Hushed U.S. Embassy meeting rocks Education movement

Santo Domingo.- The United States Embassy yesterday affirmed that ambassador Raul Yzaguirre meets regularly with people from various sectors in the Dominican Republic.

The announcement has rocked the grassroots movement Coalition for 4% of the GDP for Education, and comes in the wake of a row stemming from a report of a hushed meeting September 29 published yesterday by newspaper Diario Libre.

The local newspaper reports that the U.S. Embassy invited the groups which form part of that grassroots effort, but stoked a division in its ranks, including former Dominican Teachers Union president Maria Teresa Cabrera, who according to the daily, opted not to attend.

“The United States Embassy for a long time works with partners of civil society and the government in topics related to education," the U.S. Embassy says to Diario Libre through the office of the Press Attaché.

Nonetheless the local newspaper affirms that the U.S. Embassy didn’t respond to two additional questions regarding who were the people who attended and what the Embassy meant with the statement, "the possibility of support" in the invitation by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).