Alleged drug link hounds Dominican Republic’s opposition leader

Santo Domingo.- Monday’s curt response by opposition party (PRD) president Miguel Vargas to allegations he received money from Puerto Rican drug lord Jose Figueroa Agosto didn’t sway the "battery" of journalists who cornered him to press for a more convincing explanation.

"We have already referred to the issue yesterday," Vargas said of money laundering convict Sobeida Felix’s allegation that Figueroa, her paramour, gave him at least US$300,000.

"I limit myself to what we said in our statement, I have referred to the issue," the former PRD presidential candidate said when he arrived at the Supreme Court to attend Judiciary Day events,

Prior to that reporters also tried to corner him as he left his luxury condo on the capital’s exclusive Mirador Park row with his wife at 10:40am, escorted by two vehicles, but Vargas remained elusive while his security had been ordered to inform that was not in his residence.

In the statement issued on Sunday, Vargas denied having any link with Figueroa, refuting Felix’s statements that she was present in three occasions when the Puerto Rican kingpin gave him US$300,000 and an SUV for his run for the presidency in 2008.