The Web fires top Dominican Republic officials

Santo Domingo.- The chief of the National Police and of the Drugs Control Agency still have their heads on and continue to fight crime, even after the Wednesday’s massive tweets nationwide fired them.

All major new sites except listin.com.do published the tweets which even swept away the Navy’s Chief of Staff, until the presidency denied the rumors late afternoon.

The rumors spread quickly around 5 pm through Facebook and Twitter, as newspapers’ websites snapped them up, getting ahead of the President’s traditional designations via decrees enacted every February 27, within the Independence Day celebrations.

"No, no, no, I haven’t fired anyone," said president Danilo Medina to reporters after a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the beach town of Boca Chica, dousing the quickly-spreading blaze in social networks, phone chats and group talk.

The twitterverse fired Police Chief Jose Polanco and replaced him with Manuel Castro Castillo, while DNCD president Rolando Rosado, and instead was placed by Felix Alburquerque.

Rumor mill tradition

On occasion the country’s rumor mill seeks to “test the waters” by disclosing names of those it wishes to “sacrifice” or even “reward,” and according to listin.com.do, an official at the Justice Ministry is among the likely twitters in yesterday’s bout with the government guillotine.