| Daily News - Thursday, 16 September 2004 |
Tropical Storm Jeanne was upgraded to hurricane status overnight, making it the sixth of the season and the third to directly affect the Dominican Republic. Currently, the eye of the storm is looming over Cabo Engano, at the easternmost tip of Hispaniola. Hurricane advisories are in effect from Santo Domingo to Puerto Plata and schools in the ten easternmost provinces have been closed as many educational facilities are being converted to centers of shelter and refuge. Las Americas International Airport in Santo Domingo yesterday suspended 15 flights to San Juan, Puerto Rico, where the storm was already causing havoc. In the DR, bands of storms have extended as far west as Mao in the province of Valverde province, where several houses were reported damaged by small, local tornadoes that also damaged many plantain and banana fields, according to Hoy newspaper. The National Emergency Commission (CNE) has ordered schools in Higuey, Nagua, San Pedro de Macoris, Hato Mayor, Montecristi, Samana, Puerto Plata, San Francisco de Macoris and Cotui to close their doors. The CNE also removed the 412 families living on Saona Island and ordered the evacuation of low-laying areas of Higuey and El Seibo provinces. Hurricane Jeanne is projected to make a northwesterly shift over the next few hours. DR1 News advises readers to tune in to CNN and CDN (Channel 37) on local television for the latest weather bulletins. Otherwise, www.caribwx.com , www.intellicast.com and www.nhc.noaa.gov are very reliable internet sources with good satellite imagery and accurate storm tracks.
El Caribe reports on the continued tension and violence in the town of Azua yesterday, as most stores remained closed and little activity could be seen on the city's streets.
As authorities intensified their search for the members of the gang responsible for the slaying of journalist Juan Andujar, one man was shot to death in a police operation. According to reports, this man was Jose Luis "El Gringo" Tejeda Filpo, who had fired the fatal shot to Andujar as he rode his motorcycle. As officials drove off with the body of the slain criminal, the townspeople of Azua gathered in their doorways in silence.
Various officials spent time at Blas Pujol's mother's residence, including the governor of San Jose de Ocoa and National Police spokesman Simon Diaz. "All I ask is that his rights be respected," said the wanted man's mother, who denied knowing her son's whereabouts.
During the skirmish earlier in the day that saw El Gringo killed, Blas once again escaped unharmed. El Caribe reports that police had discovered the gang members' hideout in the Las Cuchillas barrio and proceeded to descend on the locale. According to the report, the few houses situated in that location are bordered by thick woods, a fact that presumably assisted Pujols as he fled the agents who had the house "surrounded." The Listin Diario called the criminal's getaway "inexplicable."
The drama had begun the previous day, Tuesday, as police aimed to crack down on Azua gang activity by raiding the barrio with the objective of making arrests. The delinquents resisted the police, resulting in a shootout that saw four gang members killed and three others, two police and one bystander, injured. The gang members who managed to flee the scene went on to kill one journalist and seriously wound another as they sought to take their revenge for what they deemed to be betrayal. Apparently, Juan Andujar, a Listin Diario reporter and environmental activist, had been acting as a mediator between local thugs and police. He was killed as he rode his motorcycle. The gang members next sought retribution from Radio Enriquillo reporter Luis Sencion, who was seriously wounded by a gunshot to the arm.
Fearing they would also be targeted, other members of the press in the area sought police protection. Nerves were tightly wound, however, in the knowledge that Blas Pujols remained at large, as unsubstantiated reports came in of him having been seen at the house of reporter Juan Sanchez, who has been threatened by the gangs in the past.
As these events unfolded, the solemn occasion of Juan Andujar's funeral and burial was taking place. According to El Caribe, of the hundreds of people who turned out to pay their final respects to the slain man, two were detained for questioning by police. Some are saying, however, that the gang members mistakenly killed Andujar instead of Juan Sanchez. "He used to say that the tigueres were his friends and that they respected him," said one of Andujar's ten sisters. Sanchez felt certain that the bullet was really meant for him.
President Leonel Fernandez acknowledged "the intense wave of crime" that has shaken the DR recently, but gave a vote of confidence to the actions of the National Police and its chief, Major General Manuel de Jesus Perez Sanchez. He felt their responses to recent events gave a clear indication of the new authorities' attitude towards crime. According to Hoy, he denied that the deaths of five gang members in Azua could be classified as executions and maintained that in no way were their human rights violated. Fernandez also revealed that the perpetrators of the rape of a 15-year-old girl in Santo Domingo had been apprehended, as had the authors of the multiple homicide in Navarrete last week. "Police will continue their vigorous fight against any attempt to intimidate Dominican society," said the President, as he reminded that, despite the recent spate of local violence, the DR was a nation of peace with one of the lowest crime rates in Latin America.
As reported in El Caribe, Fernandez announced that General Perez Sanchez and Police & Interior Minister Franklin Almeyda would travel with him to New York, where discussions with the NYC Police would be held to establish a cooperative dialogue that may assist the DR tackle the latest surge in delinquent activity. Fernandez also said they would meet with Colombian officials to acquaint themselves with their law enforcement strategies and "professionalize" the local police organization. The head of state clarified that the military would be included in police operations only when absolutely necessary. "We must be careful, as the Armed Forces have different functions in the fight against crime." He assured that the police force would not become militarized.
The President is to meet with officials of the Armed Forces and National Police today to formulate a national plan to prevent crime and violence.
The chief of police has ordered the arrest of the entire detachment of the force that was located at the La Avanzada station near San Isidro. The story begins with Cinthia Arlene Perez Suarez and her two adolescent girls, who were kidnapped as they waited for a taxi in front of Multicentro Churchill and brought to another location where the two girls, ages 12 and 15, were sexually assaulted. According to Hoy and the Listin Diario, when the parents went to the police at La Avanzada after their daughters' abduction, the agents' only response was to tell them to come back in the morning. According to the Listin Diario, the unbearable experience of being forced to witness the rape of her daughters was magnified by the police's unwillingness to assist her. The spokesman for the Department of Criminal Investigation, Colonel Jose Rafael Castro Urena, told reporters that the arrested policemen are claiming that they were forbidden to take statements and complaints regarding adolescent sex crimes.
Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito placed retired Colonel Pedro Julio "Pepe" Goico on the list of individuals barred from leaving Dominican territory. Goico, however, is already in Paris, according to reports, from where he will travel to Madrid, supposedly to study. Goico left the country last Sunday on Air France flight 495. The departure of the controversial close associate of Hipolito Mejia, and the fact that the attorney general believed a travel ban had already been placed on Goico, was fodder for the political commentators and lawyers on Dominican radio and television. Readers will remember Goico for his involvement with the Baninter case, especially regarding his alleged illicit use of a Baninter credit card that was meant for Presidential expenditures abroad. Goico's departure coincides with recent statements from government lawyers who were planning to bring him in for testimony. The renewed interest in Goico was called "a political decision" by Vinicio Castillo, one of the lawyers for the state
Castillo also said that the statements given to the press by PPH boss Eligio Jaquez are sufficient evidence that Goico's departure was a voluntary exile or a legal escape, but that if his testimony was required he could be extradited in order to appear in court.
Although the Dominican sugar producers are satisfied with the measure, the Senate is still the scene of embittered debates over the proposed 25% tax on imported corn syrup. On one hand, various local industries that use sweeteners in their products are anxious to acquire the syrup tax free, and the US embassy has repeatedly requested the inclusion of this clause under the terms of the Free Trade Agreement signed just last month. Sugar producers, cane growers and other agro-business advocates, however, wish to prevent the imports of the sweetener on a tax-free basis. Since the approval of the tax reform package being pushed through the Senate is hinging on this one issue, discussions have adopted a more heated tone. One proposal would tax soft drinks that use the corn syrup as a sweetener at the rate of 25%. Yesterday, Foreign Affairs Minister Carlos Morales Trocoso held a meeting with 20 members of the Agro-Business Board (JAD), where he explained that the warnings from the US embassy that pointed out that such a tax might well affect the viability of the Free Trade Agreement. The US considers the proposed tax to be discriminatory. Morales nevertheless said that it was a question of free enterprise and that the Dominican Republic was against unfair competition. Part of the problem is that the surcharge is aimed at High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) from the United States, and does not mention any of the other producers of HFCS, such as Canada or Mexico. The US represents 75% of the world production of this particular sweetener. The main point of the local sugar cultivators and refiners is that the corn syrup from the United States enjoys a 29% price subsidy. One of the stickier points brought up by Osmar Benitez, one of the negotiators during the Free Trade Talks, is that the corn used to produce HFCS has been genetically modified, and the jury is still out as to the possible long-term effects of this technology on human beings. Benitez said that none of this was discussed during the trade talks last winter and spring.
The Senate postponed the second reading of the tax reform proposals to allow the PRD party to regroup its members, who have been divided over the controversial tax on imported corn syrup. Andres Bautista, the Senate president, told Hoy reporters that the first vote on the bill, which contained the 25% tax on corn syrup, was not necessarily definitive. He pointed out that there were ten senators from an equal number of sugar-producing provinces. Puerto Plata Senator Tommy Duran (PRD) said the party would try to unite and smooth over the differences. The PRD leadership has formed an ad-hoc committee made up of Vicente Sanchez Baret, Milagros Ortiz Bosch, Angel Miolan, Tony Raful, Julio Marinez, and Jose Garcia Ramirez, who will meet with the PRD senators to try and devise some sort of compromise. Thirteen of the 29 PRD senators voted for the tax package and the 25% tax on corn syrup. Bautista had called for a brief "waiting period" to allow for lobbying and more negotiations. The Dominican Association of Ranchers and Farmers congratulated the Senate on the affirmative first vote on the tax bill.
The director of the Energy Institute at the UASD university warned that unless the contracts for buying and selling energy are revised and renegotiated, all the money invested in the sector will go down the drain and the blackouts will continue. Jose Luis Moreno said that government intervention in the electrical distribution in the east (EDE-Este) was necessary as the company was bankrupt. His recommendation was that once the government took over, it should be managed under a joint administration along with Ede Norte and Ede Sur. Moreno told reporters from Hoy newspaper that the General Law of Electricity gave the Superintendent the authority to intervene in a bankrupt company, such as Ede Este, and name an administrator. The institute head also said that the government should declare a state of emergency regarding the electric sector. He pointed out that while the rest of the world pays five and six cents per kilowatt-hour, in the Dominican Republic the cost begins at nearly twice that rate. He argued that electricity here should be priced at six or seven cents a kilowatt-hour.
When asked about the payments the government has made to the generators, he said that all money injected to the electric sector was money wasted. He pointed out that one of the worst problems suffered by the system are the non-technical losses, a euphemism for electricity theft. At the same time, Moreno argued for improved collections by the various distribution companies, not through higher rates but through better management techniques.
As the rum and beer companies tussle over their market shares, trying to gain a bigger piece of the pie at the expense of the other, their strategies are including lower prices for their products. The fight has spilled over into Congress and the new fiscal package debates, with each sector presenting its case to get a lesser tax burden than their rival's. The beer companies want the new selective consumer tax to be based on the amount of alcohol in the product, while the rum companies want the tax to be based on the sale price of the product. According to young economist Pavel Isa Contreras, the idea is to gain market share within the consumer base that is looking to "buy some happiness" in times of crisis. Rum sales increased 16.4% in the first half of 2004, in part due to the substitution of beer for rum caused by the price increases. Beer producers admit to a 5% decrease in sales over the same period. Consumers have switched from beer to rum because, as Isa Contreras explains in El Caribe, "they can buy a contented feeling for less money." This implies that, aside from income and social status, price is a vital factor in the consumption of alcoholic beverages. The tax reform legislation now in Congress prescribes the same taxation scheme on these beverages as that found in Law 3-04. Taxes on these items will rise each year until 2008, but each sector will pay for the absolute volume of alcohol contained in their products. A gallon of alcohol will be taxed equally, be it beer or rum. While breweries are happy with these proposals, the rum companies are not. They say that rum sales will return to the lesser levels of 20 years ago. The "beer boys" offer the counter-argument that each liter of pure alcohol in beer ends up paying 2.4 times as much tax as the distilled beverage and 50% more than the wines. This tax gap is not favorable to the beer companies. Before the latest tax structure, made up 78% of the alcoholic beverages market and used 37.7% of the alcohol consumed, but contributed a hefty 68% of the money collected by the selective tax on alcoholic beverages. Spirits and liquors, on the other hand, made up just 19% of the market, used 58.8% of the alcohol consumed and paid just 32% of the money collected with the selective tax. The consumer will undoubtedly have the final word, but in the estimation of Isa Contreras, the poorest consumer will probably turn to rum rather than beer to find his (or her) moment of happiness.
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