Home  Message Archive  2007  2006  2005  2004  2003  2002  2001  2000  1999  1998  Premium News Service

Daily News - 11 April 2000
Accusations of electoral fraud fly
"Fraud" is a word heard frequently both before and after Dominican elections, and the current campaign season is no exception. PRSC party leader and former SD District Attorney, Alexis Joaquin Castillo, charged that every act of the Central Elections Board (JCE) accords with "the directives" of the PRD party. Castillo referred to the "distortion and dislocation" of the voter registration lists and the assignment to voting districts and polling stations. Castillo said that he fully agrees with last week’s statement by PLD spokesman Euclides Gutierrez Felix that the JCE is attempting to force voter abstention by its laggard distribution of registration cards (cedulas).

Prominent attorney and inveterate gadfly, Marino Vinicio Castillo (no relation to Alexis Joaquin Castillo), went even further in charging that "since they were chosen" the JCE judges have acted like "a neighborhood committee of the PRD." Five of the seven JCE judges are widely regarded to be PRD party stalwarts. Castillo, who also currently serves as the nation’s anti-drug czar, pointed to the inadequate monitoring of the voter rosters, the relocation of 360,000 eligible voters from their regular voting districts, and the failure to issue tens of thousands of voter registration cards, as evidence of a "total fraud." The May 16th elections, he affirmed, will be "a slaughterhouse for the country."

Meanwhile, the JCE announced that a test of the electoral computer system, carried out in 84 of the 115 municipal voting districts, was successful. The test was a "dry run" for the new high speed network commissioned by the JCE from Codetel, the major local phone company and a subsidiary of GTE. The new equipment will allow for instantaneous and simultaneous receipt of polling station tabulations at JCE headquarters, according to Huascar Frias, the JCE’s head of information systems, whereas, "it used to take 20 minutes." Previous years’ election results have been known to take days to tabulate, but the JCE has offered assurances that this year’s election results will be published the same day.

The JCE also announced that with a final printing of 161,000 pending voter registration cards, which have been shipped to various distribution points, it has now concluded the emission of new cards. Numerous voters have been hard pressed to obtain their cards, returning repeatedly to JCE offices and leaving empty-handed. According to the JCE, over 4,021,000 were distributed prior to January 31st, the original deadline. April 10th was established as the extended deadline.
PLD leads in campaign spending
The ruling Partido de la Liberacion Dominicana (PLD) has spent more on TV advertizing during the current presidential campaign than all the other political parties combined. A survey sponsored by a group called Citizen Participation found that the PLD paid for 52% of all TV ads on all channels since July, 1999. The Partido Revolucionario Dominicano (PRD) is in second place with 26%, while the Partido Reformista Social Cristiano came in third with 20%. Minor parties paid for just 2% of TV ads, according to the survey, which was conducted by an impartial organization, the Center for Monitoring Communication media.

The total value of expenditures by all the parties for TV is DR$85.7 million (around US$5.4 million), with DR$44.5 for the PLD, DR$22.2 for the PRD, and DR$17.4 for the PRSC. The figures exclude the cost of radio spots, newspaper ads, placards, signs and banners, insignia-emblazoned hats and tee-shirts, and all the rest of the campaign paraphernalia.
Livestock producers accuse meat processors
The National Cattle Producers Organization ( APROLECHE), and the National Porcine Commission complained to the congress that the government’s lenient attitude toward beef and pork imports is driving them into bankruptcy. Spokesmen for the two organizations offered testimony before a senate committee that is considering raising from 25% to 40% the duties on imported beef and pork. The measure has already been approved by the Chamber of Deputies.

The Porcine Commission’s Pedro Porrello Reynoso, and the Cattle Producers’ Marcelino Vargas of the Cattle Producers, told the senators that rather than acquire pork and beef from local producers, the makers of salami, and other processed meats, prefer to import beef and pork "trimmings" - that is, deboned cuts of meat - which they declare as "raw material" in order to pay low customs duties. Vargas and Reynoso alleged that meat packages then go on to "cheat the treasury" by low-balling declared values. They cited pork trimmings, which have a value of US$.95 per pound, which are being declared art US$.09 per pound, and taxed accordingly.

During 1998 and 1999, according to Vargas, "40 million pounds of beef and pork trimmings" were imported, whereby the treasury lost DR$50 million in under-declared duties. Whereas packaged meat producers have raised prices by 25%, national producers have been required to lower prices by 20% per kilo. As a result, the slaughter of cows and pigs has been reduced by 75%, they said.

For their part, the Association of Meat Processors has petitioned Agriculture Minister Amilcar Romero to rescind his order to freeze importation of trimmings Yuly Vizcaino, spokesman for the group, appealed to minister - currently on leave and campaigning as the vice-presidential candidate of the PLD party - to consider the substantial losses that the meat processing industry will sustain if the ban remains in effect.
Civil Defense and Red Cross prepare for holy week
Some 7,500 people and 70 ambulances will be on standby alert at beaches and bathing holes, along highways and mountain trails next week, according to the Civil Defense Agency. "Operation Holy Week 2000" has recruited personnel from such organizations as the National Police, the armed forces, the Red Cross, the National Meteorology Office, the Office of National Transport, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Fire Department, the Air Brigade of the Dominican Airclub, and the Medical Emergency Directorate of the Public Health Department, to observe the most frequented locales and be prepared to respond to any emergency.

The National Directorate of Assistance and Emergencies has established a Center for Emergency Operations (COE) to dispatch help to the any of the tens of thousands of Dominicans who will flock to the beaches, the mountains and other vacation spots around the country. Leaving town during Holy Week is an almost obligatory ritual for Dominicans, and tourist accommodations are normally packed over Easter weekend.

The Red Cross will make available emergency assistance "brigades," who were recently trained by emergency services specialists from Cuba and Puerto Rico, at 295 posts around the country, staffed by 3,353 volunteers Communications crews will also be strategically situated at highway toll booths. The COE will move its operations into high gear next Wednesday, which is when most people leave home for the long weekend.

Big business sued for use of pirated software
Following closely on the heels of the agreement forged by President Leonel Fernandez with Microsoft to combat intellectual piracy in the country, several major Dominican businesses are being sued for the illegal use of copyrighted software. The International Business Software Alliance (IBSA) will file suit in SD against "automobile importers, box manufacturers and ceramics producers." No corporate identities were revealed by IBSA which said that it is following up on the results of unannounced raids on big businesses that were conducted last week and have been submitted by the Attorney General to the eighth and ninth district courts in SD. On that occasion, and on several previous occasions, he Special Anti-Piracy Assistant Attorney General, Carlos Castillo, has discovered and confiscated unauthorized versions of software.
Forest fires wreak destruction in protected areas
Although the protracted drought may be the root cause, investigators have been dispatched to the scene of three blazes to look for "other causes." At the moment, hundreds of acres are being consumed by flames in the woodland preserve of Loma Comadreja, in Monte Plata, in the Santo Domingo Greenbelt, and in the Eastern National Park. A fourth blaze, now extinguished, had previously consumed 200 tareas of pine forest near the Rio Blanco Dam in Bonao.

"Our experts will determine if criminal acts were involved, " said Manuel Serrano, head of Quisqueya Verde, a leading ecological organization dedicated to reforestation. Especially, the fire in the Santo Domingo Greenbelt has fallen under suspicion as the palm-studded terrain now being consumed was recently invaded by squatters, who have constructed dozens of make-shift shacks. Members of the Armed Forces, the National Parks Department and the National Institute of Forest Resources have been fighting the flames for several days. In Loma de Comadreja, fields of saplings, newly planted by Quisqueya Verde, have been destroyed along with stands of old growth forest.
Neighbors flee from escaping ammonia gas
A leak from an ammonia gas cylinder at the Alaska Ice Factory, located in the La Fe section of the capital, caused several families to be evacuated from their homes nearby. Firemen rushed to the scene of the incident, which occurred around 9:30 last night. Seven employees of the factory were working in the compressor room, where the ice-making machinery is located, when one of the cylinders "separated itself from its shut-off valve," according to Frank Troncoso, the factory manager. They were immediately evacuated and the Fire Department was called. The gas escaped "for about 25 minutes" until firemen, clad in protective rubber suits and gas masks, had supervised the transfer of the remaining gas into a new cylinder. They then dissipated the residue with a hose.

Ammonia gas is highly toxic, and was immediately detected in nearby houses, whose occupants were evacuated by firemen. Luis Bencosme and Julio Cesar Rosario, to neighbors of the ice factory complained that they live in constant fear of gas leaks and explosions of tanks of ammonia, of which, they said, there have been four. When they have complained to the owners of the Alaska Ice Factory, they were told that if they don’t like living there, they should move, they said. Last night, incensed neighbors chanted "Alaska Ice must go! Alaska Ice must go!"
Stock market bill stalled
The president of the National Council for Private Enterprise, Celso Marranzini, said that the approval of a national stock exchange ought to be "a priority," since it will foster savings and create an infusion of new capital to spur business growth. A bill to create the Santo Domingo Stock Market was presented to congress by the Fernandez administration in September, 1998.

Marranzini, who spoke at a seminar titled "Constructing Capital Markets in the DR by means of a Stock Exchange," said that Dominican business currently only has recourse to banks, which typically make only short term loans at double digit rates of interest. A stock market is much more flexible financing medium, offering better conditions for corporations. What’s lacking, he said, is a framework within which to make the operations of Dominican business "transparent."
Pistol-packin’ intruder in palace
The police disarmed, arrested and detained an unnamed man who was confronted inside the National Palace. He was carrying a "pistol and revolver" at the time, according to police sources. The man, who was described as being "about six feet tall and weighing 200 pounds" was dressed in short pants and offered no resistance when he was taken into custody near the palace’s reception area. Police offered no details as to his motives. The National Palace, where the President and Vice President, and their staffs have their offices, is heavily guarded by platoons of bayonet-wielding soldiers.
Works nearing completion for La Romana Games
Things are on schedule for the completion of preparations for the XII National Games, scheduled to open in La Romana on April 29th. Reynaldo Nova, head of the Organizing Committee for the games, stated that the "stage is practically set" for this month’s event that will include the participation of 2,943 athletes competing in 25 different sports. The week-long competition must house, feed and transport the athletes, along with scores of trainers and managers.

Nova said that only the new Olympic swimming pool and multi-use arena remain to be completed, and he expects to start filling the pool by April 20th.

La Romana’s Francis Micheli Stadium has be refurbished at a cost of RD$30 million, and will be the scene of the opening ceremonies to be led by President Leonel Fernandez and Sports Minister Juan Marichal.

The organizing committee has had to plan to serve 3 meals a day to more than 4 thousand people. For that purpose, according to Nova, advanced food preparation equipment has been imported from Spain, and SD’s most highly regarded chef, Mike Mercedes, has been retained to plan the menus. "This is going to be the best dining room in National Games History," he said.

For the first time, badminton, volleyball and triathlon will be added to the traditional track and field events, basketball, beach volleyball, tai kwan do, tennis, ping-pong, skeet-shooting, weight-lifting and horsemanship.
Dominicans distinguish themselves in big league play
Dominicans shone in the first week of the big league baseball season’s opening week. Five Dominicans figured among the 15 leading batters with at least a .400 batting average. They are Vladimir Guerrero, Fernando Tatis, Luis Castillo, Adrian Beltre, and Ron Belliard. Guerreo, of the Montreal Expos, was in first place with a score of .500, with 24 turns at bat, 12 hits, 4 home runs, and 11 runs batted in.
Home  Message Archive  2007  2006  2005  2004  2003  2002  2001  2000  1999  1998  Premium News Service

The contents of this webpage are copyright © 1996-2008.  DR1. All Rights Reserved.