| Daily News - Friday, 01 July 2005 |
President Leonel Fernandez said yesterday that in addition to flexible and reduced interest rates, the DR would be able to pay its oil bill with Venezuela not only in cash but also with goods and services, as part of the Petro-Caribbean agreement signed Wednesday in that country. This includes agricultural products and represents relief for the country affected by rising petroleum prices. The agreement also eliminates the payment of intermediaries that make more costly the transport of oil. From now on, fuel supplies from Venezuela will arrive on board Petro-Caribbean ships which will only charge the cost of freight. Fernandez said the opportunities for the purchase of petroleum offered by the government of Venezuela were a very noble and generous reaction to the problem.
Last night, the US Senate approved the much debated Dominican Republic - Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) with the US by a close margin, but now it must go to the House of Representatives, where it is expected to pass through a rough battle. Deliberations for the most controversial free trade agreement negotiated by the US in more than 10 years began Wednesday evening and ended 20 hours later with a vote of 54 to 45. The approval represents an extraordinary victory for President George W. Bush, who was thankful for the decision and insisted that the treaty will immediately remove trade barriers for 80% of US goods, something that will help increase trade.
The House of Representatives is expected to decide on the DR-CAFTA in July. The treaty makes Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and the DR US trade associates. The DR and Central America would then become the second most important market for the US in the Americas. DR-CAFTA will place the US on the side of those who represent freedom, democracy and the rule of law in the region, stated Mel Martinez, Republican Senator for Florida, during the debate. However, many democrats oppose the agreement because they believe the labor standards in the associate countries as too weak and will represent unfair competition for US workers.
Diario Libre reports that the Coalition of Support for the DR-CAFTA requested Congress to consider that the approval of the agreement in the US legislative branch as almost certain and that local reforms must be rushed to make productive sectors competitive. Jorge Ivan Ramirez and Hugo Rivera, promoters of the DR-CAFTA, said that the agreement would come into effect in January if the US approves it in July. Although the DR could ask for an extension for its application, such a delay would put free zone industry exports at risk of Central American countries taking a head start at securing contracts.
British Ambassador, Andy Ashcroft, asked the Public Works Minister Manuel de Jesus (Freddy) Perez for explanations regarding the assignment of the contract to Dekolor for the making of the new driver's licenses, as reported in El Nacional. In a letter dated 15 June 2005, the diplomat stated that he is acting upon request of De La Rue, a British company that presented a proposal at a lower cost than Dekolor, but did not receive a reply. De La Rue was invited by the Public Works Department (SEOPC), through Deputy Minister Claudia Franchesca de los Santos, to submit a self-financed proposal as the company has experience with similar projects in Peru and New York. De La Rue responded quickly and presented their proposal on 13 April 2005 to De los Santos and the Director of the Transit Department, Rafael Tobias Crespo. The proposal was apparently well received and presented a final cost of RD$280 per license as opposed to Dekolor's RD$350. However, the SEOPC had signed the contract with Dekolor almost two months earlier, on 18 February 2005. The diplomat's letter was copied to President Leonel Fernandez, Foreign Relations Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso, and the Director of the Center for Export and Investment, Eddy Martinez. Diario Libre reports that the legal advisor to the SEOPC, Julio Cury, reacted by saying that Ambassador Ashcroft had committed an "intrusion and impudence" by demanding explanations from the Dominican government for this case. He said that the diplomat seems to be acting on behalf of De La Rue, something that is beyond the scope of any diplomatic mission in this country. He explained that there was no tender to choose the winner of the contract, and that the selection was done by studying the proposals. The lawyer claims that De La Rue was disqualified because it proposed to issue the licenses in the United States.
The local representative of the UN Development Program (UNPD), Niky Fabiancic, and the Executive Director of the Fundacion Institucionalidad y Justicia (FINJUS), Servio Tulio Castanos, denied that the DR is a "failed State" and said it was a barbarism for US magazine Foreign Policy to include it in a list of 20 countries under this category. The magazine states that the first annual Failed States Index indicate that two billion people around the world in vulnerable and insecure states. According to the Foreign Policy, a failed state "may be subject to involuntary restrictions of its sovereignty, such as political or economic sanctions, the presence of foreign military forces on its soil, or other military constraints, such as a no-fly zone". For more information visit: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/
The Ministry of Foreign Relations explained that only citizens of Argentina, Chile, South Korea, Ecuador, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Peru, Liechtenstein, and Uruguay, may enter the DR without a visa nor a tourist card, as reported in Diario Libre. Deputy Minister of Consular Affairs, Rosario Graciano, said that agreements have been signed with the DR that establishes that Dominicans don't require visas to travel those countries either. Twenty-five other countries don't require visas for their citizens traveling with diplomatic, official or service passports. Among these are Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Italy, Israel, Japan, Panama and Switzerland. DR only requires a tourist card from citizens of Germany, Australia, Austria, Czech Republic, Spain, US, France, the United Kingdom, and 44 other countries.
El Caribe reports that a high-level government official, whose name was withheld by both the Attorney General and the Director of the Anti-Corruption Department (DEPRECO) is being investigated for corruption. The official allegedly incurred in bribery related to his position. AG Francisco Dominguez Brito said he had no details to offer regarding the case as he evaded questions regarding the interrogation of the official. He also refused to give the individual's name. DEPRECO Director Octavio Lister, who also withheld the individual's name and department, said that investigations are advanced but the name could not be disclosed because the evidence is not conclusive.
Several individuals wanted in extradition are being sought by the National Drug Control Department (DNCD) in relation to the Quirino case. The information was provided by the president of the DNCD, Ivan Pena Castillo who explained that 20 Dominicans involved in drug trafficking have already been sent to the US recently but there are still more that are being looked for. The six most wanted by the US are Juan Samuel Rodriguez Cordero, Francisco Manuel Alburquerque Fortuna, Ernesto Bienvenido Guevara, Ramon Vasquez Garcia, Gladis Elsida Suriel Collado and Faustino Maximo Perozo Vargas. The DNCD has asked these individuals to turn themselves in to avoid difficult situations as those involved in the formal persecution of people involved in drug trafficking. The six are being charged with laundering of assets obtained through drug trafficking, conspiration to sell drugs, among other charges linked to the operations of Quirino Ernesto Paulino Castillo. Pena said that the operation involves a joint effort among the DNCD, the District Attorney and the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Paulino Castillo was extradited to the US where he faces drug trafficking and money laundering charges. He was arrested in Santo Domingo last December in connection to the seizure of 1,387 kilos of cocaine.
On 18 December 2004, when authorities were about to seize the 1,387 kilos of cocaine that would be shipped by a drug trafficking network directed by Quirino Ernesto Paulino Castillo, people involved in the investigation warned him that he had been uncovered by the National Drug Control Department (DNCD), according to Listin Diario. District Attorney Jose Manuel Hernandez Peguero stated such was the level of complicity and protection that the organization had in political, military and police circles. Former army captain Paulino Castillo received a call through one of the multiple cell phones he used informing that "the wheels are returning with a person I know". The call was from one of the people in charge of protecting the drug several hours earlier when it was shipped to a free zone in Santiago and meant that DNCD agents had intercepted the truck containing the cocaine. The informer managed to escape in a white car. Quirino was being closely watched since 31 March 2003 when authorities intercepted a call with Samuel Eduardo Rodriguez Cordero (Eduardito) saying "Look at page seven of El Nacional, all my eggs have broken". The story in that paper was about the seizure of several kilos of cocaine from the DR that had been caught in Puerto Rico.
Rain, rough seas, wind gusts, thunder and lightning are forecast in the country over the next 120 hours due to a tropical wave located in the Mona Passage, as reported in Listin Diario. Meteorologist Martin Mata is forecasting heavy rain and thunderstorms until Sunday in different parts of the country, which will come with strong winds and gusts, very strong rain and rough sea conditions.
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 1996-2010. DR1. All Rights Reserved.