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Daily News - 12 April 2000
Elections ethics commission has harsh words for everyone
The Follow-up Commission for the Election Ethics Pact charged that the Central Elections Board (JCE) is fostering the impression that next month’s presidential election is "a carnival." The accusation was one of several included in the commission’s "second monitoring report," released yesterday. Harsh words were heaped on all the political parties for desecrating trees, traffic signals, private and government buildings, and neighborhoods with political propaganda. Nor was the government spared the commission’s scorn. It was accused of deploying public resources in support of the ruling party’s candidate, Danilo Medina.

Criticism of the role of the JCE centered on the ads it has placed on TV, in newspapers, and on billboards saying, in effect, that the act of voting is more important that the choice of a candidate. This, according to the commission report, exemplifies "a campaign based on the idea that people should vote without pausing to reflect on the ideas and proposals of the candidates.

Minor political parties - PRI and PNA - were condemned along with PRD, PLD, PRSC for obscuring traffic signals and road signs with placards, for placing party propaganda inside government offices, and slathering paint over living trees. Each party is identified by its own color, and during election season, lamp posts, curbsides, walls and trees are treated to haphazard pastel coats.

In support of its charges against the government, the commission cited the speech delivered by President Leonel Fernandez in Santiago’s Great Cibao Theater on March 30th in commemoration of a 19th century battle in the struggle against Haiti. The president spoke beneath "an enormous photo" of his party’s candidate. More over, PLD vice-presidential candidate, Amilcar Romero - on leave from his post as Agriculture Minister - has continued to participate in Agriculture Ministry functions.

The PLD party was also accused of manifesting a lack of respect for the PRD’s candidate, Hipolito Mejia. In PLD marches and gatherings, Mejia has been depicted in touched-up photos with grass protruding from his mouth, the idea being to depict a man with "emotional problems," which makes him look "like Cantinflas," stated the report.

Mejia accuses Fernandez with negotiating illegal loans; mollifies cardinal

Presidential candidate Hipolito Mejia, has to claimed to have documents showing that President Leonel Fernandez has secretly negotiated more than DR$1 billion in loans from five local banks. He also alleged that Fernandez will leave the government with debts of DR$30 million when he leaves office in August.

Senate president Ramon Albuquerque - like Mejia, from the PRD party - stated that he believes the sums to be even greater than those alleged by Mejia and immediately ordered an investigation by the senate’s finance committee to "to begin to establish constitutional responsibility."

Mejia stated that the situation is "troubling" because Fernandez is taking illegal loans "at 27% interest, excluding closing costs and other charges," without seeking congressional approval.

The local banks named by the PRD standard-bearer are; Fiduciario, Popular, Intercontinental, Reservas and First National. The large sums of money are supposedly needed to fund the government’s extensive road and highway projects, now nearing completion, he said, even though contractors continue to complain that they are not being paid.

Mejia also denied that he and Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez were at odds over whether or not use both old and new voter identification cards in next month’s elections. Mejia opposes the use of the old cards concurrently, while the Cardinal recently spoke in favor of the measure. "I received the Cardinal’s observations with respect and satisfaction," he said, "even though I don’t share them." Mejia told reporters that "we are great and inalienable friends." This is "the first time in my life that I dissent from His Eminence," he said.
Many voices join to dismiss charges of fraud
The three major parties, the Charge d’Affaires of the U.S. embassy, the Bishop of San Juan de la Maguana and the head of the Central Elections Board (JCE) all denounced the accusations of fraud brought by Marino Vinicio Castillo. Yesterday it was reported that Castillo, who currently serves as the country’s anti-drug czar but is also a consistent and flamboyant critic of politicians and governments, had charged the JCE was paving the way for a PRD victory, as evidence by voter roster irregularities and undelivered voter registration cards (cedulas).

But PRD candidate Hipolito Mejia asserted that "under no circumstances" could a fraud be perpetrated, and he attributed the allegation to "desperate people who have no possibility of winning cleanly,"

The acting president of the PRSC party, Donald Reid Cabral, also dismissed Castillo’s charge, as well as a similar one offered by Alexis Joaquin Castillo (no relation to Marino Vinicio Castillo), who his own party’s Technical Election Committee chairman. The latter Castillo alleged that a fraud is being orchestrated by the JCE compelling by large numbers abstentions. "We aren’t staying alert to fraud because we can win the elections cleanly," said Reid Cabral.

PLD candidate Danilo Medina similarly rejected the charges of fraud because, he said, "the conditions don’t exist to sustain it. The people won’t stand for it. Dominican democracy is now too mature."

At a ceremony in the western province of San Juan de la Maguana, Linda Watt, U.S. Charge d’Affaires discounted the possibility of an electoral fraud. Speaking at the dedication of a U.S.-sponsored housing complex for 700 families made homeless by Hurricane Georges, the diplomat noted that "there are too many organizations monitoring the electoral process," which she listed. "With all that help, I believe the JCE will give the Dominican people the elections they want." She was seconded by Monseñor Jose Dolores Grullen Estrella, San Juan’s highest ranking churchman, who asked those in attendance, "Do you believe that, with so many intelligent people involved, there’s any possibility of fraud?" Fraud, said the bishop, belongs to "times past."

Speaking in his own defense, JCE chairman, Manuel Ramon Morel Cerda appealed to the public to "close your ears to populist voices," that attempt to sew confusion and mistrust. When pressed by reporters to comment on the veracity of Castillo’s claim that the JCE wants to tilt the election toward the PRD, he exclaimed "Holy God! I have to say whether its true! Or its not true! Do you [reporters] have the slightest suspicion that this could be true?" Castillo has been "saying the same thing for a year and seven months," he said.
RD & US to patrol the Haitian border
A coordinated effort will be mounted among agencies of the DR and the US to combat drug smuggling, weapons contraband, and illegal immigration along the frontier with Haiti. Armed Forces Minister, Manuel de Jesus Florentino, announced that the first contingent of soldiers will soon be deployed in cities and military outposts along the 360 km border. They will be conveyed in 50 personnel transport vehicles newly arrived from Spain.

In addition to air force and army units, the frontier control operation will include the Military Assistance and International Logistics offices of the U.S. State Department, as well as the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

The plan was outlined in a report titled "Anti-narcotic Integration Project 2000," and will fortify installations across the border from the Haitian towns of Ounaminthe, Perrier, Mont Organice, Thomassigue, Monbin Chacha, Anse-a-Pitre and Malpasse.
UN agency finds DR food deficiency
The DR is among a group of eight Latin American nations that neither has sufficient food to feed its people nor sufficient money to import it. So says a report published by the UN’s agricultural organization (FAO), which places the DR alongside Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, and Nicaragua as living with "alimentary insecurity." The report calls on the governments of the eight nations to reduce malnutrition which, it claims, affects 54 million persons.

The report was offered by Gustavo Gordillo, Deputy Director of FAO for Latin America and the Caribbean, during the 26th annual FAO conference held in Merida, Mexico. The named countries have fallen short of the target for reduction of malnutrition that was established at the World Summit on Food held in Rome in 1996, and must redouble their efforts to attain it, according to Gordillo.
Japan to build hospital towers
The government of Japan will spend US$45 million to construct two towers to replace the aging and cramped Luis E. Aybar Public Health Hospital, which will be demolished. Construction will begin "late this year or early the next," and will increase the facility’s in-patient capacity to 450 from 262 beds. Ambulatory services will be housed in one of the towers, which will be equipped with the most up-to-date equipment. Japan will also train hospital personnel. Though antiquated, the Luis E. Aybar Hospital is one of the biggest in the capital and serves hundreds of out-patients daily.
Fernandez sends money laundering bill to congress
Senate president Ramon Albuquerque received the proposal of the chief executive to create and empower a National Committee Against Money Laundering, in order to detect and prevent the practice and punish the perpetrators. The bill also establishes the country’s obligations to collaborate in bilateral and multi-national agreements concerning money laundering to which the DR is signatory, such as the 1996 Convention of Vienna Treaty Illicit Drug Traffic and the Interamerican Convention on Corruption, held in Caracas in 1996.

The legislation recognizes the country’s financial sector - including banks, insurance companies, stock brokers, credit card issuers, and currency exchange agents - as particularly susceptible to money-laundering strategies.

The legislation also establishes the legal framework for combating and punishing traffic in drugs, human organs, extortion, bribery of public officials, as well as irregularities among casinos, and businesses or dealers that sell luxury vehicles and water-craft, real estate, works of art, and jewelry
Medical association apologizes for doctors’ conduct
The Dominican Medical Association (AMD) has apologized for the incident that took place this past March 29th, wherein some of its members assaulted police and smashed doors to the National Congress building in order to enter the legislative chambers. Doctors, nurses and other health workers were protesting the terms of new social security legislation, then being debated.

The apology, which was contained in a letter to Senate presiding officer, Rafael Albuquerque, was signed by Rafael Collado Guzman, MD, president, and Victor Diaz Alba, MD, secretary general, of the AMD. In it they wrote, the AMD "deplores the events of Wednesday, March 29th, since they were the fruit of an incident that had not been programmed." The letter acknowledged the generally favorable attitude of congress toward the doctors’ point of view. It went on to ask for a "quantified report" on the damages sustained, so that the AMD can pay them, and "to foment a climate of understanding and good relations." Senator Albuquerque praised the AMD’s attitude.
U.S. to invest in reforestation
The U.S. government will spend US$159 million over the next two years in reforestation and environmental protection. The decision was announced by U.S. Ambassador Charles Manatt after he returned from a tour of the southwest where he observed the effects of deforestation in dry river beds and bald mountains. Some 9.4 million perennials will be planted, including cacao and coffee trees, fruit trees and deciduous trees.

The program will be launched this month as a part of the 30th anniversary celebration of Earth Day. As part of the Earth Day observations, Manatt will host the "Caribbean Maritime and Environmental Conference," being sponsored by the U.S. Southern Command, to be held this Friday in the Hotel Metro in Juan Dolio, which will be attended by 40 specialists from 14 Caribbean nations. A second event will see the Ambassador and his wife, together with embassy staff and Dominican officials, planting trees in the embassy gardens. In the picturesque seaside hamlet of Bayahibe, Peace Corps volunteers and local residents will plant trees and stage a community clean-up.
Senator also a nobleman
The man who represents Duarte Province in the senate is also a Spanish aristocrat. So says Senator Julio Gonzalez Burel, who claims to be the Count of Torremata. Senator Gonzalez, known to friends as "Machacho," said that his uncle, a Spaniard, who flew an airplane during the Spanish civil war, brought the title with him and bequeathed it to him upon his death. "I have the document locked in a safe deposit box in the Banco Intercontinental in San Francisco de Macoris," he said, but I attach no importance to it because I’m a simple guy."

In the DR, he said, his title is only good for "ostentation," although in Europe people give much weight to it. Burel stated that he recently received a phone call from a professor at the University of Salamanca offering "to renew his title" for him, but he declined the offer. "A count with no possessions and no dough ain’t worth anything," he said.
Merengue to be broadcast on the internet
Radio, the internet and the essence of Dominican culture will come together when "www.radiomerengue.com" takes over a spot in cyberspace, later this month. The new on-line address will feature merengue music broadcast 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The innovative site is sponsored by two local firms, OneSource Creative and La 91.1FM, a Santo Domingo pop music broadcaster.

Jose Bonilla, president of La 91.1FM, and Carlos Piña, executive of OneSource Creative , stated that the worldwide popularity of merengue music was the incentive to begin internet broadcasts. "The market has grown for merengue," said Bonilla, "and we are going to get the public to buy the discs made by Dominican artists." Following the success of La 91.1FM with its own web site over the past four years, Bonilla expects that the new broadcasts will attract an international following. "We receive over 200 e-messages a day from around the world," he said, "and when we start to broadcast the world’s first exclusively merengue internet broadcasts, you can imagine what will happen."

The all-merengue broadcaster will carry information about the performing groups, as well as paid advertizing.
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