The absence of short-term solutions tarnishes the
process of resolution. After years of
abuse by Luz y Fuerza and the constant denial of justice by the Superintendencia
de Electricidad (SIE) it is difficult to have confidence in the proceedings of
the government agency in charge of regulating electrical service in the country.
During recent discussions on a deal to
stop the strike, the SIE could not ensure low long-term costs, nor significant
long-term results. So we took our plight
directly to President Danilo Medina, especially because everything related to the
SIE is a tear-soaked loin cloth of vulgar and inexcusable denials of justice. The President hasn’t answered.
Las Terrenas has not received the benefits of the
subsidy benefiting the rest of the country. It is not fair that after the
crisis of a couple of weeks ago no authority would recognize the validity of
the claims made by protesters and strikers, claims that would help in reducing
immediately the high costs of electricity for everyone. Failure to respond to
their petitions constitutes once more, a painful and irresponsible denial of
justice.
It is frustrating to live a few kilometers away from
communities that pay less than half the kilowatt while residents of Las
Terrenas have to put up with the most expensive kilowatt of energy in the
country and one of the highest in the world.
In the municipalities of Samaná and Sanchez the kilowatt costs between
4.4 and 8.2 pesos paid while in Las Terrenas it is paid between 18 and 22
pesos. That is fundamentally unfair and a violation of the human rights of each
resident, national or foreign. This
violation of human rights is compounded by the fact that such high expense is
also partially responsible for the highest cost of living in the town, applied
to rentals, consumer goods, transportation, entertainment, running a business
and everything else! Unless, of course,
if you’ve made a “special” arrangement directly with Orsini Bosch, in which
case the rest of us subsidizes your convenient contract in dollars.
Las Terrenas does not expect overnight miracles, just the
due attention it deserves after twenty long years of oppression by Luz y Fuerza
and by a total and undeniable government sloth. No traditional political party
or president is exempt. The final straw in this organized abuse was when President
Leonel Fernández gives the official business concession to Luz y Fuerza in 2011
DESPITE ALL COMPLAINTS AGAINST Orsini Bosch.
Danilo Medina has not been any different, barely a few months ago he
came to LT and said “there’s a contract, I can’t do anything.” Yes, there’s a contract, one that has been breached
multiple times by the company, committing violations that warrant an end to the
electrical concession. Such Presidential
statement borders on the immoral. How is it possible that the president has not
been informed of such violations? Why
not ask for a legal review of the contract just as he did with Barrick Gold’s? Do citizens in Las Terrenas may have no
claims to a just cost of electricity?
What political entanglements and inmoral morrings prevent
President Medina from doing "what ‘s never been done" in Las
Terrenas? How is it possible that in
addition to the President, or the Senator or the Diputados, or the governor, or
the Mayor, or the city council people, or the SIE or the Energy Commission, no
one seems to be able to get a hold of this embarrassing issue, one that is clearly
unjust, illegal and one that violates the rights of Dominican and foreign
residents in this town of 25,000 people?
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| If Danilo does not answer, it will be impossible to determine what might happen in Las Terrenas. |
