Ruling party chasm widens as Palace unleashes purge

Santo Domingo.- . In the clearest indication yet of the ruling party’s (PLD) widening chasm, president Danilo Medina has “deleonelized” his administration, dismissing key collaborators the former president Leonel Fernandez, president of the political organization that has held office for over 17 years.

Last week Medina fired Diandino Peña as head of the agency (OPRET) which builds and manages the Metro lines, the last remaining major collaborator of Fernandez in Medina’s administration. He had held the post since 2012.

Medina unleashed the purge as early as June 2016, when he fired , then Dominican Social Security Institute director (IDSS) Sabino Báez, another of Fernandez’s close collaborators.

Purge

Environment minister Bautista Rojas fired in August 16.

Higher Education minister Ligia Amada Melo fired in Sept. 2016

Presidency Legal adviser César Pina named ambassador to Argentina that same year.

Interior and Police minister Franklin Almeyda fired in Aug. 2012.

The generals close to Fernandez Ramón Antonio Aquino, Pedro Rafael Peña and Joaquín Virgilio Pérez, were placed on retirement in March 2017.

The dismissals leave only vice president Margarita Cedeño as the only high-level members of Fernandez’s faction in the ruling party still in Medina’s administration. She is also Fernandez’s wife.