Dominicans have spent most of 2020 between a state of emergency and a curfew since March because of COVID-19, a year that ended with 170,785 people infected with the virus, with 2,414 people dying for the same reasons.
However, the Dominican Republic was marked by more events than the deadly pandemic. At the start of the year, citizens faced a milestone in the country’s history: the suspension of an election process.
On February 16, municipal elections were postponed due to automated voting rulings, which were also used for the first time in a Dominican election process.
The decision was taken by the plenary meeting of the Central Electoral Council (JCE), whose then-chairman Julio César Castaños Guzmán confirmed that the problem originated in the electoral vote of some teams.
In fact, the problems started the night before, when JCE personnel returned to the polling places after 5:00 PM to try to “fix the problems that had arisen with the electronic vote,” after realizing the problem.
On Sunday, representatives of the opposition political parties reported that the teams were having problems loading the ballot completely.
According to reports, the provinces with the most complications were the national district, the rest of Santo Domingo, Santiago and Puerto Plata, places where they had long lines at polling stations from the start of that day.
Due to these technical problems, many people could not vote. This led to several protests in the Plaza de la Bandera, in front of the JCE headquarters.
The new municipal elections took place on Sunday, March 15, where the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) prevailed in the elections, a result that stretched into the congressional and presidential elections, where this brand-new political organization not only came to control Congress, but he also took over the presidency after Luis Abinader’s victory over Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) candidate Gonzalo Castillo in the July 5 elections.
These results ended 16 years of the PLD government, after the reigns of Leonel Fernández and Danilo Medina.
Licey al Medio
One of the most remembered tragedies of the year was the explosion of the Cooperativa de Producción y Servicios Múltiples “La Económica” gas cylinder factory (Coopegas), in the community of Licey al Medio, in Santiago.
At least 11 people were killed and a greater number injured in this tragedy. The event shocked the country.
hurricane season
Equally atypical was the usual hurricane season in the Dominican Republic, for despite cyclonic activity in the Caribbean, Central America and North America breaking records in terms of the number of phenomena of this nature hitting the above areas, it remained relatively unharmed.
This was reflected in the data provided by the National Meteorology Office (Onamet), where the entity indicated that no hurricane had directly hit the island.
However, this did not mean that there was no damage. Multiple floods and five deaths occurred in different areas, mainly as a result of two tropical storms.
“We have had a direct impact on Laura and Isaías, even as a tropical storm. In addition, there was indirect impact from Hurricane Teddy (Category 3) causing dangerous waves on the North Coast and distant indirect effects from Hurricane Eta (hit by Central America), with abundant rainfall on the South Coast of the Dominican Republic for November “, said Onamet’s director, Gloria Ceballos.
Another tragedy took place around kilometer 22 of the Duarte highway, where three people were killed when a wall collapsed.
Two of these people died directly as a result of the aforementioned incident, while the third was the result of a fall from a tree, although all were caused by the storm wind Laura during its passage through the country.
Operation Antipulpo
One of the most recent cases was that of Operation Antipulpo, where the prosecution arrested several people, including two brothers of former president Danilo Medina, for an alleged social network that had cheated the Dominican state for billions of pesos.
After an extensive hearing to hear the restraining order, Judge José Alejandro Vargas ordered seven of the 11 defendants into pre-trial detention.
Among them is Juan Alexis Medina Sánchez, brother of former President Medina and the alleged leader of the aforementioned social network, who is serving three months preemptive detention at the San Cristóbal Correction and Rehabilitation Center.
Likewise, it ordered the same measure for Francisco Pagán Rodríguez and Aquiles Alejandro Christopher Sánchez, former General Manager and Inspection Director of the Office of State Works Supervising Engineers (OISOE), respectively.
He did the same to the former director of the Reformed Company’s patrimony fund (Fonper), Fernando Rosa Rosa; Julián Esteban Suriel Suazo, who was seized with an illegal arsenal of weapons; José Dolores Santana Carmona and Wacal Vernavel Méndez Pineda.
For Carmen Magalys Medina Sánchez, sister of Juan Alexis and Danilo, Lorenzo Wilfredo ‘Freddy’ Hidalgo Núñez, former Minister of Health, and Rafael Antonio Germosén Andújar, former Controller General of the Republic, they ordered three months of house arrest, with a bracelet just in case if possible, or under the supervision of the prosecution.
In addition, Medina Sánchez and Hidalgo Núñez were contractually required to provide a 10 million peso bond and will not be allowed to leave the country.
100 million
Likewise, one of the most talked about cases was the government donation of 100 million pesos which approximately 70 artists received from the government’s social policy cabinet and its director Francisco Antonio “Tony” Peña Guaba.
The original contract stated that in exchange for the money received, the artists would participate in virtual concerts, a form of aid to the music industry that has been badly affected by the corona virus.
But this announcement met with criticism from the population, leading to the government reversing this measure and withdrawing the contracts offered, although it could not get back the money invested, leaving everything behind as a “solidarity support”.
Child marriage
As for the positive left by 2020, there is the passing of the bill that would change the civil code and ban child marriage.
It was received in the House of Representatives of the National Congress at its session on Wednesday, December 30, so all that remains is for the executive to officially ratify the abolition.