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Senate agrees to electoral
reform Prior to leaving for his vacation home in Juan Dolio on 24 December, President Hipolito Mejia met with his party senators, Monsignor Agripino Nuñez and the president of the PRD party, Hatuey de Camps, to ³convince² the PRD senators to vote in favor of the Electoral Law reform bill sent by the Chamber of Deputies. The reform bill had already received the endorsement of President Hipolito Mejia and the three leading political parties the ruling PRD, the PRSC and the PLD. The opposition deputies have conditioned their passing the sovereign bond bill placement bill to the approval of the senators to the Electoral Law reform bill, thus the special interest of President Hipolito Mejia¹s in lobbying before his senators. The bill limits the influence of president of the Central Electoral Board (JCE), Manuel Ramon Morel Cerda. The two leading opposition parties objected the re-election of Morel Cerda to head the JCE on grounds that he had shown to be partial to the ruling party during the congressional election in 2002. The reform bill was the solution that would resolve the political impasse that followed his re-election in the Senate. Once the bill got to the Senate, a group of PRD senators changed it to restore control to Morel Cerda. The senators changed the bill so that Morel Cerda could choose the presiding members of the two chambers into which the JCE would be divided. According to a report in El Caribe, senator Pedro Antonio Luna (PRD Sanchez Ramirez) said that regardless of the agreement with the President he would not vote in favor of the project unless the modifications made in the Senate Commission of Justice are made. Apparently, following the meeting with the President, the PRD senators that oppose the reform bill would not be enough to impose their criteria. Congress will be working overtime through 12 January. In addition to the electoral reform bill, tops on the agenda is the passing of the 2003 National Budget and the congressional authorization to the placement of US$600 million in new sovereign bonds. The deputies will wait for the senators to pass the electoral reform bill prior to voting on the sovereign bond bill. Likewise, the Executive Branch has also requested that the Chamber of Deputies pass two short term loans with foreign commercial banks one for US$54 million loan for sports installations and US$17.2 million for road signage and safety barriers. The US$17.2 million loan is the more controversial of the two. El Caribe newspaper reported that a previous loan had already been approved for the same concept. There is speculation the US$54 million loan will be used to complete the installations that will be used for the 2003 Pan American Games. | |||
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Congress gets RD$77
million more Hoy newspaper reports that the Executive Branch has accepted to increase the budget of Congress by RD$77 million over the Christmas holiday. The Executive Branch agreed to authorize RD$29.2 million more for the Senate and RD$48.2 million more for the Chamber of Deputies. The budget of the Congress is RD$810.4 million. There are 150 deputies and 31 senators. Over the holidays, the Chamber of Deputies made headlines when Diario Libre and the Listin Diario published the RD$25,000 Christmas gift baskets the president of the Chamber of Deputies Rafaela Alburquerque (Lila Claus) distributed among her colleagues. The baskets included a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne. Alburquerque denied the baskets had cost RD$25,000 and said they only cost RD$8,000. Polls show that congress rates among the lowest among public institutions in credibility and prestige amongst Dominicans. | |||
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Power rates to drop 4% The Superintendence of Power announced a 4% decline in the power bills for next month. The announcement comes after two months of hikes that resulted in consumers paying 50-200% more for power in the Dominican Republic. News reports say that people are happy with the decrease. While the announced drop in the cost of power is insignificant, people reason at least there will not be another increase. Julio Cross, Superintendent of Power, says the decline is due to declines in the cost of fuel and the exchange rate. | |||
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La Isabela ready for
February 2003 Hoy newspaper reports that the La Isabela International Airport (El Higuero) should be ready to start operations in February 2003. The Dominican government built the airport to replace the Herrera International Airport. The location of the Herrera airport, centrally located in Santo Domingo, was allotted during the Fernandez administration to builders to which the government owed money. Promoters of the northern Santo Domingo La Isabela airport at El Higuero argued at the time safety concerns as Herrera is located amidst a residential and commercial area. The La Isabela Airport constructed in two government terms Fernandez and Mejia administrations has cost more than double that invested by private airport builders of La Romana and Santiago airports, and has taken four times the number of months to be built. Thus it would have been cheaper for the state to pay its debts with the contractors, than to negotiate the Herrera airport land. Aerodom, which operates Las Americas and Puerto Plata international airports, was entrusted with the completion of the airport during the Mejia administration. Carlos Garcia, director of the Airport Department of the government said that the construction is almost completed, and that technicians are working on the installation of the air navigation equipment. | |||
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Birth certificate
requirement re-instated Vice President and Minister of Education Milagros Ortiz Bosch told the Listin Diario that as of the next school year her department would not longer allow parents to register their children without birth certificates. The Ministry is now revoking a decision taken for this school year. Apparently, the resolution that allowed the parents to register their children under 13 years without birth certificates has had a boomerang effect as fewer parents have bothered to declare their offspring at birth, which brings serious problems for them as citizens in the future. The resolution allowed thousands of children to be registered without the document in public schools. In practice, the Ministry of Education has been flexible about allowing parents to register children without birth certificates through grade school. Nevertheless, the official document is required for the children to advance to high school or to graduate. | |||
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The third exchange market Listin Diario reports that a third exchange market is operating given that the formal exchange market is subject to an agreed upon exchange rate ceiling. Listin Diario reported that the clandestine exchange market was buying US dollars at RD$21.50 and selling them for RD$22. The formal market was buying at around RD$20 and selling at RD$21 with a marked scarcity of dollars and long lines in banks. The Central Bank published a notice last week alerting that only authorized exchange houses and banks were allowed to transact in foreign exchange. The Central Bank alerted that the Monetary Code establishes fines of up to RD$10 million to violators of the ruling. | |||
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The permeable Haitian
border Jose Manuel Vargas, spokesman for the Dominican Chamber of Insurance and Re-insurance companies denounces that members have had to pay RD$300 million in compensation for theft of vehicles this year. Vargas, in a press conference, said that theft was up 60% in 2002, a boom he attributes to an organized mafia that steals vehicles in the Dominican Republic to export them to Haiti and from there unassembled the vehicles and sell them as parts to the neighboring islands. Vargas said that Haiti is the leading supplier of primarily luxury automobile parts to the Caribbean. He said they are aware that 150 cars with a collective value of RD$100 million were clandestinely exported to Haiti, as reported in the Listin Diario. As reported in the ³Que se Dice² page two column of Hoy newspaper, it is impossible that such a volume of vehicles can make the crossover without having been detected by the military stationed at the border, regardless of how permeable the vulnerable Dominican border with Haiti is. Dominican military patrol the border with Haiti and the access roads. | |||
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Dominican Scrooge After very successful performances and great reviews last weekend, ³A Christmas Carol² will be back at the National Theater this coming Sunday. Not to be missed for those with children, the Dominican version of Charles Dicken¹s classic will go on stage at the National Theater with shows at 4:30 and 7 pm on Sunday, 29 December. The play is directed by Enrique Chao, and is produced by Fidel Lopez, with music arrangements by Amaury Sanchez. Three of the best Dominican actors of all times hold the starring roles, including Ivan Garcia (Scrooge), Franklin Dominguez and Monina Sola. Tickets RD$300 and RD$250. | |||
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