The authorities of Public Health and Tourism, as well as the Pan American Health Organization (OPS), confirmed yesterday that the recent outbreak of malaria in the DR is under control, reports Hoy newspaper.
Doctors Rafael Schiffino of the Public Health Ministry, Jose Manuel Puello of the Center for Tropical Diseases, Gerardo Alfaro of the OPS, and Luis Simo of the international chapter of the Ministry of Tourism spoke at a press conference, where they said they believed as many 11 deaths this year could be attributed to malarial infection in the DR, but that no cases at all had been reported since 5 December. They all felt the media had exaggerated the severity of the situation and caused undue panic. In their opinion, reports Hoy, the DR is not experiencing an epidemic, despite at least eight cases of malaria found in Canadian tourists having visited the Punta Cana area. Canada will disallow anyone who has been in the DR from donating blood for six months as a cautionary measure, while, locally, the officials signaled that doctors had been sent to construction sites to periodically check workers and that special control teams will be looking for potential areas in which the Anopheles Albimanus mosquito is bred.
El Caribe reports that Schiffino said the situation had been sensationalized by jealous competitors trying to steer tourists to their countries and that the alarm caused was unnecessary. He reminded that the area was hit by Hurricane Jeanne in September, which could have something to do with the recent malaria cases. "Everyone knows that we receive a great number of visitors and of the war that exists between countries fighting to get more tourists, and that the Internet spreads many alerts that are not official."
Health authorities affirmed that the incidence of malaria in the DR has increased by 31% this year, with confirmed cases totaling 1,529 in 2003 and 2,012 to date in 2004. The Pan American Health Organization's official, Gerardo Alfaro, reassured that what was happening was an ordinary situation being treated in an extraordinary manner.
Dubai Ports International (DPI), one of the world's leading port operators, announced it has signed a definitive agreement with CSX Corporation to acquire its international terminal business and other related interests for a cash consideration of US$1.15 billion, subject to customary adjustments. This deal would include the Caucedo terminal, which is operated by CSX and is a marine hub for the Caribbean. Details on the agreement have been confirmed by DR1 and the story has not been broken in the local papers. The transaction will be financed from a committed facility arranged and underwritten by Deutsche Bank. Completion of the transaction is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2005.
CSX World Terminals is a leading international container terminal developer and operator with operations in Asia, Europe, Australia and Latin America. The company's container terminal portfolio currently consists of interests in nine terminals with 24 berths and combined future capacity of 14.6 million 20-foot containers.
The transaction is consistent with DPI's international growth strategy and follows successful acquisitions and management contracts in the Middle East, Europe and India. CSX acquired Sea-Land Corporation in 1987 and has, for the past several years, sold off parts of those international ocean-shipping assets. This transaction would complete that divestiture.
The Superintendent of Electricity (SIE), Francisco Mendez, promised that the electric rates will be frozen during 2005, beginning in January, as the EDE distributors have overcome their 30% cash flow deficit by issuing the 9.4% increments that were applied during October and November of this year. The official said that another factor that will influence the price of electricity is the price of the US dollar on the exchange market. The superintendent said that as long as the exchange rate and oil prices remain stable, there would be no reason to change the tariff paid for electricity. Mendez did leave the door open just a bit, saying that there might be "slight adjustments if there is a need to do so, in accordance with the IMF."
The Dominican IMF representative dislikes the proposed legislation that would provide tax incentives for the Dominican industrial sector to compensate for the removal of the 25% tax on soft drinks using HFCS (corn syrup). Economist Ruddy Santana calls the billion-peso tax relief package a "monstrous mistake." Furthermore, Santana said that such a move would completely nullify the possibility of the Dominican Republic re-establishing its Stand-By Agreement with the IMF. Another result of such tax incentives, which would grant broad exemptions on certain taxes to industries, would be to preclude the possibility of World Bank, IADB or any other foreign capital reaching the DR. Santana told Hoy newspaper reporters that "the erroneous decision of the Senate throws away the great work done by the economic team, since it will produce a 0.5% decrease in the government's GDP estimates as projected by the 2005 Budget." In his written statement, Santana maintained that the former administration left the level of creditability in bankruptcy, so much so that the economic team had to perform Herculean feats in order to get the IMF to resume discussions.
The proposal, as introduced by Senator Ramon Alburquerque, provides enormous tax incentives for the entire Dominican industrial sector, including the exoneration of the exchange commission, the selective consumer tax and the VAT taxes (or ITBIS) on all imported capital goods, including raw materials, machinery and installations. The powerful sugar industry wants the 25% tax on products using the HFCS to be maintained in order to protect their sugar cane production when trade is liberalized with the US.
The nation's businesses, large and small, as well as the government, will begin handing out Christmas checks today to the tune of RD$10 billion. The Dominican government will contribute nearly a third of the total, or RD$2.88 billion. Journalist Hector Linares reports in the Listin Diario that between RD$10-RD$15 billion will enter the economy this December. Besides the traditional 13th salary known as "la regalia," many companies will be paying bonuses to their employees, as well as other pay incentives. In the private sector, where three million people are employed, economists are estimating that the payout will be at least four times as large as the government's amount. The central government has only 320,000 employees and other government institutions, such as the municipal governments, have another 85,000 employees. Often, the money paid out in the non-centralized institutions is greater than the 13th salary alone, since institutions like the Port Authority, Airport Department, National Lottery, Institute for Price Stabilization (INESPRE) and others pay their personnel a bonus. Other official entities that are tied to the government but operate fairly independently are the Central Bank, the Reserve Bank, the Corporation for Industrial Promotion and the CDEEE, as well as the EDEs. It is expected that these entities will pay out at least RD$500 million to their employees.
The fact that buses are eight time more cost-effective than a subway system has placed OMSA director Ignacio Ditren in opposition of the proposed metrm. Ditren said effecting a recovery in the current transit system should be the government's first priority and the construction of a metro system should be the last. According to Ditren, cost is a very important factor when considering a new mode of mass transport. In order to install one kilometer of a bus route the cost is US$5 million, while the cost of installing a rail system is US$30 million per kilometer. The INTEC university has suggested that the decision to install a rail system be left to a public hearing. Ditren recommended reverting to the original format under which the OMSA (Metropolitan Transit Authority) first operated, with a reserved lane on major thoroughfares for buses only. The proposed subway system would cover 15 kilometers in its first phase and the estimated cost has been said to be between US$450-US$600 million. According to Ditren, for that amount over 100 kilometers of a bus system could be put into service, including the reconstruction of roadways and the purchase of more buses. For a surface rail system, or perhaps a trolley, the costs would be 10 million euros, enough to facilitate 45 kilometers of bus routes. Miguel Ruiz, a member of the Executive Transport Committee in Madrid, Spain, told reporters that surface transit in Santo Domingo would be "tremendously difficult." According to Ruiz, a metro will "always be subsidized." Madrid's subway system only recoups 60% of its costs, while Paris's metro makes 50%.
Former President Hipolito Mejia hosted a lunch yesterday at his home in San Cristobal for PRD party leaders. According to the report in Hoy newspaper, those invited were "front-line" PRD members with close ties to the Mejia administration that left office last August. The cited aim of the meeting was to motivate the party's leadership and support those who will be seeking official posts at the party convention in March. Eligio Jaquez, the director of Mejia's election campaign, said that the attendees consisted of 34 deputies, approximately 20 senators, all provincial party leaders, such fundamental figures as Johnny Morales, Guido Gomez Mazara, Cesar Sanchez, Rafael Calderon, Alberto Atallah and others, all members of Mejia's PPH party faction. The Listin Diario reports that Mejia instructed his followers to concentrate their energies and economic support on realizing their objectives at the upcoming party convention.
The PRD has been prone to recent conflict and infighting. A recent survey conducted within the party revealed that the vast majority see a change of leadership as their number-one priority.
The sale of thousands of false documents through the office of the Civil Registry has brought about the firing of the director and assistant director its central office of the Civil Register in Santo Domingo. Ricardo Thevenin and Florinda Salas were dismissed as a result of an investigation that detected the alteration of several of Civil Registry books, as well as the sale of thousands of false birth certificates to Chinese and Cuban citizens. Several other employees were similarly fired. The fraud was discovered after the US Embassy warned the Central Electoral Board (JCE) of their concerns that such practices were going on. The news was confirmed for the Listin Diario by the Civil Registry director for the JCE, Servio Tulio Almanzar. One of the ways in which the certificates were altered was by changing the data contained in the pages of the books, substituting the name of a person born in the Dominican Republic with the name of the person who needed the phony document. According to sources, the cost of such falsifications varied between RD$50,000 and RD$60,000 for a birth certificate. Several departments of the Central Office of the Civil Registry were affected by the cancellations, but the source could not provide a precise number. Also according to the source, over 200 of the massive books containing birth and death notices had been altered. The fraud was detected because the embassies routinely request copies of the birth certificates taken from the originals kept in the books at Central Civil Registry. Until now, there has never been a full-scale investigation into such charges.
Police Chief Major General Manuel de Jesus Perez Sanchez designated his assistant, General Rafael Calderon Efres, the assistant prosecutor assigned to the National Police, Guillermo Jimenez, and the Interior & Police Vice-Minister Juan Adames to head a high-level commission to investigate the charges made by Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito and Archbishop Nicolas de Jesus Cardinal Lopez Rodriguez regarding possible criminal elements operating within the police force in Santiago de los Caballeros. As reported in Hoy, both Dominguez Brito and the archbishop told reporters they were convinced that drug dealers had ties to the police, the military and certain politicians. The commission will present a report to the NP chief within a few days.
Last Monday, Attorney General Dominguez Brito confirmed the fact that killers with ties to politicians, police and the military were at large in Santiago and who are responsible for 50 murders over the past two years. Dominguez said that these groups must be "eradicated" in order to avoid greater damage to Dominican society. A day later, the attorney general's statement was collaborated by Armed Forces Minister Sigfrido Pared Perez, who said there "had to be ties to military and police, as well to politicians" in these cases.
In response to a series of criticisms carried in most of the local newspapers regarding the lack of small change in Dominican commercial establishments, the assistant operations manager of the Central Bank said that businesses are "not interested" in keeping an inventory of small change in their cash registers. Jose Clemente Taveras Rivas told Listin Diario reporter Solange de la Cruz Matos that there was just no interest in "making change." The reporter consulted 13 commercial banks regarding the existence of small change in their vaults and all affirmed that they had coins on hand. Taveras Rivas was accompanied by Central Bank officials Jose Francisco Rodriguez and Frank Montero, who were agreed that with the exception of the Las Americas Airport there very little effort was made to accommodate customers with change. Airport officials said that small change was mainly in demand from tourists who wanted it for their collections or as souvenirs. The bank officials added that customers often leave the coins on the cash register because in and of itself, there is nothing to be bought with a 25? or a 10? piece. Commercial banks do have fractional currency in their vaults and it is available at the Central Bank.
Of major importance during vacations and holidays is the news that the National Brewery, makers of the ubiquitous Presidente beer, has just announced the introduction a new bottle size: one full liter, or 33 ounces. Rafael Melo, Presidente's brand manager, told El Caribe that the new bottle will contain as much beverage as "grande" and a "pequena" combined. At normal prices, these two bottles would cost RD$75, while the new size will sell for just RD$60. According to Melo, the new bottle will encourage family and friends to get together during the holidays.
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