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Daily News - 7 March 2000
Making it easier to get or renew a passport
The Department of Passports announced the opening of new branches in Santiago de los Caballeros, La Vega, San Francisco de Macorís, Monte Cristi and Puerto Plata in addition to branches already operating at Las Americas (Santo Domingo) and Gregorio Luperon (Puerto Plata) Airports. In Santo Domingo, the Department of Passports has opened four branches in order to bring the service nearer to the customer. New offices are operating on the San Vicente de Paul Avenue (Los Minas), Herrera, Isabel Aguiar and Villa Mella (northern Santo Domingo). Those needing to renew or acquire the document also have access to a VIP service, which permits the document to be obtained within 48 hours for an additional cost. The Department of Passports will soon be moving to the new offices that it will share with the Department of Migration in the Centro de los Heroes.
Rural electrification program
The government announced the implementation of a rural electrification program that will benefit residents in rural communities in 20 provinces. Some RD$15 to RD$20 million a month will be invested in the program. Radhamés Segura, administrator of the Dominican Electricity Corporation (CDE), and Marcos Villamán, executive director of Plan Comunidad Digna made the announcement. Rural communities that will benefit are located in Azua, Barahona, Dajabón, Elías Piña, El Seibo, Hato Mayor, La Altagracia, Monte Cristi, Monte Plata, Pedernales, Samaná, San Cristóbal, San Juan de la Maguana, San Pedro de Macorís, Santiago, Santiago Rodríguez and Valverde provinces.
Indotel rules in favor of France Telecom and Centennial
Hoy newspaper says that Indotel, the government organization that regulates telecommunications operations in the DR, made final a provisional resolution authorizing the operation of France Telecom (http://www.francetelecom.com/vanglais/i/i1.html) and Centennial Communications Corporation (http://www.centennialcom.com) in the DR. Their operation is disputed by the two local telecommunications leaders, Codetel (GTE) and Tricom (Motorola).
The resolution authorizes Transmisiones y Proyecciones S.A. to join France Telecom and All America Cables and Radio to join Centennial Communications Corporation.
The newspaper also reports that IDT Corporation will be vying for a share of the telephone card market, utilizing Coca Cola as distributor. IDT will be working closely with All America Cables and Radio in which the president and owner of the Coca Cola franchise in the DR has 30% ownership.
Who gets which frequencies?
Several associations of television and radio stations joined yesterday to present their opposition to the implementation of the ruling for concessions, licenses, permits and special registrations for telecommunications services promoted by the Instituto Dominicano de las Telecomunicaciones (Indotel). Channels TeleAntillas (2), TeleMicro (5), Antena Latina (7), Color Visión (9), TeleSistema (11) and TeleCentro (13) presented a document with suggestions for changes in the proposed ruling. They complained that Indotel is trying to do is take frequencies away from certain media to pass these on to others for the transmission of data. The stations have the backing of the Asociación Dominicana de Radiodifusoras (Adora), Asociación de Plantas Televisoras de la Banda VHF, Asociación de Empresas de Radiocomunicaciones, Asociación de Cables Via Satelite, among others.
The television stations say the Dirección General de Telecomunicaciones, the predecessor of Indotel, granted them the frequencies. They affirm that they should get priority in the reordering of the nation's frequencies by Indotel.
Frequencies have been kwown to be granted for political reasons.
Howard Wiarda to give talks on US-DR relations
The Ministry of Foreign Relations and the Diplomatic and Consular School of the Dominican Republic are inviting to the talks:
Domestic fundaments of US foreign policy and the US
Latin America and the Caribbean, International Relations in the 21st Century
Dr. Howard Wiarda, specialist of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) of Washington, D.C. is the guest speaker (http://www.csis.org/html/4wiarda.html)
The talks will be 9 and 10 March at 7 pm at the principal hall of the Diplomacy and Consular School. To attend, call 535-6280 ext. 2303 and 2371.
Wiarda published an article on the Dominican Republic last year that can be read at
http://www.csis.org/americas/pubs/hemvii4.html
Court citations by fax
The Supreme Court of Justice announced that the Dominican judiciary will be sending out summons using the Fax Mail service of Inposdom, the government postal service, and not telegrams as in the past.
Spain donates fire-fighting equipment
Spain is donating US$19 million to adequately equip the Santo Domingo Fire Department. The equipment is a donation secured during one of the trips of President Fernández to Spain. The Fire Department has already received seven fire engines, four ambulances and four jeeps, worth US$2,316,000.
The new fire engines are estimated to be 25% more economical to operate than the department's present obsolete equipment. Chief of the Firemen, Luis Cos Garrido said that once all equipment shipments arrive, the Santo Domingo corps will be one of the best equipped in the Caribbean.
Fire fighting equipment at present being used in Santo Domingo will be distributed among fire stations located in the interior of the country.
Mashed plantains and eggs for public school breakfasts?
Minister of Education Ligia Amada Melo rejected a proposal from PRD presidential candidate Hipólito Mejía to change the content of the breakfast snacks served to public school children. The government serves bread and milk snacks. Hipólito Mejía has said that a month after he is President, he change the public school breakfasts to serve mangú (mashed plantains), batata (sweet potatoes) or yucca with eggs.
Minister Melo said that the suggestion is not practical, because the schools do not have facilities to cook or heat meals. She said that an experiment at the start of her tenure when they served eggs had to be discontinued.
She said that tubers are served in several public schools in the frontier zone because kitchens were set up for this purpose.
Gallup poll shows Balaguer is gaining, but Hipólito still leads
The Rumbo Magazine/Gallup Poll of 22-27 February shows Hipólito Mejía of the PRD continues to lead with 45%, followed by Danilo Medina with 26% and 94-year old Joaquín Balaguer with 23%. Mejía dropped one point since the previous January poll, Danilo Medina kept his position, and Balaguer gained three points. Mejía leads in preferences in all the provinces, but he falls short of the 50%+1 of the vote needed to win in a first round.
The way Balaguer is trailing the government party candidate, feeds speculation that despite his physical limitations, Balaguer could possibly make it to the second round. Political analysts say Balaguer will not need much to surpass the lackluster PLD candidate in the final days of the campaign. While Medina won his party's primary, he was considered by most polls a less attractive candidate than today Vice President Jaime David Fernández Mirabal. This is today more apparent in his slow increase in popularity despite millions spent on promoting his image nationwide. According to the poll, Balaguer leads Medina in the preferences of voters in the South, 29% vs. 23%. And in the North, Balaguer and Medina are tied at 25% of the voter preference. Nevertheless, the most important voting zone, the National District (Santo Domingo), Medina has a support of 26% vs. 19% of Balaguer, and 47% of Mejía.
The poll presents three scenarios for a second round voting: If Mejía (PRD) and Medina (PLD) make it to a second round, the vote would be 48% PRD and 42% (PLD, allied with the PRSC). If Mejía (PRD) and Balaguer (PRSC) make it to a second round, the vote would be 46% PRD, 46% PRSC (allied with the PLD). If Mejía (PRD) and Medina (PLD) make it to a second round, the vote would be 56%, if the PRD allied with the PRSC, and 33% PLD.
Dominicans don't like colloquial talk of Mejía
The Rumbo/Gallup poll shows that most Dominicans do not appreciate the colloquialism in the speech of PRD presidential candidate Hipólito Mejía. Replying to: "Do you consider that Hipólito Mejía handles himself well when he speaks or commits errors that work against him? 28% answered he handles himself well, and 60% said he commits errors that work against him. Mejía's most severe critics, according to the poll, are in his home region, El Cibao, where 66% do not agree with his colorful way of talking. Mejía has several times attributed his high rating in the polls to his colorful way of speaking, that he says reaches out to the less educated masses.
Canadian sports technicians visit
A group of Canadian sports technicians visited to assist with the preparation of the 2003 Pan American Games. Terry Wright and Guy Lodge, of the IPS Consulting Limited. will be in the Dr through 15 March. They will be visiting every three months to assist tin the organization of the games.
Vargas Llosa launches his book on Trujillo
Mario Vargas Llosa launched his "La fiesta del Chivo" novel in Madrid, Spain yesterday. The renown Peruvian author and politician said the grip late Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo had on the psyche of the Dominican population for three decades was what inspired him to write the novel. Vargas Llosa said that it took him 25 years to write the book, including several months of research in the DR. In the novel, Vargas Llosa creates fictitious characters and situations, but he says that what happened to them could really have happened.
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