DR1 Daily News - Friday, 13 January 2017

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Medina calls for legislators to cancel their vacation
Dodgers? Janet Marie Smith meets President Medina
First Lady to St. Patrick?s Cathedral mass
Central Bank forecasts 5.5% growth in 2017
Raccoons not wanted in the DR
DR government could claim US$459-US$918M from Odebrecht
Anti-corruption march called for Sunday 22 January
Angel Rond?n must show why he was paid US$92 million in fees
Jim?nez Bichara defends Punta Catalina contract
Go beyond bribes to find Odebrecht corruption
Andres Bautista called for audit of Odebrecht works
Bales of cocaine seized at sea
J. Boone Kauffman on why mangroves are key to the environment
Master classes and concert with Davidovici at Music Conservatory
Accident on Autovia del Nordeste
Update on scaffold accident injuries
Forged vehicle stickers caught at Quisqueya Park
Comedy at Casa de Teatro
The Great Gatsby at the National Theater


Medina calls for legislators to cancel their vacation
President Medina has called legislators back to work. Senators and Congress members were scheduled to remain in recess until after the 27 February state of the nation and Independence Day speech. The beginning of the year was also marked by the unusual extension of New Year?s holiday into the Three Kings holiday. The extraordinary legislative session will last for 30 days starting on 13 January 2017.

The media has focused on the Penal Code that is awaiting review after it was again returned from the Presidency with a veto on the grounds of restrictive abortion clauses. There is speculation the intent is for the Congress to override the presidential veto. And it can, according to the Constitution.

The Dominican Constitution (articles 101, 102, 103) calls for the senators to discuss the bill in one sitting. The Constitution establishes that if after debate, two thirds of the members present in the house pass the bill again, the bill shall be sent to the Chamber of Deputies. If the Chamber of Deputies passes the bill with the same majority, the bill shall be published within ten days, and its publishing within another 10 days for it to become law. If these deadlines for enactment and publication are not met, the bill shall be deemed enacted and the president of the house of Congress that sent the bill to the Executive Branch shall have it published.


Dodgers? Janet Marie Smith meets President Medina
President Danilo Medina received the vice president of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Janet Marie Smith at his office at the Presidential Palace on Thursday, 12 January 2017. She was accompanied by former Major League Baseball Dodgers player, Manuel (Manny) Mota and former Minister of Sports Felipe Payano.

The Presidency reports that the purpose of the visit was to invite President Medina to attend the inauguration of the Las Palmas Dodgers Academy. Based in the municipality of Guerra, in the province of Monte Plata, the Dodgers training camp is the oldest in the Dominican Republic. Today all Major League Baseball teams have training centers in the DR.

http://www.elcaribe.com.do/2017/01/11/danilo-medina-recibe-vicepresidenta-los-dodgers-angeles


First Lady to St. Patrick?s Cathedral mass
First Lady C?ndida Montilla will be in New York on Sunday, 15 January 2016 to represent President Danilo Medina during a mass in celebration of the Day of Our Lady of Altagracia, the protector of Dominicans. She has scheduled a series of meetings with the Dominican community in New York during her visit.

The special mass at St. Patrick?s Cathedral honoring Our Lady of Altagracia has taken place since 21 January 1973 when Cardinal Terence Cook and Monsignor Hugo Eduardo Polanco Brito officiated.

This year?s mass, which will be said at 2pm, is dedicated to the province of La Vega, and Monsignor H?ctor Rafael Rodr?guez, bishop of the La Vega diocese will be leading the service accompanied by New York Cardinal Monsignor Timothy Dolan.

The Dominican community in New York is also organizing a full schedule of events for Dominican Heritage Month.

https://presidencia.gob.do/noticias...va-york-para-celebrar-el-dia-de-la-altagracia


Central Bank forecasts 5.5% growth in 2017
The Central Bank forecasts GDP growth in 2017 at 5.5%, compared to 6.25% for 2016. The Central Bank says there has been a slowdown in the manufacturing sector. *Growth is expected to decelerate even further, reaching 5% in 2018. Inflation is expected to remain at 4.0% ? 1.0%. The Central Bank also expects the non-financial public sector deficit to reach 2.7% of GDP for 2016.

http://elnacional.com.do/bc-baja-de-6-50-a-6-25-crecimiento-pib-en-2016/


Raccoons not wanted in the DR
The Ministry of Environment has issued a warning about the threat posed by domesticated raccoons (procyon lotor) to Dominican flora and fauna, with instructions for their capture.

The Ministry also announced that the Dominican Republic has been chosen as alternate CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) representative for the Caribbean. CITES is an international agreement between governments aimed at ensuring that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.

The raccoons, which were imported for sale as pets, represent a threat to native and endemic fauna.

The Ministry of Environment said that all raccoons should be handed over to the Ministry of Environment as a precautionary measure to prevent them from breeding. The Ministry has notified 26 shops that are selling the animals.

The Ministry says that its Biodiversity Department under engineer Jos? Manuel Mateo Feliz is implementing a control program of the invasive species in Catalina Island off the coast of La Romana to prevent them from spreading to other areas of the Dominican Republic.

http://acento.com.do/2017/ecologia/...incautar-los-mapaches-amenaza-la-flora-fauna/


DR government could claim US$459-US$918M from Odebrecht
Writing in Diario Libre on Friday, 13 January 2017, economist Pedro Silverio states that the Dominican government has not been firm enough in its demands that Odebrecht answer to the damage caused to national interests by the overcharges.*

He writes: ?The fact that the bribes to Dominican government officials have already been confirmed is sufficient proof for the Dominican government to move on to demand economic reparation that could range from US$459 to US$918 million from Odebrecht, according to the criteria applied by the US Department of Justice. This would not need to be decided in court because Odebrecht has confessed its guilt. It could also mean a renegotiation of the Punta Catalina contract, in the style of Barrick Gold, which is aside from the extreme measure of rescinding the contract. We would be getting ahead of ourselves if we assumed that the arm for ?structured? operations did not reach the coal-fired plants. The issue here is that the Dominican government has been very timid in firmly requesting that Odebrecht respond to the damage caused to national interests.?

http://www.diariolibre.com/m/opinion/en-directo/odebrecht-y-la-timidez-oficial-YF5979724


Anti-corruption march called for Sunday 22 January
Support for the Anti-Corruption March set for Sunday, 22 January 2017 is increasing as the media follows the Odebrecht saga in the Dominican Republic. In the latest development, the lobbyist who secured the contracts has said that the Odebrecht has described the US$92 million as bribes to Dominican government officials in return for securing US$163 million worth of contracts were his fees for securing contract work and payments for the company.

The march is being promoted by campaigning groups and civil society organizations that seek to demand a full government investigation into the Odebrecht bribe case.

The organizations include Foro Ciudadano, Poder Ciudadano, Somos Pueblo, Centro Juan XXIII, Comision Nacional de Derechos Humanos, Bloque Popular, Movimiento de Trabajadores Independientes, Movimiento de Mujeres Trabajadoras, Comit? Codiano, Corriente Magisterial Juan Pablo Duarte, Feflas, Los Peregrinos de Moca, Juventud Caribe, FAPROUASD, La Multitud, Frente Universitario Renovador, and Grupo Milenio Verde (MIVER).

The march is scheduled to start at 10am at the intersection of M?ximo G?mez and 27 de Febrero avenues ending at the Presidential Palace via Dr. Delgado Street in Santo Domingo.


Lawyer urges citizens to pressure for end to impunity
Writing in El Dia, columnist Carlos Salcedo encourages citizens to join the protest to demand an end to administrative corruption in the country. He writes: ?The leaking of information and the judicial processes open at an international level have put our country on the list of countries where the company had operations, with specific names of individuals involved in these acts being revealed.

?Two things can happen to continue the usual chain of impunity, with or without judicial processes, with the consequential increase in lack of trust in the institutions and the democratic system itself, or, if citizen pressure and judicial responsibility, bring about transparent processes with serious penalties for the overt and covert players and an effective recovery of the resources used to pay the bribes. This is the only way in which we can show the example of a system that does not pardon those who through corruption bleed the state of its resources.?

http://eldia.com.do/odebrecht-corrupcion-e-impunidad/
http://www.diariolibre.com/opinion/en-directo/odebrecht-y-la-timidez-oficial-YF5979724


Angel Rond?n must show why he was paid US$92 million in fees
Attorney General Jean-Alain Rodr?guez says that lobbyist Angel Rond?n will have to provide proof that the US$92 million he admits having received from the Dominican government was for legitimate services from 2001 to 2014. Rond?n says he was paid these fees for his work of securing successful contract work for Odebrecht as the company?s representative in the country.*

Rodr?guez says he has given Rond?n three days to round up documentation to prove the money was covering fees and was not bribe money. The Attorney General has asked Rond?n to present the contracts for the US$92 million, as well as his receipts and details of the bank accounts where the money was sent. Earlier this week, Rond?n was questioned for 13 hours by Rodr?guez and Laura Guerrero Pelletier, the Anti Administrative Corruption (PEPCA) government official.

El D?a reports that Odebrecht general manager Marcelo Hofke will provide the Attorney General Office with the contracts that the Brazilian construction company has carried out in the country with institutions and individuals, including dates, sums and forms of payment.

Rodr?guez told the press that he has asked the government procurement office to put the Odebrecht authorization as a government supplier on temporary hold to prevent the company from being awarded any new contract work.

http://eldia.com.do/angel-rondon-tendra-que-demostrar-dinero-odebrecht-fue-un-pago-por-servicios/
http://www.diariolibre.com/m/notici...litar-a-odebrecht-para-nuevas-obras-NF5979186


Jim?nez Bichara defends Punta Catalina contract
In an interview with List?n Diario, the executive vice president of the Dominican Public Electricity Corporation, engineer Rub?n Jim?nez Bichara shares details of the tender that awarded the construction of the US$2 billion plus coal-fired power plant in Punta Catalina, Peravia province.*

The plant will have the capacity to generate 720 megawatts and is scheduled to enter into operation in mid-2018. It is under construction by a consortium in which the Brazilian firm Odebrecht is the leading partner, with Tecnimont of Italy and Ingenier?a Estrella for the Dominican Republic. Defending the legality of the tender, Jim?nez said that reputable foreign and Dominican consulting firms had taken part in the process, including Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP, Pereyra & Pereyra, Russin Vecchi & Heredia Bonetti, Stanley Consultants, Proyersa, BNP Paribas Securities Corp, Deloitte RD, and Fundaci?n Econom?a y Desarrollo.

Jim?nez expressed his satisfaction at President Danilo Medina?s appointment of a commission to review the tender process with eminent personalities as members. The commission was created at the same time that the Attorney General began its investigations into the New York court ruling that states that Odebrecht had paid US$92 million in bribes in the Dominican Republic to secure US$163 million worth of work contracts. At present, the Punta Catalina plant is Odebrecht?s largest contract in the Dominican Republic.

The Odebrecht consortium was awarded the project with a winning bid of US$2.04 billion. He said the government has invested US$1.46 billion so far in the project that has completed 70% of the installation.

Jim?nez said that the consortium is planting around 1.5 million mahogany trees to mitigate the environmental effects of the power plant. So far more than 555,000 trees have been planted in a number of locations.

http://www.listindiario.com/economi...externas-dirigieron-licitacion-punta-catalina


Go beyond bribes to find Odebrecht corruption
The executive director of Participaci?n Ciudadana (PC), Rosal?a Sosa, is calling on everyone to join in the ?Anti Impunity March? set for Sunday, 22 January. The march has been organized in demand of a thorough investigation and to call for all involved in the Odebrecht corruption scandal to be given a fair trial. In that case, a New York court ruled that Odebrecht had paid US$92 million in bribes to obtain US$163 million worth of construction contracts.

Sosa said that the cases of the Punta Catalina power plant, the Super Tucano aircraft and the claims of overvaluation of the renovation at the Dar?o Contreras Hospital should also be investigated as well as the bribes. She added that the Attorney General Office had been very slow in fulfilling its role of bringing the cases to the judiciary.

?Our institution has established our position that we want firm action because it appears that the Public Ministry took off for vacation in December,? said Sosa, when interviewed on the La Super 7 en la Ma?ana program on 107.7 FM.

http://www.7dias.com.do/portada/201...as-alla-sobornos-odebrecht-investigacion.html


Andres Bautista called for audit of Odebrecht works
Opposition PRM party president Andr?s Bautista Garc?a says that the investigations into Odebrecht-related corruption should include an in-depth audit of each of the works carried out by the company in order to ascertain the real sums involved. He said that the company?s real corruption lies in the continuing overvaluations of the budgets and designs, which he says were routinely modified to increase the earnings and cover the cost of bribes.

Andres Bautista was interviewed on the Uno+Uno program on TeleAntillas, Channel 2. He said that the overvaluation practices must be penalized and that the courts have prevented the resources that pay for corruption from being better invested in social spending and poverty mitigation.

http://elnacional.com.do/sobrecostos-en-punta-catalina/
http://eldia.com.do/andres-bautista...senos-de-las-obras-construidas-por-odebrecht/


J. Boone Kauffman on why mangroves are key to the environment
Counterpart International and the pro-environment business alliance ECORED are hosting a lecture on ?Ecosystem Services of the Mangroves: Endangered Environmental and Economic Values and Solutions for a Sustainable Future? on Thursday, 19 January 2017. The talk takes place from 9 to 11:30am at the Edificio Corporativo Claro, Sal?n Multiuso C, Av. John F. Kennedy 54, Santo Domingo.

The guest speaker is Dr. J. Boone Kauffman, research professor of Ecosystems Ecology in the department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Oregon State University. He is a senior associate with the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in Bogor, Indonesia. He has focused much of his recent work on assessing the values of mangroves, tropical forests and other ecosystems in climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies.

He has worked in the mangroves of the northwest part of the Dominican Republic in partnership with Counterpart International and AgroFrontera. This research assessed ecosystem carbon stocks of mangroves and greenhouse gas emissions resulting from their deforestation. This work has highlighted the logic and importance of including mangroves in climate change mitigation strategies. Three scientific papers receiving global attention have arisen from his work in the Dominican Republic.

Anyone interested in attending should reserve calling Marlig Perez at 809 542-6273 or mperez@counterpart.org


Bales of cocaine seized at sea
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Air and Marine Operations have reported the detention of a go-fast vessel concealing 2,000 lb (907 kg) of cocaine just off the Dominican Republic. The cocaine was intercepted by ongoing multi-agency law enforcement work in support of the US Coast Guard Operation Unified Resolve and Operations Caribbean. The estimated value of the cocaine is US$30 million.

A maritime patrol aircraft initially located the vessel on 2 January 2017. Four suspected smugglers were detained along with several bales that tested positive for cocaine.

The seized contraband and detainees were transferred to Coast Guard Cutter Donald Horsley for transport to Puerto Rico where they were placed in the custody of the US Drug Enforcement Administration special agents for prosecution.

https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/local-...ast-vessel-2000-pounds-cocaine-near-dominican


Master classes and concert with Davidovici at Music Conservatory
The Ministry of Culture and the National Music Conservatory with the support of the Florida International University (FIU) have announced that they will be holding several master classes and a violin and piano concert with Romanian violinist Robert Davidovici and Dominican pianist Mar?a de F?tima Geraldes. The master classes will take place from 13 to 16 January 2017 and will be led by maestro Robert Davidovici himself, announced National Music Conservatory (CNM) director Darwin Aquino. He said that Davidovici would take time to assess the students? technical, interpretative and artistic skills.

The classes will take place at the National Music Conservatory on Saturday, 14 January from 9am to 1pm, 3pm to 6pm, and on Monday, 16 January from 9am to 12:30pm.

The concert is scheduled for Saturday, 15 January at 6pm at the main hall of the National Theater, also in Santo Domingo. The repertoire includes Sonatina # 1 in D Major by Franz Schubert and Sonata No. 2 in A Major by Johannes Brahms, Sonata in memory of Garcia Lorca by Francis Jean Poulenc and Tzigane by Maurice Ravel.

http://www.7dias.com.do/cultura/201...clases-violin-piano-conservatorio-musica.html


Accident on Autovia del Nordeste
At least three people were injured in a crash between a tour bus carrying 49 Russian tourists and a Hyundai Sonata vehicle on at Km 76 of the Saman? highway on Thursday, 12 January 2017.*

Metropolitan Transport Authority (AMET) spokesman Diego Pesqueira named the injured as Jos? Liriano, Juan Ram?n Romero and driver Arturo Malena. The Russian tourists on the bus, none of whom were injured, were on their way from B?varo to spend part of their vacation in Saman?.

http://www.elcaribe.com.do/2017/01/12/tres-heridos-choque-autobus-turistas-con-carro-autovia-samana


Update on scaffold accident injuries
Four of the six men who were injured when the scaffolding on a 22-floor building on Av. Bol?var near Av. Jim?nez Moya in Santo Domingo collapsed are recovering and were sent home after receiving emergency treatment at the Dar?o Contreras Trauma Hospital.

The scaffolding used for the construction collapsed due to strong winds on Wednesday, 11 January 2017. Two of the Haitian workers were identified as 26-year old Fenol Joseph who suffered facial injuries and 18-year old Filnes Selvis who suffered knee trauma.

Two other Haitian nationals, 34-year old Edward Jaqueline and 20-year old Jacka Sentamo. Sentamo has facial brain trauma and a broken right leg are still hospitalized. Sentamo also has fractures in several parts of his body. These two patients will be sent to surgery.

One of the two other men injured in the accident was architect Rigoberto Rom?n who was operated for broken ribs at the Marcelino V?lez Santana public hospital in Herrera. El Caribe reports that another patient is a Haitian national, still unnamed, who suffered brain trauma and is under observation.

The men were working on the 14th floor when the scaffolding collapsed.

http://www.elcaribe.com.do/2017/01/12/dos-los-seis-heridos-caer-andamio-fueron-dados-alta


Forged vehicle stickers caught at Quisqueya Park
The Tax Agency (DGII) has cracked down on a gang that was selling fake vehicle driver permits in the area around the Quisqueya Stadium. The DGII said that the gang printed and sold the forged stickers, which are required every year for a vehicle to transit in the Dominican Republic.

A National District prosecutor and director of the Special Investigations Department, Adolfo F?lix, said that the gang operated from an abandoned freight container at the ballpark parking lot. Several people have been arrested, including the suspected gang leader, known as ?El Rubio.? El Rubio had several forged stickers and cash in his possession when he was arrested.

http://www.listindiario.com/la-repu...endia-marbetes-falsos-en-el-estadio-quisqueya


Comedy at Casa de Teatro
As part of its Fifth Week of Theater in Casa event, Casa de Teatro in Santo Domingo?s Colonial City is presenting comedies at its Crist?bal de Llerena hall from Friday 20 to Saturday 28 January 2017. The plays being staged are: ?Inadaptados,? ?Habitaci?n 69?, ?Tiempos de mangos verdes,? ?Terapia,? and the children?s play ?Solo soy payaso.? Shows start at 8:30pm. Tickets are for sale at Casa de Teatro and cost RD$400.


The Great Gatsby at the National Theater
Carlos de la Mota together with Zeny Leyva, Karoline Becker, Roger Manzano, Mario Arturo Hern?ndez and Francesca Yarull make up the cast for the Great Gatsby at the main Carlos Piantini Hall of the National Theater in Santo Domingo. The dates are 10-12 February 2017 with shows at 8:30pm. The show is produced by Luis Marcell Ricart. Tickets are for sale online at Uepa Tickets and at the National Theater box office for RD$1,000, RD$1,500, RD2,000 and RD$2,500.

Read more on ongoing and upcoming events at:
http://www.dr1.com/calendar


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