Developers, drug traffickers covet top Dominican windsurf beach

Santo Domingo.- Dominican Republic’s top rated windsurfing beach, Playa Encuentro, in Cabarete is in the crosshairs of drug traffickers who covet it to develop their “business”, while land grabbers covet it for private gain.

A source who didn’t want their name revealed said to DT that they were forced out of their home and business by drug traffickers who even threatened to kill them if they didn’t abandon it, while surfertoday.com today said it’s concerned with losing it to unnamed people interested in privatizing it.

“Playa Encuentro one of the best wind and surf spots of the Dominican Republic, is threatened by the privatization of the country’s beaches,” the Website said.

It said it will be a disaster for the entire area of public access is denied. “Wave riding is the main reason people visit Cabarete and is one of the main marketing tools of the North Coast,” and has launched an online petition to defend Encuentro.

The row over Playa Encuentro is shaping to be the next battleground in the economic war pitting developers against conservationists, which defeated the planned cement plant near Haitises National Park