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Pacheco on his first day Alfredo Pacheco, the PRD deputy from Santo Domingo elected to the presidency of the Chamber of Deputies in a controversial vote on Saturday, applied various strong measures his first day of office. Pacheco first ordered the civilian security forces to be replaced by members of the Armed Forces and closed the galleries to the public. No weapons were allowed into the Chamber or the offices of its new president. Pacheco also demanded a new audit of the Chamber’s property in the “possession of Alburquerque, her family and her associates.” Because Rafaela (Lila) Alburquerque had refused to hand over the control of the Chamber of Deputies, the butler of the Chamber of Deputies had to use a ladder to access a balcony, and from there entered the building to open the doors. On Saturday, when she could not muster the support of the PRD deputies to be re-elected, El Caribe reported that Alburquerque threatened to bypass bills sent from the Presidency. She specifically mentioned that the government would need the Chamber’s support to sign the agreement with the IMF and referred to additional laws that accompany it. |
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Legal advisor says he is a man of the President The President’s legal advisor, Guido Gómez Mazara, has responded to the allegation made against him by the new president of the Chamber of Deputies, Alberto Pacheco, on the day of his chaotic election. Pacheco said that thugs acting on Gómez Mazara’s instructions were responsible for the shots fired at the electrical breakers box, effectively cutting the power at the Chamber of Deputies, in an apparent attempt to delay the session and Pacheco’s election as president of the legislative body. It was known beforehand that Pacheco had won enough support to win the appointment. Gómez Mazara distanced himself from the incidents, saying he was not a man of violence, nor did he carry a gun. “I am a person who acts always out of loyalty to the President, who has said several times that he understood it was logical move based on common sense to back the candidacy of the PRSC in the Chamber of Deputies… I am a man of the President and act according to the guidelines that he establishes,” he explained, as reported in Hoy. Gómez Mazara is regarded as one of three leading PPH men, in addition to Eligio Jáquez and Hernani Salazar. Gómez Mazara achieved notoriety early on in his career as the youngest legal advisor in the history of Dominican government, when an amateur video displayed a pep talk he gave to PRD party members in Samaná. "First for us, then for us, afterwards for us – and if there is anything left over, also for us," Gómez Mazara said repeatedly in his 17-minute long pep talk, establishing in 2001 the government’s policies towards PRD partisans. |
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Reformist Party cheated by PPH Today’s top political news, following last Saturday’s shoot-out in the Chamber of Deputies, was the statement made by Lila Alburquerque that she had been cheated out of the legislature’s leadership by a “deal” made between the PPH (Presidential Project for Hipólito) and the PLD. Alburquerque announced her “total opposition” to the government and PRSC deputies loyal to her will not attend the Chamber’s sessions pending a final decision by the party’s Executive Commission on the matter later on this week. President Mejía expressed his feeling that by not electing Alburquerque to head the Chamber of Deputies, the PRD had disturbed the equilibrium within Congress. He told reporters Nicanor Leyba and Roberto Valenzuela: “I have always considered it important that the Reformist Party had someone in the Chamber of Deputies...” |
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A new element of crisis in the JCE According to Máximo Díaz and Wanda Méndez of the Listín Diario, the statement released yesterday by Roberto Rosario, one of the judges on the Central Electoral Board (JCE), could be a prelude to a new political crisis. The Central Electoral Board is the governmental authority in charge of organizing the presidential elections in May 2004. Rosario said that some decisions were being made without the awareness of all JCE members, and this, in turn, could affect the credibility and legitimacy of the electoral board and system. This questioning of some of the decisions taken by Luis Arias, the chief judge of the Electoral Board, are the first to come to light since the forced resignation of the former chief magistrate, Manuel Ramón Morel Cerda. In a telephone interview with the reporters, Rosario said that the judges are not obliged to reach a consensus on any given issue, but that all matters before the board should be presented to its full panel of judges before arriving at any decision. Most of Rosario’s complaints have to do with personnel issues. |
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Union Fenosa to put US$187 million into Ede Norte In a press release carried by El Caribe and the Bloomberg News, Unión Fenosa, Spain’s third largest electrical distributor, announced that it would put up US$187 million in support of Ede-Norte, the power distributor for the DR’s North Coast. Bloomberg News reports that UF says Ede-Norte has been seriously affected by the devaluation of the peso. A recent audit showed that Ede-Norte carries debts for overvalued purchases and loans with Unión Fenosa’s affiliate companies. The head of the new CDEEE, César Sánchez, said that Ede-Sur, another Union Fenosa distributor, has local debts that exceed US$40 million. According to the note in the economic section of El Caribe, the “57% drop of the Dominican peso” has seriously affected the electric distributors. The IADB is investigating Ede-Norte for non-payment of bills owed to the power producers, and into Ede-Sur for the substandard service offered to its clients. Unión Fenosa says it has invested US$620 million in the Dominican Republic and denies any debts owed to generators. |
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IMF accords will require new laws At least seven new laws and six new regulations will be required within the framework of the International Monetary Fund agreement. A timetable showing the approval of the measures from July 2003 until January 2004 will also be required. The Executive Branch, Congress, the Monetary Board and the Central Bank are the organisms that are charged with putting the measures into practice. Among these steps are seven laws to be sent to Congress: Systemic Stabilization, also called “Exceptional Program to Prevent Banking Risks”; the 5% surcharge on exports and the new import charges; a law to eliminate the duty-free status of the Savings and Loan Associations; a law on Financial Crimes; a law on the 2004 Budget; and, finally, a law for the Reform of the Public Sector. Congress must activate three of the above regulations by specific dates: By 31 August, the 5% surcharge must be implemented; by 30 September, the Law on Systemic Stability; and by 31 December, the Law for the National Budget for 2004. Some of the things required of the Monetary Board include the approval of resolutions that require sworn statements by shareholders and officials of commercial banks to the effect they are not involved in any dubious accounting practices that hide any part of a bank’s activities. This has been done. Next on the list of things to do are a series of measures that will include deposit guarantees; a set of rules that covers the Central Bank as a last-resort loan agency; a rule to regulate the selection of members of the Monetary Board; the creation of a panel of experts to look into the role of the Superintendent of Banks and the Central Bank in the Baninter debacle; a set of rules that will define and regulate the economic groups that control financial agencies; a new set of rules that will govern loans to companies owned or controlled by members of a bank’s board of directors; and, lastly, a set of rules to govern offshore banking activities by Dominican banking institutions. |
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The 5% surcharge issue Press reports indicate that the export community is in total opposition to the announced 5% surcharge on all exports, including services. At the same time, an announcement by Elena Viyella de Paliza, the president of CONEP, which welcomed President Mejía’s acceptance of possible alternatives as a positive move, also sparked hope for some sort of mutual agreement on this crucial issue. The exporters, through their spokesman, Samir Rizek, have said that the President’s proposal to remove the 5% surcharge if the exporters sell their dollars at RD$24 to US$1 is not a viable solution to the problem. Their position is that this would constitute a 10% tax on their exports. For her part, Viyella greeted the President’s proposal as conciliatory. |
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Elena Viyella seeks compromise The National Council of Business (CONEP) recommended that the government seek to compromise its formulas with regard to the announced 5% surcharge on exports. Elena Viyella de Paliza told reporters that in these difficult times, the best thing for the business community and the government officials to do would be to find some sort of middle ground on the application of this new tax that will greatly affect certain sectors. CONEP established this position after requesting a decision from the Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the new tax. For Viyella de Paliza and her CONEP, there is an obvious contradiction in the fact that the government is taxing the very people that are supposed to produce the dollars to assist the country in extricating itself from the current crisis. Aleida Placencia, the Hoy journalist who filed this story, says that CONEP views the 5% tax as a double taxation, since it is charged on the FOB price, which already includes taxes paid on raw materials. |
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Dominican troops to leave for Iraq The 302 troops that make up the Quisqueya Force, and who have been training at a Spanish military facility, are about to embark on the final leg of their journey to Iraq. According to El Caribe, they are prepared to endure the homesickness that will hit them in the desert, far from their lush, green land. Some soldiers are from the capital of Santo Domingo and others from the South. Some soldiers wear flashy sunglasses that contrast sharply with their olive-green and black camouflage uniforms. According to Marcelo Aparicio of APF news agency, however, all are black or mulatto, as is the rest of the contingent of soldiers from Central America training at the Alvarez de Castro de Sant Climent Sescebedes military base in the province of Gerona in the Northeast of Spain. One officer explained to the reporter that there are several cooks among the Dominican group, as he joked, “It would be hard to keep order without rice and pigeon peas or goat stew.” The unit also has its musician to keep the bachata and merengue flowing in the desert. |
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Amelia Vega goes to work As covered by all of today’s papers, Amelia Vega did not come home to rest, but rather to do her job as Miss Universe. As she has stated, Vega is focusing on AIDS prevention and awareness. To those ends she visited several hospitals that treat AIDS patients. At Copresida, the presidential organization, she explained that the Miss Universe organization does not offer funds to any organization, but do lend her image to carry out fundraising activities. She told reporters that she and former President Bill Clinton will be hosting a dinner to collect funds for AIDS here in the Dominican Republic, but could not give an exact date. The world-class beauty then visited the Salvador B. Gautier Hospital, where she visited with AIDS patients who seemed shocked to see her there. Crowds gathered to ask for her autograph, as they followed her every step. The third stop of the morning was made at the Altagracia Maternity Hospital, where the calm that had characterized her earlier visits disappeared. Her security detail was considered to be “rough” on the people that tried to get near her. Francisco Sánchez, the hospital’s director, said that his staff was not allowed to crown Vega the “Godmother of the Maternity Hospital.” The last visit was to Robert Reid Children’s Hospital, where she spent a few minutes speaking with children afflicted with AIDS. |
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Pan Am Games Update
A last look back at the Games of 2003
Why Roberto Salcedo was not at the closing
Public Works reports RD$3 billion investment
Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Center: RD$449.75 million
Breakdown for the Parque del Este:
Breakdown for the Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Center:
Other works outside of the parks:
Sponsors for the venues |
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