Armed Forces Minister Sigfrido Pared Perez believes that the number of generals in the Armed Forces is still too high, despite a review process that saw 99 generals placed into retirement, thereby the diminishing the number by almost half. As reported in Hoy newspaper, while it is customary to retire generals upon a change of government, the Fernandez government broke all records by retiring more than 100 generals from the Armed Forces and the National Police combined. These departures, however, have been accompanied by the reintegration of others, a bad thing, according to Pared Perez, “if they are allowed back in after having committed harm to the institution.”
While the word “cleanup” has been used to describe the whittling down of the Armed Forces’ upper ranks, Minister Pared Perez prefers to refer to it as a revision. “This is not a prophylaxis, but a revision of official cases that have been readmitted improperly. For example, there have been academy students suspended for various reasons who have been taken back and promoted, and that is not correct.”
Generals who are retired enjoy comfortable pension plans at the expense of Dominican taxpayers.