DR1 Daily News - Thursday, 3 November 2016

Dolores1

DR1
May 3, 2000
8,215
37
48
www.
Deputies pass Transport Bill
F?lix Jim?nez remarks on fuel mafia and market state
Conep urges TSA to issue ruling on transport
Valle Nuevo eviction meets resistance
AG announces plan to confront gender violence
TB outbreak at Cabral y Baez hospital
Aproleche asks government to review DR-CAFTA
Tourism could reduce Chinese trade deficit
Thousands of houses damaged by floods
Dominicans arrested for cocaine in Puerto Rico.
US Coast Guard rescues Dominicans at sea
Baseball roundup
Anthony Rios, 100 lbs lighter, in concert
Diplomatic Ladies Bazaar on Saturday, 12 November



Deputies pass Transport Bill
The Chamber of Deputies has urgently approved the new Ground Transport, Transit and Road Safety Bill. The bill now moves to the Senate for their approval.

The proposed law, drafted by Deputy Tobias Crespo, includes the creation of the National Institute of Transit and Ground Transport (INTRANT) as the main autonomous administration organization in charge of vehicle movement throughout the country.*

In a visit to the president of the Chamber of Deputies Lucia Medina on occasion of the motion for the transport bill, Rafael Blanco Canto, president of Conep, says that what Conep is advocating is that an individual not be the one that sets the rates for a passenger route or freight transport, but rather there be an open competition system in place.

He called for open competition and that several companies or cooperatives be able to bid for routes, and that the one who wins the route be the one offering the best service and best price.

Blanco Canto advocated that the government lower taxes so that it not be necessary to approve so many tax incentives that are nothing but corrections of distortions created by the tax system in the country.

http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias...hora-debera-pasar-cedazo-del-senado-IG5338695
http://eldia.com.do/el-conep-pide-al-gobierno-dejar-de-ser-permisivo-con-los-choferes/


F?lix Jim?nez remarks on fuel mafia and market state
The existence of a so-called ?fuel mafia? in the Dominican Republic has been acknowledged by the president of the Dominican Petroleum Refinery, a joint venture with the Venezuelan government. Refidomsa president Felix Jim?nez said that the government has been losing out on millions in taxes due to high level of clandestine fuel imports. Jim?nez says the situation is being corrected. He said the government has discovered shipments of premium diesel and gasoline in boats that were supposed to be removing bilge from cargo ships but were in fact discharging gasoline or diesel.

Jim?nez made the remarks during a panel discussion on ?Hydrocarbons: Transparency, law and free competition? organized by the American Chamber of Commerce (AmChamDR) on Wednesday, 2 November 2016.

Jim?nez also commented on the opening of the fuels market in the country. During the past four years, countless petrol stations of different brands were authorized by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, many a short distance from each other. Jim?nez mentioned the expiration of contracts the retailers had with the distributors, the high profit margins in the distribution channels, the lack of concrete and specific regulations for the sectors, the conflict of interests and political incoherence that has affected the regulations and rulings of the Hydrocarbons Law to the point that the past market structure has been broken, reflected by the high number of licenses and permits that have been granted.

Other panelists were Guillermo Coch?n, president of the Association of Importers and Distibutors of Propane Gas (AGAS) and Demetrio Almonte, president of the Society of Fuel and By Product Businesses (SEC).
Meanwhile, the Specialized Corps for the Control of Fuel (CECCOM of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and the Ministry of Defense reported they have dismantled around a dozen fuel storage tanks that were irregularly dispatching fuel in Santiago, the south and Santo Domingo west.

http://www.diariolibre.com/economia...-deja-miles-de-millones-en-perdidas-FX5330711
http://hoy.com.do/felucho-reitera-aumentos-permisos-empresas-hidrocarburos/


Conep urges TSA to issue ruling on transport
The National Business Council (Conep) has published paid advertisements in printed media urging the Superior Administrative Court (TSA) to act to ensure that government bodies fulfill the law and guarantee fundamental rights established in the Constitution to preserve freedom, security and human dignity.

The publication focuses specifically on cargo and passenger transport. Conep wants the government to guarantee free business, security and end the present situation of inertia, indifference, impunity and permissiveness. Conep states that the present transport situation is of the highest social sensitivity in which the country has witnessed episodes that reflect the transport sector?s involvement in organized crime, violence, intimidation, illicit use of government resources, interested political affiliations, arbitrariness, extortion and unfair treatment of Dominican transport clients.

Conep is seeking government support to end the cargo and passenger transport monopolies that affect competitiveness.

Conep highlights that the dominating transport the companies that are disguised as ?unions? are not meeting their tax responsibilities, or social security responsibilities, or the traffic rules all other citizens are required to fulfill.
?The ground transport situation is one of the main reasons for the insecurity, transit chaos, disorder and lack of fair application of the law for all,? says Conep.

Conep and another 90 private associations have submitted a recourse to the Administrative Court, demanding compliance with fundamental rights of Freedom of Enterprise, Hiring, Free Competition and Free Traffic rights.
The recourse requests that the TSA establish necessary and pertinent measures so that the Ministries of Labor, Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Defense, Interior and Police and the National Police and the Technical Office of Land Transport carry out the legal and administrative duties as required by law.

Rafael Paz, executive vice president of the Conep, has said the time has come for the government to stop being so lenient with the transporters. ?The time has come for these people to be regulated as institutions,? he said in support of the petitions for a ruling to be issued by the governmental Institutional Forum and Superior Administrative Court (TSA).

http://eldia.com.do/el-conep-pide-al-gobierno-dejar-de-ser-permisivo-con-los-choferes/
http://www.listindiario.com/economia/2016/11/02/441476/conep-urge-fallo-del-tsa
http://www.listindiario.com/economi...n-de-transporte-definira-la-institucionalidad
http://www.elcaribe.com.do/2016/11/02/dice-urge-poner-fin-permisividad-transporte
http://hoy.com.do/empresarios-apoyan-posicion-aird-y-conep-sobre-transporte/
http://eldia.com.do/el-conep-pide-al-gobierno-dejar-de-ser-permisivo-con-los-choferes/
http://www.conep.org.do/sites/defau...ansporte - micercoles 2 de noviembre 2016.pdf


Valle Nuevo eviction meets resistance
Farmers in the Constanza area are complaining about the eviction notice issued by the Ministry of Environment, which gives them approximately six months to leave lands they are using in the Valle Nuevo National Park.

The notification gives them time to harvest their crops. However, small-scale farmers representative Norberto Rosario reminded the environmental authorities that these lands supported families. He argued that their activities do not harm the ecosystem as some environmentalists have been claiming. He pointed out that they have been in that area for more than 50 years and that they were already working there when the authorities were developing the Park Management Plan.

Environment Minister Francisco Dominguez Brito says that once the grace period is up, all illegal occupants will be evicted. Dominguez Brito warned the farmers that they would not receive any compensation because they are on lands that are not considered suitable for farming.

The farmers, who grow carrots, potatoes, strawberries and onions, told Diario Libre reporters that they would like to meet with the minister so he may hear their points of view. They insist that they are in a buffer zone and suggested that one possible solution for the approximately 20,000 people involved would be for the government to find land that they could use for their farming.


AG announces plan to confront gender violence
Attorney General Jean Alain Rodr?guez announced a comprehensive action plan aimed at eradicating all forms of gender violence on Wednesday, 2 November 2016. Rodr?guez said that the program would require involvement from all sectors, social organizations, governmental entities and international cooperation agencies, in order to hold discussions and listen to all the justice system stakeholders as well as to society.*

He said: ?The idea is to see how the Justice Department and the government can improve their response to this problem and hold discussions with the media and journalists on how to reduce the culture of machismo.?*

He said that the first event would be held on 25 November, the day the world commemorates the International Day of Non-Violence Against Women. Rodr?guez said that President Danilo Medina was aware of the plan and has given it all his support, as has Vice President Margarita Cede?o and Minister of Women Janet Camilo, as reported in 7Dias.

The Attorney General said that every hour in the Dominican Republic a woman places a claim of gender violence and every 10 minutes there is a claim of intrafamily violence placed. Rodr?guez said that from January to December 2015, the Attorney General Office received 8,634 claims for gender violence, 58,553 for intra-family violence, and 6,741 for sex crimes. ?This is simply unacceptable. It has to change,? he said. Rodr?guez was appointed to the post in August 2016.

Minister of Women Janet Camilo observed that 80% of the women murdered by their spouses or former spouses had not placed claims for violence. Around 200 women die every year for gender violence. She advocated that most efforts go to prevent violence.

http://eldia.com.do/violencia-genera-un-promedio-de-200-mujeres-muertas-al-ano/
http://acento.com.do/2016/actualidad/8397577-mas-70-mujeres-victimas-feminicidios-ano-2016/


TB outbreak at Cabral y Baez hospital
A serious outbreak of tuberculosis at the Jos? Maria Cabral y Baez Regional University Hospital in Santiago has prompted the Pontifical Catholic University Madre y Maestra to issue a call to its graduates who are doing their residencies at the hospital to take extreme measures to prevent infection.

According to El Nacional newspaper, the University?s academic vice rector, Rafaela Carrasco, stated that she had issued instructions to doctors at the hospital in order to prevent infection, while denying a rumor that the medical residents and interns from the University had been removed because of this outbreak.

A hospital source confirmed on Monday, 31 October 2016 that Dr. Estella Arroyo, head of medical education, met with hospital director Dr. Ernesto Rodriguez to analyze the situation affecting residents and interns from the UASD and UTESA as well as the PUCMM.

On Wednesday morning, 2 November 2016, the National Nurses Union announced that their members, together with specialists and residents would stage a march around the hospital on Friday in pursuit of a solution to this and other problems affecting the largest regional hospital in the Dominican Republic. The nurses? representative said that the tuberculosis outbreak was caused by overcrowding in the hospital, and that the remodeling program has come to a halt because of a dispute between contractors.


Aproleche asks government to review DR-CAFTA
Dominican Milk Producers Association (Aproleche) president Eric Rivero has told reporters from the Diario Libre that the Association was joining other business groups in urging the government to take a hard look at the DR-CAFTA free trade agreement as well as the other free trade agreements signed by the government.

Rivero said that at this historic moment (some 10 years after the beginning of the agreement) it may be appropriate to realign some of the free trade deals, given the fact that it should not affect the national production and, as Aproleche points out, the United States has not reduced its farm sector subsidies.

According to the dairy sector leader, free trade needs to be re-examined throughout the world because so many things have changed and even in the United States there is a strong movement criticizing the free trade deals. He pointed out that both the Democratic and Republican candidates in the upcoming presidential elections in the United States say that they are going to oppose a free trade agreement with the Pacific nations.

Rivero was particularly forceful on the need to revise DR?CAFTA in terms of farm products, and he said this would be the best way to ensure sustainable trade relations between the two countries.


Tourism could reduce Chinese trade deficit
Trade between the People?s Republic of China and the Dominican Republic is now worth US$1.8 billion a year, mostly trade from China to the DR. The DR does not have diplomatic relations with mainland China. Instead, Chinese trade office representative in the country Fu Xinrong and Rosa Ng in China are the leading officials for both countries.

As reported in Listin Diario, Xinrong has been holding meetings with central government, municipal and business representatives to increase trade and investment, as well as open doors for the arrival of Chinese tourists, which would balance somewhat the Chinese trade surplus.

In a radio interview in Santo Domingo on Wednesday, 2 November 2016, Xinrong revealed that her government and has set aside some US$25 billion for financing infrastructure projects for tourism and other areas in this country. The PRC, she added, has RD$5 billion in said assigned to the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). Interviewed by journalists Rosa Alcantara, Patricia Arache and Tatiana Rosario on the ?El Gobierno de las Mujeres? radio show on Radio Neon 89.3 FM, the official said that that the DR can have access to those funds despite not having diplomatic relations with the PRC.*

The trade representative suggested increasing Mandarin teaching would give the country an advantage when hosting some of the 120 million Chinese tourists who travel throughout the world each year. She also mentioned that the Dominican Republic, even without diplomatic relations, is China?s second-largest trading partner in the Caribbean while China is the third major partner for the DR, after the United States and Haiti. She pointed out that there would be even greater benefits if diplomatic relations were to be established with the People?s Republic of China.

The government of China recently hosted a mission of Dominican women journalists to China. They held a meeting with the director general for Latin America and the Caribbean for the Ministry of Foreign Relations in China, Zhu Qingqiao.

http://www.listindiario.com/economi...blica-popular-china-busca-ampliar-comercio-rd


Thousands of houses damaged by floods
The Emergency Operations Center (COE) reported on Wednesday, 2 November 2016 that over 1,600 houses were affected by the rains that followed the low-pressure trough that crossed over the country. According to COE Bulletin No. 4, 18 houses have been destroyed, around 8,150 people were displaced and eight communities were cut off by the floods.*

The report adds that 93 houses were affected in the provinces of Espaillat (Moca), Puerto Plata and Santiago, and 515 people were forced to leave their homes.*

The COE also reminded citizens that four provinces are still under a yellow alert and 16 are under a green alert. Santiago, San Cristobal, Monsignor Nouel (Bonao) and Espaillat are subject to a yellow alert for flooding and landslides.*

Provinces such as Santiago Rodriguez, Montecristi, Dajabon, Maria Trinidad Sanchez (Nagua), Sanchez Ramirez (Cotu?), La Altagracia (Higuey), San Pedro de Macoris, Duarte (San Francisco de Macor?s) and Puerto Plata are under a green alert together with other provinces in the southern and central areas.

A landslide at kilometer 13 on the highway between Miches and El Seibo has blocked communication between the two cities. Public Works ministry brigades are removing the debris.


Dominicans arrested for cocaine in Puerto Rico
The US Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement division reports that seven Dominicans are involved in the recent seizure of 1,786 kilograms of cocaine in Puerto Rico. The confiscated cocaine was described as the largest haul in the history of Puerto Rico. Its black market value is estimated at US$45 million. Four of the men were arrested in Puerto Rico, and three in the DR.

The arrested men were identified as Erick Mosquea Polanco, Juan Jos? de la Cruz Morales, Kevin De Morla Santana, Rudy Contreras Severino, Jos? Morales Soto, Sandy Hern?ndez Mieses and Jonathan Jim?nez D?az. As reported, all of the men except for Jim?nez D?az have previously been accused of drug trafficking from the Dominican Republic by a Puerto Rico federal jury.

The drugs were found in a pick-up vehicle in the home of Hern?ndez Mieses, who has been disabled since being shot in both legs several years ago.

http://elnacional.com.do/siete-domi...or-decomiso-de-cocaina-de-la-historia-en-p-r/


US Coast Guard rescues Dominicans at sea
The US Coast Guard repatriated 14 migrants to the Dominican Republic on Tuesday, 1 November 2015 after rescuing them at sea in the Mona Passage.*?I am glad we were able to be on scene and safely remove the migrants from the unseaworthy vessel, a few short hours after embarking the migrants the vessel broke apart and sank to bottom of the Mona Passage,? said Lt. Nicholas Herndon, Coast Guard Cutter Joseph Tezanos commanding officer.

A US Customs and Border Protection maritime patrol aircraft detected a 25-foot grossly overloaded vessel off Puerto Rico Sunday night. A Coast Guard Cutter interdicted the migrant vessel, safely embarking the migrants.
Once aboard a Coast Guard cutter, all migrants receive food, water, shelter and basic medical attention.

Since 1 October 2016, at least 103 Dominicans attempted to migrate to the US by sea compared to 96 in fiscal year 2016. These statistics represent the total number of at-sea interdictions, landings and disruptions in the Florida Straits, the Caribbean and Atlantic.


Baseball roundup
The 2016-2017 Dominican Winter League Baseball Championship is now underway once again. The recent rains have played havoc with the schedule and the only game played on Tuesday, 1 November 2016 began at 10 pm as the Toros Del Este defeated the Tigres Del Licey by a score of 4-0 at the venerable Estadio Quisqueya in Santo Domingo. The Gigantes lead (8-2), followed by the Tigres del Licey (5-5), Aguilas Cibae?as (5-5), Estrellas Orientales (4-5), Leones del Escogido (4-5) and Toros del Este (3-7).*

Thursday, 3 November 2016 games
Leones Del Escogido vs. Gigantes Del Cibao at the Julian Javier Stadium in San Francisco de Macoris
Aguilas Cibae?as vs. Estrellas Orientales at the Tetelo Vargas Stadium in San Pedro de Macoris
All games except Sunday and holidays begin at 7:15 or 7:30 pm; on Sundays and holidays the games begin at 4 pm.

Anyone who is not seen a baseball game in the Dominican Republic is missing a fantastic experience and the opportunity to watch future major league baseball stars as well as many current stars. It is a unique experience.

See the games schedules at: http://www.lidom.com/home/calendario/


Anthony Rios, 100 lbs lighter, in concert
Anthony Rios, the legendary Dominican bolero singer, is booked for a performance at the Crowne Plaza on the Malec?n in Santo Domingo with merengue and bolero singer Sergio Vargas on Friday, 4 November 2016. The show is the first in seven months by Rios who has lost 100 lbs after reaching a weight that forced him to be hospitalized.

Next show will be on 19 November at the VIP Hall of the Downtown Center, also in Santo Domingo, together with comedians Raymond Pozo and Miguel Cespedes. Tickets for the Crowne Plaza show are for sale at

Ticket Express for RD$1,500 general admission and RD$2,500 and RD$3,000 VIP.


Diplomatic Ladies Bazaar on Saturday, 12 November
The Association of Diplomatic Ladies (ADD) announces its Traditional Christmas Benefit Bazaar for Saturday, 12 November 2016 at the Santo Domingo Sheraton?s Malec?n Terrace.*

Arts and crafts will be for sale during the event from 10am to 6pm. The bazaar is in its 35th year.

The announcement was made by Lorna de Lama, wife of the Belize ambassador in the country, and Angelita de Vargas, wife of the Minister of Foreign Relations of the Dominican Republic.

For information on upcoming events:
http://www.dr1.com/calendar

Archived News stories:
http://dr1.com/forums/forumdisplay.php/91-Daily-Headline-News

Archived Travel News stories:
http://dr1.com/forums/forumdisplay.php/92-Travel-amp-Tourism-News