Nelson Batista of the Santiago ecological society, Soeci, warns that senator Antonio Marte of the Santiago Rodriguez province is promoting the construction of a road to connect Santiago Rodriguez, with access to the new Manzanillo Port to San Juan de la Maguana.
Nelson Batista explains the road would go from Loma de Copey to Sabaneta de San Juan de la Maguana and is promoted by senator Antonio Marte. It would pass through protected areas. Batista says that persons in the know have been purchasing the lands adjacent to where the road would go.
San Juan de la Maguana is a traditional food-producing province where the Ministry of Mining and Ministry of Environment have been authorizing exploration permits. Exploitation permits for mining operations are pending.
The communities in the area alert of the major damages to their livelihoods the mining operations would bring.
The country has the record of the province of Sanchez Ramirez that has the country’s largest gold mining operation, but its population suffers from the impacts of the mining operations on its environment. The province already harbors a major mining tailings dam, and another is slated for construction to expand the Pueblo Viejo mining operations.
Promoters of mining in the country point to the US$2 billion in mining exports last year, as the price of gold has rocketed abroad. The Dominican government, nevertheless, because of contracts signed with the mining company, was not able to lock in a windfall of resources with the surge in prices, as economist Jaime Aristy recently explained.
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22 December 2025