The Presidents of the Dominican Republic and Colombia have signed an agreement under which Colombia will provide energy assistance to the Dominican Republic. Part of the plan involves the transfer of the technology for the conversion of sugar cane into alcohol. The document points out that this process will help mitigate the effects of the current energy crisis, which has been exacerbated by the current high oil prices. The energy deal also provides for extensive credits for the purchase of petroleum and coal from Colombia, available through the Colombian Bank for Overseas Commerce (BANCOLDEX). The minimum purchase will be for US$50 million and the credit limit is set at US$200 million. The agreement allows for 100% of the purchases to be financed through BANCOLDEX.
In paid ads in all today's newspapers, the CDEEE has extended the deadline for tenders on the two coal-fired generation facilities to be placed in Azua and Manzanillo. The former deadline of 16 November has been extended to 31 November 2005. So far, 18 entities have obtained the tender offer for the large coal-fired units. Apparently, so far, none have handed in a bid.
The president of the Dominican Free Zone Association Arturo Peguero, has told reporters that the textile agreement between the United States and China will offer protection, at least temporarily, for all of the textiles that the Dominican Republic ships to the United States. What the agreement does not do, however, is offer protection from the ever-increasing amount of exports coming from other Asian nations such as India, Pakistan or Bangladesh. "Even so, (the agreement) does offer an early warning and stability within the great uncertainties brought about by China...," which, Peguero continued, "distorted the equilibrium of supply and demand.." The new textile agreement will cover three years, from 1 January 2006 until 31 December 2008, and offers some breathing room for textile companies in Central America and the Caribbean to readjust their businesses by vertical integration, or other means, as well as more flexible rule on textile origins that will be offered by the DR-CAFTA agreement. The agreement provides for safeguards for 34 articles of clothing (versus 19 under current arrangements), imposing tighter controls on quotas for what are called "mainstream products" such as shirts, pants and underwear.
The president of the National Hotel and Restaurant Association (ASONAHORES), lawyer Enrique de Marchena Kaluche, told reporters at the Presidential Palace that his group was nearing an agreement with the government regarding the current tax reform proposals now in the Chamber of Deputies. De Marchena said that he had spoken with the three major political parties and the government regarding ASONAHORES' position on the taxes. According to de Marchena, all three parties agree that tourism is the main pillar of the Dominican economy and that it is important to maintain earnings and competitiveness. Marchena made his comments after a meeting with Presidential Minister Danilo Medina. He said that the government and the private sector are in agreement that the DR needs to attract those tourists that would normally visit Cancun and the Maya Riviera that were so devastated by Hurricane Wilma, and make greater efforts to attract more tourists from Canada and the United States.
Major General Sigfredo Fadul told reporters yesterday that the first month of the government's fuel savings plan is showing positive results. According to the general, the alternate day of work for the "publicos" - the green and yellow roofed passenger cars that serve the general public along fixed routes- has eased traffic flow, and there have been evident fuel savings. Fadul also pointed out that there have been fewer assaults and robberies along the traffic routes over the last 30 days. Talking with Listin Diario editorial staff of, Fadul emphasized that the last month has been "very good", and along with members of his staff, he explained that, so far, 14,000 cars have been registered in the plan and that shortly the remaining 3000 will be painted and enter service. Currently, the AMET people are working on identifying the routes that are being served in order to see which ones need more attention and which ones can operate with fewer vehicles. The AMET boss pointed out that it is only during the peak hours of early morning and late afternoon when there appears to be a shortage of public transportation. As one solution, the traffic cop chief suggested that it may be wise to have private and public offices opening at different times to ease the flow of traffic. Regarding the business of the so-called "pirates", those un-official cars that service regular routes, but are not affiliated with any of the unions, Fadul told the Listin Diario people that he only has 300 officers working at any one time and they have to cover the National District and the province of Santo Domingo. Adding to the problem of enforcement is the need to place AMET agents at main intersections when the traffic lights are not working due to power outages.
The Dominican consulate in Philadelphia was closed yesterday, leaving 30,000 Dominicans in the area without consular services. This brings the number of recent closures to four, together with the consulates in Jackson Hills, Baltimore and Chicago. According to El Nacional, Foreign Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso sent the Philadelphia consul, Wilson Diaz the closure notice on 4 November. The closure was unannounced. In an interview with the newspaper, Diaz told reporters that he expects an angry reaction from local Dominican residents now left without consular services. Besides Diaz, the Philadelphia consulate had five vice-consuls and seven assistant consuls. Diaz had also held the consular post during the previous PLD administration (1996-2000). Strangely, staff had not yet received notification about their job losses. The consulate in Baltimore was an honorary consulate held by Carlos Feliz who had moved to New York and who has not received any official notification of the closure of his consulate. Added to the consular closing, Dominicans resident in the southern United States no longer have the services of the Dominican consulate that used to be located in New Orleans. Due to the flooding that resulted from Hurricane Katrina, this consulate is now functioning from a private residence in Houston, Texas.
Totaling over a ton in the lat 17 days, the Director General for Drug Control (DNCD) has seized 442 kilos of cocaine in the parking lot of the CIRSA Casino Hispanola in Santo Domingo. The drugs were found in a green Ford Windstar that was parked in the lot, and two Colombians and two Dominicans were arrested. According to officials from the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), a kilo of cocaine sells for US$12,000 in the Dominican Republic, making yesterday's seizure worth US$5.3 million. While the recent spate of large drug busts might seem, at first glance, to indicate an increase in drug trafficking, DNCD chief, Ivan Pena Castillo attributes the seizures to ever increasing intelligence work, tighter controls and a heightened state of alert among DNCD officers, as well as drug officials from the US, Colombia and Venezuela.
The National Police Internal Affairs department has carried out drug testing on a random selection of 90 of the more than 200 police officers currently serving in the Capotillo barrio. All 90 tested negative for any drug use. The director of Internal Affairs, Daysi Liriano said that all but one of the agents were selected at random. The only exception was the commander of the unit, Juan Brown Perez, who volunteered to take the test. The tests had been ordered by Police chief Bernardo Santana Paez.
The Third Penal Chamber of the Court of Appeals for the National District revoked the dismissal of charges issued by the Fourth Court of Instruction that favored Police chief Jaime Marte Martinez' driver and another police officer, Jose De Oleo. Both men are accused of unlawful use of stolen property. The Appeals Court, presided over by magistrate Ignacio Camacho Hidalgo, sent the case to the office of Coordination of Courts of Instruction in order to assign the case to a judge for preliminary action. The original Court of Instruction had held that the accused were not properly notified of the charges. However, the Appeals Court failed to uphold the decision and reported that: "notifications were made within the allowed time period, and therefore, they are admissible."
In San Jose de los Llanos, a rural municipality in the southeastern province of San Pedro, protest organizers have reported what they claim are heavily armed foreign military personnel protecting Father Christopher Hartley. The protest organizers warn that the presence of foreign military officers could complicate the situation in the area, since the Haitians defended by the Spanish priest can now hide behind the troops. Diario Libre carries a photograph of heavily armed men on the church grounds, using light blue vests similar to those used by UN peacekeepers and equipped with sophisticated weaponry patrolling the area. The priest has a church, a care center for the elderly and a nutrition center for the poor under his care. Local community leaders are asking the head of the Dominican Armed Forces to clarify just who these men are.
In the run-up to the May 2006 congressional and municipal elections, the Central Electoral Board (JCE) is posed to provide Dominican identification and voter registration cards to 300,000 people that do not currently have them. These cards, called "cedulas", are a universal necessity in the Dominican Republic. Chief election magistrate Luis Arias told El Caribe reporters that within the next few days his personnel would be embarking on a campaign to provide the voter registration and I.D. cards to those people that are over 18 and have not yet obtained it. Anyone who has reached the age of 18 by 15 May 2006 is eligible to apply for the cedula. Requests must be received by 15 January 2006, however, since this is the closing date for voter registration rolls. In large part because of the many different officials to be elected, the May 2006 elections are expected to be complicated for the JCE. There will be elections for 962 municipal council members, 32 senators and 178 deputies. One of the several drawbacks for obtaining the cedula is the requirement for possessing a birth certificate. Because of the current debate regarding jus soli or jus sanguinis, Arias argued that since the very first Dominican constitution the principle of jus soli has been the rule.
The last year has seen many of the more common building supplies go down in price. Cost reductions of as much as 150% have been noticed in some items, such as re-bar, which fell from a high of RD$2500 per hundredweight to the current price of RD$1000. A cubic meter of sand for mixing stucco is now, according to Diario Libre, "RD$6.00", but this is an obvious mistake in the decimal point. DR1 contacted several construction firms, and current wholesale prices for sand are RD$300 per meter for regular mixing sand, and RD$400 per cubic meter for finer, stucco grade sand. This would indicate a retail price of RD$600 to the general public. An employee of Ferreteria Americana told Diario Libre that much of the lower pricing is due to the stronger peso. At one point, retail prices at the large hardware store were being quoted on the basis of a US dollar exchange rate of RD$56 pesos. Nails are down by RD$20.00, currently at RD$30.00 a pound; bags of cement are down to RD$120-RD$125 from a high of RD$250 and four-inch cement blocks are down by RD$2.00, currently at RD$14.00 each. Wood and tin roofing are other items being sold at lower prices.
After failing to win either of this year's Rookie of the Year awards, the announcement that Dominican right-hander Bartolo Colon has been awarded the American League Cy Young Award has met with universal applause. Every newspaper in the Dominican Republic carries the story in large headlines. Colon, who was injured during the AL playoffs and missed his second start, was at home in Altamira, Puerto Plata province when the announcement was made. Colon is the second Dominican to win the Cy Young Award, following Pedro Martinez who won in 1997, 1999 and 2000. The voting was unexpectedly lop-sided in favor of Colon, who garnered 17 first place votes against only eight for the runner-up, Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees. Venezuelan Johan Santana finished third in the balloting, the only other player to receive first place votes.
Colon, the chubby right-hander who plays for the Anaheim Angels, won 21 games this year for the champions of the American League West division. The Angels played the Chicago White Sox for the American League championship, losing in four games.
Bartolo is the first player in 41 years to win the award for the Angels. He was the only pitcher who was marked on every ballot. He was the only 20-game winner in the American league and posted an Earned Run Average of 3.48 per nine innings and had 157 strikeouts.
One of the reasons that Bartolo Colon was so happy was the fact that his contract provided for an additional US$500,000 bonus for winning the Cy Young.
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