{"id":355118,"date":"2026-01-13T10:24:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T14:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/?p=355118"},"modified":"2026-01-13T10:24:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T14:24:10","slug":"statement-united-progressive-party-demands-immediate-halt-to-deux-branches-excavation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/homepage-carousel\/statement-united-progressive-party-demands-immediate-halt-to-deux-branches-excavation\/","title":{"rendered":"STATEMENT: United Progressive Party demands immediate halt to Deux Branches excavation"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_355122\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-355122\" style=\"width: 483px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-355122\" src=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Attorney-Joshua-Francis-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"483\" height=\"509\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-355122\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">UPP leader, attorney Joshua Francis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>January 12, 2026 &#8211; The United Progressive Party (UPP), under the leadership of Joshua Francis, is once again calling for the immediate cessation of all excavation activities currently underway at Deux Branches, Commonwealth of Dominica. This urgent appeal comes amid growing concerns about the irreversible damage being inflicted upon our nation&#8217;s precious ecological system.<\/p>\n<p>The UPP is mobilizing all citizens who love Mother Dominica to join renowned music legend and son of the soil, Nasio Fontaine, along with several other like-minded leaders, in direct protest action at the excavation site. This is not a political issue\u2014it is a matter of national survival and our sacred duty to protect the land that sustains us.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our ecological system is not for sale. Our heritage is not negotiable. Our future must not be sacrificed for short-term gains,&#8221; Francis emphasized. &#8220;We are calling on every Dominican\u2014from every village, every political persuasion, every walk of life\u2014to stand with us at Deux Branches until our voices are heard and our demands are met.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The protest action begins immediately, with participants gathering at the excavation site to maintain a continuous presence until the desired results are achieved: the preservation and protection of Dominica&#8217;s ecological integrity.<\/p>\n<p>Nasio Fontaine, whose music has long championed environmental justice and cultural preservation, will be joining fellow Dominicans on the front lines of this critical struggle. His presence symbolizes the unity between our cultural identity and our environmental responsibility.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is our moment. This is our test,&#8221; Francis concluded. &#8220;Will we stand by while our natural inheritance is destroyed, or will we rise together to defend what belongs to all Dominicans\u2014present and future? The choice is ours, and history will judge us by our actions, not our words.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The United Progressive Party urges all media outlets, civil society organizations, and concerned citizens to amplify this call to action and join in the peaceful defense of Deux\u00a0 Branches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"January 12, 2026 &#8211; The United Progressive Party (UPP), under the leadership of Joshua Francis, is once again calling for the immediate cessation of all excavation activities currently underway at Deux Branches, Commonwealth of Dominica. This urgent appeal comes amid&#8230;","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":355122,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[22,235,9,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-355118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment","category-homepage-carousel","category-news","category-politics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>STATEMENT: United Progressive Party demands immediate halt to Deux Branches excavation - Dominica News Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/homepage-carousel\/statement-united-progressive-party-demands-immediate-halt-to-deux-branches-excavation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"STATEMENT: United Progressive Party demands immediate halt to Deux Branches excavation - Dominica News Online\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"January 12, 2026 &#8211; The United Progressive Party (UPP), under the leadership of Joshua Francis, is once again calling for the immediate cessation of all excavation activities currently underway at Deux Branches, Commonwealth of Dominica. 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