DR1 Daily News - Tuesday, 19 June 2018

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Drivers ed comes to public schools
Blood center to enter into operation by year’s end
National Larimar Day
Maintenance to tunnels
Angel Rondon’s lawyers say government deal with Odebrecht cleared their client
Still waiting for defense documents in Odebrecht case
Relationship between Felix Bautista and Leonel Fernández
Víctor Díaz Rúa says he was already tried for the same case
Felix Bautista and Víctor Díaz Rúa temporarily suspended from PLD
Carreteo 27 to slow down traffic to protest high fuel prices
Chinese restaurants closed for poor hygiene
Much needed: A law of prompt payment
Arrest of jewelry murderer due to surveillance cameras and social media
Provinces on flood alert, sweltering heat to continue
Flooding in Santiago
Bartolo Colón beats Juan Marichal record
Maluma is coming to Santo Domingo



Drivers ed comes to public schools
Education Minister Andrés Navarro and Claudia Franchesca de los Santos, director of the National Institute of Transit & Ground Transport (Intrant), announced the signing of an inter-institutional cooperation agreement for implementing road safety instruction in public schools. Virtual transit modules will be installed at around 150 high schools nationwide under the auspices of the República Digital online government program.

The agreement includes actions that will reach out to parents, teachers, staff and students at the public schools. It seeks to reduce the number of traffic accidents.

http://www.ministeriodeeducacion.go...-para-impartir-educacion-vial-en-las-escuelas


Blood center to enter into operation by year’s end
A major government blood bank center and network will be operational by the end of the year, according to María Suárez, technical director for social policies and Hector Lopez, in charge of infrastructure for the Office of the Vice President. The two officers say that the center will be connected to the 16 large regional hospitals that are located in Greater Santo Domingo and several provinces. Priority at the blood center will be given to the most vulnerable among the population.

The center will have two levels of 1,500 meters of construction, laboratories, and includes cold stores. There are several stations within the facility to receive and process blood donations.

The new blood center is located behind the Reynaldo Almánzar, Hugo Mendoza and Nelson Astacio hospitals. It was initially funded by a US$6.6 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank.

At present, the leading blood services are provided by the Dominican Red Cross.

http://hoy.com.do/hemocentro-cambiara-viacrucis-vive-gente-para-obtener-la-sangre/


National Larimar Day
National Congress has declared that 22 November of each year be “National Larimar Day.” Law 17-18 declares that the date marks when 1916 priest Miguel Domingo Fuertes first discovered the stone in southwestern Barahona.

Larimar is a variety of white and blue colored pectolite that is only found in the Dominican Republic. It was declared the national stone in 2011.

By means of this law, the ministries of Energy and Mines, Environment, Culture and Tourism should fund activities to promote larimar nationally and internationally.

Included in the legislation is the call for an annual celebration in Barahona province where the Larimar artisans school, workshop and museum is located.

http://eldia.com.do/republica-dominicana-establece-el-22-de-noviembre-como-dia-nacional-del-larimar/


Maintenance to tunnels
The Ministry of Public Works (MOPC) has announced that this week, several tunnels and elevated sections will close from 10.30 pm to 5.00 am for cleaning and maintenance.

Today, Tuesday 19 June 2018, John F. Kennedy with Núñez de Cáceres avenues and Doctor Fernando Arturo Defilló street will be closed. On Wednesday and Thursday, the elevated section of Charles de Gaulle with Mella roads will be repaired. On Thursday, Ave. 27 de Febrero with Ave. Máximo Gómez will receive maintenance. Finally, on Friday, the Las Américas tunnel will be repaired. All these closures will be in both directions.

http://eldia.com.do/obras-publicas-cerrara-tuneles-y-elevados-a-partir-de-este-lunes-3/


Carreteo 27 to slow down traffic to protest high fuel prices
Traffic will be especially more difficult on 27 de Febrero Avenue in Santo Domingo on Tuesday, 19 June 2018, when as of the afternoon drivers are being asked to slow down in the Carreteo 27 protest organized by the Somos Pueblo civic group. The group is promoting a slow-moving caravan of vehicles. One lane is being left for ambulances.

The traffic slow down is called to demand transparency from the government and that it desist from adding what they deem as illegal taxes on the price of gasoline. The prices of gasoline fluctuate every week in the Dominican Republic, supposedly according to fixed parameters.

Somos Pueblo wants the government to release the fuel prices the variables used in the formula for calculating the price (Law 112-00) as part of the Ministry of Industry & Commerce publication on fuel prices for the week.

https://www.facebook.com/somospueblord/
http://www.elcaribe.com.do/2018/06/...ares-haran-carreteo-por-alza-de-combustibles/


Angel Rondon’s lawyers say government deal with Odebrecht cleared their client
In his written defense to the charges against him in the Odebrecht bribe scandal, Odebrecht commercial representative, Angel Rondón Rijo, criticized several parts of the investigation carried out by the Attorney General Office.

Rondón’s defense says that the accusation lacks precise information. In his defense, a list of witnesses are provided, including Juan Temístocles Montás, the former Minister of Industry and Commerce; Rafael Suero Miliano in his role as vice president of the Dominican Hydroelectric Generation Companies; José Lois Malkún, Vicente Bengoa Albizu, Daniel Toribio, former ministers of Hacienda (Treasury); Guido Gómez Mazara, Ricardo Ayanes Pérez Núñez, César Ramón Pina Toribio, Abel Rodríguez Del Orbe, former legal advisors to the Executive Branch; Marino Collante Gómez, president and participant in the meetings of the Permanent Committee of the Treasury in the Chamber of Deputies.

His lawyer, Jose Miguel Minier, in the written defense document, notes that there are a lack of facts, such as who was bribed, when they were bribed, and what exactly were the nature and amounts of the bribe.

Minier also explains that there was no information on the charge of criminal association and asks the judge to declare the charge inadmissible because, according to the attorney, it is Odebrecht that should assume this responsibility.

Moreover, he states that the Brazilian construction company already took full responsibility for the bribes when in the deal signed with the Attorney General Office it agreed to pay US$184 million to the Dominican state and therefore no other person should be held responsible as co-author of the crime.

https://www.diariolibre.com/noticia...ilidad-en-acusacion-caso-odebrecht-NF10150915
http://eldia.com.do/abogados-de-ang...ht-admitio-ser-unica-responsable-de-sobornos/


Still waiting for defense documents in Odebrecht case
Three of the seven accused by the Attorney General Office in the Odebrecht bribes case had not filed their written defenses to the Supreme Court of Justice as of Monday, 18 June 2018. Those who have not deposited their defense documents are lawyer Conrado Pittaluga, senator Tommy Galán (PLD-San Cristóbal) and former secretary general of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD), Jesús Vásquez, who is also the former Senate president.

Their case will be heard by the Supreme Court of Justice regarding the US$92 million in bribes the Brazilian construction company has said it paid to Dominican government officers in order to expedite construction work in the country.

Last Friday, 15 June 2018, the lawyers of Ángel Rondón, Víctor Díaz Rúaz, Andrés Bautista and Roberto Rodríguez, all handed in their defense documents, following the opening of the trial against the defendants.

https://listindiario.com/la-republi...debrecht-no-han-depositado-escritos-de-reparo


Relationship between Felix Bautista and Leonel Fernández
Former National District prosecutor, Guillermo Moreno reminds Dominicans that in 2013 he submitted to justice a complaint against former President Leonel Fernandez for use of public office for private gain. In the complaint, he had presented evidence that Felix Bautista, director of the Office of Supervisory Engineers of State Works (OISOE), directly benefited his companies with public works construction works undertaken by the OISOE office soon after he was appointed during the second government of Fernández in 2004. Bautista remaine din the position through 2010.
Moreno says the complaint also presented evidence of the coincidence of donations to Leonel Fernández’s think tank, the Fundación Global y Desarrollo (Funglode) by contractors soon after they had received disbursements for public works allotted during the Fernández administrations.

He recalls that today state prosecutor Yeni Berenice Reynoso “decided, without having carried out a single investigation to file the complaint taking into account Art. 281.6 of the Dominican Penal Code that applies to cases in which ‘it is manifest that the act is not a penal infraction’ by instead describing as “indelicadezas” or indelicate acts what evidently were acts of corruption committed by government officers in the exercise of their public roles.”

Guillermo Moreno, candidate for the presidency for Al País political party in 2016, concludes: “Without doubt, ours is a circular history: the same corrupt, the same complicities, the same impunity, the same patient citizens. How much are we paying for the absence of independent public ministry and judicial branch, responsible and committed to apply the law? When will we rebel and kick out these merchants that are in power.”

On Monday, 19 June 2018, after a petition made by PLD politician Francisco Domínguez Brito, the ruling PLD party announced they were suspending senator Felix Bautista from his position as secretary of operation of the party.

https://www.diariolibre.com/opinion/en-directo/felix-leonel-y-funglode-EF10152107
https://www.listindiario.com/la-rep...58/pld-se-queda-sin-dos-secretarios-por-ahora


Víctor Díaz Rúa says he was already tried for the same case
Former Minister of Public Works Víctor Díaz Rúa says that he is being retried for the same accusations included in the case that was ordered closed in 2014. He said National District prosecutor Yeni Berenice Reynoso ordered the case filed in 2014.

Díaz Rúa says that the illicit enrichment and money laundering attributed to him does not take into account that he managed campaign accounts for the PLD political party in his capacity as finance secretary. He says this is demonstrated in the certificate issued on 12 June 2018 by Reinaldo Pared Pérez, general secretary of the political party.

https://www.diariolibre.com/noticia...ble-persecucion-y-deben-archivarla-JG10160900


Felix Bautista and Víctor Díaz Rúa temporarily suspended from PLD
The Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) announced on Monday, 18 June 2018, the temporary suspension of senator Felix Bautista (PLD-San Juan de la Maguana) and former minister of public works Víctor Díaz Rúa from their positions of secretary of organization and secretary of finances, respectively, of the ruling political party. Reinaldo Pared Pérez, general secretary of the party, made the announcement during a press conference at the PLD headquarters.

“I uphold what is stated in Art. 29 of the PLD statutes moved to protect the PLD,” he said. The secretary general said Art. 29 enables him to take exceptional measures when necessary. Pared Pérez said he communicated his decision to the Political Committee that can revoke or confirm the measure in the future.

Felix Bautista told the press that he accepted the decision despite never having been sentenced and even though there is no open judicial process against him.

Pared Pérez said during the press conference at the party’s headquarters to announce the decision that in the cases of the president of the PLD in San Cristóbal, senator Tommy Galán, and Manuel Rivas, president of the district No. 4 of the province of Santo Domingo, he delegates unto the party structures the assessing of the situation of each. Galán is accused of receiving bribes from Odebrecht to expedite Odebrecht contract work, and Manuel Rivas is in jail accused of his involvement in the death of lawyer Yuniol Ramírez, who was investigating corruption at the Omsa, the state bus company, when directed by Rivas.

Pared Pérez said that when the legal procedures for the Odebrecht bribery case began, Díaz Rúa requested a leave of absence from his role as secretary of finances at the PLD. He said the same was done by also accused in the case, Temístocles Montás and Radhamés Segura, but these requests were not upheld on by the Political Committee of the PLD.

Former Attorney General Francisco Domínguez Brito presented the request after the US government publicly announced it was removing the visas of Felix Bautista and his family on grounds of corruption, and the formal accusation of Díaz Rúa in the Odebrecht bribery case.

https://www.listindiario.com/la-rep...58/pld-se-queda-sin-dos-secretarios-por-ahora
http://eldia.com.do/pared-perez-suspende-de-manera-provisional-a-diaz-rua-y-a-felix-bautista/
http://www.elcaribe.com.do/2018/06/19/el-pld-suspende-felix-bautista-y-victor-diaz-rua/


Chinese restaurants closed for poor hygiene
The National Institute for the Protection of Consumer Rights (ProConsumidor) ordered the immediate closure of three Chinese restaurants for inadequate hygiene. Pro Consumidor declared the health of consumers were at risk at these eateries.

The establishments closed are: Expreso Ying Ying, Expreso Sheng Fu and Wan Liy, all located on Independencia Avenue in the National District.

According to the report from Pro Consumidor, in Expreso Ying Ying there was evidence of cross contamination in the refrigerators, lack of a system for the registration of complaints by customers, inadequate drains, rust, rotting of the utensils, and a lack of organization. Employees were inadequately attired, expired products and products in poor condition were noted during an inspection. In the other two restaurants there were cockroaches in the kitchen, cross contamination of foodstuffs with chemicals, cracked floors, an inverter battery in the kitchen, inadequate bathrooms, among other violations.

https://listindiario.com/la-republi...hinos-contaminacion-y-presencia-de-cucarachas


Much needed: A law of prompt payment
Public relations expert Miguel Guerrero, writing in El Caribe, calls for an end to the big business and big government practice of strangling suppliers with delays in paying for goods and services delivered.

On 18 June 2018, Guerrero writes in his criticism of brutal capitalism:
“When analyzing the economy and its medium-and long-term prospects, emphasis is usually placed on the need to reduce informality as much as possible and improve jobs in the formal sector. This vision appears in almost all the approaches of the Dominican entrepreneurial class and the concern is praiseworthy because informality hinders the ability to attract fiscal resources and threatens the stability of the social security system that, in reality, has little security for beneficiaries of the system.

Guerrero goes on to note that the problem is that at the national level usual business practices do little to encourage formality. “The simplest and most brutal are the deadlines that large companies take unilaterally to settle the bills of their suppliers. That undeniable reality puts thousands of producers and small businesses in a very fragile situation. Hundreds of these end up with extreme difficulties in facing their tax obligations every month. Very simple: if they are paid in terms of 120 and 150 days, they will necessarily fall in conflict with their tax payments. For that and many other minor reasons, countless individuals and small businesses prefer the tranquility and shield of informality.”

Guerrero delves further. He explains: “There is also the case that even when the ITBIS (sales tax) is a dagger hanging above the necks of those operating in the formal sector, it also serves as financing to many companies that act as retention agents. For this reason, if we really want to make economic activity transparent and combat informality, a "law of prompt payment" would be effective,” he concludes.

But then Guerrero makes the point: “The fact is that here it is easy to focus our protests on the government, parties and members of Congress, and even with the church,” he writes while lamenting that nobody is touching on the issue of the delays in payments to suppliers.

http://www.elcaribe.com.do/2018/06/18/una-ley-de-pronto-pago/


Arrest of jewelry murderer due to surveillance cameras and social media
The arrest of Henry Daniel Lorenzo Ortiz, known as “Daniel el Caminante”, accused of having stabbed to death an employee of a jewelry shop in El Conde, National District was made possible by the use of surveillance technology and social media. Lorenzo Ortiz is accused of the murder of 36- year old Anneris Peña Pérez, at noon last Thursday, 13 June 2018.

Diario Libre reports that Lorenzo Ortiz was well known in the Colonial City area for selling jewelry and perfumes to employees in different establishments in the area.

The National Police used a photograph from a security camera that went viral enabling people to see it across the country.

The photograph was taken when Daniel Lorenzo Ortiz went to a shop in his neighborhood of Los Guaricanos, Santo Domingo Norte to buy clothes and tennis shoes where he was photographed by the store’s surveillance system. He was subsequently arrested in the Genesis hotel in Higuey in the company of a minor.

When arrested he was in possession of the murder weapon, along with RD$60,000 in cash and several pieces of jewelry he had stolen.

https://www.diariolibre.com/noticia...-asesino-de-la-empleada-de-joyeria-GF10157643


Provinces on flood alert, sweltering heat to continue
A weather front and a weak tropical wave are causing afternoon thunderstorms. The National Meteorological Office (Onamet) has issued an alert against flooding and overflowing rivers and streams for 8 provinces. But Onamet also maintains that high temperatures and sweltering heat will continue.

Those provinces under flood alert are Santiago, Duarte, Sánchez Ramírez, Puerto Plata, Hermanas Mirabal, La Vega, María Trinidad Sánchez, Monseñor Nouel and Espaillat.
Onamet has said that the thunderstorms may be accompanied by lightning, especially in the northwest, north, northeast, central mountain area and the frontier zone.

https://listindiario.com/la-republi...aguaceros-emiten-alerta-para-nueve-provincias


Flooding in Santiago
More than 200 homes are under water in different parts of Santiago, due to the rains on the night of Monday, 17 June 2018. The rains were accompanied by thunder and lightning and flooding took place in Cambronal, La Joya, Hospedaje Yaque, El Ingenio Abajo, La Gloria, Duarte and Hoyo de la Cacata.

Members of Civil Defense assisted those flooded and began to assess the damage.

The president of the Federation of Neighborhood Groups and Untied Popular Organizations in Santiago (JUVOPUSABN), Andrés Ramos, said that flooding occurred in part because the drainage ditches were full of garbage.

https://listindiario.com/la-republi...an-calles-y-viviendas-en-sectores-de-santiago


Bartolo Colón beats Juan Marichal record
Texas Ranger pitcher, 45-year old Bartolo Colón now holds the record of most wins in Major League Baseball by a Dominican pitcher. He has upped Cooperstown Hall of Fame member, Juan Marichal who had 243 MLB career wins.

Colón reached the 244 wins landmark defeating the Kansas City Royals 6-3 on Monday, 19 June 2018. He is now going after the 245 wins record for the most wins by a Latin American pitcher, held by Nicaraguan Dennis Martínez. This is Colón’s 21st season in Major League Baseball.
Colón is a native from Altamira in Puerto Plata.

His next game is set for Sunday, 24 June against the Minnesota Twins.

http://www.elcaribe.com.do/2018/06/19/bartolo-es-el-criollo-con-mas-victorias-en-las-grandes-ligas/


Maluma is coming to Santo Domingo
Popular Colombian singer, Maluma (Juan Luis Londoño Arias), announced he will be performing on 15 August 2018, at the Palacio de los Deportes in Santo Domingo. He is on tour for his F.A.M.E. album that has placed him in the Billlboard Top Latin Albums. The concert has been a sell out in 22 previous appearances around the world.

Tickets are for sale online at Uepa Tickets, and at the ticket desks at the Supermercados Nacional and Jumbo.

https://www.listindiario.com/entret...ecera-concierto-en-el-palacio-de-los-deportes