Monsignor Francisco Ozoria Acosta describes President Abinader’s speech as motivating, enthusiastic and hopeful and says that the reforms are encouraging.
The President Luis Abinader attended this Friday the Te Deum for the 161st anniversary of the Restoration of the Dominican Republic, in the Primate Cathedral of America.
During the homily, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Santo Domingo, Monsignor Francisco Ozoria Acosta, expressed that in the last elections the Dominican people expressed their satisfaction with the management in the period 2020-2024.
At the mass, which was also attended by First Lady Raquel Arbaje and Vice President Raquel Peña, Monsignor Ozoria called for hope and asked for blessings for the next four years of government.
He said that the election results are more than a personal triumph or that of a political party, they express the hope of a people.
He also described the president’s speech as motivating, enthusiastic and hopeful, and noted that the reforms are encouraging.
He also said he wanted to see signs of hope in the head of state’s collaborators. “Let us see in them their attitude of service to the country and not the attitude of serving themselves of the country.
President places floral offering at the Altar of the Fatherland
Earlier, the president laid a wreath at the Altar of the Fatherland to commemorate the 161st anniversary of the Restoration feat and on the occasion of his swearing-in as President of the Republic for the period 2024-2028.
Upon his arrival at the monument that represents the commitment, courage and patriotism of the founders of the Dominican Republic, the president was received with military honors in style with the singing of the National Anthem along with a 21-gun salute by the Honor Guard Regiment of the Ministry of Defense.
Accompanied by the Vice President, Raquel Peña, and the First Lady, Raquel Arbaje, the Head of State walked to the resting place of the Founding Fathers, Juan Pablo Duarte, Matías Ramon Mella and Francisco del Rosario Sánchez, to leave his offering as a sign of respect for the founders of the nation.
In his inauguration speech, Abinader recalled that the restoration feat is very significant for Dominicans because on August 16, 1963, the consecration of the feeling of Dominican identity for which the founding fathers fought began, by making our people’s aspirations for independence a reality and establishing an institutional order that would guarantee that each of the children of this beautiful land would be masters of their own destiny.
“The sacrifice of the restaurateurs, which we commemorate every August 16, reminds us that freedom is not free and that each generation has the responsibility to defend it,” President Abinader stressed in his speech before the National Assembly.
In this context, he recalled that the true strength of a nation lies in the men and women who form it. Each individual has the potential to contribute to improving it and it is through participation and civic commitment that real transformations can be achieved.
He recalled the names of Gregorio Luperón, Pedro Antonio Pimentel, José Contreras, Gaspar Polanco, Santiago Rodríguez and many others, emphasizing that they were men who gave everything for the restoration of national independence.
“But above all, today is the day to remember the most important hero of our history, the great restorer: the Dominican people. It is because of them that we are here and it is because of them that we must give the best of ourselves,” said the head of state in his speech after his swearing-in for the 2024-2028 period.
