SANTO DOMINGO. – A senior member of the ruling PLD party today defended the country’s participation in the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN), affirming that it’s useful for the region’s integration.

Radhamés Camacho said his party works for the next constitutional reform to establish the manner in which Dominican deputies to PARLACEN are elected via a popular vote.

PARLACEN’s members who represent the country are currently designated by the President and earn 4,200 dollars per month, with which they must cover their fare to, and lodging in Guatemala, where it sessions once a month.

Regarding the organism’s utility Camacho said it strengthens community and individual citizen’s rights without jeopardizing its members’ sovereignty.

It costs the country around one million dollars per year to be a PARLACEN member, which he considers insignificant, “if it builds the peace in Central America and the world."

Camacho, interviewed in the program Diario Libre A.M., said PARLACEN works to homologate the Central American titles so the professionals from each country can practice in any member nation, and to unify passports for the entire region, as the Central Americans already have one.

He noted that PARLACEN arose with to guarantee the peace process in Central America and is part of the Central American Integration System (SICA), which he said has a judicial arm, which the Central American Court, the Central American Bank and PARLACEN as the political arm, with Dominican Republic having joined in 1999 as an observer.