The government of Leonel Fernandez has announced an ambitious program of public works that aims to spend RD$2.1 billion on projects that are, for the most part, well underway. After meeting with President Fernandez, Public Works Minister Freddy Perez told reporters that the various constructions and refurbishment of projects would be finished within 100 days. The government's chief construction officials were present at the meeting, including the engineering supervisor of government projects, the head of the National Housing Institute and the director of the Water Authority for Santo Domingo. As reported in Hoy, Minister Perez said that RD$900 million would be invested in 100 projects of social interest. The Institute of Potable Water (INAPA) will receive US$30 million to finish the aqueduct that is to serve the country's northwest, while the Santo Domingo Water Authority will be given RD$122.5 million to finish 35 jobs already begun. INAPA will rebuild or refurbish 35 aqueducts with an investment of RD$125 million. More work is planned for the library and sports facilities at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo, as is the completion of the Supreme Court building that was initiated in 1996 by the first Fernandez administration. The Duarte Highway will also get some long overdue attention, while the Santiago Beltway and the new park to replace the old airport are similarly included in the plans. Housing projects in the La Virgin and El Tamarindo districts of Santo Domingo are furthermore listed.
Armed Forces Minister Admiral Sigfrido Pared Perez told reporters that 375 officials had been demoted and 500 others had their status revoked. The admiral also said that several officials with the rank of pilot were denied their title because they lacked enough flight hours. Pared Perez told El Caribe that many of the officers knew they had received their promotions incorrectly, and certain among them had been promoted as many as four times during the PRD government. Most of the demoted officers and enlisted personnel had received their free passes to ascend to a higher rank during the last year and a half of the Mejia administration. Pared Perez said that these maneuvers were the source of problems of authority and discipline within the armed forces, as well as a blow to the morale of the military. The reason cited was that the promotions had not followed the Armed Forces Law that governs these situations. Minister Pared Perez commented: "Many of the promotions were not even seen by the Armed Forces Ministry or the President, since they came from the various chiefs of staff of the various branches of the military." The minister said that the review of the ranks would continue until the system is back under proper regulation. As far as the cancellation of officials went, the minister told reporters that 21 officers had had their appointments rescinded because they were in violation of Article 873 or Article 31 of the pertaining law. As reported in Hoy, 1,000 personnel files were reviewed and revised. In the Air Force alone, 28 officers were weeded out, 31 had their latest promotion annulled and two officers had their last two promotions denied. Four Air Force officers were redesignated as assimilated members of the Air Force, rather than officers. In the Navy, 57 officers had their latest promotion revoked and another 41 were let go since they were past the age established in Article 31 of the Organic Law of the Armed Forces. Another 58 officers were demoted because they had not completed the necessary time in grade as required by the law. Three officers were reassigned as assimilated and three more had their appointments cancelled.
One of the most important challenges facing the government is that of finding a solution that would allow it to fulfill the demands made by the Paris Club with regards to the equality of treatment of the public and private debts. According to sources at yesterday's meeting, local economists were contemplating how to fulfill these demands. The government must find a solution soon, as it only has until 15 October to meet the Paris Club's deadline and the US$193 million that was renegotiated in April is at stake. If the October deadline is not respected, a new round of renegotiations with the creditor nations that make up the club would be needed. Otherwise, the Dominican government must come up with a quick US$100 million, on top of the previous US$193 million, in order to see what they are up against. The government definitely does not have the resources to face such a situation, since the previous administration had spent the money that was saved through these negotiations. Sources are leaking the information that one of the possible solutions under consideration is that of obtaining a loan from a private international banking institution that will cover the estimated gap of US$100 million. The country has been paying interest on the sovereign bonds and there is a US$10-million payment due on some Brady Bonds government has ordered to be paid, according to Banking Superintendent Rafael Camilo. As reported by Mario Mendez in Hoy, one of the conditions of the Paris Club is that the country maintain an IMF Stand By Agreement, and this, in turn, is subject to the approval of the tax reform legislation now being studied in Congress.
Opposition party economist and former Central Bank governor Guillermo Caram writes in El Caribe today to suggest that the government make a genuine effort to effectuate the austerity it has touted, instead of seeking to secure new revenues through increased taxes on the population. Instead of approving the tax reform that he says has been modified in Congress to please special interest groups, the government should concentrate on curbing its own spending. According to Caram, the present government has kept most of the hypertrophied bureaucracy that was so harshly criticized in the past administration, as supported by the "disproportionate and disarticulated appointments."
Caram insists that the proposed tax reform does not alleviate the tax burden, but rather increases it, which will help contract the Dominican economy and inhibit the entrepreneurial capacity of Dominicans. He says the increases in the ITBIS/VAT tax and the decision to apply the banking transactions tax across the board will make its supervision difficult, bringing with it the risk of fiscal deficits. He says the tax reform as proposed is socially unfair, as it penalizes a segment of the population that has already paid high taxes and had to absorb inflation that stemmed from the errors in government handling.
He urged the government to put aside its efforts to ratify the tax reform and concentrate instead on achieving the promised austerity as a way of achieving fiscal discipline.
Eric Dorrejo, an architect who holds a doctorate from the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, writes to El Caribe to criticize the government's decision to build a metro in Santo Domingo. He says the metro has been resurrected as the solution to the transportation chaos, and that each government arrives with a new plan every four years while transport continues in chaos. In his opinion, any solution proposed without integrating the various public transport systems that interact in cities would not be sustainable. He suggests that the Dominican authorities cast an eye on European cities such as Rouen, Dresden or Vienna, which have greater populations than Santo Domingo but where traffic flows unhindered. He says other prime examples in Latin America are Bogota, Salvador de Bahia (Brazil) and Lima, Peru.
As the media continues to focus on the National Police and their misappropriation of retrieved stolen vehicles, the Listin Diario reports today on a fleet of luxury vehicles that has mysteriously vanished from official custody. At least 30 vehicles that were once the property of deceased engineer and former Navy second lieutenant Gustavo Isidro Zayas Garcia have been reported missing. Among the impressive list of autos are a Jaguar xj8 and two Mercedes Benzes, as well as two Harley Davidson motorcycles and various other cars.
National Police Chief Major General Manuel de Jesus Perez Sanchez confirmed these reports last night and informed that a commission had been set up to investigate the vehicles' whereabouts. Zayas Garcia was killed on 25 October 2003, when unknown assailants entered his Gala, Santo Domingo residence and murdered him. At the time, it was widely rumoured that the case was related to drug dealings and bachata artist Joselito.com, who is now under arrest in Puerto Rico for narcotics trafficking. The investigation of Zayas Garcia's murder was not conclusive, nor was it forwarded to the DNCD (drug control department of the police), as is the protocol.
Before the case was abandoned, however, police announced that Zayas Garcia's prized automobile collection had been seized and sent to the Canodromo El Coco, the place where all vehicles classified as evidence in a crime are held. Listin reporters went to the site this week, however, and discovered that the vehicles were in fact not on the premises.
Meanwhile, the return of vehicles appropriated illicitly by police officials continued yesterday, in compliance with the ultimatum issued by Major General Perez Sanchez.
Police representatives informed that 94 vehicles had been returned to date. No punishments or charges will be brought against the offending officers, as the police chief conceded that such behaviour was "part of the culture."
Jose Alfredo Rizek, the executive director of the Foundation for Institutionalism and Justice (FINJUS), debates in El Caribe today the statement of Police Chief Major General Manuel Perez Sanchez, who asserted that the officers who had returned stolen vehicles recovered by police but not reported had turned them over in "good faith." Rizek disputes the notion that the act of returning the stolen property absolves them from any wrongdoing. While acknowledging that the situation is very delicate and problematic for the head of the police, Rizek says the police chief is faced with a dilemma: Should he comply with the law and bring to bear all the consequences this may imply for those involved, regardless of rank or their function in the police force, or should he avoid such confrontations that could be counterproductive to his new role as police chief, at a time when he needs the full support of all police members to reduce crime?
Rizek wonders, however, if this is not similar to the case of the lands of Bahia de las Aguilas, where those who fraudulently took possession of government property were fully pardoned upon returning them.
He concludes that Perez Sanchez must abide by the law, and he explains how he reached this conclusion. The efforts to recover the stolen vehicles demonstrated courage and a desire to effect change, he says. "But we cannot take a transcendental step like this in our precarious institutionalism and fall short by not completing the cycle, thereby setting an example for the future. If those officers who used stolen vehicles for their personal benefit are not penalized, everything will simply remain as in the past and there will be a repeat incident."
In his opinion, a battle is being waged against impunity. "It has been proven that until this cycle is broken, the DR will fall far from achieving economic progress on a road that leads to the common good for the population," he concludes.
Besides a lot of missing vehicles, there appear to be a lot of missing weapons that need to be accounted for by the National Police. According to the Santo Domingo District Attorney Jose Manuel Hernandez Peguero, it is not only luxury SUVs and other top-of-the-line vehicles that have vanished from the inventory of confiscated items. Apparently, weapons seized from common criminals, as well as those confiscated during Police operations, have also disappeared, and are presumed to be in the hands of family members or friends of police officials. El Caribe reports that Hernandez Peguero has requested a detailed report from Police Chief Manuel de Jesus Perez Sanchez. According to the DA, these weapons must be kept in the custody of the District Attorney's office because when a judge asks for evidence, the prosecutor must be able to produce the weapon, not learn that it was given to some police agent or friend.
After an all-too-brief respite, the blackouts have returned to punish a population that was just getting used to having electricity more often than not. Due to a reported mechanical problem, the AES-Andres generator went offline and a short circuit in the Palamara-Hainamosa line caused a general blackout that lasted for seven hours. Besides AES-Andres, the generator at Cogentrix is offline and many of the other power stations are not producing at full capacity. Francisco Mendez, the new electricity superintendent (SIE), told El Caribe reporters that while the short circuit removed several power stations from service, he felt confident that the deficit would be reduced to 200MW during the day and just 80MW during the peak hours of the night. According to the Listin Diario, Haina, Palamara, La Vega and Seaboard are all producing below capacity, and Itabo I is out of service because of mechanical problems. The power stations with below normal outputs say they are rationing fuel. Mendez told reporters that the SIE was meeting with the various power producers to settle the issues surrounding the elusive debts owed to them, and arrive at a agreement that would benefit the entire population.
El Caribe reports that, after several hours of standoff with police, one of the men implicated in the multiple homicide that took place in Navarrete two days ago has turned himself him. Known only as "Jochy," the man awaited the presence of a district attorney before his surrender. Police say he is a presumed local drug dealer and the second man to be held in connection to the crime.
The bodies of seven men, some of which had been allegedly tortured, were found in an unfinished house in the town that lies near Santiago de los Caballeros. "There are new clues," said the spokesman for the Criminal Investigations unit of the National Police, Jose Rafael Castro Urena. "We have two people in custody who are the presumed authors of this act."
The other man being formally held is one Manolito Jiminian, while 10 others were detained yesterday for questioning. Santiago's La Informacion reports that four men were involved in the slayings. Police say their investigation is ongoing.
Luis Alfonso de Borbon, a legitimate descendent of the French monarchy, will marry Maria Margarita Vargas of Venezuela on 6 November in the Dominican Republic. El Caribe reports that the nuptials were announced today in the Spanish magazine "Lecturas," according to which the couple have begun to send out their invitations to a mainly European guest list. The site of the ceremony is reportedly "a farm in La Romana" that belongs to the bride-to-be's family.
De Borbon, 30, is the son of the deceased Duke of Cadiz, who was the first cousin of King Juan Carlos I of Spain, and Carmen Martinez-Bordiu, the granddaughter of Francisco Franco. Upon their betrothal, the bride will officially become the Duchess of Anjou.
DR1 readers are urged to be extra careful if they plan to travel along George Washington Avenue (El Malecon), as high seas and violent wave action caused traffic problems in several areas yesterday. El Caribe reports that several of the large concrete benches that comprise one of the avenue's attractions have been displaced by the waves caused by Hurricane Ivan and thrown across the roadway. Hoy newspaper reported that the National Aquarium, which is located on the Caribbean seashore, was closed for damages caused by the swells.
While DR residents breathed a sigh of relief as the storm bypassed the island, Hurricane Ivan has left four victims in the DR nonetheless. According to Hoy newspaper, a 17-year-old girl and three brothers, ages 12, 13 and 15, died yesterday afternoon while gathering fish thrown up by the sea along the coastline at Km 11 of the Las Americas Highway (on the way to the Las Americas Airport). A wave swept the youngest boy away and the others dived into the sea to rescue him, drowning in their attempt. According to reports, they were the children of a chauffeur and maid who were at work when the tragedy occurred.
Hurricane Ivan passed Santo Domingo at a distance of some 500km today, bringing with it some intense rains yesterday and cloudy skies as of noon today. Given that the storm has intensified to category 5, the coastline is under the effect of intense swells. For coverage on the storm from a DR perspective, see the posts on the Tropical Storm Ivan thread at:
http://dr1.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=34
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 1996-2008. DR1. All Rights Reserved.