Santo Domingo.- The civic movement Toy Jarto Pero Creo en Mi Pais (I’m fed up but I believe in my country) on Wednesday filed a challenge on constitutional grounds against president Leonel Fernandez’s authorization to the company Consorcio Minero Dominicano to build a cement plant at “La Osua”, near the Los Haitises National Park, Monte Plata province (northeast).

The challenge, filed just one month after a lower court handed the project its firs defeat, states that the mining concession issued May 8 violates the Constitution’s article 103, as well as international treaties on Human rights, for which they ask that it be declared illegal, as well as all authorizations and licenses deriving from it.

The lawyers Reemberto Pichardo, Maredi Arteaga, Alberto Paulino and Hermes Güero filed the challenge before the Supreme Court (SCJ), against the cement-making operation, planned on an area of 5,540 hectares, which includes the towns and villages La Cabirma, La Barrica, Monte Claro, La Bomba, Las Cabirmas, La Osua, Batey Los Arroyos, Batey González, Manigua, Batey Sabana Larga, Batey Nuevo and Cabezada de Soto.