President Leonel Fernandez leaves for Spain today, to attend the XV Ibero-American Summit meeting in Salamanca. The 8-day trip includes bilateral meetings with Mexico's Vicente Fox, and Colombia's Alvaro Uribe, to discuss energy issues. The DR has announced the upcoming signing of a petroleum agreement with Colombia. At the summit, Fernandez will propose the exchange of the foreign debt for educational and health programs in order to achieve the Millennium Goals. There will also be a meeting with Ibero-American business leaders. This is the President's 16th overseas trip so far.
President Leonel Fernandez has created an agency charged with fulfilling the World Trade Organization's health requirements, as well as guaranteeing local agricultural heritage. The new agency created by Executive Decree number 515-2005 is called the Comite Nacional para la Aplicacion de las Medidas Sanitarias y Fitosanitarias, a national committee for the application of health and plant health measures. The committee is made up of the Minister of Agriculture, represented by the Department of Plant Health and the Department of Livestock. The committee chairperson will be the director of Plant Health and the executive director of the National Agriculture Council will be the committee's secretary. Also forming part of the committee will be the Ministry of Public Health, the Ministry of the Environment, the ministry of Industry and Commerce and the Foreign Ministry. In addition, the Agro-Business Board (JAD) and observers from the Inter-American Institute for Agricultural Cooperation (IICA), the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) will be represented on the committee. The agency is primarily responsible for establishing the ways and means of dealing with issues arising from the international trade in livestock, plants, products and derivatives of agricultural origin. Also in the agency' remit is the need to protect people from additives, toxins or other pollutants, as well as diseases transmitted by animal or vegetable vectors.
A follow-up meeting between President Leonel Fernandez and the hotel and tourism sector yielded some favorable results yesterday. President Fernandez indicated that he had ordered infrastructure projects for more than US$500 million to be carried out in the east and another US$100 million in projects for the north coast. According to Hoy, the two-hour meeting served to reinforce the President's support for the initiatives started by ASONAHORES and the "Tourism Cabinet", aimed at preventing the deterioration of the country's ability to attract tourists. The meeting, that took place at the Presidential Palace, also included issues relating to immigration, health and infrastructure and their relation to tourism. The different projects will be financed by the US$10 entry and exit tax on passengers coming to the Dominican Republic as from 1 November this year. Ministers from Public Works, Tourism, Culture and Public Health attended the meeting along with the head of the Potable Water Institute (INAPA) and representatives from the Ministry of the Environment. A special meeting will be held with representatives of the Punta Cana-Bavaro hotels, which will deal with the means of reducing or removing the slums that have sprung up in much of the surrounding area. A plan to improve the quality of life for the local inhabitants is also on the table. One of the key points of the meeting was the Minister of Public Health's presentation about the steps to be taken to avoid the propagation of diseases in the tourist areas.
The World Bank has approved the US$151 million loan needed to finish the highway from Santo Domingo to Samana. The loan guarantee goes into effect, according to El Caribe, in 2007. The Ministry of Public Works reported that the highway would be ready in two years after the World Bank's Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency approved the project. Freddy Perez, the Minister of Public Works, Colombian ambassador Enrique Garavito and Colombian contractor Armin Garcia disclosed this information at a news conference. The project gives the Dominican-Colombian consortium a 30-year concession on the highway.
In response to a report in yesterday's papers revealing that the radars at Las Americas and Puerto Plata were not working, the Director General of Civil Aviation has told reporters that they would be fixed immediately. According to Hoy, Juan Fernandez Castillo and Leonardo Rivera, the leaders of the Dominican Air Traffic Controllers Association, held a four-hour meeting with the head of Civil Aviation. Julio Mejia, the manager of the Civil Aviation Air Transport Department said that the missing part would be bought at once. According to the air traffic controllers, the radio landing system and the radars at both airports have been out of service for several days. A press release from Civil Aviation said that the radars were only operating at 50% capacity, and were not totally out of service, and that passenger safety was guaranteed at all times. Air traffic controllers have had to return to handling aircraft manually, according to Fernandez Castillo.
As announced over the weekend by President Fernandez, the concessionary contract that will allow a Spanish company, Generacion Eolica Internacional (GEI), to create the first wind power farm in the Dominican Republic was approved by the government's National Energy Commission. The wind farm will be built in Matafongo, Bani, in Azua province. The first stage of the installation aims to produce 50 megawatts of power for the national grid, and the cost is estimated at US$120 million. The second stage, which will be built in Montecristi province, will also generate 50 MW. However, this contract has not yet been signed. Both Ruben Montas, the head of the NEC, and Radhames Segura, the head of the CDEEE praised the Spanish initiative as the start of a "revolution". The leadership of GEI, led by Ernesto Oliver Gomez, said that work would be concluded within 24 months. According to company estimates the Bani energy park will be ready in 14 months and the one in Montecristi will be finished in 18 months. GEI has spent three years studying the winds, and the contract is a concession that authorized GEI to build, install, operate and exploit the energy park in Bani at its own cost. The wind generators will be huge, with 58- meter diameters and a height of 72 meters. Each one of the 58 generators will produce 850 KV. According to the report in Hoy, it appears that this will be the largest project undertaken by GEI, although they have installed over 150 megawatts of wind generators in Spain.
Administrator of the governmental power companies, Radhames Segura acknowledged that the Cogentrix contract signed during his first term at the head of the CDE (today CDEEE) "possibly should not have been signed," as reported in El Caribe. He nevertheless said that the PRD congressmen share the blame for having confirmed the contract in Congress. In his opinion, there is shared responsibility and all parties should work together so the contract is renegotiated. Moreover, he said that his predecessor, Cesar Sanchez lobbied so that the terms of the contract were even improved in perjury to the state. He said that the Cogentrix contract is the only one of the contracts the first Fernandez government signed with power providers that is still in effect. The contract accrues US$7 million a month, regardless of whether it is in operation or not, as its promoters were benefited with the same installed capacity clause that was so much criticized in the Smith Enron contract signed in an earlier Balaguer administration. The Cogentrix contract could go to international arbitration. That operation benefited from an Interamerican Development Bank guarantee that if executed, could affect the country's deal with the International Monetary Fund.
Segura said that the government has months trying to get the beneficiaries of the Mejia government's Madrid Accord to renegotiate the latter. That contract expires in 2016.
The president of the American Chamber of Commerce, Kevin Manning, revealed that the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) were willing to renegotiate their contracts with the Dominican government, providing that the current frozen debt is reduced at the same time. Managers from Seaboard and AES Dominicana were in agreement as they participated in a seminar discussing energy saving methods and alternative energy sources. AmCham sponsored the seminar. Manning pointed out that last week both the World Bank and the IDB (Inter-American Development Bank) had urged such negotiations, although "they were not very clear about the two most difficult contracts: Cogentrix and Smith-Enron." As pointed out in El Caribe, there are three areas of serious concern. The first is the frozen debt of US$400 million that includes US$150 million owed by the CDEEE to the IPPs. The second issue is the cross-debts. These are the funds owed by the power distributors such as EdeNorte and EdeSur, to the generators. This amounts to US$100 million. The CDEEE is owed RD$2.0 billion by EdeEste and AES-Andres owes US$15 million to the government transmission company. The third major issue is the Madrid Agreement, which set the price for 1,340 megawatts of power to be provided by five different groups. According to the CDEEE's Radhames Segura, the Madrid Agreement was carried out in violation of the General Law of Electricity (125-01) because Article 110 of the law states that there have to be "competitive procedures for public bidding" on such contracts.
The board of directors is set to approve the purchase of 50,000 barrels of petroleum per day from Venezuela under the Petro-Caribe Accords. The deal will include 26,000 barrels of crude oil and 13,000 barrels of gasolines, aviation fuel, diesel and kerosene and 1000 barrels of fuel oil. Refinery president Aristides Fernandez Zucco told Listin Diario reporters that currently the refinery has deals under three cooperation agreements. Mexico, Colombia and Brazil are all vying for the opportunity to explore, exploit and sell crude oil from the Dominican Republic. Colombia offered a US$100 million agreement that includes supplying coal for power production.
More than a thousand Haitians have voluntarily left Mao and its vicinity recently, as a response to the pressure exerted by the local district attorney German Diaz Bonilla. The villages of Remate and Jinamagao in the Guatapanal section of Valverde province were the object of the official's demand that property owners forcefully remove any illegal aliens living on their land. Nonetheless, local residents told Listin Diario reporters that the exodus was the result of fears arising from the murder-robbery of a Dominican committed by several Haitians. Previous acts of violence committed by Haitians against Dominicans have exacerbated decades-long tensions. District Attorney Diaz Bonilla told the press that he was trying to control illegal immigration, and reduce the tensions in his province.
Diario Libre reports today on tension in the southeastern town of San Jose de los Llanos, San Pedro de Macoris, where Dominicans and Haitians dispute the right to ownership in a housing complex built by the government with international assistance. In a blitz operation lead by priest Christopher Hartley Sartorius, Haitians occupied 26 dwellings of 52.
Mao-Monte Cristi bishop, Monsignor Tomas Abreu Herrera urged the Dominican government to assume the Haitian migration problem with more seriousness and responsibility, as reported in the Listin Diario's 11 October issue. He addressed the traditional laissez-faire attitude of the government that has led to the widespread migration of illegal Haitians across the border. Listin Diario cites former army inspector general, Manuel Ernesto Polanco Salvador saying that in the DR there are more than one million Haitians, most of these illegal. Edwin Paraison, former Haitian general consul, estimates that there are only 3,000 legal Haitians living in the DR. Paraison estimates that 96% of the Haitians deported from the DR, eventually return.
Monsigor Abreu Herrera told the Listin Diario: "There is no xenophobia, but rather there is antagonism that has been building up. That is, Dominicans have their differences with the Haitians, certain antagonism, some of it historic, dating from the days of their ancestors, but the gap has widened following the crimes committed by Haitians recently. He said that there are many places where Haitians and Dominicans live and work side by side, helping each other, but the many crimes committed against Dominicans in the Northwest has brought about this new antagonism.
"People want to take justice in their own hands, that is, the Haitian situation in the region is delicate at this time because not all Haitians are coming here looking for work," explained the bishop. "Some Haitians come to commit crimes, to make money at any cost, and they are known to rob motorcycles, cattle and farm products. There is much hunger in Haiti and Haitians are coming that are not looking for work, but for money at any price," said the bishop.
The Listin Diario article also points out that Haiti despite the chaos in Haiti, that nation continues to be a leading importer of Dominican produce.
The issues surrounding Haitian immigration have prompted the writer of the popular "Que se dice"(What's being said) column to dedicate today's entire piece to several aspects of the situation. The first paragraph points out that the bishop of the Mao-Montecristi dioceses has now joined the district attorney, but using much different language, in expressing deep concern about Haitian immigration. The monsignor pointed out that a large part of the immigrants are not coming to the Dominican Republic to seek work, but, rather, to seek any way possible to stay alive, even if this means robbing and killing. Bishop Tomas Abreu Herrera asked the authorities to act with "extreme urgency". The columnist emphasizes the point that while these high-profile figures are expressing great alarm and worry over the "Haitianizing" of the Northwest Line, in Santo Domingo things are a lot calmer since any action that may or may not include the massive return of all undocumented Haitians would have negative international consequences, in large part, thanks to the astute handling of the situation by human rights groups, and in spite of the fact that this is a decision the Dominican Republic can take in the full exercise of its sovereign rights.
The second paragraph points out that the worst of all of this is not the fact that the country is in a no-win situation - which is the fault of the historic indifference of our "on the run" diplomacy - but rather the fact that the DR was caught so ill prepared, still without a migration policy that is clearly-defined and with well-established courses of action as to what to do with respect to the presence of our neighbors in the country, and, as a result, the nation is walking around blindly and only aggravating the situation. An example? The draconian decision taken by the afore-mentioned district attorney of Mao, Valverde.
Finally, the columnist takes on the decision of the International Human Rights Court that condemned the Dominican Republic for refusing to grant birth certificates to two Haitian children born in Sabana Grande de Boya. The writer points out that not everything has been due to inaction, and indicates that the Minister of Foreign Relations has released a note that called the court's decision "categorically unacceptable". The communique also carries the denial that nothing illegal was done that would merit a conviction for damages, and at the same time, says that the Dominican government does not support or encourage any discriminatory activities against any individuals residing in the Dominican Republic. The columnist then asks what the next step will be, and answers by saying that one would have to ask the authorities. Especially since they haven't made it clear if they will accept the court's decision or not. The writer says that the decision by the Human Rights Court is said to be obligatory and not subject to appeal, at least by those that brought the suit. The decision even calls for a public 'mea culpa" to the alleged victims. Just what we need!
During September there were over 160 violent deaths in the Dominican Republic, caused by murders and "exchanges of shots" by the police. However, none of these took place in the Capotillo neighborhood, focus of the government's "Safe Barrio" program. The monthly report from the Attorney General's office also points out that violent deaths in August were down 35% from July. Previous data from Capotillo revealed that there was an average of five deaths a month attributed to murders or police actions. The September figures show that there was a 15% reduction in violent deaths compared to the August figures. Both San Cristobal and Santiago were cited as provinces with a constant drop in violent activity. Capotillo's police were equipped recently with modern Harley Davidson motorcycles.
Torrential rains have been affecting the entire country for the past few days. DR1 Weather & Beyond Forum Current Weather thread update for 12 October explains that the rains are the result of an unusually large low pressure system that has remained nearly stationary overnight. The moist surface flow is affecting a large portion of the Caribbean and Central America, from Nicaragua to Puerto Rico, the DR included. The forum thread reports that the good news is that within another 24 hours or so, the island should be clear of it, while still dealing with some flooding and mudslides.
But on the downside, right behind it is a tropical that is moving over the Lesser Antilles and is now along 62 West and just South of 20 North. To follow current weather affecting the DR, see http://dr1.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40978&page=15
Fingers are crossed for the weather to clear up just in time for the Presidente Latin Music Festival that is scheduled for this weekend in Santo Domingo, bringing contemporary Latin music stars to town. The latest news on the performers is that Jennifer Lopez will perform with her husband, Marc Anthony two songs. The couple will perform in the Sunday, 14 October closing of the event.
Others on the program are David Bisbal, who arrived on Monday, Julieta Venegas and Diego Torres who are scheduled for a Thursday arrival. Venezuelan Franco de Vita is coming on Saturday. Chayanne from Puerto Rico will arrive on Saturday and leave the same day as he has a Sunday presentation in Puerto Rico. Negros, Daddy Yankee and Marc Anthony will also take the stage. El Caribe reports that 327 journalists have been given accreditations. Local performances include Johnny Ventura and El Prodigio, joining El Torito, Rafa Rosario, Rubby Perez and Sergio Vargas, Julian Oro Duro will join Krisspy, and Magic Juan will team up with Eddy Herrera. Pavel Nucez will also be on stage.
For more information, see http://www.festivalpresidente.com.do/
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