| Daily News - 4 November 2003 |
President Hipolito Mejia returned to Santo Domingo last night, having spent two days in Panama to attend that country's centenary celebrations. President Mejia held bilateral meetings there with various international leaders, including his Chinese counterpart, Chen Shui Ban. He also met with IDB president Enrique Iglesias and signed a limited trade agreement with the Panamanian authorities. While in Panama, Mejia told reporters that the trade agreement would create a new and expanded market for the trade of about 200 products from both countries, including new exports from the Dominican Republic to Panama. He said that the Dominican business community would appreciate this development and that the positive effects on the economy would be felt very soon. It is reported that Mejia also attended a meeting with US Secretary of State Colin Powell during his visit, although no details of the content of this meeting have been released. The presidential director of press and information, Luis Gonzalez Fabra, described the encounter as a special honor usually reserved for the US's European allies. On his arrival at San Isidro air base yesterday evening, Mejia was met by Vice-President Milagros Ortiz Bosch. He made no statements to the awaiting press corps.
The Listin Diario reports that while in Panama, the President told the journalists accompanying him that the policies of his predecessor, Leonel Fernandez, were responsible for many of the problems currently afflicting the Dominican Republic, including the power crisis and failures in the banking system, such as the Baninter collapse. For this reason, said Mejia, the PLD would lose next year's Presidential election. There is some convergence with the view expressed by business leader Celso Marranzini that the blame lies with the government's economic advisors, most prominently Andy Daujahre, who served as advisor to the PLD administration as well as to the present government. "These advisors are the ones who really damage the country, knowing that should any social problems arise, tomorrow they can pack their bags, because they have their savings in dollars and can go and teach at some university, claiming they were not to blame for their country's problems." Marranzini's strong words came in reaction to Daujahre's recent statement that the country was running the risk of civil unrest and that the business community had a responsibility to pay its taxes. President Mejia in turn blamed the business community for the threat of public disorder, saying that if it were to happen, the high prices they are charging consumers were to blame. Marranzini said that the Dominican business community was living through its hardest moments ever and that industrialists were "engaged in a fight for survival and to maintain employment levels."
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) president Enrique Iglesias said yesterday that the obstacles preventing the disbursement of the US$200 million pending in the stand-by agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were on the way to being overcome. He was speaking in Panama, where he met with Dominican President Hipolito Mejia. Iglesias said that the Dominican government was implementing the measures required by the IMF and the disbursements would resume once the agreement was consolidated. He also promised to continue with the IDB's own loan disbursements to the Dominican Republic, starting with US$100 million aimed at social compensation projects. The IMF agreement has been frozen for several weeks now, since the Dominican government announced that it would spend an unscheduled US$362 million on the reacquisition of the power distribution companies previously owned by the Spanish company Union Fenosa. President Mejia had accused "certain sectors" of doing all they could to prevent the agreement from happening and resisting all attempts to introduce the necessary measures. "We need this agreement," said Mejia. "I am still the President and it must be signed." He said furthermore that the country was doing "all that has to be done" in order to achieve this. Mejia announced that the government had the RD$2 billion owed to the power companies and that state electricity board (CDEEE) administrator Cesar Sanchez would announce the payment plan in the next few days. These payments would be a step forward towards ending the serious electricity crisis the country has been suffering for the last few months, said President Mejia. Meanwhile, the deputy governor of the Central Bank, Felix Calvo, has said that "good news" may well be received from Washington, as early as today. Speaking on Teleantillas' "Uno + Uno" program, Calvo assured that the government had taken steps to avoid exceeding the public spending deficit limit, as set out in the agreement with the IMF. This would entail improved tax collection and new temporary taxes. His calculations did not include the so-called "solidarity contributions" of RD$325 million a month from the business sector, as agreed last week. Calvo predicted that when the IMF agreement comes into force, the US dollar rate would come down.
The Central Bank's deputy governor, Felix Calvo, announced that Grupo Leon Jimenes, whose Banco Profesional stepped in to take over Bancredito earlier this year, will be drawing up a new long-term strategy for the bank that will include a name change. The new appellation has not yet been revealed.
Hoy newspaper reports that while the US dollar was being sold for between RD$40 and RD$40.25 yesterday - a record low for the peso - there was little movement on the exchange market due to limited demand and a shortage of dollars. Commercial banks kept the rate just below the RD$40 mark, but exchange houses set their rates at the new record level. The peso had rallied briefly when it appeared that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would step in to bail out the ailing economy. Since the agreement came to a standstill over one month ago, however, it has been in steady decline. Business leaders have called on the government to take urgent steps to tackle this phenomenon. "The Dominican economy has not yet adjusted to an exchange rate of RD$35, so it is of extreme concern that it should reach RD$40," said Rafael Alvarez Crespo of the Haina industrialists' association. He expressed hope that this would be a temporary state of affairs. Horacio Alvarez, executive director of exporters association ADOEXPO, said that the exchange rate crisis was creating a climate of uncertainty that threatened investment confidence. The export sector needs to pull together to face the crisis, but the government also has to play its part, according to the ADOEXPO director. He added that the soaring exchange rate is making it impossible for many companies to survive: they have tried to cut their costs while prices have gone up disproportionately. The euro is being traded at between RD$40 to RD$44, report the papers.
The PRD's internal party reconciliation committee is holding a summit meeting today. While President Hipolito Mejia is scheduled to attend, most of his big-name rivals for the PRD candidacy have said they would not be present. The most forceful rebuttal came from PRD party president Hatuey Decamps, who said he would not engage in any dialogue with Mejia until he abandons his re-election ambitions. Ivelisse Prats de Perez, who is organizing the event, said that the presence of the party president was imperative, and that "democracy is made by everyone". Rafael "Fello" Subervi Bonilla was less negative, saying that all problems have a solution. "I have always been positive. Even when you are dying, you have to believe you can be saved," said Subervi, although he was at the same time non-committal about attending the summit, claiming he had not yet received his invitation. Vice-President Milagros Ortiz Bosch is another prominent figure who claims not to have been invited.
The PPH (Proyecto Presidencial Hipolito, internal party campaign promoting the President's re-election) has accused PRD president and strong opponent of Presidential re-election Hatuey Decamps of discrediting the government at last week's Socialist International conference in Brazil. PPH activists Tomas Hernandez Alberto, Julio Marinez and Carlos Gabriel Garcia were sent to the conference, apparently to frustrate this plan, according to a report in Hoy newspaper. The delegation travelled to Rio de Janeiro because they knew Decamps "would try to distort the Dominican Republic's economic, social and political reality, so that the Socialist International issue a statement condemning Hipolito Mejia's Presidential candidacy." Their mission, explained Garcia, was to inform delegates to the conference of the country's economic situation "in a transparent manner". Although he was not successful, Decamps and his associates made every effort to obtain a statement condemning President Mejia, according to the PPH representatives. Listin Diario commentator Orlando Gil writes in his "Orlando dice" column that the President's people have been searching media archives for a piece of videotape "like a needle in a haystack." The videotape's footage is said to show Decamps defying deceased leader Jose Francisco Pena Gomez. It is nowhere to be found at the state television station RTVD, however, and some believe the recording has been deliberately erased. Rumors have it that an unnamed person does possess a copy and that the PPH will use it as a latest salvo in their "dirty war" to present Decamps as an opportunist. Gil writes that the President's supporters are hoping that this piece of archive film will show that "Decamps was not always as strong a supporter of Pena Gomez as he makes himself out to be." His opponents say he has only taken on this mantle in his fight against the principle of consecutive Presidential re-election, to which Pena was strongly opposed. Hatuey Decamps himself is said to be unruffled, maintaining that the incident is already on record as described in one of Pena's own books. Orlando Gil can be contacted at: orlandogil@codetel.net.do
Social scientist and political leader Max Puig writes in today's El Caribe newspaper about the infamous history of electoral fraud in the Dominican Republic. The relatively recent catalogue is strewn with examples, from the "collossal fraud" of the 1990 elections against then-PLD leader Juan Bosch to the serious crisis of 1994 when Balaguer was forced to reduce his term to two years. These events led to some positive outcomes, in the shape of electoral reform, but the way in which members of the JCE (Central Electoral Board) were recently elected is one notable exception. The ruling party still has too much control over this, writes Puig, and the electoral system is riddled with defects, such as flaws in the JCE computer network, the reports that hundreds of thousands of Dominicans hold erroneous official documentation, the many cases of double registration, the people whose details do not appear in the central registry and deceased people who are still eligible for voting, among others. The real "dead voters" are not those who appear posthumously on the register, says Puig, but those who, despite being alive, fail to vote for some reason or another. There are efforts to improve the situation and they should be commended, says Puig, citing Participacion Ciudadana and other bodies engaged in this work. At the same time, there are reports that duplicate ID cards are being issued to party supporters bearing the names of people who have no intention of voting - a situation which, according to Puig, could be avoided if the closed electoral college system were abolished. "These reports should not be underestimated. It is better to prevent than to lament."
The latest species to hit the endangered list is the Dominican middle class, according to the Diario Libre's opening editorial comment "Antes de comenzar", by editor Anibal de Castro. He writes, "The middle class is angry. They no longer believe in political slogans and even less in those who utter them. They know that whoever wins, they will lose." The middle class subsidizes the poor with their payments of the electricity bills and they are the consumers who sustain the businesses owned by the rich. These are the same people who are having to return their vehicles and withdraw their mortgages because of the high interest rates. "The middle classes do not go to restaurants, on holiday or spend weekends at resorts, because they are seriously threatened by unemployment." De Castro cites rising prices and the warnings of economists who say "It will take ten years to get back to the point we were at." The middle class, according to some estimates, has fallen from 26% of the population to 20%. De Castro concludes that "too many people have become poor much too quickly."
The Dominican women's volleyball team has suffered defeat at the hands of the Chinese selection at the World Volleyball championships in Japan. They were beaten 25-12, 25-12 and 25-15 by China, who, according to the Dominican team's coach, Cuban Jorge Garbey, are the strongest in the world. Our national team, who won gold at the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo in August, have won one out of three matches played so far. The top three teams in the championship will qualify for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
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