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Daily News - 15 February 2000
President Fernández in Japan
"To do politics today, is to find new investment capital, and that is what I am doing with much earnestness and interest," President Fernández told Dominican journalists covering his tour of Asia. President Fernández is the first Dominican statesman to ever visit Japan while in office. News correspondents covering President Leonel Fernández's trip to Asia are reporting good news back on the results of the trip.
Hoy newspaper correspondent Manuel Jiménez reports that the government of Japan may finance the installation of Japanese companies in the Santo Domingo Cyberpark, the high tech park promoted by President Fernandez. The funding would be provided by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), according to that corporation's head, Governor Hiroshi Yasuda, who met with President Fernandez yesterday.
Reportedly, President Fernandez spoke on the phone by telephone with James Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank, who favors the Dominican Republic being favored by the SoftBank technological investment program that was announced yesterday. On Monday, Fernandez met with the top executive of SoftBank, Masayoshi Son, who showed an interest in investing in DR-based Internet-related companies. (http://www.dr1.com/daily/news021400.shtml)
The director of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Kimio Fujita also announced his support to development projects in the DR. The funding would assist farming, environment and education projects.
President Fernandez met yesterday with Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi. El Caribe reports that Minister Obuchi committed to send a technical-financial mission to the DR to identify development projects, as per a report in The Japan Times.
President Fernández was received yesterday by the Emperor of Japan Akihito who decorated him with the Order of Chrysanthemum, the highest decoration given by the Japanese royalty. President Fernández reciprocated, decorating the Japanese Emperor with the Order of Christopher Columbus, Golden Cross.
Yesterday, President Fernandez attended a business promotion presentation promoted by Jetro, the Japan External Trade Organization. And he met with foreign ambassadors of Latin America and Caribbean accredited in Japan. He visited the installations of the Nipon Telephone and Telegraph and the Japanese Diet, and had lunch with 30 Japanese congressmen that are members of the Committee of Friends of the DR.
The President is traveling with Secretary of the Presidency Alejandrina German, Minster of Industry and Commerce Luis Manuel Bonetti, Minister of Foreign Relations Eduardo Latorre, Technical Secretary of the Presidency Temistocles Montas and Minister of Tourism Felix Jimenez.
Eli Heiliger of the Listín Diario reports that the Dominican Republic is known in Japan for its baseball players and merengue music.
Superintendence sends inspectors to new power distribution offices
The Superintendence of Electricity announced that it has detected irregularities in the billing of electricity by the new distributor companies. The office decided to assign permanent inspectors to the commercial offices of the new power distribution companies to help defend consumers. Marcos Cochón, electricity superintendent, said that the inspectors will serve as intermediaries between the consumers and the firms. Cochón said that his department has verified that the companies are not reading the power counters and are estimating the consumption. Cochón said that while in the past the companies' predecessor, the state privatized state utility corporation (CDE) billed clients by estimating consumption, this practice can no longer be permitted. "One would suppose that if the Dominican state has allowed the incorporation of these new capitals and new managerial capacity it is to overcome the errors of the past," he said. "Even though we understand we are in a transition period, our job is to impede that the injustices that have been committed, do not continue to occur," he said. He explained that the Superintendence's role is to protect consumers, guaranteeing that the private companies do not abuse consumers, even if this is by involuntary error.
Technical problems continue to affect JCE
The managerial and technical weaknesses that have affected the organization of the 2000 presidential election for the past two years are making headlines again. Thousands of persons had to go home empty-handed when the Junta Central Electoral, the board in charge of organizing the presidential election, was not able to deliver on promises of having the capacity of issuing the thousands of voting cards that are still pending.
The problems mostly affect thousands of persons that requested their document in the early days of the process, before several of the informatics bugs were fixed. Several of these persons have been requesting the cards for a year now.
Hoy newspaper reported that even the delegate of the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano expressed concern regarding the confusing situation and the displeasure of citizens who made trips to get their cards and had to return home empty-handed. The PRD-majority Congress handpicked the new board that has been criticized for managerial and technical incapacity.
According to statistics provided by the JCE, almost one million persons have yet to get their cedulas. The JCE say they have capacity to issue 50,000 cards a day, but yesterday, only 5,000 were issued according to news reports, primarily due to technical problems. The official stats indicate that as of 5 February, 4,405,272 persons have applied for the card, and 3,417,877 cards have been issued.
Villa tender postponed for Friday
The committee in charge of the construction of the Pan American Games villa complex announced that the tender was postponed for Friday. It had been scheduled to take place on Monday, 14 February. The event was postponed at the request of two of three of the companies that would be participating. The committee that has organized the tender decided to pre-qualify three companies, all of which will receive contracts to build the towers. The one with the best proposal will build five towers, the second best two towers and the third best, one tower. The companies that are participating are Ferrovial-Agroman-Domínguez, Nexo-Ingeniero Marcos Tulio Reyes and OHL-Grupo Alfa. The Dominican Republic is borrowing the money to build the towers from Venezuela, and the state is contributing the lot on which the 700 apartments will be built to lodge approximately 5,000 athletes and coaches that are expected for the Santo Domingo 2003 Pan Am Games.
18% of PRSC votes would vote for PRD
Hoy newspaper publishes the results of the Hamilton poll on political alliances today. According to the poll, 31% of Dominicans able to vote favor an alliance between the PLD and the PRSC, 30% favor an alliance between the PRD and the PRSC. 48% of the PRSC followers favor an alliance with the PLD and 18% with the PRD. 29% says they do not favor any alliance.
76% of citizens able to vote feel that Hipólito Mejía of the PRD could win in the first round of the presidential election. 60% of the followers of Danilo Medina of the PLD and 55% of the followers of Joaquín Balaguer follows this. To win in the first round, a candidate needs to garner 50%+1 of the vote. The most recent Gallup poll showed Mejía having 50% of the vote, while a Hamilton poll showed him with 42% of the vote.
Carnival Millennium 2000
The Ministry of Tourism announced the program for the 2000 Carnival. This year the Cervecería Nacional Dominicana is sponsoring the carnival. The CND manufactures Presidente Beer.
Highlights of the Carnival are: a parade of dancing troupes along the Avenida del Puerto, set for Sunday, 20 February (starting 3 pm); the Gran Gala Cerveza Presidente Friday, 25 February at the Salon La Fiesta Hotel Jaragua at 9 pm; and the Sunday, 5 March Parade along the Santo Domingo Malecón (starting 2:30 pm).
Parades of characters in costumes and dancing troupes are also scheduled for all Sundays in February in Santiago (Avenida Las Carreras- 27 de Febrero) as of 3 pm, and
center city streets in La Vega (tour and travel agencies in Santo Domingo offer bus excursions for about RD$375) and Moca. Puerto Plata will close the carnival festivities, when the colorful carnival characters go north for the Sunday, 12 March closing along the Malecón as of 3 pm.
Presidente Beer is also sponsoring the participation of several well-known orchestras, with shows to be staged at the Avenida del Puerto. The orchestras to perform there as of 9 pm are:
Cocoband (Friday, 25 February), Sin Fronteras (Saturday, 26 February), Eddy Herrera (Sunday, 27 February), Rubby Pérez (Friday, 3 March), Freddy Gerardo and Grupo Mío (Saturday, 4 March), Fernando Villalona and Los Toros Band-Grand Parade (Sunday, 5 March.)
Presidente beer is sponsoring costumes parties at the following cafes and bars:
Santo Domingo:
Trio Café, Wednesday, 16 February
Beer House, Friday, 18 February
Monte Cristo Café, Wednesday, 23 February
Kassandra Café, Saturday, 26 February

Santiago
Francisfol, Friday, 25 February
Baha Club, Thursday, 2 March

La Vega,
Karetas Club, Thursday, 17 February
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