President Leonel Fernández instructed the Minister of Tourism to leave without effect the deadline for the granting of concessions to private sectors interested in leasing colonial monuments and ruins in Santo Domingo and the interior. He instructed the Minister to hold consultations at the Casa del Diálogo prior to resuming the plan to increase the number of businesses taking over the maintenance and operation of colonial edifices and monuments. The Ministry had announced that several monuments in Santo Domingo and the interior would be leased this month. These include the Ruinas de San Francisco, the Fortaleza Ozama, and the Fuerte San Felipe in Puerto Plata. Cardinal Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez opposed their leasing. Architectural groups, such as Icomos, said they had not been consulted. Those that favor the privatization say that the promoters of business would bring new life and help preserve the monuments. One successful privatization is that of the Fuerte San Gil, on the Malecón of Santo Domingo, where architect Emilio Brea created a café-restaurant under the stars and by the sea. (19 January 2000)
