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Daily News - 25 April 2000
World Bank to fund infrastructure in resort areas
The government and the World Bank came to an agreement for the implementation of an ambitious project for the construction of potable water, sewage and garbage collection systems and infrastructure in resort areas nationwide. The project has a price tag of US$120 million of which most would be funded by the multilateral organization. A first phase of the project is slated to benefit Puerto Plata. The Technical Secretary of the Presidency Temístocles Montás traveled to Washington, D.C. where he signed a US$7 million agreement with Orsalia Kalantzopoulous, head of the World Bank for the Caribbean region. The World Bank will be contributing US$5 million, and the Dominican government US$2.55 million to start the program.
The program stipulates that the private sector will control the potable water, sewage and garbage collection operations.
Similar programs will be implemented in Juan Dolio, Guayacanes, La Romana, Bavaro, Punta Cana, Macao, Samana, Portillo and the National District.
Easter holiday overzealousness affects foreign tourism
Arturo Villanueva, executive vice president of the National Association of Hotels & Restaurants, protested what he considered the excessive zealousness of the prevention operation implemented by the Civil Defense over the Easter holiday. The operation sought to bring order to resort areas when thousands of Dominicans traditionally throng the beaches.
As a result, the authorities banned excursions to Saona and fishing boat trips out of the Punta Cana area. Villanueva said this was very detrimental to foreign tourism, as many tourists come with the idea of booking these excursions. The Saona Island excursion is a top-selling excursion.
For the Easter holiday long weekend (Thursday through Sunday), a Ministry of Tourism resolution affected scuba diving, jet ski, horseback riding and motorized sports in beach and areas.
The hoisting of tents was also banned.
Likewise, the government prohibited loud music playing in discotheques, bars, restaurants and cafeterias from Thursday at midnight to Saturday at midnight, even at hotels.
In protest, local tourists as a result turned on their radios in their hotel rooms at full blast, say news reports from Cabarete, Puerto Plata, where tourist business owners protested the overzealousness of the authorities that closed the discos.
The Civil Defense authorities also banned the sale of alcoholic beverages on beaches, river sites, highways and public areas in glass containers. Drunks were arrested and sent home. And everyone was ordered off the beaches as of 5:30 pm.
Record low number of casualties during Easter holidays
The Centro de Operaciones de Emergencias (COE) reported yesterday that the preventive measures resulted in this Easter holiday season being that with the least deaths in the past four years of Easter long weekend celebrations. This year's death toll of accidents that can be related to the Easter holiday vacationing was 32. This compares with 41 deaths in 1999, 52 deaths in 1998 and 58 deaths in 1997.
Correction in brief on Intellectual Property Bill
The DR1 Daily News misinterpreted comments from Federico Cuello, on the American Chamber of Commerce position on the Intellectual Property Bill in a brief published yesterday (see ww.dr1.com/daily/news042400.shtml). The misinterpreted comment by Federico Cuello, the permanent representative of the Dominican Republic mission to the UN and the WTO in Geneva, Switzerland was the following where he recommends AmCham "please take the time to examine the track record of the U.S. in terms of provision of compulsory licenses and its intimate relationship with antitrust enforcement; please make use of your extensive network of American Chambers of Commerce all over the world (particularly in countries such as the United Kingdom or New Zealand) in order to examine the ways the TRIPS agreement has been implemented all over the world, especially in developed countries; examine the jurisprudence related to compulsory licensing. Then go on to evaluate if any of these cases have ever been brought to the DSB of the WTO for a violation of art. 31 of the TRIPS agreement."

The DR1 Daily News had misinterpreted the quote as the UK and New Zealand had already won similar disputes versus US pharmaceutical companies. Cuello clarifies that what he has said is that there have not been cases where the controversies have been resolved against the UK or New Zealand despite having adopted dispositions regarding compulsory licensing.
Police arrests two US citizens for child porno
The District Attorney's office and the National Police dismantled a gang that filmed minors supposedly to sell the videos abroad. The gang was arrested at the Apartahotel Plaza Colonial of Calle Julio Verne, where the police said the film-making took place. 37-year old Jose Sarmientos and 42-year old Franklin Christopher Jackson, both US citizens were arrested. The Police told the local press that these two paid minors RD$800 to pose naked for pornographic videoing sessions. They were asked to masturbate themselves, masterbate and caress the male models. The Police said the twosome would pay RD$500 to anyone who brought them a young girl for film-making. The Police also arrested 22 Dominicans for investigation. During a search at the Plaza Colonial, cameras, TV, VHS, condoms, vaseline, massage oil, pornographic magazines were found. Jackson was staying at the Hotel Jaragua where the police found porno magazines, condoms, video camera, among other equipment used in his hotel room, as per news reports.
DA Francisco Domínguez Brito said that the two men would not be simply deported, as was the practice in the past. He said his office would press charges seeking that they serve their sentence in a Dominican jail. They could face a sentence of 20 years.
Police to arrest those taking a leak on the street
The National Police said yesterday that any person found taking a leak on cities streets will be arrested. He says those caught could face fines of six months in prison or RD$5,000 in cash.
UASD closed as student protest in favor of transport unions
Classes are suspended at the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, after students at the highly politicized state university rallied violently to protest in favor of the minibus and taxi transport unions that demand to benefit and not be affected by government plans to modernize public transport.
The Central Nacional de Transportistas Unificados has called a public transport strike for this Wednesday.
Politics govern the UASD, where studies constantly are interrupted when professional students stir up chaos. Studies have shown it would be cheaper to close the UASD and grant scholarships at private universities to its real students, but politics continues to rule the state university. The budget of the state university, and its more than 100,000 students, is at present more than that of the Municipality of Santo Domingo, a city of three million inhabitants.
Occidental agrees to buy Allegro
Occidental Hoteles, the fifth largest Spanish hotel chain, announced it will acquire Allegro Resorts Corporation (www.allegroresorts.com), a company that is regarded as a world leader in the all-inclusive resort industry, with 24 properties in 11 countries. The purchase will make it the largest hotel chain in the Caribbean with a total of 34 properties and the world's largest all-inclusive chain.
In the Dominican Republic, Allegro operates the Allegro Resort Bavaro, Allegro Resort Bavaro Grand in Punta Cana, as well as the Caribbean Village Club on the Green and Jack Tar Village Puerto Plata in Playa Dorada, and the Caribbean Village Playa Grande in María Trinidad Sánchez province. In addition, the company founded in 1993 has hotels in Antigua, Aruba, Mexico, Venezuela, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Tunisia and Morocco.
Occidental offers its services through 53 hotels located in Spain, Portugal, Morocco, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. In the DR, Occidental is the pioneering Spanish hotel company. It has had a presence since it took over from the Unión Hotelera Dominicana, the operator of the Hotel Embajador. Occidental began operations in 1982. In the DR it operates the Flamenco Playa Dorada and the Flamenco Bavaro, and the Gran Bahia and Cayo Levantado hotels in Samana.
Local news reports say the purchase price was US$400 million and that Occidental will now operate around 20,000 hotel rooms in Spain, Portugal, Tunisia, Morocco, the Caribbean, Central and South America.
The capital structure of the Occidental Hoteles group consists of the management team with a 34.32 percent share, the Mercapital Group - 30.63 percent and La Caixa with 27.5 percent plus other minority shareholders. The hotel group previously announced an aggressive expansion plan in July 1999.
The acquisition will be finalized upon the completion of several necessary steps including a due diligence process and the integration of the two operations.
Wanda Rijo is Athlete of the Year
Weightlifter Wanda Rijo is the 1999 Athlete of the Year. She received the award during the Olympic Dinner held last night at the Hotel Jaragua. This is the second consecutive year in which she receives the award that comes with a RD$50,000 check. The event is sponsored by the Presidente beer brewery.

Other award winners in the Best of the Year category were:
Chess: Jose Manuel Dominguez and Mercedes de la Cruz
Track and Field: Felix Sánchez and Juana Arrendel
Basketball: Carlos Paniagua and Adreina Paniagua
Handball: Leoni de León
Amateur baseball: José Taveras
Bowling: Rolando Antonio Sebelen and Anabel Alberti
Amateur boxing: Giovanny Lorenzo
Cycling: Wendy Cruz and Amelia Blanco
Equestrian: Mauricio Garcia and Natalie Saillant
Soccer: Oscar Mejia and Darleni Tejada
Gymnastics: Daryelisa Portorreal and Wilson Balley
Judo: Jose Vicbart Geraldino and Eleucadia Vargas
Karate: Juan Carlos Marte and Nelsi Vidal
Wrestling: Olgui Sabua Montero
Swimming: Guillermo Cabrera, Gina and Maricarmen Saleta
Weightlifting: Playter Reyes and Wanda Rijo
Racquetball: Simon Perdomo and Claudine Garcia
Softball: Francis Taveras and Marisol Santana
Tae Kwon Do: Danny Vizcaino and Gina Ruiz
Tennis: Johnson Garcia and Natalia Baez
Table tennis: Rubi Santana and Olga Vila
Shooting: Manuel Figuereo Felix and Yuderka Espinal, in Skeet: Felix Hermida Toca
Archery: Ramon Robiou and Barbara Hernandez
Triathlon: Roberto Nunez and Judith Hernandez
Volleyball: Deyvi Perez and Cosiris Rodriguez
Sailing: Tony Garcia

Athletes of the Century were:
Chess: Ramon Mateo
Track and field: Juan Núñez
Basketball: Teresa Duran
Baseball: Juan Marichal
Bowling: Rolando Sebelen
Boxing: Pedro Julio Nolasco
Cycling: Marino Garcia
Equestrian: Martin Hache
Soccer: Humberto Nova
Judo: Jose Vicbart Geraldino
Karate: Henry Rodriguez
Wrestling: Ulises Valentin
Swimming & Diving: Cesar Henderson
Weightlifting: Wanda Rijo
Softball: Jose Ramos
Tennis: Joelle Schad
Table tennis: Mario Alvarez Soto
Shooting: Manuel Figuereo
Skeet: Riad Yunes
Volleyball: Carlos Morales
Gymnastics: Enerolisa Reyes
Racquetball: Claudine Garcia
Tae kwon do: Danny Vizcaino
National Games to start 29 April
According to El Siglo the National Games are still on schedule to open 29 April in La Romana. The swimming events, though, have been postponed to start 3 May to give more time for the new pool to be ready. The National Games have been postponed on several occasions after sport installations suffered major damages when Hurricane Georges hit in September 1998. Swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, and water polo events will be scheduled from 5 am to 10 pm to make up for the lost days.
27 de April opening of the Santo Domingo Book Fair
The largest book fair held in the Caribbean opens in Santo Domingo on Friday, 27 April. The fair, which is one of the most popular exhibitions held annually in the DR, will last through 7 May. The very successful family affair is held annually to promote reading.
The fair again will take place at the grounds of the National Music Conservatory (former zoo of Santo Domingo), between Cesar Nicolas Penson, Alma Mater and Bolivar avenues. The government offers free shuttle service from parking in the Plaza de la Cultura grounds.
The fair this year is dedicated to Juan Bosch, founder of the Partido de la Liberación Dominicana, the ruling party. This year the focus will be on France, which will have a special pavilion, and there will be many lectures by French authors and presentations by French publishing houses.
20 foreign writers are coming, including Mario Vargas Llosa who will present his book La Fiesta del Chivo, at the 26 April at the Salon Anacaona of the Hotel Jaragua. Vargas Llosa will attend the inauguration of the fair and will be available at Editora Taller, publisher of the Dominican version, to sign books. He later will travel to Santiago for a promotion of his new book. Other famous writers that will be coming are Peruvian Jaime Bayly, author of "No se lo digas a nadie"; Chilean Marcela Serrano, author of "Nosotras que nos queremos tantos," Argentinians Luis Guzmán and Héctor Tizón. Also, the widow of Argentinean poet Jorge Luis Borges.
From France, novelist Paule Constant, winner of the Goncourt 1998 award; Olivier Todd, a specialist on Albert Camus; Dennis Rolland, specialist on contemporary history. Didier Lapeyronnie, will will give a talk on racism in Europe and sociologist Ivone Le Bot.
The book fair also features active an active entertainment program, with shows mainly centered in the open air Cuevas de Santa Ana area.
Julio Sabala at the National and Cibao theaters
Julio Sabala, one of the best imitators in the world today, will return to the country for a presentation on Friday, 27 April at the Cibao Theater in Santiago de los Caballeros and on Monday, 30 April in Santo Domingo at the National Theater. Sabala is a world performer. He has thrilled audiences in presentations at the Madison Square Garden in New York, the Greek Theater in Los Angeles, the Knight Center in Miami, the Hotel Hilton in Las Vegas and the Bellas Artes theater in Puerto Rico.
Shakira comes to town
Colombia's Shakira will be in town for a 6 May performance at the Fortaleza Ozama in the Colonial City. Shakira is coming with 21 musicians. Her show's title, "Anfibio". Shakira has just released a new CD, "Shakira MTV Unplugged". Tickets $300. Tickets are for sale at Club de Lectores Listín (for Listín Diario subscribers), Pizza Hut, Baskin Robbins, Mr. Movies. Also through Ticket Express and at Musicalia and Bachata Rosa.
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