Santo Domingo.- Owners of bars and restaurants complained about the resolution given by the Ministry of Interior and Policewhich establishes a reduction in the hours for the sale of alcoholic beverages throughout the territory of the Santo Domingo province and demanded the resignation of Minister Jesús (Chu) Vásquez Martínez.
In front of the El Huacal building, where the offices of the Ministry of the Interior and Police are located, several owners of businesses that sell liquor gathered to present their complaints against this measure.
statements
The businessmen demanded the resignation of the minister, saying: “If your security plan didn’t work, pay for it with others, put on your pants or resign. We demand that he does not mess with the people who want to work, if he allowed himself to be bent by the pulse of crime, that he solve it or that he resign ». Because it is not true that those of us who want to work will have to stop doing so because crime wants to, that is not true,” they said.
The rejection by the owners of bars and restaurants in these demarcations is notorious, even more so since it is less than a month before December, the month in which the hours for the sale of alcoholic beverages are extended.
Through a video uploaded on the @RdJungla twitter, the demonstrators threatened to throw themselves into the streets if this problem is not solved.
The resolution issued by the Interior and the Police contains the new schedule for the sale of alcoholic beverages, it says that it will be from 12:00 midnight until 8:00 in the morning. The document states that the reason is to safeguard human health and life.
This measure that entered into force on September 4, just seven months after the flexibility in the hours of alcohol sales by this entity.
Association of Bars and Restaurants of Colonial City
For her part, the director of the Association of Bars and Restaurants of Colonial CityGrace Heyaime, spoke out against this measure saying: “Locking down the country does not work, it is an illogical measure that oppresses small and medium-sized businesses in the Santo Domingo province.”
He explained that the best example of this is the pandemic, that when all the businesses closed, people continued to drink alcohol and worse parties were organized, causing greater disorder.
He stated that other measures should be taken to maintain public order, such as increasing police surveillance. Every time these types of measures are taken against businesses that sell alcoholic beverages, one must think about the number of people who are left unemployed, because businesses like these do not produce in the same way when they only work until 12 noon. midnight, he said.
“Other types of measures must be taken where liquor sales businesses are not affected. He stressed that to combat crime, the solution is to increase police surveillance, so that they deal with these acts of disorder that are happening in the Santo Domingo province.
He explained that, when there are businesses open, people who pass through one of those streets feel safer because there is always security outside the establishments. “When businesses are open, there is more security in one sector than when all are closed.”
