|
| |||
|
|
|||
|
| |||
|
|||
|
Green light for Social Security scheme President Hipolito Mejia met yesterday with the National Social Security Council and announced that the government will give the Social Security Law 87-01 a start on 1 November as scheduled. Private business sectors had requested it be postponed. President Mejia said that the plan would begin to be implemented in one or two regions and gradually expanded to the rest of the country. | |||
|
New governor of Santo Domingo President Hipolito Mejia appointed businessman Rafael Burgos Gomez as the first governor of the newly created Province of Santo Domingo. The Province of Santo Domingo encompasses the areas of Santo Domingo North, Santo Domingo East, Santo Domingo West and Boca Chica that were separated from the National District and the city of Santo Domingo de Guzman at the start of this year. | |||
|
Reservas debt Diario Libre reports that during the first 22 months of the Mejia administration the public sector debt with the Banco de Reserveas increased 50%. The debt went from RD$6.2 billion at the end of the Fernandez administration (as of 30 August 2000) to RD$9.6 billion as of 30 December 2001. The debt declined slightly to RD$9.3 billion six months later (as of 30 June 2002). In an apparent effort to reduce the debt and get its finances in order, the government yesterday announced it was transferring to the Banco de Reservas important sources of revenues, such as earnings from privatized companies, tollbooth collections and collections on arrears from the sale of government apartments. | |||
|
Power outages increase Hoy newspaper sources says the increase in power outages, now even in areas where power consumption is paid for, is part of the power distributors tactics to pressure the government at a time negotiations are advancing. The power distributors, reportedly, seek to maintain the concessions the government has granted them in the past beyond contractual obligations. In an article in its business section, the newspaper says that sources indicate that the power distributors have already accepted to reduce to halve the debt of RD$1.6 billion they had claimed. The revision of the debt showed exceptional padding in the accounting in favor of the companies. The newspaper reveals that a Superintendence of Power mechanism that was to gradually reduce the tariff, was used instead to force hikes in the power tariffs. The Hoy report says that the blackouts are also due to a US$80-US$90 million debt the government maintains with the private power generators that benefited from onerous contracts signed with the state during previous administrations. The Mejia administration is negotiating a US$200 million loan with the World Bank to make important payments to the power companies that would rescind many of these contracts. Radhames Segura, former administrator of the privatized Dominican Electricity Corporation, also attributed the blackouts to the fact that the Mejia administration has not been making timely payments to the power companies. | |||
|
US$188 million loan questioned Diario Libre reports today on a US$188 million loan granted to Union Fenosa power distributors Edenorte and Edesur in 2001 by the Inter American Development Bank. Former administrator of the Dominican Electricity Croporation, Radhames Segura criticized that the government allowed Union Fenosa to use that money to finance the Palamara and La Vega power plants, in addition to tax exemptions and other concessions. The IDB loans for US$75 million and US$113 million had been approved to finance Edenorte and Edesur programs to improve their services and for environmental protection programs. Segura says that a large part of the funds was instead detoured to finance the power plants. He said that the loans were allotted after the Palamara and La Vega power plants had been built. | |||
|
Jailed and fired for being late Attorney General Virgilio Bello Rosa criticized the arrest of an employee of the National Palace for reportedly being late to his job. Bello said that since Urbaez is a civilian, only his firing was in order, not his arrest. Ulises Urbaez had the key to the Presidential Palace press room. A switch in that room had to be turned on for the televising of the start of school ceremony in which President Hipolito Mejia participated on Monday. The door had to be forced. Chief of the military aides, Colonel Pedro Julio Goico was so mad he ordered the employee detained. Urbaez was held for almost three days at the Police prior to his firing and release. | |||
|
A strange police case Diario Libre says that a police captain, a lieutenant, a sergeant and a corporal confessed to being part of the gang that kidnapped and later murdered Victor Augusto Victor Augusto (Franklin) Feliz Mendez. The policemen had been at the service of the National Drug Control Department (DNCD) at Monte Plata jail where notorious drug trafficker Rolando Florian is kept. Diario Libre says that apparently Florian is now being linked to the Feliz Mendez crime. The newspaper reports that about 10 persons, supposedly members of the same gang, were arrested and are being investigated at the Secret Service Department of the Police. According to the Police, the crime was committed as the gang wanted to recover a drug shipment. Feliz Mendez is brother to Deputy Minister of Tourism Edgar Augusto Feliz Mendez and the son of a former senator for Barahona and former president of the Senate. The handcuffed naked corpse of Feliz was found in the Pedregal area at Km. 22 of Duarte Highway on Wednesday at 7:30 am. The preliminary pathology report indicated he could have been dead for 24 hours. Apparently, he died from a bullet wound in his mouth and two bullet wounds in the left side of his neck. Feliz Mendez had been deported from the United States in 1993 after being in jail for drug trafficking. The deceased found his way back to the US afterwards, only to return to the Dominican Republic some six months ago. In the DR he had been in jail at the DNCD in July 2001 together with two of his brothers and a nephew of Rolando Florian Feliz. At the time he had been arrested for a shipment of 12.4 kilos of cocaine but was released without charges by the DNCD. News reports say that five abducted Feliz Mendez in Barahona, his hometown. Two of these were said to be in military garbs. His brother, Domingo Feliz Lopez told Hoy newspaper that his kidnappers had demanded RD$30 million for his release. | |||
|
Winning big in ping pong Diario Libre reports that Dominican Odalis Gomez won the gold in the US Open 2002 Table Tennis Championship held in Fort Lauderdale in July. The native of Moca, defeated competitors from 23 countries in the International Paralympic Table Tennis Championship in the men’s singles class 6-8 division. To win the gold, Gomez defeated the US contender 3-0. For the rankings, see http://www.ipttc.org/ | |||
|
|
|||
|
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 1996-2008. DR1. All Rights Reserved. |
