The Ministry of Foreign Relations has complained strongly to the Spanish Foreign Ministry in reaction to public statements by outspoken Spanish Ambassador to the DR Almudena Mazarrasa, who stated that there is a "cloudy" climate of justice security that hinders foreign investment. The Dominican Ministry has asked Spain to take measures aimed at putting a definite and effective end to what they described as the ambassador's "decidedly defiant and disrespectful" actions. The ministry considers that the statements by the diplomat - who said that disrespect towards the law, the non-enforcement of agreements, and institutional corruption are keeping foreign investment away - constitute an insistent and defined hostility towards the people and government of the DR. The ministry's communique also expresses its discontent because Mazarrasa did not use the corresponding diplomatic institutional channels to express her criticisms. Diario Libre reports that the diplomat made similar statements last March, when Foreign Relations Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso called her to his office and asked about the specific cases of Spanish investors who had decided against investing here due to legal obstacles and a lack of institutionalism. At that time, Mazarrasa also had to meet with President Leonel Fernandez at the Presidential Palace. The Ministry of Foreign Relations remained quiet when similar statements were made by French Ambassador Cecile Pozzo di Borgo last Monday. The British and Canadian ambassadors have also made similar statements without an official reaction.

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