SANTO DOMINGO.- Broadcaster and businessman Sergio Carlo reported yesterday, Tuesday, August 4, that staff at the Dreams Macao Punta Cana hotel demanded he move his umbrella on Macao Beach, first "further towards the edge" and then "further down", to clear the area designated for a supposed private wedding and a photo and video shoot.
According to a video Sergio Carlo himself documented in his complaint, the employees who approached him, identified as Andri and Manuel, confirmed that they were acting on instructions from the hotel.
Carlo argues that he invoked the law that declares the 60-meter strip from the high tide line to be public maritime-terrestrial domain, and asked the Ministry of the Environment for a formal investigation, the cessation of the practice and administrative sanctions in case of recidivism.
The complaint comes exactly one day after the Ministry of Tourism announced, on August 3, the creation of an inter-institutional committee, with the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of the Interior and Police and the Attorney General's Office, to, in the words of Minister David Collado, "strengthen legal security" regarding access to the coasts.
That announcement was the institutional response to another case, which occurred a few days earlier in Juan Dolio, where, on July 30, the lead singer of Aljadaqui, Mariano Lantigua, reported that hotel security personnel prevented him from sitting with a chair on the beach, claiming that the space was reserved for members of the adjacent club.
A video of the incident circulated widely, and Collado responded, seemingly upset: "That issue in Juan Dolio with the member of Aljadaqui embarrasses us," and added: "The beaches belong to the people and are for everyone... the beaches are for all Dominicans and for tourists too.".
The legal basis cited in the cases of Juan Dolio and Playa Macao is the same: Article 15 of the Constitution, Law 305-68 on the 60-meter strip, Law 64-00 and the Constitutional Court ruling TC/0751/23, which prohibits individuals from obstructing access to the beaches.
In summary: between the end of July and August 4, the Dominican press reported two complaints of hotels restricting access to public beaches in two different tourist destinations: Juan Dolio, in the southeast, and Punta Cana, in the east. The second incident occurred just one day after the Ministry of Tourism itself announced the creation of a working group specifically in response to the first.
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