Seven out of ten cows from the “Return to the Countryside” program went to PRM registrants

Santo Domingo.- Seven out of ten cows delivered by the Special Fund for Agricultural Development (FEDA) in the municipalities of Santo Domingo Norte and Guerra ended up in the hands of people registered in the registry of the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM). This is part of an investigation report presented on the program Bajo el Foco, conducted by journalist Ángela Ramírez. A cross-section of official documents reveals that 70% of the livestock distributed in these two demarcations was given to members of the ruling party. Of the 180 cattle distributed in Santo Domingo Norte and Guerra, about 130 remained in the hands of people registered in the PRM’s registry. The analysis included verifying the beneficiaries’ names against official records and the publicly available party register.

Of the total identified civilian beneficiaries, excluding active-duty military personnel, 83 are registered in the ruling party’s registry. In both scenarios, the proportion is around 70%.

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One of the beneficiaries in Santo Domingo Norte, Máximo de la Cruz Carmena, confirmed during the interview that he belongs to the ruling party. “Yes, yes, yes. We don’t fail there,” he replied when asked if he was a member of the party. The cattle were acquired through a purchase process convened in October 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The procedure was carried out under the modality of an urgent process, an exceptional figure that allows for shortening deadlines and reducing some administrative controls in extraordinary situations. The contract was awarded to the supplier Juan Bautista Bautista Martínez for an amount of RD$14,336,000. Each cow was purchased for RD$50,176 and the lot included 400 dual-purpose cattle, suitable for both meat and milk production. The deliveries analyzed in this investigation correspond to those made in Santo Domingo Norte and the municipality of Guerra between the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021, during the direction of Efraín Bernardo Toribio Muñoz, now president of FEDA. For public administration specialist lawyer Yulibelys Wandelpool, the coincidence between party affiliation and beneficiaries does not necessarily imply illegality, but it does raise questions about the selection criteria.

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“There may be biases or favoritism. It may be a coincidence, but it is very striking that 70% of the beneficiaries belong to the ruling party. That undermines public trust,” he explained.