Elías Piña, Dominican Republic.- Four properties seized from Dominican Army ex captain Quirino Paulino, who awaits trial in the United States on drug trafficking charges, are abandoned with its equipment corroded from negligence and lack of use.

Of the ex military’s companies in this community only the station ‘Sol Gas’ and the rice mill ‘Comendador’ in the community El Llano are operating.

One of the properties, where the deterioration and abandonment are most evident, is the hacienda ‘Elizabeth’, in the community Pedro Corto, 20 kilometers  west of San Juan de la Maguana. In this property, its high tech production model  is only a memory where once grazed some 2,000 heads of cattle.

According to Euclides Castillo Ramirez (Quibón), Paulino’s uncle and who also raised him, the family was reportedly "forced" to sell them at the price of a "dead cow" after his extradition.

Of all the heavy machinery once in the facilities there only are three tractors left, which - according to a mechanic there, are used to work in nearby farms property of individuals. The farm also had several freezers, valued at more than 100,000 pesos, whose whereabouts and conditions are unknown.

In Santo Domingo, a luxury home in the exclusive Bella Vista sector also shows signs of abandon.

SOURCE: diariolibre.com