The Santo Domingo Cyber Park (PCSD) was re-launched yesterday during a public function led by President Leonel Fernandez. The new phase includes US$250 million worth of investment projects by foreign technological companies and academic services from the Stevens Institute of Technology from the US. Also included are residential areas, shopping centers and recreational facilities. Diario Libre reports that the companies installed or in the process of installation include the fields of telecommunications, information technology, robotics and microelectronics. These include Caribbean Custom Mold, Brighstar, Interdom, Image Processing Center, Quick Cash Inc., UVColor, Europeene Ingenierie, Super Clik and Tansource PBOSolutions, according to PCSD president Eddy Martinez. The ceremony was also attended by Vice President Rafael Alburquerque, the president of the Board of the Las Americas Technological Institute, Msgr. Agripino Nunez Collado, the president of Stevens Institute of Technology, Harold Raveche, and Higher Education Minister Ligia Amado Melo.
Listin Diario reports on President Fernandez's appreciation that the PCSD will generate wealth, leading to greater social equality in the medium and long term fight against poverty. He said that some people may question the park as not being a priority and that what the country needs are aqueducts, vaccination programs and the eradication of poverty. However, the President says that people who think like that are mistaken, because poverty cannot be eradicated and a modernization program cannot be established in the country if we do not generate the wealth required to undertake each of the priorities which are important for the country's progress.
President Leonel Fernandez will discuss important issues, especially those related to poverty, with US President Geroge W. Bush during the Summit of the Americas where heads of state and governments are due to meet in Argentina on the 4th and 5th of November. The information was announced by Foreign Relations Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso, who met with the President yesterday to give details of the trip. Fernandez will also meet with Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin. Fernandez leaves on 3 November, and will meet with President Bush at 8:30am the next day. The summit will analyze the creation of new sources of employment and the fight against poverty.
Dominican ambassador in Washington, D.C., Flavio Dario Espinal said that the creating of increased awareness abroad of the plight of Haitians and the effect of massive Haitian migration on the Dominican Republic is a priority of his office. He called for the international community to pay more attention to the Haitian situation, and emphasized that the DR does not have the necessary resources to absorb the effects of the crisis. In an interview with the Listin Diario, Espinal said that the provision of aid and the organizing of elections will not suffice if these measures are not accompanying by an economic, constitutional and environmental restructuring. He said that improved governance, economic and political stability in Haiti is of national interest to the Dominican Republic in order to reduce the increasing migration pressures over the border with Haiti.
The Director of the Transport Reorganization Office (OPRET) Diandino Pena said it would be "crazy" to start the first line of the metro on any other route other than Maximo Gomez Avenue as planned. Pena said that people are accustomed to expressing their opinions and forcing politicians to adopt solutions that don't solve problems in the long run. He stated that the best local and international technicians are working on the metro plan. There are technicians from Spain, Italy, Germany and Colombia, who have years of experience in this sort of work, he added. Others have started to speak out in favor of Pena's plans. Transport advisor Milciades Perez joined the faction in favor of the metro line on Maximo Gomez Avenue, saying that people who favor 27 de Febrero Avenue are only considering where people live, not where they need to go. Perez quoted an analysis of origins and destinations done by the government that indicates the 53% of the routes in the capital city end in the zone that will be served by the metro.
Geologist Osiris de Leon, coordinator of the environmental group of the Academy of Sciences and president of the Mining Chamber of the Dominican Republic described as outright rubbish the proposal to use materials removed from digging sites for the Santo Domingo underground to build the artificial island proposed for the front of Santo Domingo's hotel strip. As reported in El Dia newspaper, De Leon said this would be the equivalent of building a house on quick sand. He said there is no way to ensure the compacting of this material in the sea given the constant movement of the waves. As reported in El Dia, the promoters of the Novo Mundo XXI artificial island, head by Eulogio Santaella, informed a Finance Commission of the Senate that they are studying the use of the earth dug up to make way for metro tunnels.
Surun & Surun law firm has been hired to file 58 lawsuits against the Dominican Petroleum Refinery (Refidomsa) and its private international associate The Shell Company, for health complications caused by the leak of toxic gas last Monday, according to a report in Diario Libre. The gas-ethyl mercaptan-spread over the municipality of Haina and part of the National District, causing dizziness, vomiting and the hospitalization of dozens of people, mostly children. Miguel Surun Hernandez explained that the lawsuits will be filed against both Refidomsa and Shell because the accident took place in an operational area under the private company's control, where the government has restricted inspection access. Physicians and experts are collecting incriminating evidence against Refidomsa for the adverse effects on public health. The law firm said that the legal action would create a precedent for all who may affect public health in the future.
The Ministry of Foreign Relations confirmed the suspension of Dominican consul general in Puerto Rico Eladio Espinal occurred earlier this month. The decision follows an ongoing investigation into the circumstances whereby the former consul's son, Edison Espinal Garao, together with two other men, were arrested in late September in possession of 37 kilos of cocaine and heroin worth an estimated US$10 million. The arrest of the three took place on Monday, 26 September, when DEA Special Operations searched an apartment in Residencial Campo Rico, in the Carolina neighborhood of San Juan. The strong smell of pure cocaine is what allegedly alerted the agents, who found the three young men preparing small portions of the drug for future sale.
Vice Consul Jose Fondeur was placed temporarily in charge of the consulate.
The National Office of Public Defense has indicted District Attorney Juan Manuel Fernandez whom they accuse of the illegal imprisonment of individuals who were favored with release warrants. The indictment was filed at the Attorney General's Department by defense attorneys Jacinto Castillo Moronta, Evelin Torres, Yaskara Vargas and Dilexy Abreu, who indicated that four individuals favored by habeas corpus sentences are still being kept in prison arbitrarily. Three of the detainees are Jorge Antonio Veloz Encarnacion, Arcadio Tejada Sosa and Hector Pimentel who were freed by the Fourth Criminal Court on 13 October 2005 after paying bail assigned by the Second and Fourth Court of Instruction. According to the lawyers, the Justice Department has refused to sign the contracts with the insurance companies impeding the release of the defendants, and is thus keeping them illegally in prison.
The Ministry of Tourism has confirmed that approximately 5,000 tourists who were stranded in Miami, Cancun, and the Mayan Riviera are being taken to hotels in Puerto Plata and Punta Cana destinations in the DR. Reports are that the tourists arrived on charter flights, mostly from Cancun. The Ministry is expecting an additional 5,000 in the coming hours. The tourists were relocated after Hurricane Wilma damaged hotels and tourist areas in Mexico and Florida last week. Andrew Cooper, director general of the Federation of Tour Operators of the United Kingdom, said that about 4,000 British tourists would be relocated to hotels in the DR as an intermediate point instead of having them flown back to the UK.
Twenty Dominicans who were lost at sea for 18 days were brought back to the DR from the Turks & Caicos Islands having ended up there after trying to reach Puerto Rico on a boat. The bodies of two men also were brought home. The group had left the municipality of Gaspar Hernandez on 7 October 2005. The victims were identified as Martin Nunez and Jesus Jimenez who lived in Los Naranjos, Nagua. One of the survivors said they had drowned trying to catch something to eat. The survivors arrived on two Swiss Sport flights from Turks and Caicos. Their names are Juan Toribio, Silvio Mota, Arcibiades Garcia, Quilvio Moreta, Joel Jimenez, Jeuri Manuel Perez, Wendy Garcia, Jose Figueroa, William Grend, Carmen Delia Nunez, Jennifer and Brigida de la Cruz, William Norberto, Francisca Garcia Hernandez, Pedro Jimenez, Roman Acosta, Joel Perez Mercedes, Andery Bencosme, Jose Lopez Nolasco, and Henry de la Cruz. The latter was arrested upon arrival.
Yesterday, the US dollar was selling between 25 and 50 cents higher than the day before and closed at RD$33.75 and RD$34.00. Listin Diario reports that the purchasing price closed at RD$33.30 and RD$33.40 per US$1.00. According to the Dominican Association of Foreign Exchange Remittance Companies, no one has been able to explain the increase in the rate. Neither can foreign exchange agents who, however, do not discard the possibility of speculation. Commercial banks closed the sale of US dollars at RD$33.70 and the purchase at RD$32.94 to one.
For updates on the exchange rate, check the last post at this thread on the DR1 Forum, http://dr1.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26541
Two crucial plays by Dominican shortstop Juan Uribe were crucial to the 1-0 Chicago White Sox win that landed them their first World Series Championship in 88 years. In the seventh inning of the game, Juan Uribe left Houston players in second and third base with two outs with a strike out. And then in the ninth inning of the game, Uribe makes a heart-stopping catch, going into the stands to catch Chris Burke's foul pop and to just nip Orlando Palmeiro at first on a grounder to short, as reported in the Chicago Sun Times. For more on the game, see http://www.mlb.com
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