Quoted by newspaper Listin, Corporán said when they left the airport he and his mother were headed to Higuey on the Las Americas highway near the resort town Juan Dolio around 8:30pm, when four men in a green Mitsubichi Montero SUV pointed a gun at them and immediately three of them told him and a cousin to mount the thieves’ vehicle while a third remained with its mother in his.

Half an hour later, he says, the attackers who remained with his mother called the one who stayed with them and said his had become ill, because she had a pacemaker. “I felt powerless, I didn’t know what they had done with my mother, a sick lady, which led me to think that they were agent because they didn’t take the vehicle, they only took 200 dollars that she had.”

He said the attackers, who vehicle license plate was 0F00454, identified themselves as police, but were in plainclothes and didn’t request other documents, only the license.

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Abuse of tourists prompts heightened Police patrols

The Tourism Police (Politur) will conduct a plan of preventive actions in the Bavaro and Punta Cana zone to bolster the safety of tourists who visit the area.

The announcement comes the day after a report of mistreatment of tourists in that area, especially by the drivers of buses which operate in the region.

Politur director Jose Manuel Frias said the plan seeks to improve the security in those tourist areas, which is the destination of 60% of the foreign visitors who choose the country to vacation.

The official, who presented the plan to various representative sectors of eastern La Altagracia province, said the actions will be coordinated with community organizations and sectors linked to tourism and hotels, to jointly confront any criminal activity in the area.

Frias said members of the military, National Police, neighborhood boards, churches and government agencies will take part in the actions, and announced an additional 75 motorcycles for patrols. “We aim to start this security plan here in Bavaro and Punta Cana, and later expand it to all of the country’s tourism regions, but it will always be in a coordinated manner."

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