Dominican Republic oficial backtracks on spying revelation(Update)

Santo Domingo.- Just hours after the brow raising statement, Interior and Police minister Carlos Amarante clarified in a statement: “The government respects the rights of the citizens,” after stating: “We know what is spoken by telephone and what is written by WhatsApp,” referring to spying on the Green March movement.

FILE. The Government intervenes telephone conversations and WhatsApp messages of the Green March to detect “destabilizing plans” that internal “radicalized sectors” inside the grassroots movement could plot, Interior and Police minister Carlos Amarante revealed Tuesday.

He said there are “radicalized sectors” in that movement that aren’t interested in fighting corruption, rather “objectives of a political nature” instead. He didn’t identify which sectors if any.

“We know what’s spoken on the phone and what’s written on WhatsApp,” the official said, interviewed Tuesday by Huchi Lora and Javier Cabreja on El Dia, Telesistema Channel 11.

When Lora asked about the illegal practice by the government, Amarante replied: “They do their meetings and talk things, Huchi, which have nothing to do with your interest in transparency in the Dominican Republic.”

Hidden agenda

For the official, the so-called Green March movement has a hidden political agenda that has led it to occupy the leadership of the opposition.