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Ministers of Tourism meet Minister of Tourism Rafael Subervi proposed a united effort be made against child sex tourism during the second Ibero American Tourism Ministerial Summit that took place on 24-25 September at the Barcelo Bavaro Convention Center. Ministers from Venezuela, Cuba, and Mexico attended, as well as representatives from fourteen other countries. At the meeting, the ministers agreed to support convention and incentives tourism, sustainable tourism, and tourism as an instrument to combat poverty. |
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Ukraine could be new trade partner The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Anatoliy Zlenko, was in the Dominican Republic to sign a bilateral agreement that would foster an increase in trade and migration between his country and the DR. The Minister of Foreign Relations of the Dominican Republic, Hugo Tolentino Dipp, signed for the Dominican Republic. While trade between both countries is at present null, the ministers expect this agreement will jumpstart efforts to develop new business relations. Minister Zlenko said that the Ukraine may buy farm products, seafood and fish from the Dominican Republic. He is optimistic that Ukraine could sell farming machinery and power equipment. The Ministry of Agriculture recently purchased five tractors as a test trial. |
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Improving the administration of justice President Hipolito Mejia has entrusted a new commission with the preparations that are necessary to implement the new criminal code in 2004. The code was ratified this year and will simplify court procedures by accelerating the service of justice in the Dominican Republic. Diario Libre reports today that the new code will do away with the custom of holding a person in jail while trial procedures are underway, which was inherited from French legal code dating back to 1884. The new code will support the presumption of innocence until proven guilty and will ban presenting accused persons to the media prior to their trial. Also, cases will be restricted to a time limit of three years, not including appeals. Decree 420-02 convenes the Comision Nacional de Ejecucion de la Reforma Procesal Penal, the national commission in charge of implementing the changes in criminal law. A first workshop is scheduled for 3 October. The members of the new commission are the presidents of the Supreme Court of Justice, Senate, Chamber of Deputies, judiciary commissions of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, the Attorney General, the Commissioner for the Reform and Modernization of Justice, the chief of Police, the Secretary of the National Council of the Magistrate, the director of the School of Judges, the Technical Secretary to the Presidency, the Director of Prisons, Monsignor Agripino Nuñez, lawyer Artagnan Perez Mendez and the director of the Institutions and Justice Foundation (Finjus). |
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Supreme Court releases Radhames Garcia The Supreme Court ruled that it is up to the Chamber of Deputies to decide whether former Dominican consul in Haiti, Radhames Garcia, should be tried for the smuggling of Chinese citizens into the Dominican Republic. On 6 June, Garcia was arrested in Dajabon after the Department of Migration condemned his involvement with the Chinese citizens, who gained illegal entry at the Haitian border. The illegal immigrants reportedly traveled to the DR as a first-step on their way to Puerto Rico. Mr. Garcia was voted deputy for La Vega in the 16 May 2002 congressional election, thereby warranting a review by the Supreme Court of the criminal accusations. Because he was being held in Dajabon, Garcia was not among his colleagues being sworn in on 16 August, however a government official traveled to Dajabon and carried out the procedure there. Evidence shows that Garcia used his consular position to bring a group of Chinese citizens over the border and take them to a hotel in Santiago. The Ministry of Foreign Relations expressly bans consuls from issuing entry documents to non-Haitian persons in Haiti without special permission. Garcia, an influential politician within the ruling PRD party, spent most of his jail time in a public hospital in Dajabon and later in the Clinica Abreu for supposed high pressure and anxiety. He denied at all times he was smuggling in people, maintaining that the Chinese had their documents in order. Instead, Garcia attributes his arrest to a conspiracy within the party to force him to give up his deputy seat. |
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New social studies book Newspaper reports focus today on the circulation of a new Dominican social studies book for high school seniors. “Sociedad 4, La Republica Dominicana Hoy” published by Santillana, won a Ministry of Education bid for a contemporary social science book. The textbook encourages final year high-school students to debate Dominican history, politics, economics and other social issues It takes a close look at events from 1961 to present day, and even encourages students to compare the government of Leonel Fernandez (1996-2000) to that of Hipolito Mejia (2000-2004). |
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Billing more for blackouts The Listin Diario maintains that the increases in power bills are being assessed retroactively as of August. In his 17 September speech President Hipolito Mejia had announced that agreements with the power companies had been made to initiate the new rates of billing to small and medium-sized commercial and domestic customers based on October consumption. But the Listin says that the companies are applying the increases retroactively, which users will be able to confirm on their invoices. Senator Jose Tomas Perez (PLD-National District) called the increases abusive, in view of the blackouts of August and September, which often lasted over 12 hours. Meanwhile, service blackouts of 5-8 hour duration continued nationwide. News reports from the northwestern region say that blackouts of 12 hours continue to be common. |
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Moving on the FTA with Canada Canadian Ambassador Adam Blackwell said that the Free Trade Agreement with Canada could become a reality in eight months time, as reported in Diario Libre. The possibility of negotiating a free trade agreement was first discussed when Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien and President Hipolito Mejia met in Monterrey, Mexico in March of this year. The statesmen were in Monterrey to attend the United Nations International Conference on Financing for Development. As a further step in this direction, Ambassador Blackwell said that Dominican businessmen will travel to Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa as part of a mission organized by the Dominican-Canadian Chamber of Commerce (see http://www.dr1.com/canadian). He said the Canadian-Dominican Republic free trade agreement is being negotiated so that it results in a win-win situation, with a special focus on environmental and social benefits. Canadian investment accounts for 36% of all investment registered with the Central Bank, exceeding the 34% from Europe and 25% from the United States. Blackwell feels that the Dominican Republic and Canada complement each other well. Among things that Canada does not produce are rum, sugar cane and many other tropical farm products. In return, he said that Canada can offer transport, technology and developmental assistance. Blackwell also cited the Dominican Republic’s competitive labor force as an attractive part of the agreement. |
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The exorcising of evil spirits at Channel 4 The purging at Channel 4 of the supposed evil spirit belonging to the brother of assassinated dictator Trujillo Jose Arismendy Trujillo Molina (Petan) is controversial news. Petan was the first director of the television station. New director Ramon Colombo brought in two exorcists, Elsa Julia Cruz and Marcia Castillo, and folk researcher Dagoberto Tejada last week to purge the station in a ceremony that combined magic and religion and has been highly criticized. Critics say that state-run television exists to educate, not to promote customs that succeed in keeping people ignorant. Ramon Colombo has promised to make the station competitive. |
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First Caribbean underwater museum Indiana University faculty and students are helping leaders in the Dominican Republic establish the world's first underwater shipwreck museum, according to an IU press release. The work is part of a field research project of the university. The 1724 Guadalupe Underwater Archaeological Preserve was dedicated at a ceremony this week. In attendance were Charles Beeker, Director of IU Underwater Science projects in the Dominican Republic since 1993, and Minister of Culture Tony Raful. The Spanish galleons Guadalupe and Tolosa sank in Samana Bay during a hurricane in 1724. The IU group worked with representatives of the Dominican Republic’s Ministry of Culture and La Romana Bayahibe Hotel Association to use artifacts recovered from Samana Bay in the 1970s to establish the underwater preserve adjacent to Dominicus Resort at Bayahibe on the Caribbean island. Included in the museum are 18th century ballast stones, cannons, cannonballs, ceramic pieces and an anchor. "The site is in 12 to 15 feet of water, so it is readily accessible to snorkelers and divers, allowing visitors the opportunity to see an actual 18th century shipwreck in an underwater museum setting," Beeker said. "This is the first underwater shipwreck museum in the world created for the public benefit." Recognizing the historical and recreational value of the new underwater museum, Project AWARE Foundation (see http://www.projectaware.org/english/) and the hotel association financially supported the project, Beeker said. Indiana University-sponsored efforts will continue. In conjunction with the creation of this underwater museum, the university says it has received approval for further underwater archaeological investigations in the Dominican Republic with the Office of Underwater Cultural Heritage. "We want to involve several IU schools and students to help establish a series of underwater park sites that would include historic shipwrecks and fresh water springs used by the Native-American Taino prior to the arrival of Columbus," explained Beeker. The IU Underwater Science Program's Web site is at http://www.indiana.edu/~scuba |
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Relaunching Por Amor Thousands of Dominicans have married to the inspiring lyrics and tunes of “Por Amor”, the Maestro Rafael Solano classic. Maestro Solano told El Caribe newspaper that Maestro Jose Antonio Molina has done the arrangements for a recording of the 33-year old classic by Jon Secada and Gloria Estefan. Por Amor won a Dominican Popular Song Festival in 1968 when sung by Nini Caffaro. The romantic ballad has also been recorded by Marco Antonio Muñiz, Danny Rivera, Chucho Avellanet and Placido Domingo. |
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