SANTO DOMINGO — The D.R.’s tourism minister has weighed in on the ****** of eight U.S. tourists in the D.R. this year, saying the ****** are not part of a mysterious wave of fatalities but a medically and statistically normal phenomenon that has been lumped together by the U.S. media.

Autopsies show the tourists **** of natural causes, Tourism Minister Francisco Javier Garcia told reporters. He said five of the autopsies are complete, and three are undergoing further toxicological analysis with the help from the FBI because of the circumstances of the ******.

With some 3.2 million U.S. tourists visiting the D.R. last year, he said, it’s not unusual for eight people to die while on vacation over any six-month period. Dominican officials say they are confident the three ****** still under ************* were also from natural causes.

“We want the truth to prevail,” Garcia said. “There is nothing to hide here.”

The Dominican government has been criticized ******* being more forthcoming about the details of the ***** investigations.

They “probably have some indication of what it could be or what it might not be,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious diseases and critical care doctor at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. But officials have been “very opaque” about their findings.

“The longer they keep everybody in suspense, the ***** it’s going to be for the Dominican ********, especially when they’re so dependent on tourism. Because the longer this goes on unexplained, the longer people are going to be leery of going there,” Adalja said.

Garcia said the number of U.S. tourist ****** in the D.R. dropped 56% from 2016 to 2018, although he did not provide further numbers or details. The U.S. State Department also discounted the idea of a ***** of tourist ******, saying the agency had not seen an uptick in the number of U.S. citizen who **** there.

Garcia showed reporters a summary of pathologists’ findings in each ***** but declined to share the autopsy reports, saying they are not public records and that only the families could authorize their release.

In response to public concerns, authorities are increasing internal security measures at hotels as well as increased control over food and beverages, but only as a preventive measure, Garcia said.

“We’re very sorry for the families’ grief,” he said. But “there is no wave of mysterious ******.’

Meanwhile CNN reports that at Hard Rock Resort Punta Cana, where two of the ****** took place, liquor dispensers are being removed from guest room mini-bars. At least one of the ****** in the D.R. occurred after a guest had a drink from the mini-bar.