DR1 Daily News - Thursday, 23 March 2017

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Mayors call for solution to Duquesa issues
Medina calls for reforestation of 100,000 acres
Medina highlights planting trees, workers ask for their pay
Government ratifies commitment to provide clean water
AMET begins preparation for Holy Week
Attorney General says Odebrecht details coming in June 
Public Health, CMD reiterate opposition to unlicensed doctors
DR moves up two spots in UNDP index
Customs seizes 8 million contraband cigarettes
Preventive custody in Delcy Yapor homicide
Flooding in Puerto Plata
Tremors remind us we are in a quake zone
Team USA wins World Baseball Classic
National Ballet performance 



Mayors call for solution to Duquesa issues
The mayors of Greater Santo Domingo called on the central government to normalize operations at the Duquesa garbage dump and landfill. Mayors representing the National District, Los Alcarrizos, Guerra, Pedro Brand, East, North and West Santo Domingo are concerned that the accumulation of refuse on the sidewalks of their streets and avenues will become a health hazard for residents. 

Reportedly only one tractor is operating at Duquesa, causing delays in the process. Garbage trucks spend entire days in long lines waiting to enter the Duquesa facility. They are limited to completing only one garbage collection route on many days. In some areas, such as Villa Mella in North Santo Domingo, residents have begun to create impromptu garbage dumps with serious health consequences. 

The Mayor of Boca Chica and the spokesman for the Commonwealth of Municipalities, Radhames Castro criticized the unbending position of the Lajun Corporation that administers Duquesa, in the face of this deteriorating situation. Even the intervention by Environment Minister Francisco Dominguez Brito, nor the warnings by the Ministry of Public Health, have served as a path for solving the issues regarding the operation of the garbage dump. There have been calls for nationalizing the Duquesa landfill.


Medina calls for reforestation of 100,000 acres
President Danilo Medina and commemorated in Hondo Valle, Elias Piña, the International Forestry Day, planting a tree in the area as part of six projects aimed at the reforestation of slightly over 100,000 acres (1 acre = 6 tareas). 

The President joked with the workers from the Ministry of Environment telling them: “Here we are with the greens” - in reference to the push by civic groups that have chosen the color green to symbolize the protest movement that calls for an end to corruption and impunity in the public administration. When he was asked if he was afraid of the greens, Medina responded “absolutely not.” 

So far over 500,000 trees have been planted during this campaign, including mahogany and other valuable species of trees. 


Medina highlights planting trees, workers ask for their pay
On occasion of International Day of Forests, President Medina noted that nearly 1,000 acres (1 acre = 6 tareas) in Hondo Valle, Elías Piña province on the border with Haiti, that have been reforested. Environment Minister Francisco Dominguez Brito noted that the seven projects located in Juan Santiago, Padre Las Casas, Sabaneta and Hondo Valle will generate jobs and income to help slow the exodus of youth to the big cities. 

But El Nacional newspaper noted that the fly in the ointment was the statement by workers in the forestry nurseries in the mountains complaining that they had gone three months without receiving their salaries. The workers complained that now the bodegas will not extend them anymore credit since they had not received their paychecks since December.


Government ratifies commitment to provide clean water
Several state institutions confirmed their commitment to improve the management of the country’s water resources, during the opening session of the National Congress of Hydraulic Resources. 

Readers might remember that yesterday was the United Nation’s declaration of World Water Day on 22 March 2017. 

The keynote speech at the Dominican Fiesta Hotel was given by the Minister of Economy, Planning and Development  Isidro Santana, who also chairs the Water Resource Roundtable created by President Medina in Decree 265-16. 

Santana stressed the importance of water and said that guaranteeing a sufficient amount of quality water was a priority challenge for this administration. He added that the government considers clean water a citizen’s right, of the same stature as life and liberty. Among the positions assumed by these different institutions is the conservation of protected areas throughout the country, which in turn guarantees the integrity of the watersheds of the nation’s rivers. Santana spoke of the government’s efforts to improve the health of the Ozama, Isabela, Haina and Nizao rivers.


AMET begins preparation for Holy Week
On 22 March 2017 in Santiago, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (AMET) announced the launch of their accident prevention program for Holy Week 2017. The Easter holidays will take place the week of 9-16 April 2017. Here for students, it is the local equivalent of the US Spring Break. 

The activity, which was held at the Monument to the Heroes of the Restoration, was led by the director general of AMET, Feneral Frener Bello Arias, who stressed the need for citizens to take actions to prevent traffic fatalities especially during the period of Holy Week, known to be the peak time for domestic travel. 

He noted that over 2,000 AMET agents around the country would be working in this prevention program. AMET showed off a long caravan of new equipment that would be put into use during Holy Week known throughout the country as Semana Santa. 

The prevention campaign caravan went through Moca, La Vega and will continue tomorrow in Bonao and Villa Altagracia and next week they will visit La Altagracia, La Romana and San Pedro de Macoris.

http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias...-la-ruta-preventiva-semana-santa-17-JA6640847


Attorney General says Odebrecht details coming in June 
Attorney General Jean Alain Rodríguez reports meeting on Wednesday, 22 March 2017, with the adjunct prosecutor of the Office of Cooperation of Brazil, Carlos Bruno Ferreira da Silva, in the continuing of the Lava Jato-Odebrecht corruption scandal. Odebrecht has admitted to having paid US$92 million in bribes to Dominican officials. 

A press release from the Attorney General’s Office indicates that Ferreira visited the country to give a talk and says that the Brazilian authorities will meet a June deadline to deliver the requested information that includes detailed confessions of the Odebrecht company officers. 

Also participating in the meeting with Ferreira was Laura Guerrero, a special prosecutor focused on administrative corruption. 


Public Health, CMD reiterate opposition to unlicensed doctors
After a series of complaints that many doctors, many from Venezuela, are practicing medicine in the country irregularly (which is a nice way to say ‘illegally’), the Minister of Public Health and the President of the Dominican Medical Association (CMD) are warning that they will not permit this practice to continue in the Dominican Republic. 

During a joint press conference, Public Health Minister Altagracia Guzman Marcelino and CMD president Waldo Ariel Suero insisted that health professionals normalize their status regarding the revalidation of medical licenses and fulfill the required year of service. They also warned that the government will penalize private clinics that contract doctors without the proper documentation or license to practice (exequatur) that is required to practice medicine in this country. 

Guzman Marcelino ordered the Association of Private Clinics (Andeclip), the National Health Service, the Center of Advanced Medicine (Cedimat), the Metropolitan Hospital of Santiago (HOMS) and the Plaza de la Salud General Hospital to adopt the necessary measures to correct the situation. 


Plan International focuses on Forced Child Brides
Plan International organization is again highlighting the problem of forced childhood marriages, a regular practice in the Dominican Republic. As reported, the DR and Nicaragua lead in the number of married girls and teenagers in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to a study presented on 21 March 2017, in Santo Domingo by the organization. 

The study is based on findings of the Enhogar 2014 survey that found that 37% of Dominican women were married before age 18. In addition, one in every five females aged 15-19 is married or living with a man who is at least 10 years older.

The figures are part of the Plan International “Handcuffed Women” study that looks into forced childhood marriage in the provinces of Azua, Barahona, Pedernales, Elias Piña and San Juan. The study’s author, Jeanette Tineo, said that for many parents forced marriages are the result of intra-family violence, the expectation of emancipation and many times the family sees this as a way of getting out of poverty. 

The study says that forced marriages are linked to pregnancy in teens. According to the study, 70% of the girls or teens interviewed who were married to adult men were pregnant at the time they established their unions.

Plan International proposes that the Dominican Congress that is revising the Civil Code raise the minimum age of marriage to 18 for both sexes, without exception.

According to current law in the Dominican Republic, males younger than 16, and females younger than 15, may not marry.  But a judge – for various reasons – has the power to waive that requirement.

The Dominican state “must honor the international commitments it has signed with regard to protecting children, and put an end to impunity for predators who seek protection in marriage. The government must provide opportunities to girls to live a dignified life, free from this type of coercion.” said Plan International DR.

http://www.elcaribe.com.do/2017/03/22/entre-paises-con-mas-matrimonios-infantiles
https://plan-international.org/dominican-republic


DR moves up two spots in UNDP index
A report released on 22 March 2017, the Human Development Report 2016: Human Development for Everyone, highlights that despite extraordinary advances carried out over the last 25 years with regard to human development, progress in the country has been uneven. In order to guarantee sustainable human development for everyone, according to the United Nations Development Program report, it is necessary to concentrate efforts to integrate all sectors of society into the country’s economic development, with a special focus on those who are currently underrepresented or excluded. 

The report looks to what society should do to advance human development for everyone. It sets forward policy recommendations at the national level and also looks at ways in which the global development landscape could be made more effective in the fight to leave no one behind, and achieve the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Human Development Report was released worldwide by the United Nations Development Program on 21 March 2017. The report reflects that the Dominican Republic continues to be classified in the area of High Human Development placing the country in position 99 of the 188 countries. The Dominican Republic moved up two spots since the 2015 report. 

The best performance by the DR was in relation to income, followed by life expectancy upon birth and access to education. “Leaving no one behind needs to become the way we operate as a global community. In order to overcome the barriers that hamper both human development and progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, inclusiveness must guide policy choices,” said Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, speaking at the launch of the report in Stockholm today, alongside UNDP Administrator Helen Clark and the report’s lead author and Director of the Human Development Report Office, Selim Jahan.

http://www.diariolibre.com/economia...ones-en-indice-de-desarrollo-humano-LA6640739
http://hdr.undp.org/en/2014-report


Customs seizes 8 million contraband cigarettes
Customs Agency security forces seized a contraband of eight million cigarettes hidden in a textiles freight container. The cargo entered the country by Haina Oriental Port from Miami, Florida. 

Director General of Customs Enrique Ramirez was present for the opening of the freight container transported by Seaboard Marine. He was accompanied by representatives of the Dominican Association of the Cigarette Industry (Asocigar). 

Security forces in the US and DR had been following the container from its departure in Miami. It contained 800 boxes of Capital brand cigarettes with 10,000 units, or eight million cigarettes. The shipment was imported in the name of Adritex whose lawyers disassociated the company from the contraband.

http://www.diariolibre.com/economia...ndo-de-ocho-millones-de-cigarrillos-CE6644532


Preventive custody in Delcy Yapor homicide
National District prosecutors requested preventive custody in the involuntary homicide case whereby Delcy Miguelina Yapor died of a bullet that was aimed at purse-snatchers in the Evaristo Morales neighborhood on Monday, 20 March 2017. Former corporal of the Air Force Franklin Padilla fired at the motorized assailants on Francisco Prats Ramírez near parking of the BHD bank. It was later learned he carried the gun without the legal permit. 

Padilla said he was walking his dog and saw the assailants on a motorcycle point their gun at a young woman, later identified as Yunairi Hernandez Lluberes, and take her bag. He then fired at them, seeking to impede their escape and instead impacted Yapor who was driving children to school in her van. On board were two children. 

At the time, Padilla did not know he had caused the death of Yapor and went about his morning routine. Padilla was arrested in Villa Juana where he worked and the test to his gun was positive. 

http://www.7dias.com.do/portada/201...nvoluntario-sospechoso-matar-delcy-yapor.html
http://www.listindiario.com/la-repu...-ciudadanos-no-tomar-la-justicia-en-sus-manos
http://www.listindiario.com/la-repu...r-me-quitaron-a-mi-mama-y-me-quitaron-mi-pais
http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias...-yapor-que-transportaba-estudiantes-CM6619004
http://hoy.com.do/audio-joven-victi...con-muerte-de-delcy-cuenta-como-sucedio-todo/
http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias...-yapor-que-transportaba-estudiantes-CM6619004


Flooding in Puerto Plata
Heavy rains again have affected normalcy in Puerto Plata. Ten communities were flooded and road communication is difficult. These are Ranchito de los Peralta, Caonao, Palmarito and Angostura affected by overflows of the Bajabonito river in the Maimon district. Also Los Felix de Bajabonico, Palma Sola, Damajagua, Los Perez Saballo and La Piragua in Imbert were flooded. 

Flooding also momentarily affected the airline counters at the Puerto Plata International Airport, and the low visibility caused flight delays. Yolanda Mañán, spokeswoman for the airport administration, nevertheless, said no flights were cancelled. 

Two parents and a child are reported missing after their vehicle was dragged by flooding waters when they attempted to cross the Domínguez River. 

http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias/lluvias-inundan-aeropuerto-de-puerto-plata-BX6642201
http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias...uzar-rio-desbordado-en-puerto-plata-YF6645144


Tremors remind us we are in a quake zone
Eugenio Polanco, the director of the National Seismological Center at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD), noted on 22 March 2017, that the seven slight tremors that varied between 3.1 and 3.6 on the Richter scale that have occurred over a 24-hour period between Monday and Wednesday are gentle reminders that the Dominican Republic is located in an earthquake zone and that the population should be prepared to know how to respond to an earthquake. However, Polanco pointed out that “in cases such as these small tremors, there is no need for the population to be alarmed.” 

According to a preliminary report from the Seismological Center, between early Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon there were seven quakes registered:  Barahona (3.2), northeast of San Rafael de Yuna (3.6); Saona Island in the Caribbean Sea (3.5); northeast of Bayaguana, in Monte Plata (3.4); northwest of San Geronimo in San Pedro de Macorís (3.1) and northwest of Ramon Santana, in San Pedro de Macorís (3.2). 

Santana said that if all of these quakes had occurred in the same spot there could have been a major earthquake. But since these tremors were spread out mostly over the southern half of the island of Hispaniola their effects were minimal.  However, they serve to remind us that we do live in an earthquake prone area.


Team USA wins World Baseball Classic
Team USA pitcher Marcus Stroman controlled Puerto Rican batters for seven innings to be the key player in the United States winning the World Baseball Classic championship 8-0 on 22 March 2017. It was the first time Team USA reached the finals. 

Puerto Rico had won its first seven games, reaching the final at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California without a single defeat. The team, nevertheless, was only able to bat for hit in the seventh inning. 

The United States had lost to the Dominican Republic and to Puerto Rico in the round robin. 

This is was the second time Puerto Rico reached the playoffs. In 2013, the team had lost to the Dominican Republic. 

The media observed that the biggest winner in 2017 is the World Baseball Classic given the renewed interest in the championship the US win will create in the United States. 

https://www.worldbaseballclassic.com/bracket
http://m.mlb.com/news/article/22051...ort-in-amazing-classic-run/?topicid=209143850


National Ballet performance 
The Dominican National Ballet will be performing “Pas de Deux Gala” on the weekend of 31 March to 2 April 2017 at the Palacio de Bellas Artes. The performance is sponsored by the Ministry of Culture. 

The leading Dominican classic dancers will perform Tchaikovsky’s Pas de Deux by choreographer George Balanchine and Carmen, the masterwork by Alberto Alonso in a free version by Ivan Monreal Alonso. 

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


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