Foreign Minister uses taxpayer money for politicking: dissidents

Santo Domingo.- A dissident group of the pro-government PRD party on Mon. said Foreign minister Miguel Vargas seeks to bribe with govt. money the organization’s leaders, to continue as PRD president and become its presidential candidacy in the 2020 elections.

They said they stated their complaint in a letter to president Danilo Medina, in which they ask why Vargas remains as Foreign Minister while aspiring to continue as the PRD’s president.

“The president of the PRD places activists on the payroll who receive salaries for the simple fact of being an associate and thus contribute to their claims to compete for the organization’s leadership or in the orchestration of his presidential project for 2020,” the letter says.

“When the Foreign Ministry serves as an operational base for any type of aspirations, it introduces an element of turmoil throughout the stage of internal competition, because it transforms the majority of employees into political activists who with taxpayer money dedicate hours to partisan campaign,” says the missive signed by Tonty Rutinel, Andrés Henriquez, Guido Gómez, among others.