{"id":521782,"date":"2026-08-16T21:31:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T01:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/uncategorized\/abinader-removes-key-government-figures-upon-completing-two-years-of-his-second-term\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T21:31:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T01:31:00","slug":"abinader-removes-key-government-figures-upon-completing-two-years-of-his-second-term","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/dominican-news\/abinader-removes-key-government-figures-upon-completing-two-years-of-his-second-term\/","title":{"rendered":"Abinader removes key government figures upon completing two years of his second term"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Santo Domingo.\u2013<\/em> <\/strong>Just as this Sunday, August 16, marks two years since the beginning of his second presidential term, President Luis Abinader ordered a wide-ranging series of changes in the government cabinet, through decrees 551-26, 552-26, 553-26, 554-26, and 555-26.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The designations cover strategic areas such as transport, emergencies, civil aviation, housing, foreign policy, migration, early childhood, ports, provincial development, and the consular service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the most politically significant moves is the arrival of V\u00edctor \u201cIto\u201d Bison\u00f3<\/strong> at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, replacing Roberto \u00c1lvarez, who was appointed ambassador emeritus. The change is contained in decree 554-26.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In that same provision, Jean Luis Rodr\u00edguez<\/strong> was appointed Minister of Housing, Habitat and Buildings (MIVHED), while Francisco Alejandro Campos \u00c1lvarez<\/strong> will assume the role of Executive Director of the Dominican Port Authority (APORDOM). Julia Luz Marina Mu\u00f1iz Suberv\u00ed was appointed President of the Board of Directors of that institution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Changes in transport and emergency agencies<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Decree 551-26 establishes a new direction at the National Institute of Transit and Land Transportation (INTRANT), with the appointment of retired Major General Juan Manuel M\u00e9ndez Garc\u00eda<\/strong>, who replaces Milton Morrison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

M\u00e9ndez Garc\u00eda leaves the Emergency Operations Center (COE), where he was in charge for years, to take the reins of the agency in charge of regulating traffic and land transport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erdwin Robert Olivares Luciano<\/strong> was appointed to the COE, having served as Deputy Director of Operations since 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Likewise, Carlos Manuel Paulino C\u00e1rdenas<\/strong> will assume the role of executive director of the Civil Defense, while its previous head, Juan Cesario Salas Rosario<\/strong>, will move on to serve as an honorary advisor on Civil Defense matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aviation, airports and Mercadom also have new heads<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The changes also reached the aeronautical and airport sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through decree 552-26, Julio Pe\u00f1a Guzm\u00e1n<\/strong> was appointed president of the Civil Aviation Board (JAC), while H\u00e9ctor Elie Porcella Dumas<\/strong> becomes advisor to the Executive Branch on civil aviation matters and a member of the JAC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

M\u00e9rido de Jes\u00fas Torres Espinal<\/strong> was also appointed as executive director of the Airport Department and Mariana Tav\u00e1rez de Santos<\/strong> as general director of Dominican Agricultural Supply Markets (Mercadom).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the foreign service, V\u00edctor Pichardo Custodio<\/strong> was appointed consul of the Dominican Republic in Mayag\u00fcez, Puerto Rico, and Israel Terrero V\u00f3lquez as minister counselor in the internal service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New authorities at INAIPI and Migration<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Government also introduced changes in institutions linked to early childhood and migration policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kenia Xiomara Guante Valdez<\/strong> was appointed director of the National Institute for Comprehensive Early Childhood Care (INAIPI), while Jos\u00e9 Benedicto Hern\u00e1ndez Tejada<\/strong> will assume the role of executive director of the National Migration Institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Josefa Aquilina Castillo Rodr\u00edguez<\/strong> was appointed consul general of the Dominican Republic in Miami, Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Provincial Development, UTEPDA and CORAASAN<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The day of changes concluded with decree 555-26, through which Abinader appointed Jos\u00e9 Dolores And\u00fajar Ram\u00edrez<\/strong> as head of the Provincial Development Directorate and Nidio Encarnaci\u00f3n Santiago<\/strong> as executive director of the Technical Executing Unit for Agroforestry Development Projects (UTEPDA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

C\u00e9sar Andr\u00e9s Pichardo Ferm\u00edn<\/strong> was also appointed as president of the Board of Directors of the Santiago Aqueduct and Sewer Corporation (CORAASAN) and Bernardo Antonio Inoa Pichardo<\/strong> as a member of that board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the foreign service, El\u00edas de Jes\u00fas Brache Rivas<\/strong> was appointed consul general of the Dominican Republic in Los Angeles, California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Santo Domingo.\u2013 Just as this Sunday, August 16, marks two years since the beginning of his second presidential term, President Luis Abinader ordered a wide-ranging series of changes in the government cabinet, through decrees 551-26, 552-26, 553-26, 554-26, and 555-26. The designations cover strategic areas such as transport, emergencies, civil aviation, housing, foreign policy, migration, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":521783,"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":[44182,44710,21,40573],"class_list":["post-521782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dominican-news","tag-cover","tag-government-train","tag-luis-abinader","tag-officials"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phj1q1-2bJQ","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/Presidente-scaled-1-1536x1024-1.jpg","dum_api":{"author_name":"Arelis Suero","author_image":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/cropped-cropped-Diseno-sin-titulo-41-96x96.jpg","categories_name":["Dominican News"],"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cdn.deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/Presidente-scaled-1-1536x1024-1.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521782","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\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}