Farmers not happy

[NewsWhore]

Farmers at Los Haitises National Park are not happy with the joint decision by Environment Minister Jaime David Fernandez and Armed Forces Minister Pedro Rafael Pena to post 1,200 military personnel in the park to continue evicting squatters and farmers. The farmers say the government's decisions are arbitrary and abusive and are angry at not having been given alternative plots of land before the evictions started. The farmers told Hoy that although Fernandez is pressuring them to get off the land he is not willing to pressure the State Sugar Council (CEA) to give them the 25,300 acres of land they want in order to farm. Hoy reports that yesterday, at the onset of Operation Hutia, guards began to remove crops planted by the farmers. In 1992 it was decided that families living in the park would be given RD$82 million to relocate. So far RD$46 million has been given to 2,799, as well as 2,047 plots of land, and 788 houses have been distributed. The guards ordered the eviction of inhabitants in Sabana de la Mar, El Valle, Pilancon, Gonzalo, Majagual, Guaraguao and Laguna Cristal. Reportedly, 45 permanent guards will be stationed throughout the park.

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