The streets of La Cuaba in northern Santo Domingo were illuminated by candlelight Tuesday, 16 December night as residents escalated their long-standing campaign against a controversial landfill project slated for construction in the rural area of El Aguacate. This demonstration was organized by the grassroots movement known as “No Vertedero” and brought together a wide coalition of community members, religious leaders, and local officials. The vigil marked the latest chapter in an intensifying struggle to prevent the Ministry of Environment from authorizing a waste processing plant and sanitary landfill in the community.
Participants from Salamanca, El Aguacate, and La Cuaba gathered on the town’s main avenue and concluded the night with a march to local parks that lasted until well after ten o’clock. The atmosphere was a mix of solemnity and defiance as residents combined choral chants with collective prayers led by local evangelical pastors. The protest saw significant institutional support from various sectors of society, including the Municipal Director of La Cuaba, Carlos Montaño, alongside the local University Students Association, merchants’ guilds, and several neighborhood development boards.
Organizers emphasized that their primary concern is the preservation of their quality of life and the environmental health of the communities in the northern Santo Domingo province. The conflict over the site has shifted from peaceful marches to physical confrontations in recent weeks, including a violent clash on 7 December 2025 in the Pedregal community that involved stones, sticks, and tear gas. This specific skirmish reportedly began when busloads of outsiders arrived to hold a pro-landfill vigil under the banner of a previously unknown organization called the Committee for the Defense of the Environment.
The community’s resistance is rooted in a legal battle that dates back to 2021 when landfill developers first applied for environmental permits for the facility. Although the Ministry of Environment denied the permit in 2023 following impact studies and intense local opposition, a recent Superior Administrative Court ruling ordered a formal review of that denial. This legal development has effectively reopened the door for the project and left residents on high alert. Many in the community fear that the landfill will contaminate local water sources and devalue their land, leading to the series of prayer marathons and road blockades seen throughout the month.
Read more in Spanish:
Listin Diario
18 December 2025