Abinader will deliver support to coffee growers affected by Hurricane Melissa

Neyba, Bahoruco — Coffee growers in the province of Bahoruco will receive funds provided by President Luis Abinader as compensation for the damage caused last year by Hurricane Melissa.

The delivery will be made by a commission from the Comptroller’s Office of the Republic and the Dominican Coffee Institute on April 7 and 8 at the INDOCAFE offices in this main municipality.

The number of beneficiaries and the total amount to be given to those affected by the natural phenomenon remain unknown because the interprovincial director of INDOCAFE, Teodoro Peña Rivas, refuses to provide the list of affected producers, claiming he is following instructions from his institution’s top management.

“Carlos Café,” as the head of the institution that governs coffee farming in Independencia and Bahoruco is nicknamed, rejected the collaboration of the Nucleus of Coffee Growers and Farmers of the Sierra de Neyba (NUCASNE), because, he said, “he had not been instructed by the director of INDOCAFE, Leonidas Batista Díaz.”

On the other hand, Teodoro read a text message and listened to an audio recording in which Batista Díaz sent the Coordinator of NUCASNE, Faustino Reyes Díaz, to meet with him to deliver support to the producers.

Reyes Diaz said he suspected that some technicians, supported by INDOCAFE management, refused to carry out damage assessments of the phenomenon despite the evidence, and feared the reaction of those who would not benefit even though they were affected.