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Portfolio of programs to help Haiti Dominican President Hipolito Mejia will present Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien with several programs aimed at assisting Haiti in his meetings in Ottawa today. Among these programs is one for the preservation of the Artibonito River, which is the main waterway in Haiti and which originates on Dominican territory. This project would require a US$200-million dollar investment and would strive to halt the deforestation process in Haiti and along the Dominican-Haitian border. Haiti could be without water within 8 to 10 years if the deforestation does not stop. Other projects to be presented to Chretien include the Hispaniola Fund, which calls for the conversion of Dominican debt with US and multilateral institutions into projects to help development in Haiti and another border development program that would focus on health and education. The Canadian government conditions the release of a US$70-million aid package to Haiti on the handling of the funds from the Dominican Republic, preferring that it be done by a foreign organization. This position by the Canadian government has paralyzed several assistance programs aimed at social and economic growth. |
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Jobs for 250,000 Haitians In his conversations yesterday with Prime Minister Chretien President Hipolito Mejia declared that the Dominican Republic was prepared to receive and legalize residency for up to 250,000 of the nearly one million Haitians now living on Dominican soil. The Haitians would be contracted to work on agricultural and construction jobs. Dominican Ambassador to Canada Eduardo Fernandez explained that this position has been defined many times in official communications to the international community, and especially to Canada, in an effort to assist Haiti to survive the critical social and economic problems it is facing. “We have told the Canadians that, as a country, we do not need help, but we have between 800,000 and one million Haitians (in the Dominican Republic), of which we can use 250,000 in agricultural and construction jobs,” explained Fernandez, as reported in the Listin Diario. Furthermore, Ambassador Fernandez said that the topic of the Haitian situation was among the top priorities in today’s two meetings with Prime Minister Chretien. The ambassador warned that the “other 600,000 to 700,000 Haitians were a heavy social burden for the Dominican Republic.” |
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About-face urged on FTAA talks policy In a question and answer item in El Caribe newspaper today, Ambassador Federico Cuello urges the government to make an about-face in the US trade agreement negotiations implemented under the leadership of Dominican ambassador in Washington, D.C., Hugo Guiliani Cury. Guiliani is a former Minister of Industry and Commerce and governor of the Central Bank. Cuello says the results of the new strategy of maintaining silence and a low profile have been fruitless, as the FTAA talks seek in return that the US agree to negotiate a bilateral free trade agreement with the Dominican Republic. He said all the country has obtained for being “a stone witness” is an offer of technical assistance for national negotiations with the FTAA and the World Trade Organization, with no plans for bilateral talks with the DR for now. Congress has only given a mandate for the US government to negotiate with Central America, Chile, Morocco and Singapore, excluding the Dominican Republic, explains Cuello. Cuello was the country’s ambassador to the WTO and in Geneva, Switzerland until he was replaced at the request of the US government. The US disputed the independent positions he maintained on behalf of Dominican and Caribbean interests. He says to remain voiceless in the FTAA talks is to undermine national interests. Cuello says that the Dominican Republic will not receive the preferential treatment to be granted to the Caribbean regarding maintaining the 40% tariff levels authorized by the WTO. He says that if the country does not insist on this point, it will have given up one of the most important benefits the country can obtain from the FTAA - the consolidation of the access Dominican free zones have to the US market. He says the negotiations also have to focus on the services sector of the DR. |
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The root of the economic woes Hoy newspaper focuses today on what it calls the “root” of present economic woes - government spending. The newspaper says there has been an explosive growth in government hiring and wages. In September of this year, RD$1.7-billion was allotted to wages of personnel in the central government, which is 3.7 times what the government spent during the same period in 1995. To this one must add RD$389.2-million in wages paid by current disbursements to decentralized institutions – a figure 2.3 times more than the money allotted during the same period in 1995. For a total of more than RD$2 billion a month. Most of the positions held are redundant and studies show that government would operate more efficiently with a third of its employees. At the present pace, the spending in the government payroll and disbursements to decentralized institutions for personnel, will reach RD$25-billion by the end of the year. Until 1996 government payroll expenditures were kept below RD$500-million per month. Former President Balaguer allowed corruption in office so employees could compensate their low salaries, but operated with a minimal workforce. However, when Leonel Fernandez began his administration in August 1996, he decided that the government needed to be able to attract higher-caliber professionals and wages were therefore considerably increased. During the Fernandez administration, wages soared from RD$472.4-million in 1996 to RD$862.3-million in 1997, as a result of the new attractive wages. Payroll expenditures grew at a steady pace, jumping to RD$1.07-billion by 1999, and to RD$1.2-billion by September 2000 at the end of the Fernandez administration. |
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Judge’s sentence thrown out In what must be one of the longest on-going trials in modern Dominican history, the Second Appeals Court of Santo Domingo threw out the verdict of Judge Katia Jimenez of the Tenth Penal Court, against the alleged killers of journalist Orlando Martinez Crowley. The case goes back 27 years. Because of procedural errors in the lower court, the three-judge panel of the Appeals Court annulled the verdict that sentenced Joaquin Pou Castro, Rafael Lluberes Ricart Emilio de la Rosa Beras and Mariano Cabrera Duran to 30 years prison for the murder of the young journalist in March of 1975. The basis for the judgment was in the fact that Magistrate Jimenez gave her verdict without including the summations of either the defense lawyers or the prosecutors. This rendered her verdict null and void, permitting the case to begin all over, starting from zero, according to the Appeals Court verdict. |
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More on the new bond issue While both the Liberation Party (PLD) and the Reformist Party (PRSC) are officially opposed to the new bond issuance, President Mejia has stated that he will talk to both parties with an eye on convincing them to embrace the terms of the deal. On the other hand, the bonds have received the support of the American Chamber of Commerce in the Dominican Republic and that of the National Council of Private Enterprise (CONEP), which has conditioned its position on the government committing to fiscal discipline. Spokesmen from both organizations have come out in favor of the new placement, “if it is wisely handled.” The Archbishop of Santo Domingo, Cardinal Lopez Rodriguez, has also stated that he approves of the sovereign bonds. He says they are a necessity for the government, but cautions that the money generated from the new issuance must be “handled with absolute responsibility.” The government is proposing to make a US$600-million placement this year. President of the Senate Andres Bautista told Diario Libre that US$135-million would be use to pay debt with Dominican commercial banks, US$215-million would go to the restructure the foreign debt, and US$150 - US$250-million would be used to increase the reserves of the Central Bank. |
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Get in Line with Leonel Former President Leonel Fernandez launched last night the new political movement that backs his aspirations to run for President in the 2004 election, as reported in Hoy newspaper. The movement is to be known as Frente Independiente Leonel al Poder (FILA) and its slogan is “Ponte en Fila con Leonel”, or “Get in Line with Leonel”. Vicente Bengoa presides over the movement that seeks to add 21 more points to the estimated 38% preference of the Dominican electorate already secured by the PLD with Fernandez as its presidential candidate. During the ceremony, Fernandez said that the talks to resolve the Central Electoral Board crisis did not result in an optimal solution, which would have been the resignation of the judges in question, but he described the agreement as a second-best alternative. He also said that politics in the DR needs to overcome its persisting institutional weakness and that today’s problems, such as those confronted by the JCE, should have been behind us by now. “The Dominican Republic needs a true, authentic and genuine reform of its Constitution to make it more democratic and so that the Dominican state can be part of the world trends that lead us to modernization and development,” he said. He favors creating a collegiate special body, outside of the politicized Senate, that would select the judges and guarantee legitimate and transparent elections. |
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Dominican victories in US elections In a year where the Republican Party increased its dominance in the House of Representatives and gained control of the Senate, five Dominican members of the Democratic Party were elected to various state assemblies, municipal councils and other government bodies. In Rhode Island Juan Pichardo won his election to the State Senate with 83% of the votes. Miguel Luna, also from Rhode Island, was elected to the Providence municipal council with 85% of the votes in his favor. In Montgomery County, Maryland, Thomas Perez won 76% of the votes for Maryland State Assembly. In New York, both Jose Peralta and Adriano Espaillat won Assembly seats to represent Upper Manhattan in the state assembly. This marks the first time so many legislators of Dominican descent have won their bids for election. |
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Chinese tourists in Punta Cana? The ambassador of China in Colombia, and at-large ambassador in the Caribbean, Ju Yijie, told Hoy newspaper that the People’s Republic of China could sponsor investments and better commercial relations, even before the “normalization” of relations on a bilateral level. Tourism would be first in line to be promoted. Ju said that just last year China sent 14 million tourists to Europe, Asia and North America. “We have talked about bringing 500,000 tourists to Punta Cana, and that is a lot,” he continued. In addition, the Ambassador said that, “even though the two countries could not sign bilateral agreements as yet, the Office of Commercial Development of the People’s Republic of China could promote private enterprise and better commercial relations.” China maintains a US$15-billion dollar trade with South America. |
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Divorces up in the DR In 2001 there were 15,126 divorces in the DR - 4,936 more than the previous year’s tally, as reported by this week’s edition of Rumbo Magazine. Of the total, 5,724 divorces were given to residents of the capital city of Santo Domingo. The magazine also focuses on how the number of members of the average Dominican family has declined from 5.3 in 1920 to 4.3 in 1996. |
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