| Daily News - 21 November 2003 |
President Hipolito Mejia will visit the areas affected by heavy rainfall and flooding in the northeast of the country today, accompanied by an agricultural assessment team. Yesterday the President told reporters he felt the authorities had done all they could to provide assistance to the victims. In response to complaints from local people that the government had not done enough, Mejia said that "the water levels cannot fall by decree." The floods affected over 9,000 families and damaged more than 1,000 homes. Evacuees currently number 47,000 and the death toll has risen to nine, according to some reports. It is still difficult to measure the cost of the damage, but the Agricultural Ministry is estimating that at least 600,000 quintales of rice, equivalent to one month's national supply, has been lost. Hundreds of heads of livestock are also reported missing. Damages could total over RD$1 billion, according to the Ministry. Water levels in the Taveras dam are continuing to rise, according to Radhames Lora Salcedo, president of the national emergency committee (CNE), so there is not likely to be any immediate respite for the flooded areas. The flooding in the Montecristi area resulted in the collapse of part of the road that links the town with Dajabon. The Archbishop of Santiago, Ramon de la Rosa y Carpio, called on the government to provide "serious assistance" to victims of the disaster, despite the economic crisis and instead of "merely making promises on television and in the newspapers." He also said there should be more control over where people build their homes, so they are not in areas vulnerable to this type of flooding. He described the practice of families who are allocated a house by the authorities, who then rent it out and live in a precarious dwelling in a flood-prone area. TV news channel CDN (Cadena de Noticias) is warning of more rain for today which could worsen the situation in already-inundated areas.
Father Rogelio Cruz yesterday accepted the government's insistence that they had not sought his transfer to the Vatican, as has been widely reported. Cruz met with President Mejia yesterday, after which encounter the President's Technical Secretary Sergio Grullon read out a statement saying that no such request had ever been made and that the government had always given Padre Rogelio and others working in the same field their "support and respect." Grullon concluded by saying, "We think the country is enriched by the social and Christian commitment of its leaders and members of the community, which we value, as we respect all the initiatives aimed at improving living conditions for its inhabitants." The Vatican's ambassador in Santo Domingo, Papal Nuncio Timothy Broglio, confirmed that he had not received any instructions from the government concerning the transfer of Father Rogelio Cruz. Broglio called on the government to tackle the nation's problems.
Under the new penal code district attorneys will no longer be able to order the imprisonment of a criminal suspect. Resolution 14873-2003 comes from the Attorney General's office, which says that this common practice is unconstitutional and violates the legal rights of citizens. This includes people detained in police round-ups, as in the case of the recent operation to find illegal weapons held on the eve of the 11 November general strike. The only exception is when a criminal is caught "red-handed", otherwise a judge would have to decide whether the case merits detention. The second clause of Article 8 of the Dominican Constitutions reads: "No one can be put in prison of deprived of their liberty without the express order of a competent judge, except in flagrante delicto cases." This latest resolution also grants suspects the right to maintain silence in the presence of the police until a lawyer is present. El Caribe newspaper quotes judicial experts Candido Simon Polanco, who welcomed the move, as saying, "If this is applied, it will prevent many arbitrary actions, typical of a country where the rules are not clear." While recognizing the authorities' limited capacity to implement this resolution, Polanco was confident that it would take effect shortly. As a member of the American Human Rights Committee, Polanco said that the practice of police round-ups in poor neighborhoods will also be covered by the new measure. "The Constitution establishes that people are presumed innocent… when a round-up is carried out, the presumption is that everyone in the area is suspected of a crime." He added that the drug enforcement body DCNI, the police special investigations unit DNI, and the armed forces' investigations units should also be included in this resolution. In addition, the AG's office announced that telephone surveillance will not be admissible as legal evidence if undertaken without a judge's authorization. The Listin Diario newspaper welcomes the development, saying the Supreme Court is "moving with the times" and that a suspect's right to defense is a "sacred institution within the judicial system, based on the principle that a suspect is not assumed to be guilty, and that all suspects are considered innocent until proven otherwise."
The accused in Baninter's RD$55-billion fraud case, former bank president Ramon Baez Figueroa, will seek release on bail on the grounds that the Constitution grants him the right to liberty, following the issue of Resolution 1920-03 on Monday. Juan Antonio Delgado, of the Baninter legal defense team, said that both Baez Figueroa and Marcos Baez Cocco have been in preventive custody for six months now, and that a bail agreement should be reached. Nonetheless, the two are in prison under suspicion of violating the law on money laundering, which precludes the right to bail. Their lawyer, however, maintains that this charge still needs to be proven by the prosecutors, and that the citizen's constitutional right to freedom should take precedence. Delgado said that according to the new penal code, bail can only be denied when there is a flight risk. Baninter's legal team is also objecting to the designation of Luis Emilio Aurich as an expert witness in the case, due to conflict of interests. According to full-page paid advertisements in today's newspapers, Aurich's wife is a former Baninter operations executive who was dismissed following a disagreement with her immediate boss, Marcos Baez Cocco.
An increasing number of PRD deputies are opposing President Hipolito Mejia's re-election plans, for fear that his candidacy may lead them back into opposition, report the newspapers. Even the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Alfredo Pacheco, has distanced himself from the PPH (Proyecto Presidencial Hipolito, internal PRD campaign for the President's re-election), although he maintains a neutral stance on the re-election issue in principle. A group of 31 PRD deputies, including some PPH members, called on the Presidential pre-candidates to select a "consensus candidate" to reunite the party. This clearly implies the exclusion of President Mejia from the running. The President refused to comment on the matter to waiting journalists yesterday. Outside the PRD, a number of influential voices have also spoken out against re-election, including those of Elena Viyella de Paliza, president of private business association CONEP; Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez; the Evangelical Union Conference and the Economist Intelligence Unit, which believes that Presidential re-election is incompatible with the IMF agreement. Hoy newspaper reports that civil society organization Participacion Ciudadana has called on the President to put the country's interests above his political ambitions. The President should concentrate on "governing well" as the nation faces one of its most serious crises, said a document released by Participacion Ciudadana's national council. Meanwhile, both PRD factions are busy preparing for their parallel conventions, one of which includes the President as a pre-candidate. Writing in Listin Diario, Ana Mitila Lora says the President and his administration have succeeded in uniting the Dominican people "in growing discontent and complaints and rejection of their economic management. They feel deceived when told about the fight against poverty, they suffer from insecurity and uncertainty, and to a lesser extent, they are affected by institutional precariousness."
It is reported that the negotiations between the International Monetary Fund delegation and the government are not progressing, and that the IMF is unwilling to accept the government's position that its reacquisition of the power supply companies from Union Fenosa will not affect the country's debt burden. The IMF commissioned research by independent experts, which concluded that this measure would increase public debt and the government's ongoing commitments. The IMF had suspended its disbursements as part of the standby agreement, following the surprise news of the buyback of the companies known as the "Edes" - an undertaking for which the international body was not consulted. According to a report in Hoy newspaper, both sides are refusing to budge from their respective positions.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has approved a US$6-million loan to the Dominican banking sector, with the aim of strengthening the financial system. This is part of a program designed in the aftermath of the collapse of Baninter, the result of alleged fraud on a grand scale. The measures funded by this loan will include inspections of all banking institutions and evaluations of the banking groups' structure and solvency. The funds will also support the government's efforts in defining an IDB and World Bank financial support plan, as well as the Dominican macro-economic program.
All clients of Segna, the insurance company intervened by the Insurance Superintendence this week, are being instructed to insure their properties with alternative insurance companies. Their policies will be canceled on the last day of this month, and clients should seek any payments due to them before that date, including those with pre-paid policies. Meanwhile, Tricom has denied Insurance Superintendent Rafael Santos Badia's claim that Segna made investments in the telecommunications company. The only relationship Tricom had with Segna, according to a statement printed in today's newspapers, was that of insurer and insured. Ana Mitila Lora, in her Listin Diario colum "Mochila al hombro", questions the handling of this latest collapse: "Is it logical that the government should bear the brunt of yet another collapsed company? The measure increases unemployment and the size of the hole in people's pockets. It is essential to insist on transparency in both the private and public sectors; it is the citizens who end up paying for the broken dishes."
The president of state oil refinery Refidomsa, Amaury Justo Duarte, warned that fuel prices would be increased at the weekend as a result of global oil price rises and the fall of the peso against the US dollar. A barrel of crude has gone up by 4.5% to US$33.28, while the dollar-peso rate now stands between RD$41 and RD$42. In addition, the government imposes a tax rate of RD$18 on premium gasoline, RD$15 on regular and RD$5 on diesel. Yesterday afternoon, there were reports that suppliers were rationing diesel ("gasoil"), provoking speculation there was a shortage of this fuel. This rumor was denied, however, by the authorities. Diario Libre's main editorial is critical of "gas-guzzling" luxury vehicles, saying their owners should be subject to higher import duties and license plate fees. In contrast, what are described as "utilitarian" vehicles should be kept more affordable, says the opinion piece. "It has reached the point where owning a vehicle, however modest and old, implies impossible privileges." Taxing these vehicles is an unacceptable burden for the already beleaguered middle class, concludes the writer.
The propane gas depot which exploded last week in the Santo Domingo residential district of Villas Agricolas has been closed down. The capital's municipal authorities responded to pleas from the local community and ordered that the depot be shut down. A committee to evaluate the situation has been established. Last week's gas tanker explosion caused seven injuries and widespread damage. Local residents expressed fears that a future blast could entail more dire consequences.
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