed against the former director of the Dominican Agrarian Institute (IAD), Jaime Rodríguez Guzmán, his wife Reyna Margarita Martínez and his brother Rafael Rodríguez Guzmán, who were accused of irregularly disposing of government land. The property titles were contested by the civic society and environmentalists who claimed the lands were in protected areas and could not be sold.
Bahia de las Aguilas is best known for its pristine beaches along the southwestern coast. The tourism development potential of the area is behind the irregularities.
The Supreme Court judgment could mean the government now has green light to undertake development of the area, albeit it is not yet known what would be done given the protected status area and the vulnerability of the area itself. There is no fresh water in the area. The Medina administration has shown particular interest in resolving the legal issues in order to attract foreign investment for developing the Pedernales beach area.
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El Dia
20 September 2018
