In cold winter weather with temperatures dropping under zero in the evening, farmers in Valle Nuevo contested the Ministry of Environment order to 409 farmers to cease farming at the end of January 2017. They took to the access roads in an attempt to stop the government enforcing the farming ban on the mountaintop where the country’s two leading rivers have their sources.
The farmers have connected pipes to the river for irrigating their farms, which affects the flow of the waters throughout the river basins. The Ministry of Environment has said it stands firm on implementing Resolution 14-2016 ordering them to stop their farming activities. The farmers were given four months to harvest and leave the Juan Bautista Pérez Rancier National Park where Valle Nuevo is located.
According to reports, the Ministry of Environment’s Environmental Protection Service (Senpa) under General Valentín García Reyes has sent 120 military personnel to the protected area in an operation led by Colonel Mario César Frías Nolasco.
The men are being deployed in addition to 23 other national park service rangers who are already patrolling the park. They have instructions to dismantle and seize all pipes, water pumps, installations and other farming equipment as of 29 January 2017.
Valle Nuevo covers an area of 910 square kilometers.
Colonel Frías Nolasco said other military personnel and staff would join them later for a 200-strong force. The Ministry of Environment has given the farmers and laborers who live in the area until 29 January 2017 to leave the area.
Strawberries, apples, carrots, lettuce, cabbage, flowers are cultivated in the area as well as livestock and sawmills. The producers have requested an extension of the ban on production through March.
The rivers flow from La Vega to Monseñor Nouel (Bonao) to the north and San José de Ocoa and Azua to the south.
The Ministry of Defense (MIDE) and the Ministry of Environment (MA) announced that since the area was militarized on Friday, 13 January, the army began patrolling the area to control access to the area by day laborers, seeds, fertilizers and other chemical inputs.
The work is also being coordinated by the director of the Valle Nuevo Park, Julio de los Santos, and Brigadier General Valerio Antonio García Reyes of Senpa.
The protestors blocked off access to the roads leading to the military training camp in Pinar Bonito (Sexto Batallón de Cazadores), the Salto de Aguas Blancas waterfall and the Valle Nuevo National Park. On Saturday, 14 January 2017 the protestors suspended their actions awaiting talks to decide their future.
Read more in Spanish:
Hoy
El Caribe
Listin Diario
7 Dias
16 January 2017
