President Leonel Fernandez returned from Spain yesterday evening after attending the XV Ibero-American Summit in Salamanca. During his trip, Fernandez met with important investors and potential investors, including the promoters of the controversial artificial island that is planned off Santo Domingo's waterfront. The Spanish investors are talking about a US$300 million project.
During the summit, the proposal by Fernandez to exchange foreign debt for educational and social investments was widely accepted by the other government leaders. During his stay in Barcelona, President Fernandez held meetings with bankers, hotel owners and representatives of the electric sector, who all expressed interest in investing in the Dominican Republic. According to El Caribe, the President is canceling his trip to El Salvador where he was to meet with the Salvadoran President and the US Trade Secretary. Instead, he will travel to Argentina on 4 November to take part in the Summit of the Americas where he will have a chance to talk to US President George W. Bush.
International corruption watchdog Transparency International reports that the Dominican Republic is a little bit better with regards to its Index of Perceived Corruption, although it still ranks below the mean for Latin America. Of the 28 countries in Latin America, the Dominican Republic is number 18 on the list of IPC. Transparency International's report was launched to the national press by Dominican civil society group "Participacion Ciudadana". The Dominican Republic received a score of 3.0. Below the DR's ranking are countries such as Chad, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Bangladesh who all had scores of less than 2.0. In spite of the 3.0 scored by the DR, Transparency International says that this is a little bit better than the previous report, where the country scored 2.9. Nonetheless, during the 2001 and 2003 periods the nation scored above the 3.0 mark, and thus the recent perception is that there is slightly less corruption than the previous period. In Latin America there are countries with greater perceived corruption than the Dominican Republic, and among these are Guatemala, Paraguay, Guyana, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Argentina and Haiti. The IPC scores are on a ten-point scale. The nations with scores of 9.5 or above were Iceland, New Zealand and Denmark. The average score for all of Latin America is 3.54.
See http://ww1.transparency.org/cpi/2005/cpi2005_infocus.html
The International Monetary Fund has warned the Dominican government that it has to move forward with a program designed to greatly reduce the subsidy paid for provision of electricity to the poorer barrios of the major cities, especially Santo Domingo. At the same time, the IMF praises the efforts the authorities are making with regards to the weak electricity sector. Among these measures, the IMF praised the hiring of outside administrators for the electricity distributors (the EDEs) in an effort to increase the cash flow and push forward the needed reforms. The statements were made by Agustin Carstens, acting president of the IMF board of directors, as he commented on the IMF agreement review. He also praised the country's economic growth, and advised the Central Bank to continue improving its management of the monetary policy.
The head of the Office of Transport Reorganization (OTR), Diandino Pena, announced yesterday that the preparatory work being carried out on the Maximo Gomez Avenue and the Francisco J. Peynado bridge that links Santo Domingo with Villa Mella are related to the installation of a light train system that will be begun in January, 2006. Pena told reporters from Listin Diario that the municipal council had approved the project and that their suggestions for some changes would result in a better infrastructure. Meanwhile, the mayor of Santo Domingo North, Daniel Carvajal Lois, said that his council members would be meeting with OTR technical staff today. According to the liaison for the Santo Domingo North municipal council, Margarito de Leon, the only information the council members have received is the starting point for the train, the fact that it will be built as an elevated train and the fact that it will use a special bridge, parallel to the Peynado bridge, to cross the river.
Bidding opens today for the installation of 1200 megawatts of electricity production using coal fired generators. The bidding will be overseen by Radhames Segura, the head of the CDEEE and the Minister for the President, Danilo Medina. The government has sent out over 2,000 invitations for the bidding, to both national and international investors. The bids will be opened at 9:00 a.m. during the ceremonies at the Hotel Jaragua. On 27 July, a group of Middle Eastern businessmen informed the Dominican government that they were willing to undertake the project that had had previously rescinded from the Westmont Power Co. because of previous problems the Westmont people had with corruption issues. In addition, the contract with Westmont required the Dominican government to make an advance payment of US$140 million as a guarantee. Listin Diario is quoting sources as saying that the installation of so much power generating capacity at a cost to the CDEEE of just US$0.018 cents per kilowatt-hour will force a renegotiation of the contracts currently in force with Cogentrix in San Pedro and Smith-Enron in Puerto Plata, where the government is paying US$0.10 cents per kilowatt hour.
The general manager of the Dominican Refinery (REFIDOMSA), Alfredo Nara, has told reporters that the refinery is currently in a state of non-liquidity due to the accumulated debt of RD$500 million owed by the Dominican government for propane gas. This money represents the government's subsidy for propane gas that is used for transportation and domestic use. The general manager asked that the president of the refinery, Aristides Fernandez Zucco, authorize a check for RD$126 million. In response, Fernandez Zucco asked Nara to send him the calculations on the costs for the Dominican Republic that the dividends held by Shell are accumulating. As revealed in El Caribe, the internal conflicts came to the light of day when Nara showed reporters a series of notes between himself and Fernandez Zucco. The notes show a heated exchange of opinions between the two men. In the first memo, Nara asks Fernandez Zucco to authorize a check for RD$126 million to pay the government's part of the propane subsidy, and points out that each day's delay would cost the refinery RD$40,000. Fernandez Zucco answered two days later with an "urgent" request for the calculations as to the cost for the government of the Shell's retention of the dividends over the past several years that Fernandez said were in the hundreds of millions of pesos. Fernandez also asked for the amount that the Shell Company owed for non-payment of the exchange commission tax as well as other taxes.
Apparently there are still serious differences about the issue of petroleum that comes from Venezuela under the Petro-Caribe Agreement. Nara told reporters that the refinery's board of directors held heated discussions about the arrival of the first shipment of oil under the agreement. According to the Shell Company, the oil was not up to specifications and needed to be returned. However, at the insistence of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, the oil was eventually accepted, on the grounds that a rejection of the first shipment would cause a rupture in the entire agreement.
In the alphabet soup of commissions, committees and state-sponsored organizations, DEPRECO is assigned the task of preventing corruption. RENOVE was the program charged, under the Mejia administration, with renovating the public transportation fleet. The leading members of the latter, as well as businessmen involved in the purchase of many of the vehicles were charged with fraudulent handling to the tune of over RD$1.0 billion. Yesterday's papers reported that the magistrate had convicted 10 of the 14 accused, and administered jail sentences and fines. Now, according to Diario Libre, DEPRECO has announced that it will study the case files and appeal against the verdicts because there are "some aspects that the Justice Department did not share." Two of the convicted men, Fabio Ruiz and Antonio Marte will also be appealing. Other papers comment on the verdicts, and Listin Diario says that a mere 2% of the fraud money will be recovered by the fines levied by the magistrate. Lawyer Juarez Castillo, as reported in the Listin Diario, said that the government prosecutors protected the real heads of the scam against the government for RD$1.8 billion. He said with the judgement, the state prosecutors have allowed impunity.
Political organizations as well as workers unions and popular front organizations are holding a 24-hour strike in the Cibao Valley. The strike is centered in Santiago, and has all but shut down a major portion of the taxi companies and many of the buses that serve the public. A total of 57 organizations are backing the strike, which calls for the government to change its economic policies and reject the fiscal reforms now proposed in the Congress. Also among the demands is a reduction in fuel prices and electricity bills. The strike has shut down transportation along some of the city's major arteries, and made access to schools and universities, businesses and industries an odyssey for students, clients and workers. Towns such as Licey al Medio, Navarrete, and Tamboril are effectively cut off from Santiago.
Filming of scenes of the US$100 million Miami Vice movie production are taking place in the Capotillo neighborhood of Santo Domingo. Prior to the filming, the government modernized the police force in the slum area, bringing in 18 agents on board Harley Davidson motorbikes. As a result, crime in the area was eradicated prior to the starting of the filming, with the delinquents said to have moved on to other nearby slum areas. El Caribe newspaper reports that since yesterday, Jaime Foxx, Colin Farrell and director Michael Mann were seen in the neighborhood. The Capotillo filming started off with a chase scene. Plans are for the team to move on to film in southeastern city of San Pedro de Macoris, and then to return for more filming in Capotillo this evening and on Thursday morning. Scheduled for Monday is the shooting of scenes in the Colonial Zone, where movie cameras already took in scenes along Hostos Street. The scenes are not meant to depict the Dominican Republic, but rather sites in Cuba and Haiti. Colin and Foxx have been in the DR since 12 October, after previous filming in Miami. Female star Gong Li had arrived earlier with director Michael Mann, according to El Caribe newspaper.
No matter which paper you pick up today, most of the sports sections are dedicated to the start of the DR Winter League Baseball season. Several papers have special glossy inserts that contain the entire schedule for the 2005-2006 season as well as lots of statistics for the die-hard fans. As an added attraction, Diario Libre says that the New York Mets superstar, Pedro Martinez will pitch for the Licey Tigers this season. Tonight there will be games in Santo Domingo, Santiago de los Caballeros and La Romana. In Santiago and Santo Domingo the games are scheduled to start at 8:05 p.m. and in La Romana, (as well as San Francisco de Macoris, and San Pedro de Macoris), the games start at 7:35 p.m. The theme of the special inserts seems to be the race for championship number 19 between the Licey Tigers and the Eagles of the Cibao (In Spanish, the Tigres del Licey and the Aguilas del Cibao). Among the managers that have brought victory to these two teams are Tommy Lasorda, Del Crandall, Manuel Mota, John Rosboro, Al Widmar, Tim Murtaugh, Terry Francona, Tony Pena and Johnny Lipon. Since the 1995 season, only the Aguilas and the Tigres have won the championship, and all the other teams are looking to end their respective droughts. The San Francisco de Macoris team, the "Gigantes", the "Estrellas Orientales" from San Pedro and the "Toros" from La Romana will all vie with Escogido from Santo Domingo. The team from La Romana won the tournament in 1994, Escogido last won a tournament in 1992, and the Estrellas won their only tournament in 1967-68. The "Gigantes" from San Francisco made the play-offs last year but were eliminated from the finals.
For the calendar of regular season games, see http://www.lidom.com/calendario.htm
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