The Presidency ordered the 60-day renewable suspending of the director of the National Aquarium after she impeded a film crew from Nuria Piera Investigacion from visiting the facility.
Early on when the lawyer-politician was appointed to the job that requires technical skills, Garcia Rondon has been criticized for not improving the conditions at the Santo Domingo Aquarium in Santo Domingo East. In May 2023, she was given a second chance and improvements in budget.
Garcia Rondon has no background in fields related to the National Aquarium. She has worked in government jobs and is better known for her political work in the ruling Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM).
When appointed to the position in August 2020 with the start of the Abinader administration, García Rondón doubled the wages of her position from around RD$100,000 to RD$200,000.
Investigative journalist Nuria Piera has frequently requested an interview with García Rondon who has excused herself, arguing the Aquarium is under renovation.
Rondon has been in the focus of the media, accused of nepotism, irregularities in contracting, including overpricing, and an inefficient operation that has reduced the quality of life of the sea specimens and National Aquarium experience for visitors.
The Saturday, 4 November 2023 investigative report carried by Nuria Piera is a follow-up from a previous airing in 2022 on the same situation. Piera says the situation affecting specimens and visitors at the Aquarium has gotten worse. She also presented proof that the National Aquarium was deleting information when sending in reports through the Freedom of Information Act.
Piera showed incidents of irregularities such as an outsider purchase order for many sharks and then an Aquarium employee asked to capture two sharks in the wild. The employee was arrested for capturing the sharks and complained his bosses did not back him.
The same decree that suspends Garcia Rondon instructs the general director of the Ethics and Government Integrity Agency, Milagros Ortiz Bosch, and Carlos Pimentel Florenzán, general director of the Procurement Agency, to initiate the pertinent administrative investigations based on the complaints.
The Abinader administration named Jimmy Constantino García Saviñón, in addition to his duties as director of the National Authority for Maritime Affairs, to take charge as honorary director general of the National Aquarium.
Media reports are that the Aquarium, instead of improving under the Abinader government, has gotten worse and worse under Garcia Rondon.
The Aquarium had indicated to journalists that they would not be open to journalists because the facility was subject to renovations.
Investigative journalist Jose Peguero also reported on the situation in 2022 with no response or corrections to the situations presented.
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N Digital
Noticias SIN
Diario Libre
Jose Peguero
8 November 2023