On Wednesday, 19 December 2018, the Senate passed the bill that divides the province of Santiago into two. There now will be the province of Santiago and the province of Santiago Oeste in the area of Cienfuegos.
This was the third time that legislator Altagracia Mercedes González of the Chamber of Deputies (PLD-Santiago) had presented the bill for the split. On this occasion, after the bill first passed in the Chamber of Deputies, it moved to the Senate, where it received sufficient support from PLD senators that are majority to pass. The ruling PLD party is also majority in the Chamber of Deputies.
Ever since the bill had first been presented by Gonzalez in 2015, it had met with the opposition of the business community and development associations in Santiago. These argued the province has little to gain from the division and lots to loose. The businessmen say the division violates the Santiago Strategic Plan 2020 and observe that the only beneficiaries will be politicians in time for the 2020 general elections.
Among the entities that have opposed the splitting of the province in two are:
the Asociación de Industriales de la Región Norte (AIREN), the Cámara de Comercio y Producción de Santiago, the Corporación de Zona Franca Industrial that operates the largest duty free manufacturing zone, the Consejo para el Desarrollo Estratégico de Santiago, the Asociación para el Desarrollo de la provincia (APEDI), the Asociación de Comerciantes é Industriales de Santiago (ACIS), the Asociación de Empresas de Zonas Francas de Santiago and the Consejo para el Desarrollo Estratégico de Santiago (CDES).
The bill now moves on to the Presidency for signing and enactment into law.
Read more in Spanish:
Listin Diario
20 December 2018
