The Castillos and the FNP have great influence in PLD government
![The Castillos and the FNP have great influence in PLD government The Castillos and the FNP have great influence in PLD government](https://resources.diariolibre.com/images/imagenes/2015/10/890041-focus-0-0-895-573.jpg)
SANTO DOMINGO. After 21 years of the alliance with the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), the Castillo Seman family and the National Progressive Force (FNP) have become one of the most influential in the government and have achieved a ministry, three General Directorates, one deputy, and a counselor minister in Cuba.
It is the current administration when they have had the greatest contradictions, above all relating to the handling of the immigration issue with the application of the National Plan of Naturalization of Foreigners.
Their influence on the issues of drug trafficking, immigration, territorial waters and mining have strengthened in the administrations of former President Leonel Fernandez and in the current administration of President Danilo Medina.
The President of the FNP, Marino Vinicio Castillo (Vincho), is the director of the National Commission on Ethics and the Drug Advisor to the Executive Power; his son, Pelegrin Castillo is the Secretary for organization of the party and the Minister of Energy and Mining in the government.
José Ricardo Taveras, the Secretary-General of the party, is the director general of Immigration. Also in the government are the members of the executive commission of the FNP, Norberto Rondon, the chairman of the National Council on Frontiers; Pascual Prota, the head of the National Maritime Affairs Authority (Anamar), and Radhames Batista,, the Counselor Minister of the Dominican Republic in Cuba.
Vinicio Castillo Seman, the deputy who substituted his brother Pelegrin, recalls that the alliance with the PLD was sealed by Juan Bosch and the FNP President, in December 1993.
The FNP was the party which supply the 5th most votes to the PLD in the 2012 elections, providing 33,170 votes, for 0.73% of the general total.
Political scientist Cesar Perez feels that these government positions are in absolute disproportion in relation to its real size among the electorate and its levels of influence.
He argues that the negative campaign by the FNP is based on fear, and he gave as an example what they did to José Francisco Peña Gomez in 1994 and 1996.
"It (the party) has really reached unsuspected and intolerable levels with regard to its influence in the directorate generals of the administration with respect to the immigration issue," he declared.
FNP defends its posts
Castillo Seman also recalls that the PLD achieved power in 1996 based on an agreement with several political forces, and which his father played an important role for obtaining the support of then President Joaquin Balaguer.
"I understand that this alliance is painful to our adversaries, but this alliance was made by Juan Bausch and he even put by father up as a candidate for Senator for the National District before the division of the city in 1994," he said.
He added that "this is not only a problem of votes, it is a problem of political participation; if you ask the group of Hipolito why they lost, it was because of the participation of the FMP that was decisive in this triumph."
He defends himself against those that accuse them of only carrying out a dirty, negative campaign, and makes it clear that they have only campaigned with the truth.
It is the current administration when they have had the greatest contradictions, above all relating to the handling of the immigration issue with the application of the National Plan of Naturalization of Foreigners.
Their influence on the issues of drug trafficking, immigration, territorial waters and mining have strengthened in the administrations of former President Leonel Fernandez and in the current administration of President Danilo Medina.
The President of the FNP, Marino Vinicio Castillo (Vincho), is the director of the National Commission on Ethics and the Drug Advisor to the Executive Power; his son, Pelegrin Castillo is the Secretary for organization of the party and the Minister of Energy and Mining in the government.
José Ricardo Taveras, the Secretary-General of the party, is the director general of Immigration. Also in the government are the members of the executive commission of the FNP, Norberto Rondon, the chairman of the National Council on Frontiers; Pascual Prota, the head of the National Maritime Affairs Authority (Anamar), and Radhames Batista,, the Counselor Minister of the Dominican Republic in Cuba.
Vinicio Castillo Seman, the deputy who substituted his brother Pelegrin, recalls that the alliance with the PLD was sealed by Juan Bosch and the FNP President, in December 1993.
The FNP was the party which supply the 5th most votes to the PLD in the 2012 elections, providing 33,170 votes, for 0.73% of the general total.
Political scientist Cesar Perez feels that these government positions are in absolute disproportion in relation to its real size among the electorate and its levels of influence.
He argues that the negative campaign by the FNP is based on fear, and he gave as an example what they did to José Francisco Peña Gomez in 1994 and 1996.
"It (the party) has really reached unsuspected and intolerable levels with regard to its influence in the directorate generals of the administration with respect to the immigration issue," he declared.
FNP defends its posts
Castillo Seman also recalls that the PLD achieved power in 1996 based on an agreement with several political forces, and which his father played an important role for obtaining the support of then President Joaquin Balaguer.
"I understand that this alliance is painful to our adversaries, but this alliance was made by Juan Bausch and he even put by father up as a candidate for Senator for the National District before the division of the city in 1994," he said.
He added that "this is not only a problem of votes, it is a problem of political participation; if you ask the group of Hipolito why they lost, it was because of the participation of the FMP that was decisive in this triumph."
He defends himself against those that accuse them of only carrying out a dirty, negative campaign, and makes it clear that they have only campaigned with the truth.