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Dominican town blames U.S. power company AES for birth defects

Image via Wikipedia ARROYO BARRIL, Dominican Republic — Maximiliano Calcaño is 2 and was born with no arms. “When I was pregnant, I was dizzy, vomiting and could barely walk,” said Maximiliano’s mother, Anajai Calcaño, 20. “My tooth cracked and fell out. Then my baby was born like that, without arms. Nothing like that had ever happened here before.” By “before,”…

Cement mining puts Dominican Republic park at risk

Image via Wikipedia A cement mine, granted under questionable circumstances, is putting one the Caribbean’s most important forest parks at risk, warns a group of NGOs and attorneys working to stop the project. Work on the mine, which lies in the forested buffer zone of Dominican Republic’s Los Haitises National Park, was temporarily suspended by court…

Learning From Haiti

As hurricane season gets underway, Haiti is again in the news. Massive environmental degradation and rising hurricane intensity mean that the country’s 10 million residents are at risk with each tropical storm. Due to deforestation, the rambling and once arbitrary border between Haiti and Dominican Republic has become a geographical one that can be seen from space. Less than 2% of Haiti has forest cover. Can you tell where the border is in the NASA photo? The…

Elevan recurso de inconstitucionalidad contra la cementera

Image via Wikipedia Jóvenes acuden a la justicia Hablando a nombre del movimiento, Rafael Vastillo, dijo que el presidente Leonel Fernández será el responsable de los daños que ocasione la fábrica de cemento en la reserva natural de Los Haitises, lo que podría llegar a la desertificación. SANTO DOMINGO (R. Dominicana).- El movimiento cívico “Toy Jarto” recurrió en inconstitucional ante…

Loss of sea access hits the Dominican Republic’s already pressed fishermen

The article bellow describes one growing concerns to me and it should be a concern to all Dominicans.  There are many socio-economic issues in the Dominican Republic.  One of them is the lawless ongoing corruption that seems to never stop and impunity to those who practice it is about certain.  I am happy to see how this new generation of Dominicans, with the help of technology are more aware of the situation in the country and eager to participate in…

Dominican Republic: Against the Cement Factory in Los Haitises

By: Rocio Diaz at Globalvoiceonline.org For more than a month, Dominicans have been protesting against the proposed construction of a cement factory in the protected area of Los Haitises National Park, a chalky ecosystem with unique characteristics located in the northeastern part of the Dominican Republic. It has been declared Cultural Patrimony for its caves, which contains Taíno art. In addition, Los Haitises is one of the primary sources of…

Judge orders halt to cement plant

On Friday, 19 June Judge Sara Henriquez Marin, president of the Dispute and Administrative Court ordered a temporary halt on work on the cement plant being constructed by the Dominican Mining Consortium on the outskirts of the Los Haitises National Park. The Ministry of Environment issued environmental license DEA 0157-09 dated 14 April authorizing the construction. Environment Minister Jaime David Fernandez has explained that President Leonel Fernandez himself had authorized the construction at…

The fate of Los Haitises-when being Dominican becomes shameful

Recently some of us who keep abreast of what goes on in the Dominican Republic have heard a lot about Los Haitises. I know there are lots of people out there that are ignorant of what Los Haitises is and what the whole thing about it is. I must admit, that even though I am Dominican, I was mostly ignorant as well about such natural gem we all have. I must say not only Dominicans should know more about…

Dominicans defend biodiversity

by rjones2818 Sun May 31, 2009 at 02:41:00 PM PDT Original article, subtitled Emmanuel Santos looks at the rise of an important new environmental struggle in the Dominican Republic, via Socialist Worker (US): ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISTS around the Dominican Republic are mobilizing to stop the construction of a cement factory in the Los Haitises national park. The factory would displace 500 peasant families and degrade one of the most important ecosystems in the…

Dominican Republic cement plant row spreads to NYC

NEW YORK.- Members of New York’s Dominican community sent a letter to president Leonel Fernandez today, to request the repeal of the permits to build a cement plant near the Los Haitises National Park (northeast). The Dominicans tell the chief executive that they agree with the Chamber of Deputies Environment Commission advice to the Environment Ministry, to void the permits issued to the company Consorcio Minero Dominicano to build the plant. The letter affirms that the various studies found that…