BARAHONA. –  The top priority for Dominican Republic’s Southwest is new jobs, for which Catholic Diocese Bishop monsignor Rafael Leonidas Felipe Núñez places hopes on the dam at Monte Grande and tourism development.

The prelate’s call has been echoed by other church and community leaders in the southwest for years, and even led to the construction of the Maria Montez International Airport in the late 1990s, which has never serviced regular airline flights in 20 years.

He said a nation lives and develops when its inhabitants can work, for which companies and institutions need to be created. “The Enriquillo region has one of the highest unemployment rates and therefore with the lowest percentage as a source of jobs.”

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