SANTO DOMINGO – The Dominican Republic’s political opposition has launched a severe indictment against the nation’s environmental authority, alleging systemic corruption and administrative failure within its permitting operations. Fuerza del Pueblo (FP), the primary opposition party, has publicly accused the Ministry of Environment of issuing an ‘astronomical’ and ‘operationally unviable’ total exceeding 6,000 environmental permits within an 11-month timeframe.
Paino Abreu, the FP Secretary for Environmental Affairs, contends that the ministry possesses neither the technical infrastructure nor the administrative bandwidth to process such an immense volume of applications while simultaneously upholding mandated legal and ecological safeguards. The allegations extend far beyond numerical concerns, pinpointing a purportedly ‘distorted’ management framework. This model is accused of enabling data manipulation, diluting the rigor of environmental impact assessments, and fostering a network of intermediaries who allegedly expedite permits in exchange for illicit financial compensation.
In a formal escalation, the party has submitted a comprehensive dossier labeled ‘Worrisome Licenses and Permits’ to relevant state bodies. FP is formally petitioning for an immediate forensic audit to be conducted by the Chamber of Accounts, the supreme audit institution. Furthermore, they have called for the urgent intervention of the Office of Ethics and Government Integrity (OEIG) to probe these grave accusations.
The opposition’s critique also challenges the government’s environmental reporting, casting doubt on the authenticity of official statistics concerning national forest coverage and timber import data, which they claim are significantly inflated or misleading. Abreu additionally highlighted worsening working conditions for park rangers and a concerning pattern of institutional neglect towards protected areas, citing these as evidence of a broader degradation in environmental governance.
Drawing stark parallels to historical corruption scandals, such as the infamous case involving the National Health Insurance (SeNaSa), Fuerza del Pueblo warned that confirmed irregularities would constitute a severe blow to both environmental sustainability and eroding public trust. The party is urging for swift, transparent, and decisive action from authorities, framing the situation not as a mere procedural failure but as a full-blown crisis in the nation’s environmental stewardship.