DR1 daily news will not be published on Monday, 10 November as Dominicans celebrate Constitution Day. Monday's news will be compiled for the Tuesday, 11 November edition. For breaking news during this period, see the DR1 Message Board. Link through http://www.dr1.com
Community leaders are accusing the police of harassing the organizers of Tuesday's national day of protest. Fernando Morillo, of the National Unity Council, said that all popular leaders are being followed by agents "in a provocative manner." Four such organizers were arrested by police in the Villa Maria district of the capital on Wednesday night, as they were posting flyers publicizing the protest. "Wherever we go, they are following us... we have to creep around with plain-clothed officials outside our houses," said Morillo, who added that this sort of "repression" would only succeed in strengthening people's resolve to join the protests. The one-day strike has been called by a number of civil society groups, including trade unions and youth groups, in protest at what they call "the most serious crisis in the last 50 years." The dissenters believe the grave situation has arisen from the present government's economic policies. "The diabolical race towards foreign debt, the festival of abusive and marginally illegal taxation, combined with President Mejia's obsession with re-election, has brought the country to the brink of a crisis with consequences that cannot be predicted," pronounced Morillo, who went on to say that the IMF agreement was "the last straw," which would only result in more misery for the people. He called on the public to join in the protest, and said the President still has a chance to "put the country back on track" by introducing policies to reduce inflation and fuel prices, raise salaries and impose taxes on the rich. Trade union leader Ramon Perez Figuereo, as quoted in El Caribe, declared that everything was in place for Tuesday's protest, which he assured would be peaceful, and saying that 50 popular organizations across the country were supporting the strike action. He called on the President to rethink his economic policies and to reflect on the effects on poor people of the measures that come with the IMF agreement. "Not everything can be solved with a joke, especially when an egg costs four pesos," said Perez Figuereo, in a clear reference to the President's habit of responding to serious questions with jocularity. Police Chief Jaime Marte Martinez said that his forces were ready to deal with any incident that threatens public order and Interior & Police Minister Pedro Franco Badia called on the protestors to remain within the law.
The International Monetary Fund has confirmed that its delegation to the Dominican Republic will return next week, to continue its negotiations with the government that were suspended over one month ago when it was announced the government would take over the electricity supply companies Edesur and Edenorte from Spanish power company Union Fenosa. The IMF delegation left the country and froze all disbursements of funds, leaving the fate of the standby agreement in question. IMF spokesman Thomas Dawson said in a statement that the mission would travel to Santo Domingo late next week to resume talks and study the implications of the reacquisition of the "Edes". According to economist and former Central Bank governor Bernardo Vega, as quoted in Hoy newspaper, these delays could mean that the agreement would not be confirmed until the end of December, although a statement of principle could come three or four weeks in advance. In the mean time, the climate of uncertainty will mean that the peso continues to flounder, said Vega, who felt that this stage of the process was a good chance to introduce effective fiscal reform in time for the government's 2004 budget. Vega said that the private sector was right in calling on the government to introduce such reform, and that President Hipolito Mejia's measures were not austere enough. He voiced his doubt that the IMF would accept the private sector's "solidarity contributions" as a reliable source of income for the national budget, because these could be withdrawn at any moment.
Central Bank Governor Jose Lois Malkum told senators yesterday that it was possible that the increase in the exchange rate commission on imports, as announced last month, could be reversed, providing the IMF agreement makes way for alternative income-generation mechanisms. In a letter to Senate leader Jesus Vasquez Martinez, Malkum outlined the reasons for this increase, but gave rise to hopes that the increase could be canceled: "What I can guarantee is that once Congress passes one or more laws that address the government's income-generation problems in order to comply with the IMF, we would be in the best position to abandon this surcharge with immediate effect."
Diario Libre devotes a full page inside today's edition to the current fortunes of the Dominican tourist industry. The fall of the peso, while disastrous for so many, makes the Dominican Republic a very attractive proposition for tourists, and the sector is experiencing a boom, with high hotel occupancy levels. The first ten months of the year saw a record number of tourist arrivals numbering nearly 2,700,000 - the first Caribbean tourist destination to attain this figure. This represents a 21.6% increase on the figure for the equivalent period last year and additional income of US$410 million. The total income for the tourist sector this year is estimated at US$2.78 billion, according to Central Bank statistics. Three million tourists will have visited the Dominican Republic by the end of 2003, and the income generated will rise to well over US$3 billion, according to these projections. The Dominican Republic's main competitors in the region, Cuba and Mexico's Caribbean coast, have seen a lower growth in tourist traffic, 14% and 7% respectively. The average Dominican hotel's occupancy rate for this year is 74%. These improvements can also be attributed to the economic upturn in the US, which sent 25% more tourists this year, as well as the Dominican tourist authorities' promotional work abroad. The stronger euro currency is also a factor in the 22% increase in tourism from Europe. This coming weekend, which is a long weekend for Dominicans, all hotels in the main tourist areas are fully booked.
Employees in the tourist sector will see a rise in their minimum wages, according to an announcement by the national salaries commission. This means that the monthly minimum wage will go up from RD$3,310 to RD$3,800 - less than US$100 at the current exchange rate.
Glad tidings for consumers: Certain brands of soft drinks and milk are to go down in price. Both Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola's local bottling agents are lowering their prices to RD$15 a liter, RD$10 for a half-liter and RD$7 for the 10oz bottle. Jose Ramon Sanchez Payano of Embotelladora Dominicana, bottlers of Pepsi Cola and other popular brands such as Seven Up, Mirinda, Red Rock, and Enriquillo soda and tonic water, said the reduction was aimed at making these products more accessible, especially to those on a low income who have been most affected by inflation. Nestle Dominicano has also announced a series of price reductions ranging from 12% to 20%, which will come as welcome news to the overstretched Dominican consumer. Carnation evaporated milk, Anchor and Nido Crecimiento powdered milk are included in the list of products which, as of today, will be sold at the new, lower prices. In addition, Dominicans who have lived abroad for over a year could enjoy a 30% exemption for importing vehicles, as long as the car is at least six months old. The older the vehicle, the higher the exemption, with up to 60% for a five-year-old vehicle, according to a proposal to modify Law 168, approved by the Chamber of Deputies yesterday.
Hundreds of PRSC branch leaders who had originally supported Jacinto Peynado's bid for the party's Presidential candidacy have now decided to switch their allegiance to Eduardo Estrella, who won the primary election earlier this year amidst allegations of fraud and irregularities. Defeated pre-candidate Jacinto Peynado is still contesting the result. An increasing number of the party's branches now appear, however, to be putting unity before factional allegiances so that the PRSC is better poised in the May 2004 Presidential elections. Orlando Gil, writing in his daily opinion column in the Listin Diario, catalogues the drift of support within the PRSC towards Estrella, beginning with Federico "Quique" Antun Batlle, who by all accounts has his eye on the top job for 2008 - a more realistic prospect given the Reformist party's minimal chances of winning the Presidency in 2004 in view of the fact they have placed third in all recent opinion polls.
TV news channel Cadena de Noticias is reporting this morning that the propane gas shortage - as reported in yesterday's DR1 news - is over, and that after several days of scarcity, distribution is now back to normal. Importers and wholesalers had held back supplies in protest over the government's debt to the sector. The price of propane gas is being held at RD$25 a gallon, with the government subsidizing the difference from the actual market price, which currently stands at RD$30.
All today's papers carry the news that a fuel tanker accidentally spilled thousands of gallons (figures vary from 1,300 in El Caribe to 3,500 in Diario Libre) of diesel fuel into the Haina river, necessitating a massive clean-up operation involving the navy, the police, the transport police (AMET), the fire departments, Civil Defense volunteers, the national oil refineries and the Environment Ministry. Work is under way to contain the spill and to extract the polluted water. According to Diario Libre, a number of local people were selling some of the recovered fuel. The accident took place on Wednesday evening near Haina's Club Nautico, when the fuel truck, which had just filled its tanks at the Dominican refinery, collided head-on with a private vehicle. The truck driver is in hospital with serious injuries, and three others, including two who had been traveling in the truck and the driver of the other vehicle, suffered slight injuries. The Environment Ministry will produce a report on the environmental impact of this spill, which is believed to have caused serious long-term effects on the flora and fauna of the surrounding area. The fire department is warning people not to light fires in the vicinity, for fear of igniting the fuel.
MUDHA, the Dominican-Haitian women's movement, sent a delegation to the Central Electoral Board (JCE) yesterday, to discuss the procedures for registering children of Haitian parentage born on Dominican soil. According to MUDHA, each civil registry office makes different requirements for registering children, and these inconsistencies must be replaced by a standardized procedure. Birth certificates are essential for children to enter the state school system. MUDHA coordinator Sonia Pierre said that withholding birth certificates on the basis that the child's parents were in the country illegally was unconstitutional. "There is no legal basis for denying the registration of children of Haitian immigrants," she said. JCE president Luis Arias said the board was working to regulate procedures, in order to overcome the obstacles. "It is unacceptable that there is no uniform position in the offices; you can be sure we will put an end to that," he avowed, also declaring that the JCE would not be discriminatory and that the judges have a social conscience. Children of Haitian origin are often marginalized in Dominican society, which is what MUDHA hopes to change. "We are part of this society and need to integrate as part of national life," said Pierre, herself of Haitian origin. She believes that Dominican-Haitian children need to be valued by society and by the authorities, in the same way as Dominican-Arabs or Dominican-Chinese, who are not denied their rights because of their foreign background. To exclude such an important group, which she numbered at 300,000, can only be detrimental to the country, said Pierre. MUDHA deals with 5,000 cases every year in which children are denied Dominican birth certificates because their parents do not possess Dominican ID cards (cedulas). "They are the only foreigners who are asked for cedulas when registering their children. This is neither in the Constitution nor in the law." The Dominican Constitution states that any child born on Dominican soil is entitled to Dominican nationality.
The liquidation committee of collapsed bank Baninter has announced that the final 26 branches still operating are to be shut on 26 November, according to a report in the Listin Diario. The bank's customers are being asked to make their final withdrawals well in advance of that deadline, however. They are also being given the option to transfer their accounts to Scotia Bank, which bought up some of Baninter's branches after the Central Bank's revelation of the massive fraud and missing billions that sealed the fate of Baninter's existence in the banking sector.
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