Back to school
Blue Mall opens in Punta Cana
Deputies’ president favors removing abortion articles from Penal Code
Rains cause collapse El Limón bridge in Samana
Partial solar eclipse to be seen in DR
Anthropologist alerts to altar boy practice
Longer hours for trucks on the Malecón
Cuadruplets expected at Hospital Reynaldo Almánzar
Dominican injured in Barcelona carnage
American accused of child sex abuse suspect of suicide
Four dead in La Victoria jail
Meditation workshops
Victor Estrella takes the Santo Domingo ATP Challenger
DR continues strong in 2017 Little League World Series
No storms for the Dominican Republic
Back to school
President Danilo Medina is expected at the Monte Plata polytechnical high school in Monte Plata for the formal opening of the 2017-2018 school year in the Dominican Republic on Monday, 21 August 2017. The Ministry of Education has ordered public schools to start on 21 August 2017. The country’s 4,826 private schools have more flexible back-to-school schedules.
An estimated 2,173,509 students in the public school system and 668,481 in the private system and 62,716 in semi-private schools affiliated to the public school system are registered for the 2017-2018 school year.
The Ministry of Education says that of this total, 317,923 are in pre-school (128,930 in public schools, 179,478 in private schools). Some 1,680,448 students are enrolled in elementary school (1,286,095 in public schools and 362,533 in private schools and 31,819 in semi-private schools affiliated to the public school network).
The Ministry of Education proudly announces that 1,150,000 student are already enrolled in the extended school day system at 4,057 public schools.
http://eldia.com.do/ano-lectivo-2017-2018-inicia-hoy-con-llamado-a-integrarse-a-clases/
Blue Mall opens in Punta Cana
President Danilo Medina was in Punta Cana on Thursday, 17 August 2017 for the formal opening of the Blue Mall Punta Cana. The mall is five minutes away from the Punta Cana International Airport, at the intersection of Boulevard Turístico and Carretera Juanillo.
Blue Mall is a joint venture of the Punta Cana Group and Grupo Velutini. The architectural and engineering firms of Diana Dalmasy and Imbert Dominguez (Oscar Imbert and Eduardo Imbert) are responsible for the construction.
President Danilo Medina attended the inauguration with Administrative Minister of the Presidency José Ramón Peralta, Tourism Minister Francisco Javier García, Public Works Minister Gonzalo Castillo and Foreign Relations Minister Miguel Vargas.
Several banks for weeks have been offering services at the mall. On 28 July 2017, a concert with Puerto Rican reggaeton singer Don Omar inaugurated the 3,000-person capacity amphitheater. The theater is also set up for shows with dancing waters.
The clothing store Zara is opening the Spanish chain’s largest store in Latin America at the Blue Mall Punta Cana.
The Blue Mall Punta Cana has 18,000 square meters of commercial space. The president of the company, Venezuelan Luis Emilio Velutini says the mall seeks to attract buyers that live in the nearby La Romana, Higuey and Punta Cana areas, in addition to Dominican and foreign tourists in the Punta Cana area.
A first Blue Mall opened in Santo Domingo at the corner of Winston Churchill and Gustavo Mejía Ricart.
https://presidencia.gob.do/noticias...on-bluemall-puntacana-se-generan-3500-empleos
http://dr1.com/forums/showthread.php/161594-Blue-Mall
Deputies’ president favors removing abortion articles from Penal Code
The new president of the Chamber of Deputies, Ruben Maldonado, favors removing abortion articles from the Penal Code. Strong Catholic and Evangelic church opposition to allowing exceptions to the prohibition of abortion has impeded the passing of the Penal Code that has been debated in Congress for the past 20 years. The abortion exceptions have been backed by President Danilo Medina, medical and women groups.
Ruben Maldonado, who on 16 August 2017 began his year as president of the Chamber of Deputies, favors that a special bill instead be introduced to separately legislate on abortion. He said both bills could be simultaneously voted on by the Chamber of Deputies.
The exceptions that would be voted on in the bill focus on the cases of malformation of the fetus that makes life unviable, when the mother’s life is in danger, and if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.
Maldonado stressed the importance of passing the Penal Code that would replace the 130-year old version. He mentioned the new version covers crimes that had not been covered and allowed for light sanctions to criminals, including contract killing, and devil’s acid attacks.
Maldonado announced he would hold Chamber of Deputies sessions outside of the Chamber, in the north, south and eastern regions. He made the comments when interviewed on Matinal TV talk show on Telemicro, Channel 5. During the interview, he was accompanied by vice president of the Chamber of Deputies Angela Pozo, Chamber secretaries Juan Suazo and Miledys Núñez and president of the Chamber of Deputies’ justice commission, Henry Merán.
http://elnacional.com.do/pide-sacar-del-codigo-penal-tema-del-aborto/
Rains cause collapse El Limón bridge in Samana
Flooding affected the town of El Limón in Samana. The town is best known for the nearby El Limón waterfall. Visits to the waterfall were suspended on Thursday, 17 August 2017, until the paths dried out with better weather moving in on Friday.
Diario Libre reported that a 52-year old Ignacio Moya drowned when river waters dragged him in during the flooding in the community. He was well known as an organizer of Catholic Church events in the town.
The rising waters also flooded homes in El Valle, Los Rieles, Los Chichiguaos and El 6 del Bajo Yuna in Sánchez municipalities.
The National Metereological Office (Onamet) has maintained weather alerts for possible continuation of flooding of rivers and streams.
https://www.diariolibre.com/noticia...e-ahogado-en-inundaciones-de-samana-GM7943800
Partial solar eclipse to be seen in DR
Local astronomers of the Sociedad Astronómica Dominicana (AstroDom) are advising the public to take care when trying to catch a glimpse of the partial solar eclipse. The celestial phenomenon will occur when the moon crosses in front of the sun and hides around 74% of the sun as it moves across the Caribbean Monday afternoon, 21 August 2017.
Opthalmologists warn to never look at the sun directly without protective eye gear, warning that sunglasses will not protect eyes from damaging the rays of the sun.
Miguel Acevedo of Astrodom said that if weather conditions allow the partial eclipse will begin to be seen as of 1pm through 4pm. He also urges using special protective eye gear and says that this does not include x-ray material.
Acevedo invites the public to the Museum of Natural History where they will be providing special lenses to observe the eclipse.
Astrodom explains that the partial solar eclipse will be visible for two and a half hours in Santo Domingo, mainly from 2:04 pm to 3:29pm when the moon will cover most of the sun. The partial solar eclipse is set to end at 4:43pm.
http://astrodom.org/
https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/make-pinhole-projector.html
http://hoy.com.do/video-las-recomendaciones-de-astrodom-para-ver-el-eclipse-de-sol-del-21-de-agosto/
http://www.listindiario.com/la-repu...ra-se-vera-el-eclipse-en-rd-este-21-de-agosto
Anthropologist alerts to altar boy practice
Anthropologist Tahira Vargas recommends that the practice of altar boys be banned in the country. She says that the Roman Catholic Church is very powerful in the country and there is no control of their religious activities.
The altar boys accompany the priests in mass and other religious activities. She said this would be a way to avoid sexual abuse. A recent church sexual abuse case has come into the open after a Catholic priest was accused of the murder of an altar boy in Hainamosa. The murder may have occurred so that the priest could prevent the victim, 16-year old Fernelis Carrión, from revealing photos he had of him having sex with the priest. Supposedly, the victim had been abused since he started as an altar boy at the priest’s church when he was six years old.
Vargas said that many Catholic and Christian families bring their children to the church, seeking refuge from dangerous street activities. But in her opinion, the strengths of the church may be their weaknesses.
She said, in her opinion, the Catholic Church acts above the Constitution. She says most do not dare question the actions of the church leaders. “This has resulted in that whatever a priest does in a community is fine, and there is no possibility to question the power of the priests and what they do with boys and girls, and no one dares denounce them, which results in silence and complicity,” she said.
http://www.7dias.com.do/portada/201...sugiere-eliminar-los-monaguillos-iglesia.html
Longer hours for trucks on the Malecón
The National District city government has agreed to extend for another two hours the time allotted for trucks to travel along the sea-bordering Malecón. The request was made by business organizations. The measure is temporary while the Ministry of Public Works completes a new road (Circunvalación de Santo Domingo) that would divert cargo traffic around the city.
Trucks will now be able to travel on the Malecon Monday to Friday from 12 midnight to 2pm from Calle Arzobispo Meriño to Av. Maximo Gomez. After 2pm. On Saturday, the trucks will be able to travel from 12 midnight to 12 noon. As of noontime, they will not be able to travel on the Malecon until Monday.
https://www.diariolibre.com/noticia...culos-de-carga-por-el-malecon-de-sd-BM7934311
Cuadruplets expected at Hospital Reynaldo Almánzar
A 20-year old from San José de Ocoa had to work hard to find a public hospital that could help her give birth to her cuadruplets. As reported in El Dia, looking online she found that at the Hospital Materno Reynaldo Almánzar in Villa Mella in 2015 had helped sextuplets be born. The hospital opened three years ago and has helped 295 cases of multiple births.
Eloida Santos says she studied accounting and has just two courses pending before she can graduate. Her husband lives abroad. She traveled to Santo Domingo with her mother, Nelly González.
Rafael Draper, director of the birthing hospital, said when Santos arrived to the clinic, Santos had already begun giving birth, yet she was only 25-26 weeks pregnant. She was hospitalized in the intensive care unit, where the birthing process was stopped. The hospital hopes she can make it to the seven-month mark (28-29 weeks) to give time for the maturing of the respiratory capacity of the babies.
The family already thought of the names for the babies – Isabel, Isamar, Isaara and Isaac.
http://eldia.com.do/madre-de-20-anos-es-primer-caso-de-cuatrillizos-de-hospital-en-2017/
http://hmra.gob.do/
Dominican injured in Barcelona carnage
A 22-year old Dominican, Elizabeth Díaz Jerez, was among the injured in the Barcelona terrorist attack on La Rambla on Thursday, 17 August 2017. The Ministry of Foreign Relations reported she suffered a slight injury to her arm during the event when a terrorist driving a van traveling at high speed zigzagged through the popular public space in Barcelona, targeting everyone in his path.
The Departamento de Protección Civil in Barcelona said that persons from 34 countries were among the over 100 injured in the terrorist attack. Some 13 persons were killed.
http://elnacional.com.do/identifican-dominicana-herida-en-atentado-barcelona/
American accused of child sex abuse suspect of suicide
46-year old American resident Paul Sandford Guggenheim is suspected to have committed suicide at the Palacio de la Justicia Jail where he was held. The case file charged Guggenheim with taking advantage of children and teenagers in vulnerable situations, paying them in exchange for sexual favors.
His hung body was found in the cell’s bathroom by a fellow inmate at the Palacio de Justicia. Prosecutors had delayed formally charging Guggenheim until Friday, 18 August, due to the holiday celebrated on the Wednesday, 16 August.
The deceased had been arrested on 11 August 2017 after being caught infraganti having sex with a 15-year old male child at his Piantini apartment. The case file says Guggenheim had offered to pay the child RD$2,500 for the sexual favors. Guggenheim reportedly had picked up the child from the Plaza Juan Barón on the Malecón.
The news comes as a surprise as Guggenheim was country representative for Counterpart International, a leading development non-governmental organization.
As reported in El Dia, neighbors in the Piantini apartment building where he lived, had alerted the authorities on 31 March that vulnerable minors were visiting Guggenheim in his apartment. The minors would visit at night and leave in the early morning. This would be confirmed by the surveillance videos of the building, according to the case file.
The file mentions two specific cases of sexual abuse of minors. Reportedly, the deceased had sexually abused two teenagers, ages 13 and 15 years old. The 13-year old said he made a living begging on the Malecón and admitted to having sex for money. The file says the minor explained that the following morning Guggenheim would drop him off where he had picked him up the previous evening and pay him RD$1,000 for the services.
State prosecutors had been investigating the case, culminating to the arrest on 11 August.
During the search of Guggenheim’s apartment on 11 August, the Police reportedly found a significant number of condoms, lubricants, sex potency pills, children-sized shoes and clothing, mobile phones, laptops, and tablets.
Reports are that Guggenheim was suspect of having committed suicide on Tuesday, 15 August. El Dia says an autopsy was ordered to confirm the suicide.
Guggenheim is related to the famous Guggenheim family that has created the cultural wonders of the New York Solomon Guggeinheim museum and the Bilbao Guggenheim museum, among others.
http://eldia.com.do/norteamericano-se-suicido-era-acusado-de-tener-sexo-con-menores/
Four dead in La Victoria jail
Four Haitians, condemned to the maximum sentence of 30 years in jail, died during a bloody brawl at the La Victoria Jail on Thursday, 17 August 2017. The dead were identified as Bruner Ferndinan, Dieumanece Jean, Luis Pie (in jail for robbery) and Yefri Seis (in jail for rape) who the authorities suspect were murdered by fellow inmates Juan Carlos Vargas, Ricardo de los Santos, Carlos Luis Romero Frias, Newar Alejandro Diaz Guillen, Dignario de Jesus Gonzalez, Manuel Augusto Rubio Severino, Edward Rodriguez Torres, Juan Francisco Martin Ceballos, Staling Reyes Cofrado and Ricardo Pena Almonte.
http://eldia.com.do/mueren-cuatro-reclusos-en-la-victoria-durante-una-rina/
https://www.metrord.do/do/noticias/2017/08/17/dicen-reos-de-la-victoria-fueron-ahorcados.html
http://www.listindiario.com/la-repu...taron-a-4-haitianos-para-apoderarse-de-dinero
Meditation workshops
The Art of Living Foundation and Supermercados Nacional are sponsoring the visit of 45-year old Swami Paramtej who will lead meditation and breathing technique workshops from 18 to 28 August 2017. Swami Paramtej trained with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of the Art of Living Foundation and who has been nominated on five occasions to the Nobel Peace Prize.
Swami Paramtej teaches people to connect with themselves, to be able to better connect with others.
For more information, contact El Arte de Vivir in Santo Domingo at Tel 809 338-4404 or on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fundación-El-Arte-de-Vivir/433296143389963
http://www.swamiparamtej.com/info/biography/
Victor Estrella takes the Santo Domingo ATP Challenger
37-year old Victor Estrella has won seven ATP Challenger cups, but probably the sweetest one was the Milex Open won on Saturday, 19 August 2017 in Santo Domingo. His fans in the Dominican Republic went wild when he became the first home grown winner at the US$125,000 ATP Challenger Tour event held at the La Bocha courts of the Santo Domingo Tennis Club.
Estrella won the Milex Open trophy with a 7-6(4), 6-4 victory over top seed 25-year old Damir Dzumhur from Bosnia, ranked 67th, from 73rd at the start of the tournament.
"It was a great tournament and I played at my best level the entire week," said Estrella Burgos, as reported by ATP. "Today, I felt a lot of pressure but I was able to manage it. It was a very close match and I'm really, really happy to win it. To win here in the Dominican Republic is something special.
"It's especially important for me because I return to the Top 100 again as well. This is a great moment for my season and I hope to use this for a strong finish."
The tournament lifted Estrella to be 90th, up from 112th prior to the tournament.
Victor Estrella is the best Dominican tennis player ever. In March 2014, he became the first player from the Dominican Republic to crack the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings. He would advance to be ranked 43rd in the ATP ranking in July 2015. In 2015, he would become the island nation's first ATP World Tour champion, at the Ecuador Open. He now has won seven ATP Challenger cups.
http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/santo-domingo-challenger-2017-estrella-burgos
http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/players/victor-estrella-burgos/e224/overview
DR continues strong in 2017 Little League World Series
The Dominican Republic, the Caribbean champions, representing the region in the 2017 Little League World Series, bested Australia 8-7 to continue strong in the tournament in the game on 19 August. The tournament is taking place in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, USA from 17-27 August 2017.
As reported, Australia started strong, but a six-run third inning by the Dominican Republic put them in a dominant position before they had to hold on as the Aussies mounted a thrilling comeback. The Dominican Republic scored another two runs in the top of the fifth inning to lead 8-2, before Australia started its rally. Two runs in the bottom of the fifth brought the score to 8-4 before the rally continued in the bottom of the sixth, but came up a run short.
Previously, the DR had lost to the Asian-Pacific champions, 10-1, on Friday, 18 August.
On Monday, 21 August at 6pm, the DR is scheduled to play the Latin American Little League champions, Venezuela, that previously had defeated Canada.
16 teams from around the world are participating, including eight from the United States, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Canada in the Americas.
The games can be followed in the Dominican Republic live on ESPN.
See the schedule at: http://www.espn.com/espn/llws
http://www.espn.com/sports/llws17/s...republic-ends-australia-little-league-journey
http://www.llbws.org/
No storms for the Dominican Republic
Some rainstorms will be felt as the trough of low pressure, associated with the remnants of Harvey, produce large area of cloudiness and disorganized thunderstorms over the west-central Caribbean. But in general, weather news is good for the Dominican Republic.
The good news is that the weather forecasters now say that the large area of cloudiness and disorganized thunderstorms located to the east-northeast of the northern Leeward Islands will run into upper-level winds that make it unlikely this system will develop as it moves northwestward through the Caribbean.
This is the peak time for the hurricane season in the DR, a time to be prepared for big storms, and to monitor the storms as they enter the Caribbean waters.
To follow the news, see http://dr1.com/forums/showthread.php/161573-hurricane-season-2017?p=1813718#post1813718
Blue Mall opens in Punta Cana
Deputies’ president favors removing abortion articles from Penal Code
Rains cause collapse El Limón bridge in Samana
Partial solar eclipse to be seen in DR
Anthropologist alerts to altar boy practice
Longer hours for trucks on the Malecón
Cuadruplets expected at Hospital Reynaldo Almánzar
Dominican injured in Barcelona carnage
American accused of child sex abuse suspect of suicide
Four dead in La Victoria jail
Meditation workshops
Victor Estrella takes the Santo Domingo ATP Challenger
DR continues strong in 2017 Little League World Series
No storms for the Dominican Republic
Back to school
President Danilo Medina is expected at the Monte Plata polytechnical high school in Monte Plata for the formal opening of the 2017-2018 school year in the Dominican Republic on Monday, 21 August 2017. The Ministry of Education has ordered public schools to start on 21 August 2017. The country’s 4,826 private schools have more flexible back-to-school schedules.
An estimated 2,173,509 students in the public school system and 668,481 in the private system and 62,716 in semi-private schools affiliated to the public school system are registered for the 2017-2018 school year.
The Ministry of Education says that of this total, 317,923 are in pre-school (128,930 in public schools, 179,478 in private schools). Some 1,680,448 students are enrolled in elementary school (1,286,095 in public schools and 362,533 in private schools and 31,819 in semi-private schools affiliated to the public school network).
The Ministry of Education proudly announces that 1,150,000 student are already enrolled in the extended school day system at 4,057 public schools.
http://eldia.com.do/ano-lectivo-2017-2018-inicia-hoy-con-llamado-a-integrarse-a-clases/
Blue Mall opens in Punta Cana
President Danilo Medina was in Punta Cana on Thursday, 17 August 2017 for the formal opening of the Blue Mall Punta Cana. The mall is five minutes away from the Punta Cana International Airport, at the intersection of Boulevard Turístico and Carretera Juanillo.
Blue Mall is a joint venture of the Punta Cana Group and Grupo Velutini. The architectural and engineering firms of Diana Dalmasy and Imbert Dominguez (Oscar Imbert and Eduardo Imbert) are responsible for the construction.
President Danilo Medina attended the inauguration with Administrative Minister of the Presidency José Ramón Peralta, Tourism Minister Francisco Javier García, Public Works Minister Gonzalo Castillo and Foreign Relations Minister Miguel Vargas.
Several banks for weeks have been offering services at the mall. On 28 July 2017, a concert with Puerto Rican reggaeton singer Don Omar inaugurated the 3,000-person capacity amphitheater. The theater is also set up for shows with dancing waters.
The clothing store Zara is opening the Spanish chain’s largest store in Latin America at the Blue Mall Punta Cana.
The Blue Mall Punta Cana has 18,000 square meters of commercial space. The president of the company, Venezuelan Luis Emilio Velutini says the mall seeks to attract buyers that live in the nearby La Romana, Higuey and Punta Cana areas, in addition to Dominican and foreign tourists in the Punta Cana area.
A first Blue Mall opened in Santo Domingo at the corner of Winston Churchill and Gustavo Mejía Ricart.
https://presidencia.gob.do/noticias...on-bluemall-puntacana-se-generan-3500-empleos
http://dr1.com/forums/showthread.php/161594-Blue-Mall
Deputies’ president favors removing abortion articles from Penal Code
The new president of the Chamber of Deputies, Ruben Maldonado, favors removing abortion articles from the Penal Code. Strong Catholic and Evangelic church opposition to allowing exceptions to the prohibition of abortion has impeded the passing of the Penal Code that has been debated in Congress for the past 20 years. The abortion exceptions have been backed by President Danilo Medina, medical and women groups.
Ruben Maldonado, who on 16 August 2017 began his year as president of the Chamber of Deputies, favors that a special bill instead be introduced to separately legislate on abortion. He said both bills could be simultaneously voted on by the Chamber of Deputies.
The exceptions that would be voted on in the bill focus on the cases of malformation of the fetus that makes life unviable, when the mother’s life is in danger, and if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.
Maldonado stressed the importance of passing the Penal Code that would replace the 130-year old version. He mentioned the new version covers crimes that had not been covered and allowed for light sanctions to criminals, including contract killing, and devil’s acid attacks.
Maldonado announced he would hold Chamber of Deputies sessions outside of the Chamber, in the north, south and eastern regions. He made the comments when interviewed on Matinal TV talk show on Telemicro, Channel 5. During the interview, he was accompanied by vice president of the Chamber of Deputies Angela Pozo, Chamber secretaries Juan Suazo and Miledys Núñez and president of the Chamber of Deputies’ justice commission, Henry Merán.
http://elnacional.com.do/pide-sacar-del-codigo-penal-tema-del-aborto/
Rains cause collapse El Limón bridge in Samana
Flooding affected the town of El Limón in Samana. The town is best known for the nearby El Limón waterfall. Visits to the waterfall were suspended on Thursday, 17 August 2017, until the paths dried out with better weather moving in on Friday.
Diario Libre reported that a 52-year old Ignacio Moya drowned when river waters dragged him in during the flooding in the community. He was well known as an organizer of Catholic Church events in the town.
The rising waters also flooded homes in El Valle, Los Rieles, Los Chichiguaos and El 6 del Bajo Yuna in Sánchez municipalities.
The National Metereological Office (Onamet) has maintained weather alerts for possible continuation of flooding of rivers and streams.
https://www.diariolibre.com/noticia...e-ahogado-en-inundaciones-de-samana-GM7943800
Partial solar eclipse to be seen in DR
Local astronomers of the Sociedad Astronómica Dominicana (AstroDom) are advising the public to take care when trying to catch a glimpse of the partial solar eclipse. The celestial phenomenon will occur when the moon crosses in front of the sun and hides around 74% of the sun as it moves across the Caribbean Monday afternoon, 21 August 2017.
Opthalmologists warn to never look at the sun directly without protective eye gear, warning that sunglasses will not protect eyes from damaging the rays of the sun.
Miguel Acevedo of Astrodom said that if weather conditions allow the partial eclipse will begin to be seen as of 1pm through 4pm. He also urges using special protective eye gear and says that this does not include x-ray material.
Acevedo invites the public to the Museum of Natural History where they will be providing special lenses to observe the eclipse.
Astrodom explains that the partial solar eclipse will be visible for two and a half hours in Santo Domingo, mainly from 2:04 pm to 3:29pm when the moon will cover most of the sun. The partial solar eclipse is set to end at 4:43pm.
http://astrodom.org/
https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/make-pinhole-projector.html
http://hoy.com.do/video-las-recomendaciones-de-astrodom-para-ver-el-eclipse-de-sol-del-21-de-agosto/
http://www.listindiario.com/la-repu...ra-se-vera-el-eclipse-en-rd-este-21-de-agosto
Anthropologist alerts to altar boy practice
Anthropologist Tahira Vargas recommends that the practice of altar boys be banned in the country. She says that the Roman Catholic Church is very powerful in the country and there is no control of their religious activities.
The altar boys accompany the priests in mass and other religious activities. She said this would be a way to avoid sexual abuse. A recent church sexual abuse case has come into the open after a Catholic priest was accused of the murder of an altar boy in Hainamosa. The murder may have occurred so that the priest could prevent the victim, 16-year old Fernelis Carrión, from revealing photos he had of him having sex with the priest. Supposedly, the victim had been abused since he started as an altar boy at the priest’s church when he was six years old.
Vargas said that many Catholic and Christian families bring their children to the church, seeking refuge from dangerous street activities. But in her opinion, the strengths of the church may be their weaknesses.
She said, in her opinion, the Catholic Church acts above the Constitution. She says most do not dare question the actions of the church leaders. “This has resulted in that whatever a priest does in a community is fine, and there is no possibility to question the power of the priests and what they do with boys and girls, and no one dares denounce them, which results in silence and complicity,” she said.
http://www.7dias.com.do/portada/201...sugiere-eliminar-los-monaguillos-iglesia.html
Longer hours for trucks on the Malecón
The National District city government has agreed to extend for another two hours the time allotted for trucks to travel along the sea-bordering Malecón. The request was made by business organizations. The measure is temporary while the Ministry of Public Works completes a new road (Circunvalación de Santo Domingo) that would divert cargo traffic around the city.
Trucks will now be able to travel on the Malecon Monday to Friday from 12 midnight to 2pm from Calle Arzobispo Meriño to Av. Maximo Gomez. After 2pm. On Saturday, the trucks will be able to travel from 12 midnight to 12 noon. As of noontime, they will not be able to travel on the Malecon until Monday.
https://www.diariolibre.com/noticia...culos-de-carga-por-el-malecon-de-sd-BM7934311
Cuadruplets expected at Hospital Reynaldo Almánzar
A 20-year old from San José de Ocoa had to work hard to find a public hospital that could help her give birth to her cuadruplets. As reported in El Dia, looking online she found that at the Hospital Materno Reynaldo Almánzar in Villa Mella in 2015 had helped sextuplets be born. The hospital opened three years ago and has helped 295 cases of multiple births.
Eloida Santos says she studied accounting and has just two courses pending before she can graduate. Her husband lives abroad. She traveled to Santo Domingo with her mother, Nelly González.
Rafael Draper, director of the birthing hospital, said when Santos arrived to the clinic, Santos had already begun giving birth, yet she was only 25-26 weeks pregnant. She was hospitalized in the intensive care unit, where the birthing process was stopped. The hospital hopes she can make it to the seven-month mark (28-29 weeks) to give time for the maturing of the respiratory capacity of the babies.
The family already thought of the names for the babies – Isabel, Isamar, Isaara and Isaac.
http://eldia.com.do/madre-de-20-anos-es-primer-caso-de-cuatrillizos-de-hospital-en-2017/
http://hmra.gob.do/
Dominican injured in Barcelona carnage
A 22-year old Dominican, Elizabeth Díaz Jerez, was among the injured in the Barcelona terrorist attack on La Rambla on Thursday, 17 August 2017. The Ministry of Foreign Relations reported she suffered a slight injury to her arm during the event when a terrorist driving a van traveling at high speed zigzagged through the popular public space in Barcelona, targeting everyone in his path.
The Departamento de Protección Civil in Barcelona said that persons from 34 countries were among the over 100 injured in the terrorist attack. Some 13 persons were killed.
http://elnacional.com.do/identifican-dominicana-herida-en-atentado-barcelona/
American accused of child sex abuse suspect of suicide
46-year old American resident Paul Sandford Guggenheim is suspected to have committed suicide at the Palacio de la Justicia Jail where he was held. The case file charged Guggenheim with taking advantage of children and teenagers in vulnerable situations, paying them in exchange for sexual favors.
His hung body was found in the cell’s bathroom by a fellow inmate at the Palacio de Justicia. Prosecutors had delayed formally charging Guggenheim until Friday, 18 August, due to the holiday celebrated on the Wednesday, 16 August.
The deceased had been arrested on 11 August 2017 after being caught infraganti having sex with a 15-year old male child at his Piantini apartment. The case file says Guggenheim had offered to pay the child RD$2,500 for the sexual favors. Guggenheim reportedly had picked up the child from the Plaza Juan Barón on the Malecón.
The news comes as a surprise as Guggenheim was country representative for Counterpart International, a leading development non-governmental organization.
As reported in El Dia, neighbors in the Piantini apartment building where he lived, had alerted the authorities on 31 March that vulnerable minors were visiting Guggenheim in his apartment. The minors would visit at night and leave in the early morning. This would be confirmed by the surveillance videos of the building, according to the case file.
The file mentions two specific cases of sexual abuse of minors. Reportedly, the deceased had sexually abused two teenagers, ages 13 and 15 years old. The 13-year old said he made a living begging on the Malecón and admitted to having sex for money. The file says the minor explained that the following morning Guggenheim would drop him off where he had picked him up the previous evening and pay him RD$1,000 for the services.
State prosecutors had been investigating the case, culminating to the arrest on 11 August.
During the search of Guggenheim’s apartment on 11 August, the Police reportedly found a significant number of condoms, lubricants, sex potency pills, children-sized shoes and clothing, mobile phones, laptops, and tablets.
Reports are that Guggenheim was suspect of having committed suicide on Tuesday, 15 August. El Dia says an autopsy was ordered to confirm the suicide.
Guggenheim is related to the famous Guggenheim family that has created the cultural wonders of the New York Solomon Guggeinheim museum and the Bilbao Guggenheim museum, among others.
http://eldia.com.do/norteamericano-se-suicido-era-acusado-de-tener-sexo-con-menores/
Four dead in La Victoria jail
Four Haitians, condemned to the maximum sentence of 30 years in jail, died during a bloody brawl at the La Victoria Jail on Thursday, 17 August 2017. The dead were identified as Bruner Ferndinan, Dieumanece Jean, Luis Pie (in jail for robbery) and Yefri Seis (in jail for rape) who the authorities suspect were murdered by fellow inmates Juan Carlos Vargas, Ricardo de los Santos, Carlos Luis Romero Frias, Newar Alejandro Diaz Guillen, Dignario de Jesus Gonzalez, Manuel Augusto Rubio Severino, Edward Rodriguez Torres, Juan Francisco Martin Ceballos, Staling Reyes Cofrado and Ricardo Pena Almonte.
http://eldia.com.do/mueren-cuatro-reclusos-en-la-victoria-durante-una-rina/
https://www.metrord.do/do/noticias/2017/08/17/dicen-reos-de-la-victoria-fueron-ahorcados.html
http://www.listindiario.com/la-repu...taron-a-4-haitianos-para-apoderarse-de-dinero
Meditation workshops
The Art of Living Foundation and Supermercados Nacional are sponsoring the visit of 45-year old Swami Paramtej who will lead meditation and breathing technique workshops from 18 to 28 August 2017. Swami Paramtej trained with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of the Art of Living Foundation and who has been nominated on five occasions to the Nobel Peace Prize.
Swami Paramtej teaches people to connect with themselves, to be able to better connect with others.
For more information, contact El Arte de Vivir in Santo Domingo at Tel 809 338-4404 or on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fundación-El-Arte-de-Vivir/433296143389963
http://www.swamiparamtej.com/info/biography/
Victor Estrella takes the Santo Domingo ATP Challenger
37-year old Victor Estrella has won seven ATP Challenger cups, but probably the sweetest one was the Milex Open won on Saturday, 19 August 2017 in Santo Domingo. His fans in the Dominican Republic went wild when he became the first home grown winner at the US$125,000 ATP Challenger Tour event held at the La Bocha courts of the Santo Domingo Tennis Club.
Estrella won the Milex Open trophy with a 7-6(4), 6-4 victory over top seed 25-year old Damir Dzumhur from Bosnia, ranked 67th, from 73rd at the start of the tournament.
"It was a great tournament and I played at my best level the entire week," said Estrella Burgos, as reported by ATP. "Today, I felt a lot of pressure but I was able to manage it. It was a very close match and I'm really, really happy to win it. To win here in the Dominican Republic is something special.
"It's especially important for me because I return to the Top 100 again as well. This is a great moment for my season and I hope to use this for a strong finish."
The tournament lifted Estrella to be 90th, up from 112th prior to the tournament.
Victor Estrella is the best Dominican tennis player ever. In March 2014, he became the first player from the Dominican Republic to crack the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings. He would advance to be ranked 43rd in the ATP ranking in July 2015. In 2015, he would become the island nation's first ATP World Tour champion, at the Ecuador Open. He now has won seven ATP Challenger cups.
http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/santo-domingo-challenger-2017-estrella-burgos
http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/players/victor-estrella-burgos/e224/overview
DR continues strong in 2017 Little League World Series
The Dominican Republic, the Caribbean champions, representing the region in the 2017 Little League World Series, bested Australia 8-7 to continue strong in the tournament in the game on 19 August. The tournament is taking place in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, USA from 17-27 August 2017.
As reported, Australia started strong, but a six-run third inning by the Dominican Republic put them in a dominant position before they had to hold on as the Aussies mounted a thrilling comeback. The Dominican Republic scored another two runs in the top of the fifth inning to lead 8-2, before Australia started its rally. Two runs in the bottom of the fifth brought the score to 8-4 before the rally continued in the bottom of the sixth, but came up a run short.
Previously, the DR had lost to the Asian-Pacific champions, 10-1, on Friday, 18 August.
On Monday, 21 August at 6pm, the DR is scheduled to play the Latin American Little League champions, Venezuela, that previously had defeated Canada.
16 teams from around the world are participating, including eight from the United States, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Canada in the Americas.
The games can be followed in the Dominican Republic live on ESPN.
See the schedule at: http://www.espn.com/espn/llws
http://www.espn.com/sports/llws17/s...republic-ends-australia-little-league-journey
http://www.llbws.org/
No storms for the Dominican Republic
Some rainstorms will be felt as the trough of low pressure, associated with the remnants of Harvey, produce large area of cloudiness and disorganized thunderstorms over the west-central Caribbean. But in general, weather news is good for the Dominican Republic.
The good news is that the weather forecasters now say that the large area of cloudiness and disorganized thunderstorms located to the east-northeast of the northern Leeward Islands will run into upper-level winds that make it unlikely this system will develop as it moves northwestward through the Caribbean.
This is the peak time for the hurricane season in the DR, a time to be prepared for big storms, and to monitor the storms as they enter the Caribbean waters.
To follow the news, see http://dr1.com/forums/showthread.php/161573-hurricane-season-2017?p=1813718#post1813718