The magistrate heading the instructional phase of the case of rock ash dumping in Manzanillo and Samana has decreed that the government did not have a case against the accused former Mejia administration officials. Favored by the decree were, first, Domingo Antonio Rosario Pimentel, former PRD senator for San Cristobal, and president of "Trans Nacional Dominicana de Desarrollo" the company that moved the 30,000 tons of the so-called rock ash to Manzanillo. Hector Rene Ledesma, former Deputy Environment Minister and Rosendo Arsenio Berges, former head of the Dominican Port Authority were also cleared of charges. Former Environment Minister Frank Moya Pons was excluded from the indictment. El Caribe reports that there were public protests in Manzanillo when the verdict was read out. Listin Diario reports that the town of Manzanillo is in mourning and the people are wearing black ribbons in protest. Environmental prosecutor Ramon Aristides Madera Arias told reporters that things are so bad that people living near the rock ash dump are asking the government to move them to another location some 20 kilometers away.
President Leonel Fernandez will sign an energy agreement with Colombia during his weekend there. On Monday, Fernandez will meet Colombian entrepreneurs who have shown an interest in investing in the DR. Together with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, Fernandez will look at the possibilities of developing alternative energy sources, similar to what has been done in Colombia. These mostly deal with wind power and sugar cane alcohol. Both heads of state will also discuss the current high fuel prices, the fight against the Caribbean narcotics trade and an exchange of information for effective cooperation in that field. Hoy reports that, according to information coming from the Dominican Presidential Palace, the Dominican Republic will take on a line of credit for oil and coal purchase. The credit will be extended by the Colombian Bank of Foreign Commerce.
The Dominican government will initiate a round of talks with its Canadian counterparts, with the aim of working out a free trade agreement between the two nations. At least this is the gist of the conversations between Dominican President Leonel Fernandez and Paul Martin, the Canadian Prime Minister. According to several newspapers, the press release from the Presidential Palace stated that the two leaders have signed an agreement to start the talks during the IV Summit of the Americas in Mar de Plata, Argentina. The aim of the talks will be to reach an agreement similar to DR-CAFTA, which could go into effect in January. At present there is US$80 million worth of Canadian investments in the Dominican Republic, mostly in the mining, financial and commercial sectors. This amount could increase dramatically if the proposed re-opening of the gold mine in Cotui is finalized under the leadership of the Placer Dome Corporation. This investment is estimated to reach US$500 million over several years. Trade between the two countries reached US$101 million in 2004, with the DR exporting US$72 million and importing US$32 million.
Of the 168 requirements undertaken with the United States and the Central American countries in order to enter the regional free trade agreement, the Dominican Republic has fulfilled 101. This information was released by Francisco Javier Garcia, the Minister of Industry and Commerce, as he spoke with industry leaders during a meeting at the V Centenario Hotel in Santo Domingo. Among the business leaders present were Elena Viyella de Paliza, the head of business council CONEP, Celso Marranzini, and William Malamud from the AmCham. Associations from the free zones, the industries from Herrera and different manufacturing sectors were also present. The private sector said that it would join the government in making the DR-CAFTA agreement work.
It is becoming clearly apparent that the Dominican Chamber of Deputies is stalled over the government's requirement to broaden the VAT tax base to include cooking oils, sugar and coffee, among other things. Diario Libre says that Alfredo Pacheco, the chamber president, has confirmed the stalemate. He said that the difference between the addition of the basic foodstuffs and the exclusion of the same represents between RD$6.0 billion and RD$7.0 billion for the new tax proposal. New proposals from government technicians are being studied by the special committee from the Chamber of Deputies. He did not reveal just what the new suggestions might be. Hoy newspaper reports that the differences between the two sides may well be in the neighborhood of RD$8.0 billion for the new budget, if basic foodstuffs are excluded. According to statement made by Pacheco on the television program "D'Agenda", the government wants to include disposable diapers, coffee, sugar, cooking oil and pig and poultry feeds within VAT.
However, there are more difficult issues on the horizon. Listin Diario reports that without the final approval of the tax package the Dominican Republic cannot enter into CAFTA. This is because failure to approve the tax package will knock out the possibility of approving the 2006 budget, and this, in turn, will oblige the government to continue operating under the 2005 budget laws, which include the discretional use of budget surpluses. However, within the framework of the IMF accords, the government promised to have the 2006 budget in Congress by the middle of this month, and the new budget proposal has to include severe limits on the use of discretionary funds resulting from budget surpluses. Under pressure from the IMF, the Executive Branch can only use 5% of current income surplus in a discretionary manner, and an additional 1% in case of natural disasters.
After just finishing a revision of the dispensations required for the fulfillment of obligations with the IMF, a new team from the international financial organization is arriving in the DR today to begin two weeks of revisions. This is the third revision of the accord and corresponds to the period July-December of this year. The team will spend about two weeks in Santo Domingo and they will probably be back before December when it is expected that the Board of Governors of the IMF will approve the third letter of intention. According to Diario Libre, the government is optimistic, and sources close to the Economic Cabinet said that the nation has fulfilled practically all the goals established in the agreement. The source said that there would be a special emphasis on financial and banking results.
One of the outcomes of the IV Summit of the Americas was the announcement by Mexico's Vicente Fox that his country would push for an agreement that would permit the member nations of the Central American System of Integration (SICA) to receive energy assistance from Mexico. According to El Caribe, this would allow the Dominican Republic to receive as much as 75% of its petroleum bill on easy, long-term credit terms. Apparently this credit would apply just to the large increase of oil prices over the last year. The offer also includes the installation of an oil refinery in one of the member nations as well as the interconnection of the electrical systems of the Central American republics.
The Central Bank of the Dominican Republic has increased its hard currency reserves to US$1.773 billion as of 31 October, thanks in part to an injection of US$139.2 million from the International Monetary Fund. Net reserves were stated to be US$1.356 billion, up US$83.3 million from the September numbers. The Central Bank communique said that the expected massive remittances in November and December guaranteed that the reserve levels would be maintained into 2006.
Dominican and Haitian police chiefs met in the border town of Jimani last Friday and came to an agreement to return each other's criminals who have crossed the frontier to escape justice. They also agreed to extend their fight against drugs and arms trafficking as well as cross-border people and vehicle smuggling. As proof of the new climate, Haitian police chief Mario Andre-Sol, handed over former police lieutenant Remigio Garcia Figuereo who had been serving a 20-year sentence in the Dominican Republic for his part in the murder of Victor Augusto Feliz Matos, and Jose Martin Lopez who is wanted for murdering a young girl. General Bernardo Santana Paez, the Dominican chief of police, said that his men were returning stolen vehicles that had been recovered in Dominican territory. He also gave the Haitian policeman a CD that contained the database of stolen vehicles that are presumed to be in Haiti. The Haitian official was effusive in his praise of the intelligence operations carried out by the Dominican armed forces that has led to the capture of wanted people on both sides of the border.
After several months of silence, the National Commission for Ethics and to Combat Corruption has decided that there were several irregularities in the public tender to construct the Citizens' Portal. The tender had been held by the Presidential Office for Information Technology (OPTIC). The Ethics Commission recommends that a new public tender be announced. According to Diario Libre, the commission said that the "winning" bid was the least favorable and that there were serious conflicts of interest. The Ethics Commission, headed by former university president Jose Joaquin Bido Medina, concluded that the Dominican state was seriously prejudiced by the accepted offer. The commission pointed out that the winning company, Microsoft Dominicana, had previously served as an advisor to OPTIC. El Caribe says that the commission concluded that the facts given by whistle-blower Gustavo Montalvo were correct. Montalvo was the head of the technical committee that was looking to install the programs that would give citizens access to government databases. He resigned in protest against the results of the tender.
The traditional Christmas bonus given to almost all workers in the Dominican Republic will reach RD$3.2 billion for government employees. This thirteenth salary is completely covered, according to government sources. This year's Christmas Bonus is approximately RD$400 million more than last year's. In large part the increased bonus money is the result of salary increases for government workers, rather than an increase in the number of people on the payroll. Government jobs decreased by 36,000 over the past year but municipal jobholders increased by slightly less than 4,000. Generally speaking the thirteenth check is usually 100% spending money for the Christmas holidays. Analysts told the Listin Diario that the lower inflation rates for 2005 would increase the purchasing power of the bonus money, and make buying more attractive.
Starting today there will be 250 special school police officers on duty in several of the nation's public schools. This move aims to reduce juvenile delinquency within the schools. These police make up the first phase of a total of 500 that are being trained for assignment to the schools. The second contingent will go on duty at the end of November. The School Police, requested by the Ministry of Education, were trained in human rights, the New Penal Code and Law 241 on Traffic Codes. Also included in the training were classes on how to handle gangs in the schools and how to identify and combat drug use. According to Listin Diario, the School Police will eventually total 773 members. In the past there were just 273 police officers assigned to schools, so the new reinforcements will give a major boost to law enforcement within the educational system. Minister of Education Alejandrina German asked the new officers to maintain law and order within the schools and to "avoid excesses".
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