Not even one week after the government of Santo Domingo signed an agreement with the United States Federal Bureau of Investigations to execute joint operations, and already benign businesses are being raided left and right.
Last month, Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York City, joined the Modern Revolutionary Party, promising to bring his broken window theory of policing down to Santo Domingo. The ruling party, confronting demands from the public to institute zero-tolerance policies and facing the rise of an ultra-right-wing party, has capitulated to populist, tyrannical demands.
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| Subliminal contraband. © Abreu Report |
According to Diario Libre, a large-circulation daily in the Caribbean, Brothers store in Santo Domingo East was raided by the country's drug directorate after citizens filed a complaint against the business.
The Dominican government classifies marijuana as a narcotic without any medicinal value, and although some politicians have called for decriminalization to tackle the growing crime wave, the de-penalization campaign faces stiff social opposition from conservative circles.
After raiding Brothers, the Dominican drug directorate issued a stark warning to any importers in Santo Domingo, telling them that the letter of the law prohibited any "publication, publicity, or media propaganda that contains stimulation and subliminal messages -- printed or audiovisual -- treating favorably the consumption or trafficking of illegal drugs and controlled substances."
The FBI-backed chief of the Dominican drug agency further warned that anyone who subliminally treated favorably the consumption of marijuana would have their property confiscated and be charged with breaking the law.
Here at Abreu Report we don't believe in subliminal tactics, and by writing an article defending Brothers store, we happily violate Article 36 of Law 50-88. If the fascists at the Dominican drug directorate have a problem with this publication writing pro-marijuana "propaganda," they can block Abreu Report; we'll deliver our message by passenger pigeon if we have to.
