{"id":250409,"date":"2026-04-22T05:28:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T09:28:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/?p=250409"},"modified":"2026-04-22T09:02:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T13:02:49","slug":"civil-society-coalition-demands-halt-to-mining-projects-across-dominican-mountain-ranges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/2026\/04\/22\/civil-society-coalition-demands-halt-to-mining-projects-across-dominican-mountain-ranges\/","title":{"rendered":"Civil society coalition demands halt to mining projects across Dominican mountain ranges"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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More than 200 social and environmental organizations have formed a unified front to demand the immediate and permanent cancellation of all mining projects in the Cordillera Central, Cordillera Septentrional, and Bahoruco Oriental. During a press conference held at the Dominican Medical Association (CMD) headquarters, the coalition warned that concessions granted to foreign corporations (including GoldQuest, Unigold, and Belfond) threaten the nation’s water security, agricultural viability, and tourism industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mobilization coincides with the 61st anniversary of the April 24 Revolution. Leaders of the movement issued a call for mass protests, rejecting government policies they claim force the poor, the working class, and the middle class to shoulder the burden of the global economic crisis and international conflicts while favoring national oligarchies and multinational mining interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specific demands for environmental protection
The coalition outlined a comprehensive list of projects and sites requiring urgent intervention:
\u2022 S\u00e1nchez Ram\u00edrez province: An immediate halt to the construction of the El Naranjo tailings dam.
\u2022 La Cuaba, Pedro Brand: The cancellation of the proposed landfill project in the Los Aguacates community.
\u2022 Loma Miranda & Tavares Justo: A demand for the absolute protection of Loma Miranda and the full restoration of the Manuel Aurelio Tavares Justo National Park.
\u2022 San Crist\u00f3bal: The immediate cessation of operations by the Docalza company in the El Pomier community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lack of “social license”
A primary grievance cited by the organizations is the practice of imposing mining and energy projects on communities without a “social license.” The group highlighted ongoing tensions in Los Negros (Azua) and Las Placetas (San Jos\u00e9 de Las Matas) as high-profile examples of projects moving forward despite local opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The coalition argued that the Dominican Republic\u2019s mountains, valleys, and watersheds provide significantly higher socio-economic value when preserved for water production, livestock, agro-industry, and community-based tourism rather than extractive industries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow the story in Spanish:
Hoy <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rumba – Virginia Antares Rodriguez<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

22 April 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than 200 social and environmental organizations have formed a unified front to demand the immediate and permanent cancellation of all mining projects in the Cordillera Central, Cordillera Septentrional, and Bahoruco Oriental. During a press conference held at the Dominican Medical Association (CMD) headquarters, the coalition warned that concessions granted to foreign corporations (including GoldQuest, … <\/p>\n

Read more\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[340,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250409"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250409"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":250462,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250409\/revisions\/250462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}