Presidente Abinader confirmed retired Mayor General Juan Manuel Méndez at the Center for Emergency Operations (COE). He had been placed in retirement after being promoted to mayor general by former President Danilo Medina. The now retired general will continue as director of the COE, but he will only receive his retirement wages.
During the meeting held on Thursday, 21 August in the evening, as weather forecasts showed the Dominican Republic in the path of then TD13, Mendez said the President asked him to stay on. The country is in the peak of the hurricane season.
Mendez has been at the helm of the Center for Emergency Operations for 15 years. “I am grateful for that show of confidence from him and I thank the people who have been asking and the media to allow me to continue to collaborate and serve. And that is what I will do, I will continue to serve the population from where the President understands or where life places me,” he said.
In May 2020, journalist Edith Febles had published evidence of major irregularities in procurement handled by the Center for Emergency Operations during Méndez’s term, prior to the change of government. These were denied by Mendez but at the time Yocasta Guzman, then director of the Procurement Agency, confirmed the irregularities.
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21 August 2020