{"id":479890,"date":"2025-08-24T19:16:33","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T23:16:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/uncategorized\/prolonged-blackouts-water-scarcity-and-high-food-prices-have-the-people-irritated-assures-leonel-fernandez\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T19:20:34","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T23:20:34","slug":"prolonged-blackouts-water-scarcity-and-high-food-prices-have-the-people-irritated-assures-leonel-fernandez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/dominican-news\/prolonged-blackouts-water-scarcity-and-high-food-prices-have-the-people-irritated-assures-leonel-fernandez\/","title":{"rendered":"Prolonged blackouts, water scarcity, and high food prices have the people irritated, assures Leonel Fern\u00e1ndez"},"content":{"rendered":"<em>Former leaders of the PRM and the PLD are sworn in to the Fuerza del Pueblo<\/em>\n\n<strong>San Pedro de Macor\u00eds<\/strong>. \u2013 The former president of the Republic and leader of the Fuerza del Pueblo (FP) party, Leonel Fern\u00e1ndez, accused the government of the Modern Revolutionary Party (<a href=\"https:\/\/prm.org.do\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/prm.org.do\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">PRM<\/a>) of condemning the country to &#8220;live in darkness,&#8221; amid a crisis marked by prolonged blackouts, water scarcity, and the constant increase in food prices.\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>\u201cNos han condenado a vivir en la oscuridad. Despu\u00e9s de haberse resuelto durante nuestra gesti\u00f3n el servicio el\u00e9ctrico, ahora tenemos tandas de apagones de m\u00e1s de 8 horas. El pueblo est\u00e1 irritado, el pueblo est\u00e1 molesto, el pueblo est\u00e1 indignado, por eso desde ya le dicen que preparen sus maletas, porque en el 2028 e\u2019 pa\u2019 fuera que van\u201d, <\/p><cite>expres\u00f3 Fern\u00e1ndez.<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\nWhile presiding over an oath-taking ceremony for new members of the Fuerza del Pueblo in the municipality of Consuelo, the opposition leader pointed out that the current government has specialized in giving blackouts &#8220;at night and during the day&#8221;, but that the most worrying thing is that &#8220;they don&#8217;t know why the blackouts are happening&#8221;. In that sense, he questioned the multiple official explanations, ranging from sargassum on the coasts and high temperatures, to alleged breakdowns in a turbine at the Punta Catalina power plant.\n\nTo the energy crisis, Fern\u00e1ndez added the shortage of drinking water throughout the national territory and the rising prices of basic products. &#8220;Every desire for change in the current government was lost, but there is renewed hope in the Force of the People,&#8221; he affirmed.\n\n\n<h6 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>You can also read: <a href=\"https:\/\/ab.deultimominuto.net\/nacionales\/pacto-electrico\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Blackouts in DR reveal non-compliance with the Electric Pact<\/a><\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\nFern\u00e1ndez also criticized the management of the health sector in the province, highlighting the lack of maintenance and investment in hospitals. He recalled that the remodeling of the Dr. Antonio Musa Regional Hospital has been inaugurated three times without the work being completed.\n\nHe also denounced the collapse of the roof of the Jaime Oliver Pino hospital just two months ago and called the abandonment of the hospital in the municipal district of El Puerto, where communities cannot access basic health services, &#8220;a tragedy.&#8221;\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;We have an inefficient, indolent, and insensitive government to the basic problems of this population,&#8221; he stated.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\nIn his speech, Fern\u00e1ndez highlighted that during his presidential administrations, impactful works were executed in San Pedro de Macor\u00eds and the Eastern region, such as the construction of the Mauricio B\u00e1ez bridge and the Autov\u00eda del Este, which connects from the capital to Punta Cana, the Antonio Musa Regional Hospital, the paving of the neighborhoods, as well as a long list of works.\n\n&#8220;The PRM promised changes, but what it has done is lead us to a setback typical of the 19th century. Instead, from the Fuerza del Pueblo there is renewed hope to return the country to a course of progress,&#8221; he concluded.\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Swearing-in Ceremonies in San Pedro de Macor\u00eds<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\nThis Sunday, in San Pedro de Macor\u00eds, the opposition leader swore in former members of the ruling PRM, the PLD, as well as religious leaders.\n\nIn the morning, Fern\u00e1ndez swore in former leaders of the PRM and the PLD, as well as influential personalities from the municipality of Consuelo. The act took place at the 7 de Septiembre Club.\n\nAmong the new FP militants are: Luisa Mercedes De los Santos, Virgen Castillo Acosta, Jorge Antonio Castillo Acosta, Jean Carlos Garc\u00eda Polanco, Ana Mar\u00eda Santana Figueroa, Jorge Gim\u00e9nez Santana, Juana Mar\u00eda Castillo Santana and Germ\u00e1n Ezequiel Tiburcio.\n\nAlso sworn in were Mar\u00eda Altagracia Gabot (La M\u00e1quina), Freddy Medina, Mario Beltr\u00e9, Tanya Soto, Yosandy Santana (president of the Juventud Fuerza del Pueblo Movement), Robert Bonilla, Santos Ortiz, Roberto Antonio Santana (reformist and former candidate for councilman), Julio C\u00e9sar Brito and Julio C\u00e9sar Castro.\n\nOthers sworn in by Fern\u00e1ndez were Yonairis Castillo Santana, Dolores Santana Figueroa, Andy Antonio Figueroa, and Miguel \u00c1ngel Herrera, as well as a large group of new members.\n\nFern\u00e1ndez concluded his journey in San Pedro de Macor\u00eds by swearing in Pastor Dar\u00edo Lizardo, president of the Pastores Evang\u00e9licos con Leonel movement. This movement also includes Sandi A\u00f1asco Ram\u00edrez, executive director; Bienvenido Mercedes, executive pastor; Sonia Pacheco, executive coordinator of the teachers&#8217; front and director of the Padre Sillas primary school; and Edili B\u00e1ez Polanco, communications coordinator, among others.\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ab.deultimominuto.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-08-24-at-3.48.22-PM-1024x683.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-521394\" title=\"\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Apagones prolongados, escasez de agua y altos precios de alimentos tienen al pueblo irritado, asegura Leonel Fern\u00e1ndez<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former leaders of the PRM and the PLD are sworn in to the Fuerza del Pueblo San Pedro de Macor\u00eds. \u2013 The former president of the Republic and leader of the Fuerza del Pueblo (FP) party, Leonel Fern\u00e1ndez, accused the government of the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) of condemning the country to &#8220;live in darkness,&#8221; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133543,"featured_media":479893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[40216],"tags":[711,42054],"class_list":["post-479890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dominican-news","tag-leonel-fernandez","tag-water-scarcity"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phj1q1-20Qa","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/08\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-08-24-at-3.48.22-PM-1.jpeg","dum_api":{"author_name":"Carolina \u00c1lvarez","author_image":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/cropped-WhatsApp-Image-2026-05-26-at-5.31.57-PM-96x96.jpeg","categories_name":["Dominican News"],"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cdn.deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/08\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-08-24-at-3.48.22-PM-1.jpeg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133543"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}