Dominican Rep. deputy denies trafficking with Chinese, but admits slush fund

Santo Domingo.- La Vega deputy Radhames Ramos Garcia (El Chino) on Thursday denied having trafficked Chinese nationals into Dominican Republic while head of the Dominican Consulate in Cape Haitien, a case which earned him his nickname.

Ramos’ people trafficking case stems from his alleged smuggling of Chinese nationals while he was the Dominican General Consul at Cap Haitien, for which he was arrested on January 12, 2005.

“The Supreme Court cleared me, I only issued tourist visas to the 16 Chinese nationals,” the lawmaker said.

He did admit however to having received RD$75,000 in the scandal of the slush fund to cook the traditional Easter dish, habichuelas con dulce “sweet beans” for the constituents of the deputies and senators.

“When Ramos Garcia is handed 75,000 pesos, Ramos Garcia has to get a loan for those people who also want to go to the beach, to the rivers. Ramos Garcia has to be alert to the problems the government can’t solve. That’s when Ramos Garcia comes in,” said the opposition PRD party deputy for La Vega (central).

“I confess to you that I came here by taxi because my car is too old,” Ramos said on Hoy Mismo Channel 9.

The case gained national notoriety after Guillermo Galvan, his attorney in the people-trafficking trial at Montecristi, likened Ramos to “Moses, who led his people across the waters,” in reference to the Chinese who allegedly crossed the Dominican-Haiti border at the Masacre river on foot.