Félix Bautista

Félix Ramón Bautista Rosario (born 16 June 1963) is a Dominican Republic politician. A member of the Senate of the Dominican Republic since 2010, which is believe he assumed for political protection and to shield himself from justice since he has held important positions in the Dominican Government and corruption scandals are the common denominator. In the period 1996-2000 he was appointed Deputy Director of the Office of Supervising Engineers of State, term in which his privately-held companies executed the biggest contracts of the state. Six months later, he was appointed as Director of the Coordinating Office of State Works, a post he held until the month of August 2000. He was Director of the Office of Supervising Engineers of State with the rank of Secretary of State during the period August 2004-August 2010. He is also an active businessman in the construction industry, the principal owner of HADOM Construction and ROFI SA., companies who have been year by year executing bulky contracts mysteriously won in "public" tenders He was sworn in as Senator of the Dominican Republic by the Province of San Juan on 16 August 2010.

Politically, Bautista is a member of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), since 1981, where he has held the positions of Secretary of Minutes and Matches, Middle Leader, Operational Director of Propaganda on the Campaigns of 1996, 2000, 2004, National Operations Director of the 2008 season, and currently is Member of the Central Committee, and Secretary of Organization of the Dominican Liberation Party, one of the most important positions within the political party.

On the academic side, Bautista is a civil engineer, graduated from the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD); Graduate degree in Law, University of the Caribbean; MA in Political Science from the University Pedro Henríquez Ureña; Masters in International Relations from the University Pedro Henríquez Ureña; both pending graduation. Master of Public Administration and Policy, taught by Utah State University, United States, under the framework of an agreement with the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo; Graduated in Advanced Studies in Economics from the University of the Basque country of Spain and UASD. He is working on his dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Economics, University of the Basque Country, Spain. The subject of this thesis discusses the economic impact of works concessions and public services: The vision of Europe and Latin America, the Dominican case.

Bautista has been subject to charges of corruption including allegedly receiving two billion-pesos contracts from the same state construction work through two companies linked to him by the attorney general's office. His companies have been accused of poorly executing these contracts nevertheless of over-charging.

Bautista has repeatedly denounced the charges against only seek to interfere with the possible campaign of former President Leonel Fernandez who would run a new turn in 2016. In March–April 2012, Bautista was accused of corruption, with allegations that during and after the 2010 election he had given Haitian President Michel Martelly $2.6m in bribes to ensure that his company would continue to receive contracts under Martelly's Presidency. Martelly and Bautista both denied the allegations. The Supreme Court of the Dominican Republic has set for 1 October 2014 the first hearing in the case. More recently, on 27 March, the Supreme Court issued a ruling that benefited Senator Bautista on these allegations. Indicating that the Public Prosecutor Francisco Dominguez Brito, violated the laws and constitution to produce evidence against Senator. It also indicated that valid evidence was insufficient for a trial of the accused in the case. Several writers,and even the Prime Minister of Haiti, have described and analyzed the accusations against Felix Bautista which they regard as political persecution.

He was described as one of the least laborious senators. However, on 21 August 2014, the Dominican Senate told the media he was the second most productive Senator with 28 legislative initiatives presented and 7 initiatives adopted. More recently, Senator Bautista has submitted to the legislature in 2015 about 10 initiatives aimed at projects into law rights of citizen participation, entrepreneurship and innovation, expropriation of property, registration and maintenance of public works, among others.