Politicos push Dominican Republic’s military into opposition party row

Santo Domingo.- The Minister of the Armed Forces on Thursday revealed that military escorts for former presidents cannot be ordered to barracks and cautioned against confusion, one day after Interior and Police Ministry announced such measure, in the heels of the conflict within the opposition PRD party.

Sigfrido Pared said however that the military assigned to former president Hipolito Mejia and PRD president Miguel Vargas will be quartered to prevent their involvement in activities related to the PRD party’s convention.

"What happens is that one thing has to be separated from the other, we cannot quarter members of a president’s security and naturally we’re going to talk to the officers who are supporting these areas to keep them from using the military who are part of the security, in activities that have to do with their convention," the official said.

When asked why Vargas’ security detail is headed by an active general -last name of Martinez according to local media- Pared called it a “political” decision. "Look, this is a decision that’s made in the political establishment, not decided by the Armed Forces."