Milagros Ortiz, Chu Vásquez, and Ginette Bournigal highlight the values that characterized Alburquerque
Santo Domingo.- Legislators from the period in which engineer Ramón Alburquerque presided over the Senate of the Republic remembered this Sunday the iconic phrase of the deceased politician “Entren to coño”, within the framework of the honors that will be rendered to him in the Municipal League prior to his burial.
Jesús Antonio Vásquez Martínez “Chu”, who today serves as consul in the city of New York, recalled as one of the most emblematic moments of his political life the episode that occurred on January 25, 1999, when several senators were virtually kidnapped in the Dominican Municipal League.
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“The police chief says that he has no order to let the senators pass, but only Agripino Núñez Collado and a commission from the PRD. Then Ramón, like a brave man, says to him, ‘And who is the authority here? Me, who am president of the National Assembly, or Mons. Agripino, who has no function.’ Then, uncomfortable, annoyed. That’s when we lift Ramón to cross the barrier, and when we cross the barrier and manage to open the space, then Ramón says, ‘Enter everyone, Damn it!’, as a gesture of manhood, but above all of bravery, at a time when the institutions of the Dominican State were being kidnapped by the government of Leonel Fernández,” narrated Vásquez Martínez.In that sense, he stated that Alburquerque was an upright, humble man detached from material possessions, committed to the Dominican people until the end.
From her side, Milagros Ortiz Bosh, current general director of Governmental Ethics and Integrity, described as a “beautiful detail”, the moment when Ramón Alburquerque, before heading to the Dominican Municipal League, passed by her private office on Lincoln Avenue to get the Constitution of the Republic. Ortiz Bosch also recalled the extreme tension of that day, marked by violence and fear. He recounted how Mr. Andrés Bautista was affected after receiving multiple blows and had to be urgently transferred to the Gómez Patiño clinic, the closest at that moment. The climate was one of absolute confrontation: the presence of armed civilians, constant threats, and an atmosphere that evoked dark episodes in national history, such as the low-flying aircraft over Congress. “There was an attitude of nullifying the right to discuss,” he stated, referring to the conflict generated by the municipal elections and the refusal to review the results.Faced with that scenario, Milagros Ortiz Bosch emphasized that the decision to go to the Dominican Municipal League was not individual, but collective. It was a determination made as a legislative body, in defense of democracy and institutionalism. “It was a team decision, in which we all participated and we all walked together”, she expressed, recalling that, in the midst of that critical moment, she and Ginette Bournigal remained firm in place.
Bournigal, also a senator in the present period, expressed her concern about what she called a morbid approach by only highlighting Ramón Alburquerque’s verbal outburst, without contextualizing the desperation of the moment. She recalled that while Senator Enrique “Enriquito” López was in serious health, the senators elected by the people were disrespected, even though Alburquerque was holding the Constitution in his hands.Finally, Ginette Bournigal highlighted the historical mark of Ramón Alburquerque as president of the Senate, beyond an isolated episode. She recalled that under his leadership the Congress’s electricity was paid for the first time, the president of the Supreme Court of Justice was integrated into the presidium of the National Assembly and fundamental laws such as those of environment, health, energy, education, the Monetary and Financial Code were promoted, as well as the reforms that gave real independence to the judicial system and viability to the National Council of the Magistracy.“It was very serious that the passage of a mediator was prioritized over the legislators,” he emphasized, questioning that the institutional violation was minimized and a human reaction was magnified in a limiting context.
