PADRE LAS CASAS, AZUA. – Under the blazing sun, on dusty roads, dozens of farmers, accompanied by their children, raised their voices last Saturday, July 19, in a long human chain that passed through 22 communities in the mountainous area between Padre Las Casas and Constanza. They carried banners made of cardboard, paper, and broomsticks, in which, with simple but powerful words, they demanded what they consider basic, long-postponed rights: completed and equipped schools, decent health services, passable roads, and a stable electricity supply.
“ We want schools”, “we want health”, “keep your promise, president” were some of the signs that could be read on this day, marked by dignity and despair and which was organized by residents, social and religious organizations, with the support of the Congregation of the Apostolic Sisters of the Crucified Christ.
The communities demanded urgent intervention from President Luis Abinader to guarantee basic rights to education, health, roads, and services. “ There is a country here too; we are people who breathe, study, and have the right to health, education, and safe roads. The mountains are also part of the country; we are people with dignity who believed in you ,” declared Glenys Delgado, a community leader.
He explained that the only health center in the area operates without permanent doctors, without nurses, and with only one occasional intern, and there are no medications. “ Here, if someone gets really sick, they have to be carried all the way to Padre Las Casas or Constanza, and some don't make it there alive.”
Thirteen Years and They Still Haven't Finished High School:
One of the obligatory stops was in front of the abandoned structure of the Las Lagunas high school, a project that began construction in 2012 and has been stalled for over two years despite being 80% complete. This is despite President Luis Abinader's promise in 2022 that the school would be finished "in less than a year." Diomaris García, also a community leader, recalled that " Two more years have passed, almost three since that promise, and neither the workers nor the authorities have returned ," she complained.
Meanwhile, more than 70 high school students receive classes in a borrowed, cramped, hot, and dilapidated house, which also serves as a parish. Teaching is organized in shifts, with nine teachers juggling their responsibilities to ensure the students don't lose the school year. " This isn't educational modernization. It's survival ," said a teacher who preferred to remain anonymous.
Its 6 kilometers of roads, which aren't streets, are almost impassable, a situation that worsens when it rains. “ President Abinader himself ordered Minister Deligne Ascención to fix the roads right in front of us. He told him to repair them. But he never came back ,” García complained with a hint of frustration.
With a firm voice and eyes filled with suppressed anger, Glenys Delgado raised her sign amidst the dusty crowd and delivered a direct message to the National Palace: “ They promised us development, but here there is only neglect, Mr. President, look towards these mountains. There is a country here too ,” she declared, surrounded by farmers who, tired of broken promises, are demanding to be treated with dignity, not as a forgotten corner of the map.
