Barahona residents demand environmental review before mining activities

Barahona.- The Los Almendros and Reyes Gómez Neighborhood Associations in El Cachón, Barahona, have submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Environment demanding that residents be consulted before any permits are granted for mining, material extraction, or vegetation removal in the district’s mountainous areas.

The community organizations warned that authorizing extractive activities without prior consultation could threaten local water resources and ecosystems. They stressed that, beyond legal permits, such projects should have the community’s approval or “social license.”

The associations also announced plans to hold a community vigil in the coming days at the exit of a road being built in the El Cobo sector, which residents allege is being constructed without the required permits and could affect forested and water-bearing areas.

Community leaders further alleged that businessman Mayker González has previously carried out extraction activities without the necessary environmental permits in several areas, resulting in environmental damage. These claims were presented by the community organizations as part of their opposition to further extractive activity in El Cachón.