First Lady Margarita Cedeno stood in for husband President Leonel Fernandez by speaking at the United Nations assembly. "Poverty and hunger are like heat and cold; you cannot see them, but they can be felt," said the First Lady in New York. During her presentation, she highlighted the social programs the new Fernandez administration will implement, such as "Comer es Primero" and "Progresando." During her five-day stay in NYC, she will also speak at the summit meeting whose topic is combating hunger and poverty, as was part of the 59th General Assembly of the United Nations. Also participating are the presidents of Brazil, Argentina, France and the head of the Spanish government.
As reported in El Caribe, Cedeno said that the greatest challenge of governments is to design public policies that promote economic growth while also improving the welfare of people, so as to return human dignity to the population.
The 31 senators (29 PRD, one PLD and one PRSC) were unable to reach a consensus yesterday to pass the tax reform bill. While there seems to be agreement on the issues that specifically relate to the tax reform bill, the most recent snag has been the last-minute inclusion of a provision to tax corn syrup imports. The DR's influential sugar lobbyists oppose the measure that would affect local sugar sales, and the equally strong export free zone manufacturers' sector says including the new tax would unhinge the DR-CAFTA signed with the United States, as well as free zone contracts and new business versus competitors in Central America. Senate leader Andres Bautista Garcia told Diario Libre there is no consensus yet and a decisive meeting would take place today. Meanwhile, the lone senator of the ruling PLD party, Jose Tomas Perez, said that the decision is up to President Leonel Fernandez.
On the other hand, Listin Diario reports that the tax reform's passage is being stalled by the PRD senators for political motivations. The newspaper says the party's political commission instructed the senators loyal to the PPH faction of the PRD not to approve the second reading until the government recognizes and shows respect for the constitutional decisions made by former President Hipolito Mejia.
After a meeting that lasted nearly four hours in the office of the head of the PRD senators, yesterday's session was called off and rescheduled for this morning.
The ratification of the fiscal reform package is of special interest to the Fernandez administration because it is a condition required by the International Monetary Fund to disburse new resources to the government. Furthermore, the government expects the tax reform bill to provide additional revenues in order to proceed with government spending.
Luis Arias, the president of the Central Electoral Board (JCE), says the new electronic voting system contracted by the JCE at a cost of nearly US$60 million will be tested in the party primaries. Congress recently passed a bill whereby the JCE will assume the costs and responsibilities for organizing primaries of the political parties. As reported in Diario Libre, the DR's electorate will simultaneously vote using the old paper ballot system.
Federico Antun Batlle, the PRSC party president, feels that the JCE is rushing into things. "We understand that the board needs to be modernized, but this must be done with firm steps, with care and with transparency," he commented. The PRD delegate to the JCE, Dario de Jesus, says his party is studying the motion, as the initial documentation was only received on Monday. He said his party does not yet have an official position.
El Caribe newspaper says that the Central Electoral Board (JCE) decision to implement electronic voting in the DR would merely inject more noise into Dominican elections. "The pressing issues in the electoral arena are not inventing new ways of voting and counting the votes, but rather restoring the JCE with the credibility it deserves as the arbiter of the important process of elections," says the newspaper in its editorial today. "That credibility will not come while the JCE is made up of representatives of political parties, because there will always be suspicions that one of the so-called arbiters is both judge and partisan. Let us tackle the fundamentals and leave the accessories for later."
An Air Force airplane flew to Grand Cayman yesterday to assist 61 Dominicans affected by Hurricane Ivan. President Leonel Fernandez authorized the rescue operation under the direction of Colonel Carlos Aguirre Reyes. The group of Dominicans living in Grand Cayman requested to return home in light of the problems with power and water supply and because many their workplaces are closed given the major damages caused by the storm. One woman who recently returned from Cayman was asked why there was such a rush to return, when power supply would be restored in Cayman within the month, and power supply problems are frequent in the DR. The explanation given was that since power supply problems are common in the DR, the country is better prepared to deal with them than the Cayman Islands.
The administrator of the CDEEE (the governmental corporation that oversees the distribution of power in two thirds of the country, transmission lines and hydroelectric power generation) asked citizens to demonstrate their utmost capacity for patience. He was referring to the return of the lengthy blackouts, some lasting up to 20 consecutive hours. As reported in El Caribe, the power supply deficit stood at 50% yesterday. Radhames Segura said he could not give a timetable for the solution of the power service crisis. He stated: "The power system has collapsed and the country is practically without money."
Segura confirms that the blackouts are due to financial reasons. El Caribe reports that meetings were held to implement a plan that would increase collections, but government officials have admitted there is a catch-22 situation, given that consumers are reluctant to pay for service while the long hours of blackouts continue. A big downside for consumers is the fact that the meters do not reflect the power outages in their readings.
The civic organization Participacion Ciudadana expressed its concern to President Leonel Fernandez yesterday for the government's continuation of the old practice of appointing numerous ministers without portfolios and deputy ministers and vice-consuls without definitive roles and in positions that do not appear in the administration's formal structure. In his inaugural speech, Fernandez had promised to abandon the practice of appointing deputy ministers beyond those whose roles are listed in the statutes of each ministry, as part of a government general austerity program.
Participacion Ciudadana mentions that President Fernandez had promised to curb the surplus government jobs and disallow additional budgets for vehicles, telephone calls, diet and other expenditures related to the functionaries.
"With surprise we have been watching the appointments to public positions of individuals with cases of corruption pending against them in the Dominican justice system," admonished Participacion Ciudadana.
Furthermore, as reported in Hoy newspaper, the organization emphasized that certain decrees have been issued recently regarding social policies that have only served to brew corrupt practices and divert resources to private individuals in the past.
Participacion Ciudadana says that Law 200-04 on the freedom of information act has failed its first test with the National Police's refusal to provide the list of names of those agents who accepted stolen vehicles for their personal use.
See http://www.pciudadana.com/noticias/09212004_acciones_gasto_publico.htm
Tourism Minister Felix Jimenez announced yesterday that the president of the Islas Baleares in Spain, Jaime Mata Paleu, pledged his cooperation in preparing an integral master plan for tourism development in the DR. This plan would take into account the ecological damage suffered and would strive to propose concrete formulas to resolve them and avoid future incidents. As reported in Diario Libre, the official said the plan calls for the construction of a single source of potable water for all hotel installations in the East, possibly the Sanate Dam in the province of La Altagracia. Furthermore, Frank Ranieri, in an interview with Alicia Ortega for El Caribe's media group, said that the damage done to the area called for a direct Santo Domingo-Punta Cana route in order to bypass the La Romana detour as had been previously conceived, as well as the construction of new highways in the area to reduce vulnerability to flooding.
North Coast hotels are receiving a large number of the tourists whose vacation plans in Punta Cana and Bavaro hotels were thwarted by Hurricane Jeanne. The president of the Association of Hotels of Puerto Plata, Jesus Almanzar, told El Caribe that occupancy in September, normally the slowest month for the area's hotels, is at 80%. Puerto Plata's hotel industry hopes that word of mouth from the unexpected visitors may promote and increase travel to the area in future months. Almanzar reported that the Puerto Plata area mainly suffered damage to landscaping, its trees, and to its thatched-roof beach gazebos, which are promptly being repaired.
Theater enthusiasts are invited to the Sala Ravelo at the National Theater for the 2004-2005 Theater Season that has just begun and is sponsored by Shell. The first work, "Letal" by Waddy Jaquez starts the season. "Letal" is about TV personality Jonathan Betancourt who hosts the Caribbean's most watched reality show and donates 70,000 TVs to increase his audience. Waddys Jaquez himself plays the lead role. Others are Carlota Carretero, Juancito Rodriguez and Henry Mercedes. It will be showing at the Sala Ravelo from Thursday, 23 to Sunday 26 September at 8:30 pm. Tickets are RD$200.
The theatre season continues with the presentation of "Gato Negro," starring Victor Pinales, Gamilda Roman and Mario Lebrom from 14 November to 5 December. Next is "Las seis alas del Serafin," starring Monica Sola, Ana Rivas, Ramses Caro, Margarita Baquero de Reid, Flor de Bethania Abreu, Shakira Then, from 11 December to 5 January. And "Tocalo otra vez, Sam," the Woody Allen play, starring Ivan Garcia, Karina Noble, Victor Pinales and Aidita Selman, on stage from 13 January to 6 February.
For other events, see http://dr1.com/calendar
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 1996-2008. DR1. All Rights Reserved.