[mountainannie]

I heard that they did a similar sweep in Las Terrenas a month ago - mostly it was closing down businesses that had never paid taxes. There was the "best" pharmacy in town, run by a French woman from Martinique, which had been there for YEARS and never paid taxes-- which now has a big sign on the window in Spanish from the District Attorney - and other from the owner saying "closed for remodeling"

As to the street vendors etc., this may also be following the model used by Guliania when he was mayor of NYC when he cut the murder rate in half in a couple of years -he started at the bottom, ticketing panhandlers, and small illegal street sellers to clean up the streets.

As you may have been reading, the entire police force in Puerto Plata has been sacked for corruption and replaced so they are just doing a sweep up operation to pick up the trash. Should be a much safer place after they finish.

Not to worry.