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Daily News - 25 April 2001
Green light on visas for Haiti
President Hipolito Mejia is in favor of no limits to the number of visas Dominican consulates issue to Haitians. El Siglo recently said that Dominican consulates had issued more than 43,000 visas in the first trimester of the year, of which 7,000 persons had not returned. The newspaper highlighted that there was a limit on the number of visas, that was by far being surpassed by the consuls. Dominican consuls are charging US$50 and US$250 for the single entry and multiple entry year long visa, of which the consul can pocket a significant part.
President Mejia does not see a problem in the numbers of visas issued to Haitians. "We are granting visas to everyone, everyone who wants to come with a visa will not have a problem, nor should there be a problem," he said when interviewed by the press when attending the First Dominican Congress of the Federation of Municipalities held at the National Theater.
"I want a lot of people from Haiti to come using a visa. They are one of our best markets," said the President, referring to the fact that Haitians come and buy lots of Dominican products.
Senate passes Social Security Bill
The Senate passed yesterday the Social Security Bill with the modifications sent by the Chamber of Deputies.
For the bill to become law it needs to be signed by President Hipolito Mejia. Sources say the President will sign the bill on 10 May to commemorate the passing away of PRD leader Jose Francisco Peña Gomez.
US$ loans passed by Congress
El Caribe newspaper reports that the Senate passed yesterday two loans signed by the state and international banks. One of these is for US$49 million for the construction of 10 hospitals in San Cristobal, Neyba and Hato Mayor, among other communities. A Spanish company, Jamco Medical will be responsible for this project.
Another loan for US$41.7 million was subscribed with the Spanish division of the Deutsche Bank to finance the equipping of Armed Forces vocational schools by another Spanish firm, Riocersa.
Power bills to go up
Residences and businesses making payments of more than RD$1,498 a month should expect considerable bill increases in their June bills. Jose Ovalle, Superintendent of Electricity, announced that the government has authorized the gradual reduction of the government subsidy on consumption of more than 725 kilowatts/hour per month. The first cuts in the subsidy are effective 2 May.
Foreign investment in mining sector increases
The Listin Diario interviewed Pedro Vasquez Chavez, general director of Mining, who announced that foreign companies have committed to invest RD$391.5 million in mining projects. He said that his department and the Corporate Mining Unit are hard at work to reactivate mining in the DR attracting foreign investment.
He said that Grupo Carmelo S.A. will be exploiting a limestone deposit in the East, an investment of RD$183.2 million. Newmont Mining Corporation won the tender to explore the reserve known as Ampliacion Pueblo Viejo in Cotui. This is an investment of RD$83.2 million. Mali Mining Company won the contract for the exploration of the Neita reserve in Restauracion. This calls for an investment of RD$24 million.
Borrowing at 27% and lending at 18%
El Siglo reports that the state-owned Bagricola borrowed RD$200 million from the also state-owned Banco de Reservas. The curious detail about the loan is that the money was borrowed at 27% for the state farming bank to lend out to rice producers at 18%. Bagricola administrator Radhames Rodriguez confirmed the operation. He said they originally had requested RD$400 million from the Reservas.
Police militarizes Capotillo
The National Police militarized the northern Barrio Capotillo, after neighbors denounced that gangs were imposing terror in the neighborhood. The neighbors said that the gangs dispute several corners where drugs are sold. The neighbors complained that the gangs defend their rights to the corners using guns and machetes to the indifferent look of the Police in the area. Schools and grocery stores closed during the operation. Newspaper reports said that housewives bought the day's groceries from ambulant vendors.
Tio sent to Najayo
Nine persons accused of participating in the irregular sale of government property were sent to the Najayo and Victoria jails yesterday. The former director of Bienes Nacionales, Victor Tio Fernandez, and other department officers, Jorge Encarnacion Matos and Freddy Vargas were sent to Najayo. Eladio Emilio Alonzo, Jose Manuel de Jesus Villaman, Lorenzo Rodriguez, Sandino Grullon and Samuel Dario Nunez were sent to La Victoria.
Tio Fernandez told Hoy newspaper that his arrest was a political trap. "In the DR there are only three parties: the PLD, of the "come-solos" (eat-alones); the Reformistas that are "come-siempre" (eat all the time), and the PRD, which we are "come-M" (eat-S). According to Tió, "Everytime the PRD people are in power, we eat each other."
Free Zone Council announces 14 new companies
The executive director of the National Free Zone Council, Jeanette Dominguez as reported by Hoy newspaper that 14 new companies, creating 16,000 jobs had been approved by her organization. She said the CNZFE approved a new free zone park in Santiago and another in San Cristobal. She confirmed that the firings in the sector had not surpassed 7,000 and of these many were merely three-week suspensions.
Confrontations over the Police Reform
Everyone seems to agree that the Dominican police needs to be reformed. The Chief of the Police and the President-appointed reform commission and the Foundation Justice and Institutionality all have different opinions of how to go about this.
The top ranks of the Police and the Presidential Commission for the Reform of the Armed Forces and National Police, as reported today by El Caribe newspaper, differ on the body that should preside over the reformed institution. President Mejia appointed a commission head by Major General Hugo Rafael Gonzalez Borrel. Other members of the presidential commission are Minister of Interior and Police Rafael Suberví Bonilla and retired general Rafael Guerrero Peralta (a former head of the Police and Drug Control Department). In this proposal a Superior Police Council would oversee Police operations.
Police Chief Major General Pedro de Jesus Candelier had presented his own proposal. But the President sent his commission's proposal to Congress for study.
In the presidential commission's proposal, a Consejo Superior Policial would be created with the Minister of Interior and Police given at the top. At present, the Police Chief should answer to the Minister, but in practice this does not occur. Other members of the new council would be the chief of the police and the attorney general.
Chief of Police Candelier favors establishing a Direccion Colegiada de la Policia presided by the chief of the police, church members and media members.
El Caribe newspaper also presents the opinion of Finjus, a leading judiciary and human rights defending organization (see http://www.finjus.org.do) Former district attorney Francisco Dominguez Brito, today executive director of Finjus says that the reform project in Congress is worthless. "I understand that if the reform of the structure of the police is not an in depth one, where it is ridden of the Dictator Trujillo days tradition, of being a vertical system with absolute power in all aspects, then there will not be a true reform," he told the newspaper. He said that the Police would continue to be able to extort families seeking the freedom of their relatives arrested late at night, for example. Dominguez Brito highlights the need to separate the investigate corps from the regular corps that should be at the service of the security of citizens. In his opinion, the police should be a civilian body, and the investigators should respond to the Ministerio Publico, the government legal prosecutors.
Taxes and lack of confidence, cause slump in economy
Rafael Camilo, in charge of the Planning Department (ONAPLAN) during the past Fernandez administration attributed the present economic slump to the tax reform implemented in January and to the lack of confidence generated by government. He commented in an interview with Hoy newspaper, that the new taxes went into effective at a time when the economy was already cringing from the slowdown in the US economy and the increases in petroleum prices. The implementation of new taxes caused a slowdown in sales, consumption and a considerable decline in domestic and foreign investment, he explained.
"The effect of the fiscal adjustment or increase in the taxes started a period of accelerated decline of the Gross Domestic Product that if maintained in the next trimester would head the nation to suffer an economic recession until the government made the fiscal and monetary policy corrections," said Camilo.
He said the duration of the recession will also depend on whether the government continues to increase its current expenditures instead of increasing its capital investments.
He said the Fernandez administration showed an outstanding economic performance due to its coherent economic policies in addition to favorable foreign scenarios. "But one of the most important achievements of the past administration was the confidence it generated in the national and international economic agents that motivated these to invest in the country," said Camilo.
In his opinion, seeking to downplay the Dominican Republic's outstanding economic performance during the Fernandez administration for political gains, the PRD did a lot of harm to its own government. He explained that the new government authorities destroyed a lot of the good image of the country abroad "even before they were in power, with their continued and sensationalist statements that the economy was in a calamitous state, with which they were telling investors to go elsewhere."
"Expectations of the economic agents and of people play an important role in the performance of the economy," he said. "If expectations are negative, it will be difficult to revert the situation."
Presidente Festival performers to be announced 2 May
Cerveceria Nacional Dominicana, brewers of the Presidente Beer, urges everyone to wait for the 2 May official press conference when who is coming for the Latin Music Festival will be announced. There is speculation that Cristina Aguilera may come. But spokesman for the brewery say that intense negotiations are still underway to determine who will be the stars of the show and everyone needs to wait for these to conclude. El Caribe newspaper says that if Cristina Aguilera participates this would be for an appearance on the second night. What is official is that the Presidente Latin Music Festival is scheduled for 1, 2, 3 June at the Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Stadium.
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