When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in .

You've reached your limit of one free article.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime .

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Exclusive International news coverage

Ad-free experience NEW

Weekly digital Magazine NEW

9 daily & weekly Newsletters

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Free trial

30-days free access, then $2.90
per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
EL ESPECTADOR

Mine-Loving Dominican Republic Leader Scoffs At Nature Preserve

People and parliament are almost unanimously opposed to mining in one of the country's exceptional natural reserves. But the nation's president insists the mining must proceed.

Dominicans march to support turning Loma Miranda into a national park to prevent mining.
Dominicans march to support turning Loma Miranda into a national park to prevent mining.
Santiago Villa

-OpEd-

BOGOTA — Some 80% of the Dominican Republic's fresh water comes from Loma Miranda, a mountainous area that the late dictator Rafael Trujillo sold in the 1950s to Falconbridge, a Canadian mining firm that used the land to extract nickel and ferronickel.

Falconbridge is now owned by another multinational, Glencore, which is determined not just to cash in on its mining "rights," but to extend them, even though the area in question has been declared a biological corridor.

Because the initial mining permit didn't cover the entire area of Loma Miranda, Glencore sought permission in 2011 to expand its mining operations, provoking a fight that is reaching a decisive phase now. Loma Miranda is one of the Dominican Republic"s most biologically diverse areas. Unanswered questions regarding the safety of the project and its potential impact on the environment have fueled widespread opposition. The firm has also come under fire from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which rejected as incomplete the environmental studies Glencore presented to justify its activities.

And yet on Sept. 2, Dominican President Danilo Medina, in a move that honors the memory of the dictator who played Monopoly with the countryside, vetoed a parliamentary bill that looked to turn Loma Miranda into a natural park.

Mocking the will of his country's legislative branch, whose attending members voted nearly unanimously (28-1) to protect Loma Miranda, Medina also decided to disregard the opinions of environmentalists, farmers and broads segments of civil society that have organized protests since 2011. He has trampled on democracy, in other words, to defend a multinational miner.

Now the dictator Trujillo — sorry, I meant President Medina — is hiding behind the threat made by the mine's lawyers, who say the country will have to pay $4 billion in damages if the firm is not allowed to mine. Or so they say, as no legal action has been taken yet.

The president says that in blocking the nature reserve, he is simply implementing the law. But he has failed to specify exactly which part of the law or constitutional article he is defending with such zeal. It is a weak excuse. What Medina should also explain is why he is defending Glencore's interests over those of his people.

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Society

How I Made Homeschooling Work For My Mexican Family

Educating children at home is rarely accepted in Mexico, but Global Press Journal reporter Aline Suárez del Real's family has committed to daily experiential learning.

How I Made Homeschooling Work For My Mexican Family

Cosme Damián Peña Suárez del Real and his grandmother, Beatriz Islas, make necklaces and bracelets at their home in Tecámac, Mexico.

ALINE SUÁREZ DEL REAL/GPJ MEXICO
Aline Suárez del Real

TECÁMAC, MEXICO — Fifteen years ago, before I became a mother, I first heard about someone who did not send her child to school and instead educated him herself at home. It seemed extreme. How could anyone deny their child the development that school provides and the companionship of other students? I wrote it off as absurd and thought nothing more of it.

Today, my 7-year-old son does not attend school. Since August of last year, he has received his education at home, a practice known as home-schooling.

Keep reading...Show less

The latest