The opposition party accuses the Dominican president of trying to destroy it

The opposition center-left Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) accused President Luis Abinader of taking advantage of the Public Ministry to seek the destruction of its main political rival.

“With that Public Ministry that belongs to him, he has set out to destroy the PLD. But we tell him and his entire government that we, the PLD, are not afraid. I repeat, no one takes the PLD out of the streets because we are not afraid,” said Charlies Mariotti, secretary general of the PLD, at a press conference.

The Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for the Prosecution of Administrative Corruption arrested last weekend 19 former officials of the government of President Danilo Medina (2016-2020), including former ministers of the Presidency, Finance, and Public Works, for alleged acts of corruption.

“We cannot fail to express our deep indignation at the opportunistic and outrageous manner in which our colleagues were detained by a Public Ministry acting as an instrument of Luis Abinader’s re-election,” Mariotti insisted.

Among those arrested in Operation Calamar, which consisted of 20 raids in the capital and other provinces, is former PLD presidential candidate in 2020, Gonzalo Castillo.

On Monday morning, the National Police dispersed PLD militants who tried to enter the Palace of Justice in the capital, where those implicated in the anti-corruption operation are being held.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office considers that the corruption scheme in which the PLD is implicated embezzled some US$567.5 million from the Dominican State.

With information from Sputnik