标签： Dominican Republic

In Santo Domingo, the Taíno Cultural Center Casa del Cordón — a cultural initiative backed by Banco Popular Dominicano — recently hosted the premiere screening of *El Pico Duarte*, a landmark environmental documentary created as part of Centro Cuesta Nacional’s (CCN) *Orgullo de Mi Tierra* (Pride of My Land) project. The film centers on elevating public awareness of the critical ecological value of the Dominican Republic’s tallest mountain, while exploring its deep, enduring ties to national Dominican identity.

Marking the first feature documentary dedicated exclusively to Pico Duarte in over four decades, the project was developed by production house Montesereno Films, co-directed by Mariana Rubio and Arturo Dickson. To craft an intimate, comprehensive portrait of the mountain, the team undertook six separate expeditions across every major seasonal shift. This extended on-site work allowed the crew to capture dynamic shifts in the mountain’s landscape, variable weather patterns across the year, and the full range of hiking and access routes that lead to the peak.

At the core of the documentary’s narrative is the irreplaceable role Pico Duarte plays in the Dominican Republic’s national water system: the mountain is the headwaters of the country’s two largest rivers, the Yaque del Norte and Yaque del Sur. Beyond hydrology, the film showcases the extraordinary biodiversity of the region, highlighting dozens of species of endemic flora and fauna found nowhere else on Earth. It also centers the human dimension of the mountain, sharing firsthand experiences from local community members, long-time mountain guides, and dedicated hikers who have spent decades advocating for the protection of the Pico Duarte ecosystem.

Bringing the project to completion required collaboration across dozens of stakeholders. The full production counted on an 18-person professional film crew, local mountain guides from communities adjacent to the peak, and more than 10 in-depth interviews with leading specialists in Dominican history, biodiversity conservation, and environmental policy.

Ahead of the official screening, event attendees gathered for a public panel discussion with key members of the project team, including producer Mario Dávalos, co-director Mariana Rubio Pittaluga, and CCN Vice President of Corporate Communication and Institutional Relations Amalia Vega. Panelists opened up about the unique challenges of filming in high-altitude terrain, the years of academic and on-the-ground research that shaped the documentary’s narrative, and the urgent need to preserve Pico Duarte’s intact ecosystem for future generations of Dominicans.

Standing 3,101 meters above sea level, Pico Duarte holds the title of the highest peak in the entire Caribbean. Tucked within the Dominican Republic’s Central Mountain Range, between the protected boundaries of the Armando Bermúdez and José del Carmen Ramírez national parks, the mountain region is one of the country’s most critical protected ecosystems, and has grown into an increasingly popular destination for sustainable ecotourism in recent years.

In the coastal Dominican province of Barahona, local community organizations in the El Cachón district are taking a formal stand to protect their regional natural resources from unregulated extractive development. The leaders of the Los Almendros and Reyes Gómez Neighborhood Associations have submitted an official policy proposal to the nation’s Ministry of Environment, pushing for a binding requirement that local residents be given full consultation before any government permits are issued for mining, raw material extraction, or large-scale vegetation clearing in El Cachón’s ecologically sensitive mountain zones.

The community groups have issued a clear warning that moving forward with extractive projects without early and meaningful input from local residents puts critical regional water resources and fragile mountain ecosystems at severe risk. They emphasized that even if a project secures all required legal permits from national authorities, it cannot move forward legitimately without explicit buy-in from the people who live alongside these natural landscapes — what they describe as a necessary “social license” to operate.

Beyond their formal proposal, the associations have organized a public community vigil to be held in the coming days at the exit point of a new road currently under construction in El Cobo, one of El Cachón’s sub-sectors. According to local residents, this road development has proceeded without securing the required environmental and construction permits, and it poses a direct threat to intact forest areas and underground aquifers that supply drinking water to the district.

Community leaders have also leveled specific allegations against local businessman Mayker González, claiming he has already conducted multiple unauthorized extraction projects across different parts of El Cachón that have left lasting damage to the local environment. These documented claims are being included as core evidence in the community’s broader campaign to block further unregulated extractive activity across the district, as residents push for greater local control over decisions that shape their natural environment and long-term livelihoods.