Today we raise our voice for the Mota Marte family, in El Seibo, Dominican Republic and for the Dominican priest, Miguel Ángel Gullón, who stood with them. On 13 January, the Mota Marte family, who had lived on Randolfo Bobadilla Street for 35 years, was forcibly evicted from their home. The eviction was allegedly ordered by Central Romana Corporation, a major sugar producer in the country, and has shocked the whole community. During the eviction, Dominican police detained fr. Miguel Ángel Gullón OP while he was providing spiritual and moral support to the family. He was later released, but his detention raises concerns of a worrying pattern of criminalizing pastoral care to impoverished communities. In the meantime it came to light that the Prosecutor had ordered the police to arrest fr. Miguel at the protest.
This is not an isolated incident. The organizations behind the La Vida Pende de un Hilo campaign emphasize that forced evictions in El Seibo are part of a structural problem that has affected hundreds of families, producing uprooting, loss of decades of work, and deep social insecurity. These practices gravely affect civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights of the affected families.
You can find the multiple news articles in Spanish here:
Arbitrary detention of priest Miguel Ángel Gullón generates outrage in El Seibo – Radio Seybo
Arrestan a sacerdote Miguel Ángel Gullón al intentar impedir desalojo sin orden judicial
Condena arresto ilegal del sacerdote Miguel Ángel Gullón durante desalojo en El Seibo | Reconoci.Do
UNOP has previously covered this important issue. You can read up on our work in the Dominican Republic and the investigation it lead to here:
Dirty sugar in the Dominican Republic – UNOP Dominicans for Justice and Peace
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