The Mayor, Dr. Graciela Fermin Noesí, of Montellano (the small sugar-growing town near the airport) has fired 39 employees from various council departments. The town council gave its approval to fire these employees because they never come to work and only appear every month to collect their pay cheques. All the fired employees are members of the PLD (Liberal Party of the current President, Leonel Fernández), and were originally given jobs in return for their contribution to the election campaign. This type of job is known locally as 'botellas' (bottles). The Mayor says she will only employ people who actually contribute to the work done for Montellano. She hopes to transform Montellano into the 'Garden of the North' and thus increase tourism to the small town. According to Graciela, tourism is the only thing that offers Montellano any kind of future.