Outspoken priest says fight for Loma Miranda National Park not over

New York.- Outspoken priest Rogelio Cruz said the fight to getthe government to declare Loma Miranda a National Park has entered aninternational phase, diariolibre.com reports Wednesday.

During a visit to the UN to deliver a document on thesituation of the site in the Central Mountains, Cruz said he’ll return earlyAugust to the US to do the same in the State Department in Washington.

The prelate, who provides religious services in La Vega, spokeduring a meeting on the environmental and social in the Dominican Republic, hostedby the Overseas Observatory RD, which coordinated by activist Élida Almonte andengages people concerned with the issue.

Slamming the Dominican State as "dysfunctional "where he in his view its institutions don’t serve society and much less thepoor, Cruz addressed myriad environmental issues, he said Loma Miranda’s currentsituation remains in "legal limbo.”

He said the Dominican Republic still deals with topics ofnational interest, “with concepts 30 years back."

He affirmed that neither threats nor pressure will halt thestruggle for Loma Miranda. “I’ve never been afraid of anyone or anything,"for which the defense of Loma Miranda will continue, “we paused to return tothe streets."

He railed against the depredations of the mountains,forests and green areas on both sides of the Dominican-Haiti border.

Regarding the neighboring country, he said "Dominicanscannot bear the problem of Haiti, because that’s up to countries like France, whichhe affirms is to blame “for the catastrophe that takes place daily there."