The eastern chapter of the National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH) called for the commission set up by President Danilo Median to investigate the irregular sales of land by the State Sugar Council (CEA) in San Pedro de Macorís to extend its investigation to the whole of the east of the country. The commission was named after it is suspect that a real estate transaction gone sour lead to the murder of two radio broadcasters and the injury to the radio station secretary on 14 February 2017.
Spokesman for the CNDH said that the CEA had illegally sold and handed out “like a piñata” around 18,000 tareas (1 tarea = 629 square meters) of land to high-ranking military and police officials and businesses linked to the sugar sector and current government officials in Hato Mayor, Bayaguana, Boca Chica, El Seibo and San Pedro de Macoris.
According to a document signed by José Guzmán, national vice president for the CNDH, the handing over of the CEA land began in 1997 with the privatization of the sugar cane mills during the first government of former President Leonel Fernández. Land sales would continue under former President Hipolito Mejia and are continuing to this day.
According to the complaint from the CNDH, the land that has been handed over belongs to the sugar mills at Boca Chica, Quisqueya, Porvenir, as well as Bayaguana and Monte Plata. In addition, Guzmán said that the commission should thoroughly investigate the supposed sale of thousands of tareas of land in the cattle-raising area of Capote in Hato Mayor del Rey as well as the complaints of citizens in Consuelo, some six kilometers to the north of San Pedro de Macoris.
The CNDH confirmed that the sale of the CEA land at rock bottom prices was illegal and suggested the President should declare all of such sales to be illegal and null and void.
