NEW YORK.- With yesterday’s closing of the Dominican consulate in Philadelphia, more than 30,000 Dominicans are affected, and totals 4 consular offices already closed in the United States, the ones in Jackson Hill, Baltimore and Chicago.

Foreign minister Carlos Morales Troncoso ordered the close of operations in the Philadelphia consulate via memo 30814, dated November 4 and received that same day by the consul Wilson Diaz.

The Foreign Ministry disposed the immediate closing of all office services which were provided for Dominicans and foreigners in the region, without prior notice.

Diaz said that the consulate’s area of influence was Pennsylvania, Delaware and southern New Jersey, and that for 20 years the Dominican community in that region needed its services to get and renew passports and powers of attorney for business reasons, among other facilities.

In addition to the consul Diaz in the consulate of Philadelphia there were five vice-consuls and about 7 consular aids. Diaz occupied those same functions during the first peledeísta government (1996-2000). Nevertheless, any decree in the consular legation had still not been received yesterday indicating the destitution of the personnel.

Regarding the consulate in Baltimore, Carlos Féliz was honorary consul, who was transferred to New York and has yet to receive decree confirming his dismissal.

Resulting from the consular closings, Dominicans will feel the pinch, because the Dominican consulate in New Orleans was unavoidably closed, whose offices provisionally operate from a private residence in Houston, Texas, after the hurricane.