{"id":509620,"date":"2026-06-01T18:21:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T22:21:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/uncategorized\/environmental-coalition-demands-a-halt-to-illegal-aggregate-extraction-in-the-southern-region\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T18:21:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T22:21:46","slug":"environmental-coalition-demands-a-halt-to-illegal-aggregate-extraction-in-the-southern-region","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/dominican-news\/environmental-coalition-demands-a-halt-to-illegal-aggregate-extraction-in-the-southern-region\/","title":{"rendered":"Environmental coalition demands a halt to illegal aggregate extraction in the Southern region"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>March called for next Sunday in Barahona<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Barahona.<\/strong> \u2013 Community and environmental leader <a href=\"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/noticias\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"664192\">Domingo F\u00e9lix<\/a> asked the Government to stop the aggregate extraction operations that, as he denounced, are being carried out irregularly in different rivers and mountainous areas of the Southern region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under the slogan <strong>\u201cWater yes, gravel pit no!\u201d<\/strong>, F\u00e9lix, who spoke on behalf of several environmental organizations, asserted that the region is facing an \u201cenvironmental emergency\u201d due to the indiscriminate exploitation of construction materials in areas of high ecological value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The activist held the authorities responsible for allowing these activities and denounced an alleged lack of oversight regarding the environmental deterioration affecting rivers, hills, and communities in Barahona and other southern provinces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During his statements, F\u00e9lix called on President Luis Abinader to order the cessation of exports of aggregates from communities located in the Azua and Peravia provinces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe call upon our president to stop the export of aggregates coming from various places in Azua, Ban\u00ed, and other communities, and to please stop the exploitation of the quarry in Loma de los Angelitos and the community of La Gu\u00e1zara,\u201d he expressed.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Likewise, he announced a demonstration for next Sunday, June 7, in Barahona, which, as he indicated, will take place peacefully as part of a day of protest in defense of the region&#8217;s natural resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">F\u00e9lix warned that the mobilization will mark the beginning of a broader action plan if the authorities do not take measures through the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe have wanted to protect Barahona from predators who have tried to enter from various parts and we are not going to allow them to continue damaging our town,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The leader also expressed his rejection of the transport of aggregates to the port of Barahona and maintained that the communities will remain vigilant against any activity they consider harmful to the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>We recommend reading: <a href=\"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/noticias\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"664192\">Cibao Coalition gives the Government until October 13 to respond to demands or it will ratify a regional strike<\/a><\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/author\/inocencioencarnacion\/\"><\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Reports of alleged irregularities<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among his complaints, F\u00e9lix pointed to businessman Maikel Gonz\u00e1lez, whom he accused of irregularly operating a gravel plant located in the El Cobo sector, land that, according to him, passed into the hands of the State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to their statements, there would be alleged irregularities related to environmental permits and licenses for the extraction of materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Mr. Maikel Gonz\u00e1lez also owns the El Cobo gravel plant. That gravel plant passed to the State through Francisco Pag\u00e1n, linked to the Coral case, and he is exploiting it illegally. With the same code, he is operating two mines: the Mena sand mine and the El Cobo gravel plant,&#8221; he denounced.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Communities maintain that the constant transit of heavy-duty trucks to the port causes damage to local roads and contributes to environmental deterioration in various productive areas of Barahona.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Through various media outlets and digital platforms, community and environmental organizations have maintained a campaign to defend the watersheds and natural resources of the Southern region, demanding greater intervention from authorities to curb the extraction of aggregates in sensitive areas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>March called for next Sunday in Barahona Barahona. \u2013 Community and environmental leader Domingo F\u00e9lix asked the Government to stop the aggregate extraction operations that, as he denounced, are being carried out irregularly in different rivers and mountainous areas of the Southern region. Under the slogan \u201cWater yes, gravel pit no!\u201d, F\u00e9lix, who spoke on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":509623,"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":[43794,42274,43795],"class_list":["post-509620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dominican-news","tag-coalition","tag-environmental","tag-southern-region"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phj1q1-28zG","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-06-01-at-6.21.04-PM.jpeg","dum_api":{"author_name":"Redacci\u00f3n De \u00daltimo Minuto","author_image":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cropped-logo-de-ultimo-minuto-96x96.png","categories_name":["Dominican News"],"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cdn.deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-06-01-at-6.21.04-PM.jpeg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509620","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\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}