Dominican Republic housing figures spark political dispute

A political dispute has emerged in the Dominican Republic regarding the accuracy of housing statistics for the Ciudad Juan Bosch project. President Luis Abinader has claimed that his administration has tripled the number of homes in the complex, growing the count from approximately 4,600 to 16,800 units. The government also reported that it settled a debt of over RD$4,000 million held by the project's trust.

However, Zoraima Cuello, Vice President of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), has challenged these figures. She argues that the government is conflating 'inhabited' homes with 'constructed' homes to distort results. Cuello pointed to previous official records suggesting there were 7,660 constructed homes in 2020, rather than the 4,600 inhabited units cited by the administration. She also noted that significant infrastructure, such as hospitals and schools, was funded and inaugurated prior to 2020.

In a separate matter, legal experts have criticized President Abinader’s stance on criminal recidivism, arguing that a high number of police records does not legally negate a person's constitutional right to social reintegration.