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View Full Version : Proposal to divide Santiago rejected



NewsWhore
08-07-2012, 04:10 PM
A legislative bill that seeks to convert the Cienfuegos barrio into West Santiago was widely rejected yesterday, Monday 6 August by business, legislative, community and other sectors representing the city. The negative answer to the proposal that was presented in the Chamber of Deputies last October was a consistent feature from the start of the forum, which was held at the headquarters of the provincial governor. The forum received and evaluated the set of proposals aimed at dividing the province of Santiago both geographically and politically.

Opponents of the new territorial division include city mayor Gilberto Serulle, who said that a new division of Santiago would be dangerous because it would take away the influence of the province. "We are in favor of the creations of the "mini-city councils" which will provide a decentralization both administrative and political, but without breaking up the city," he said. For his part, the former mayor of Santiago, Hector Grullon Moronta warned that the creation of a city within a city is unconstitutional and illegal. "What can be done legally is to elevate a municipal district to a municipality," Grullon Moronta said.

On the other hand, the president of the Industrial Association of the North Region (AIREN), Lina Garcia, said that the division of Santiago is not the solution to the needs of the different communities. "What should be done is to create a plan of the needs of Cienfuegos and work together," she said. The territorial division proposal was also rejected by the president of the Santiago Chamber of Commerce and Production, businesswoman Maria Victoria Menicucci. "Santiago does not need more divisions, what is required is to attend to the needs of the people and work more and organize ourselves," said Menicucci. For their part, the deputies Demostenes Martinez and Magda Rodriguez warned that any territorial division should be based on a study, but that Santiago could not continue to be broken up in a disorderly fashion.

The legislative proposal that seeks to raise Cienfuegos to the status of a municipality was submitted by deputies Altagracia Gonzalez of the PLD and Maximo Castro Silverio of the PRSC on 23 October. The legislation was sent to the Chamber of Deputies Municipal Affairs Commission whose members need to present a report and determine whether to hold public hearings in order to bring it to a vote.

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