The Consul General of Spain in the Dominican Republic fired officials for “having been spying on all his activities”. Jorge Sanchez Rodriguez found out that his employees were also National Investigations Department (DNI) agents. The former employees told Diario Libre that they were holders of DNI identification cards but they were “honorary” members of the Department, without a salary, or the obligation of offering “services”. They claimed to have used the ID cards for protection only. “After several investigations we have been able to prove your connections to an intelligence department of the Dominican State, specifically the DNI,” says the letter sent to Olga Agustin Camara (a Spanish national), Primitivo Serrano Florentino and Hector Bueno Espinal (Dominicans), when they were fired. The accusation regarding alleged irregularities and the discontent caused among Spanish and Dominican visitors to the consulate were based on the embarrassing way that the personnel was fired and the “privileges” that were withdrawn from Spanish citizens after the arrival of Consul Sanchez Rodriguez. The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Relations investigated the consulate last month after complaints from the Council of Spanish Residents and embassy employees, who also stated that there were irregularities in the tenders to fill work vacancies and the mistreatment of visa applicants (see DR1 Daily News 14 September 2005).