The Presidents of the Central American nations, Mexico and the Dominican Republic got together in Cancun, and agreed to put into motion the preparations needed to achieve regional energy integration by May 2006. They also agreed to meet in the Dominican Republic in 2006. The Presidents set up a technical committee that will meet in the DR in January to work out seven projects that will imply total investments of more than five billion dollars. The Presidential meeting, which lasted for less than two hours, was just the political "pat on the head" for the project of the Presidents who will meet again in the Dominican Republic at the end of May 2006. The Cancun Declaration contains ten agreements to 'push forward in the area of energy integration by seeking integrated energy markets of oil, natural gas and electricity, in the spirit of optimizing renewable sources as well as efficient energy." During the first 20 days of January 2006, a IDB (Inter-American Development Bank) contract will go out to a company that will carry out feasibility studies that could lead to the contract tender for the construction of the refinery. According to Fernando Canales, the Mexican Energy Secretary, there are four companies vying for the contract. The refinery will be constructed either in Panama, Costa Rica or Guatemala, and will process 230,000 barrels of oil a day and will cost between US$2.8 and US$4.3 billion.
Vice President Rafael Alburquerque, in the name of traveling President Leonel Fernandez, signed into law the tax reform legislation that generated so much debate over the last two months. The tax package is intended to replace the funds lost as a result of the implementation of the DR-CAFTA agreement that includes the elimination of the 13% exchange commission tax on dollars used to import anything into the Dominican Republic, as well as an overall reduction in import duties and tariffs. The new law modifies laws 11-92, 18-88 and 112-00. These are laws that deal with the Tax Code, the tax on luxury housing and the taxes on fossil fuels. The new program also modifies laws 146-00 as well as 40-27 which are laws dealing with customs and tariffs.
The fiscal reform calls for the expanding of the ITBIS (VAT) base to more than 100 new products, a 17% tax on vehicle registration, an increase from 25 to 30% on personal income tax of the higher category of earners, and the continuing of the 1.5% tax on gross sales of companies. It also establishes a 25% tax on premium gasoline sales and different types of diesel fuel.
The Dominican government could collect surplus revenue of approximately RD$13 billion if the US delays the start of DR-CAFTA in January as proposed. With the passing of the fiscal reform, the government will have a windfall of additional revenue, as reported in Diario Libre. These funds would not be included in the 2006 budget, and the Presidency would manage the surplus.
The newspaper points out that the fiscal reform would enable the government to leave in place the customs taxes, including the application of the 13% exchange commission for the first six months of the year, and at the same time apply the new fiscal reform that will produce revenues from other areas. The fiscal reform was carried out to secure new sources of funding, given that DR-CAFTA requires the elimination of the 13% exchange commission on imports, plus other duties for its scheduled implementation on 1 January 2006.
Industry and Commerce Minister Francisco Javier Garcia said that any decision on this would be taken by President Fernandez.
The newly approved fiscal reform is expected to render an additional RD$26 million.
Meanwhile, despite the doubt whether DR-CAFTA could begin to be implemented in January, the government has threatened to administratively apply charges to compensate for RD$4.5 billion in cuts carried out by Congress over those requested by the government. The fiscal reform was pushed through to compensate the government and not overtly to generate new revenues.
The Dominican government has reportedly delivered to the Department of Commerce of the United States the documentation for the start of the treaty in January, as Industry and Commerce Minister Francisco Javier Garcia told Diario Libre. Other news reports have speculated that only El Salvador is ready. But as explained by Bill Malamud, executive vice president of the American Chamber of Commerce, the treaty can go into effect with the certification of just one country.
Franco Uccelli, Dominican market analyst for Bear Stearns, writes in a Wednesday update that the Dominican government formally requested last night congressional authorization to issue US$300 million in the international capital markets. The funds, which would be raised by either reopening the 2018 bond or by floating a new bond carrying more favorable terms for the country, would be utilized to buy back an expensive-to-service US$300 million debt owed to Spanish power company Union Fenosa.
As explained by Uccelli, the decision seeks to enhance the cash flow situation and the overall financial standing of the country's battered electricity sector by exchanging an existing obligation that pays an interest rate of 12% and is guaranteed by and serviced with the accounts receivables of domestic distribution companies Edesur and Edenorte for unsecured sovereign paper expected to pay an interest rate of around 8%. If successful, the transaction would generate significant debt service savings for the country over the next several years.
Before leaving on his five-day trip, President Fernandez signed a series of decrees that created, among other things, the Patronage for the House of Gregorio Luperon, the delegation that will attend the World Trade Organization VI Conference, and a few new prosecutors and magistrates in several of the provinces. Amilcar Romero will head the delegation that will attend the World Trade Organization conference.
The violent incidents that took place in Haiti on Monday, supposedly as a reaction to the state visit by Dominican President Leonel Fernandez, will not cause a breach in diplomatic relations, according to sources at the Ministry of Foreign Relations. Although the near-riot caused Fernandez's visit to Port-au-Prince to be cut short, the Dominican Foreign Ministry said that although the government expects an official apology, relations with the neighboring country will continue as usual. As reported in El Caribe, it was stressed that the President's life was never in danger.
The Hoy newspaper reports that all the Dominican political parties as well as many prominent citizens have expressed their solidarity with President Fernandez for his attempt to improve conditions for the Haitian people. The Dominican Senate passed a resolution last night that called the incidents "offensive and unjust". Presidential spokesman Roberto Rodriguez Marchena said that the attacks were the work of "violent groups" that operate in Haiti. And the widely read column "Que se dice", reports that former police commissioner Guy Phillipe was the organizer of the attacks. At least, that is what was reported in a Haitian radio interview. Phillipe was one of the leaders of the guerilla war that overthrew the government of Jean Bertrand Aristide. During the interview, Phillipe reportedly described how he planned and carried out the riots that cut short the presidential visit. Allegedly, the motive behind it all was the treatment of Haitians in the Dominican Republic.
A DR1 reader reporting from Haiti, wrote to observe that one of the rioters speaking on Haitian TV spoke clearly that the protest was due to the fact that the coup against Aristide was organized in the DR. He speculates that Aristide supporters were behind the violence, and that these were not related to any human rights type complaints.
The "Que se dice" columnist of Hoy asks the rhetorical question of whether the Haitian authorities will do anything about it. And the answer is that with as weak a government as exists in Haiti, there is little chance that anything will come of this. Unfortunately for local bureaucrats, the writer also takes on the attitudes and the lack of preparation regarding Presidential security during the visit. According to the report, there was no Presidential escape route planned, and the newspaper reports of the incidents following the trail of the presidential convoy from the Dominican embassy in Petionville to the Presidential Palace in Port-au-Prince are "eloquent" in showing the very real danger that the Dominican President and his escorts were facing at the time. The editorial calls this proof that the Haitian authorities were in no condition to guarantee the President's safety, but, what is worse, neither were the United Nation troops that were on station. The writer ends by pointing out that it would be a big mistake to downplay the seriousness of the incident, as is apparently happening, because this could well have been a worst case scenario.
During an operation carried out in Santiago's Padre de las Casas neighborhood, the authorities seized 14 kilograms of cocaine, RD$700,000, several portions of marijuana and blank credit cards. Two people, Joaquin Adames and Carolina Jerez were arrested. Local District Attorney Raul Martinez and DNI Colonel Crisostomo Lopez told reporters that the drugs had been found during a routine search for illegal firearms. A pistol was also seized. Lawyers for the accused said that the couple had been beaten during the arrest. The assistant district attorney, Jenny Berenice Reynoso, explained that the authorities would continue their investigations to see if there were more people involved in the drug operation. As reported in El Caribe, the local DNI spokesperson said that "there seems to have been a lot of movement with fake credit cards that were used to cheat people." The narcotics were handed over to the DNCD authorities and it is expected that those arrested will be sent to the Justice Department within the next few hours. District attorney Martinez congratulated Colonel Lopez on the fine intelligence work that led to the discovery of the 14 kilos of cocaine, the largest amount ever seized in Santiago.
Workers digging around the Olympic Center for the Metro have uncovered what appears to be a tomb some seven meters long, one and a half meters wide and several meters deep. Moreover, one of the workers, who did not want to be identified, said that the bottom of the possible gravesite sounded "hollow" and "as if it was made of wood." The foreman said that rifle shells, and bones were found, but it has not been determined if the bones are human or not. Hidden between two rock pillars, the pit was covered with a roof of cement beams and wood, which has rotted away over the years. As of now, according to El Caribe, the real purpose of the pit is not clear, but it seems that everyone has an opinion. One man, recalling that the Olympic Center is located on the grounds of what was Santo Domingo's main airport during the first 27 years of the Trujillo regime, suggested that the pit was a torture chamber, and another man suggested that it was a military bunker.
The Dominican Republic continued to reap the benefits of a solid agricultural base as statistics released by the Ministry of Agriculture show that 80,000 pigs and 17.8 million chickens are ready for the holiday festivities. The different departments of the Agriculture Ministry, together with the Cibao Pork Producers Association and private producer Manuel Excano all reassured Listin Diario reporters that there would be no shortage of meat over the holidays. Poultry demand has risen by 17% over the last year, and the authorities agreed to increase production by 3.5 million units, an increase of nearly 25%. Pork on the hoof is selling at RD$48 to RD$50 per pound at the farm level, and Jose Alba, the president of the Cibao Producers Association warned shoppers to beware of speculators. He even suggested that the Price Stabilization Institute (INESPRE) should step in and dictate a fair price for pork over the holidays.
In Santiago de los Caballeros the Police are warning shoppers and merchants alike to look out for counterfeit RD$2,000 and RD$1,000 peso bills. Listin Diario carries photos of the fake money as well as the real currency. The police have arrested Lorenzo Rosario Rodriguez for trying to exchange false United States currency at an exchange bank and then at the Villa hardware store. The fake Dominican currency lacks the date of issue, the numbers are larger and the different symbols are poorly placed. One of the tricks used in Santiago was to purchase several pre-paid phone cards and pay with the counterfeit money. This happened to one of the women who sell phone cards at the traffic lights along Estrella Sadhala Avenue. Part of the problem is that on the one hand false currency is becoming so common that many merchants are refusing to accept large denomination notes and on the other hand there exists no small amount of confusion because there are actually two different, but legal, versions of the RD$2,000 peso note. This has led to more refusals. The police warn that during the holiday season there is a normal and expected upturn in thievery and other crimes involving property.
From January to November of this year there have been 2,084 violent deaths in the Dominican Republic, an average of six people each day. Slightly over 20% of the deaths were attributed to "an exchange of gunfire" between alleged criminal elements and the police. During November the National Police and the Pathology Institute reported a total of 159 violent deaths, 23 of which were related to "exchanges of gunfire", and the remaining 136 were defined as homicides.
The Aguilas Cibaenas continued to dominate their arch-rivals, the Tigres del Licey by a score of 4 - 1 at the Quisqueya Baseball Stadium. This was the seventh victory for the Santiago team in eight meetings. The victory brings the Aguilas into a tie for first place in the standings. Jared Fernandez (4 - 3) continued his domination of the Tigres, as he pitched seven and a third innings, giving up just three singles and one run. Franquelis Osoria and Jose Vargas pitched the last two innings for the victory. Vargas got his fourth save of the season. Victor Diaz was the big gun for the Aguilas, producing three runs for the winning team.
In other action the Estrellas Orientales kept their play-off hopes alive as they defeated the Leones de Escogido in a tight game 5 - 4 in San Pedro de Macoris. The Estrellas showed signs of an awakening of their very sleepy bats as they came from behind to score the winning run in the eighth inning.
In the other Macoris, San Francisco, the cellar dwelling Gigantes defeated the Azucareros from La Romana in a tight pitching duel 2 - 1. The victory was just the 15th for the Gigantes this season, against 26 defeats for the former play-off team. The Azucareros went ahead in the very first inning getting a double from Esteban Guerrero and a single from Ben Johnson for a 1 - 0 lead. The Gigantes kept the Azucareros at bay for the rest of the game and in the eighth inning they got a base on balls, an error by the Azucarero third baseman, and a sacrifice fly to score two runs and take the victory.
STANDINGS
| Team | Games | Won - Lost | Games behind |
| Aguilas | 41 | 24 - 17 | 0.0 |
| Licey | 41 | 24 - 17 | -0- |
| Escogido | 41 | 21 - 20 | 3.0 |
| Azucareros | 41 | 21 - 20 | 3.0 |
| Estrellas | 41 | 18 - 23 | 6.0 |
| Gigantes | 41 | 15 - 26 | 9.0 |
Tonight's Games
Gigantes - Licey -> Estadio Quisqueya 8:05 PM
Estrellas - Aguilas -> Estadio Cibao 8:05 PM Jose Lima will pitch for the Aguilas
Escogido - Azucareros -> Estadio Francisco Michelli 7:35 PM
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