A last-minute proposal by the Executive Branch has been sent to the Chamber of Deputies Finance Commission introducing changes to the tax reform bill, which will be debated today, according to Diario Libre. President Leonel Fernandez has proposed to exchange the 2% advance tax on imports for a 1.5% advance tax on wholesales. A similar recommendation had been made by the US Embassy. The tax reform bill is the eighth item on the Chamber of Deputies' agenda for today.
Listin Diario reports that the government's decision was made just hours after the US Embassy objected the application of a 2% advance tax on imports. Chamber of Deputies President Alfredo Pacheco also informed that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is demanding fiscal reform in the range of RD$33 to RD$35 billion as a contingency, in case some of the proposed taxes do not provide the desired effects. Pacheco also added that lawmakers are maintaining their opposition to the application of VAT (ITBIS) on basic foodstuffs.
According to the Executive Branch legal advisor Cesar Pina Toribio, the article that appeared in the New York Times about the alleged abuse of Haitian citizens working in the DR has the sole purpose of harming the country's image. He stated that any abuse situation that may have arisen is to be considered an "isolated incident" as it does not reflect the attitude of the Dominican people or official policy. Minister Marino Vinicio Castillo said the report by Ginger Thompson was "insulting, untrue, and perverse". Meanwhile, Foreign Relations Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso has sent a letter to the New York Times in which he accuses Thompson of distorting the truth. He emphasizes that there is no policy of abuse or discrimination against Haitians in the DR, and cited as proof of this "the liberty and security in which hundreds of thousands of Haitians move about, work or live in the national territory".
According to the Ministry of Foreign Relations, last year 334,135 Haitian citizens or people of Haitian origin were treated in the country's hospitals. Of that total, 85,000 - about 25% -- received treatment in medical centers near the border. According to statistics, the province with the highest number of Haitian patients was Valverde, with a total of 35,504. The Ministry also reports that there are 18,171 students in Dominican schools who are Haitian or of Haitian descent. The data was collected for the reply to the Inter-American Human Rights Court that sentenced the DR to pay US$20,000 in damages in favor of two Haitian girls and their mothers.
The New York Times article also generates some comment in today's editorial columns. Hoy in particular is emphatic in its condemnation. It describes the content as the product of the reporter's "morbid imagination" and says that the article "dirties the NYT's prestigious reputation with its lies and infamy". While accepting that some elements of the article are correct, like the mafia controlling the influx of illegal workers, and that fact that these are often victims of abuse, as well as the practice of employing them in sectors like construction, it dismisses out of hand that there is the systematic attitude of discrimination and persecution of Haitians by Dominicans that the journalist describes. It asks why the article did not focus on the problems created for the Dominican Republic as a result of this migration from Haiti. Diario Libre describes Morales Troncoso's letter as "one of the best presentations of the Dominican Republic's case, by portraying the problem's social dimension and impact on the national budget".
Presidential Administrative Secretary Luis Manuel Bonnetti said the government has nothing to do with the alleged installation of microphones detected in former president Hipolito Mejia's home in La Julia in Santo Domingo. According to Bonnetti, the bugs must have been placed by Mejia's own people. He said Mejia should start investigating his own subordinates and relations because you have to be close to him to enter his home. Mejia relatives complained that other microphones were placed in the home of his sister, Isabel Mejia de Grullon (Chabela), who is married to former Secretary of the Presidency, Sergio Grullon.
The dollar-peso exchange rate has started to rise again. Yesterday, the US dollar was selling for RD$33.40, one peso higher than the closing rate last Friday. The purchasing price was between RD$32.50 and RD$32.90. Last Friday, the purchasing price was RD$32.07. Exchange agents were selling the US currency between RD$33.45 and RD$33.50 and the purchasing rate was between US$32.50 and RD$32.90. Commercial banks were selling between RD$33.00 and RD$33.50. The price increase is expected to remain stable for the rest of the week. Meanwhile the Euro was being sold for RD$38.50 and RD$39.00, and purchased for RD$36.00 and RD$36.50.
According to businessman and financial consultant Luis Alvarez Renta, former Central Bank governor Jose Luis Malkun and the former president of Banco del Progreso, Pedro Castillo, knew about the checks totaling US$17.1 million, which he is accused of having issued without funds. At the time, Banco del Progreso had purchased Baninter. The checks were meant for the partial reimbursement of loans received from foreign companies and which had been deposited in Baninter. Former president Hipolito Mejia was also informed of the operation. Alvarez Renta insisted that the last checks were held by orders from the former Superintendent of Banks Alberto Atallah and were later paid out after Baninter was intervened by authorities. "Pedro Castillo and Atallah were on the telephone with me when Atallah confirmed that governor Malkun, President Mejia and Pedro Castillo had approved the operation" he said. Alvarez Renta declared that if he is to be accused of those transactions, Malkun, Castillo, and Atallah would also have to be accused for their participation in it.
The association of street vendors and kiosk owners who run small businesses on Santo Domingo's main seafront thoroughfare, the Malecon, held a meeting yesterday to discuss the planned artificial island. The traders were unanimous in their opposition to the controversial idea, and demanded a statement on the issue by the capital city's municipal authorities. Adding that they were also against the forthcoming Sans Souci development, they declared that they would resist eviction when the time came, if necessary.
A group of German doctors volunteered their skills and expertise during a week long stay in the remote community of Las Lagunas, in the Central Cordillera. Clave Digital reports that the group, under the auspices of German NGO Eine Welt E.V. and Santiago based Dominican health organization ILAC, treated 750 patients free of charge for a range of ailments. They also provided free medical supplies that had been donated by pharmaceutical companies in Germany. The doctors, who covered all their own travel costs, were provided with accommodation at local family homes during their stay.
When President Leonel Fernandez visited the northeastern town of Sanchez four months ago, he pledged that the families affected by subsidence would be re-housed. In a report in today's Diario Libre, the families complain that they are still waiting. The authorities have promised to build new houses for the 190 affected families, whose homes are in danger of collapse due to subsidence on Calle Independencia and in the neighborhoods of La Torre, Johnson and Altamira. The mayor of Sanchez Jesus Calcano says that the families are desperate to be re-housed, but that the Public Works Ministry, which is in charge of the project, is still "at the planning stage".
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) annual report on the Dominican Republic makes somber reading, especially when it comes to educational statistics. As many as half the total number of students in primary education only reach 4th grade level. Just 22% of the total complete primary school and once they reach high school graduation level, only 10% of the original total remain. The DR chapter of the UNDP's Human Development Index for 2005 also highlights the inefficient use of funds spent on education, and the poor quality of teaching. It blames political patronage, deficient training and low salaries as the main factors.
The authorities are claiming that the country's fuel consumption has been reduced by 34% since August, largely as a result of the national fuel savings plan that has been in action during this period. Consumption in October is 34% lower than in August, and 34% less when compared to the same month last year, according to the Industry and Commerce Ministry's Hydrocarbons department, quoted in a report in Diario Libre. In 2005, the monthly average rate of fuel consumption between January and August was 128.2 million gallons. In August the figure went up to a high of 140 million. In September fuel consumption went down to 95.3 million gallons, and in October it was further reduced to 92.6 million gallons. In October 2004 the country used 153.1 gallons.
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