President Leonel Fernandez arrived in Orlando, Florida, at 4:30pm DR time yesterday, where he will take part as main speaker, together with Florida Governor Jeb Bush, at a breakfast-conference. Diario Libre reports that the President will speak about "Opportunities for investment in the field of technology in the Dominican Republic". Governor Bush will speak about "The state of technology in Florida". Fernandez arrived from Cancun, Mexico, where he was attending the Meso-American Energy Initiative Summit. During that event, the President was able to secure advantageous conditions for the DR in the energy field, and the petroleum bill. Accompanying the President are Foreign Relations Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso, Finance Minister Vicente Bengoa, Dominican Ambassador to Washington Flavio Dario Espinal, Center for Exports and Investments Executive Director Eddy Martinez, OPTIC Director Domingo Tavarez, and Presidential Press Director Rafael Nunez.
The Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) has ruled that the children of illegal residents in the DR are not eligible for Dominican nationality. The court made this ruling in the case of an unconstitutionality recourse presented by groups that seek that Dominican nationality be granted to Haitians born in the Dominican Republic, as reported by Diario Libre. The SCJ quotes the Migration Law that determines that foreigners admitted as non-residents are considered to be in transit for the application of Article 11 of the Constitution. It also bases its decision on The Hague Convention that establishes that each state is entitled to determine who is a national.
According to Listin Diario, children born in the DR to illegal residents or people who are in transit must be declared in the consulates of their countries of origin. The unconstitutionality recourse was presented to the SCJ by the Jesuit Refugee Service, specifically against 12 articles of the Migration Law.
Clave Digital reports that Article 11 of the Dominican Constitution states that "Dominicans are all persons born in the territory of the Republic, with the exception of legitimate children of foreigners residing in the country in diplomatic representation or those who are in transit". The High Court also considered that Article 37 of the Constitution gives National Congress the right to determine all issues related to migration.
According to El Caribe, the recourse was also presented by the Dominican-Haitian Cultural Center and other human rights organizations. In its sentence, the SCJ noted that the Haitian Constitution categorically expresses that "every individual born in Haiti or in a foreign country, to a Haitian man or woman, is Haitian".
Central Bank governor Hector Valdez Albizu has announced that the government would use its commercial bank, BanReservas to force a reduction in interest rates on credit cards. Credit card use is widespread in the Dominican Republic, but banks have benefited from some of the highest rates in the Americas. He said the plan is for BanReservas to offer interest rates no higher than 2.5% interest per month on unpaid balances. He said this would be done because the Central Bank cannot oblige banks to reduce their rates. Monthly interest charges of 7-8% are common in the Dominican Republic. He said that if the government bank announced these much lower rates, they would attract clients from other banks, forcing the other's to offer equally attractive rates.
"We believe that we can lead one or two entities to compete, independently of the Central Bank carrying out a study to see how the price of credit in the DR can be lowered", said the governor.
He announced that the Central Bank expects to end the year with a GDP growth of 7%, beyond the 6.5% projected by the International Monetary Fund in its most recent letter of intent. He also forecast that year-end inflation will stand at 8%, and in the worst case 8.4%, to reflect the rising price of petroleum. He said that accumulated inflation to November was 6.41%, and annualized inflation is 4.83%.
Regarding the Central Bank's liquid reserves, Valdez Albizu pointed out that the commitment with the IMF was to increase reserves by US$200m to end the year in US$350m and 2006 at US$300m. Nevertheless, he said that reserves are now at US$840 million, and should reach US$850 million by the end of the year.
He pointed out that as of 12 December there were gross reserves of US$1.803 million, and these should increase to US$1.812 million, by the end of the year, which is 3.3 times the import level.
Meanwhile, the governmental Banco Nacional de Fomento de la Vivienda y la Produccion (BNV) announced it was dropping the interest rate on housing project loans to 13%.
Regarding the US dollar, he forecast that there would be sufficient receipts in dollar to push for the strengthening of the peso.
Tourism Minister Felix Jimenez is standing by the Tourism Strategic Plan he released at the end of his first term from 1996-2000. The study was carried out in 1999-2000 with the support of the Andalucian regional government, but was discarded by his successor, Rafael Subervi (2000-2004). A year and a half since his return to government, Jimenez feels the study is still current because it was a 10-year plan. He rejected the agreement reached at the Competitiveness Forum held in Punta Cana, which calls for a competitiveness plan that would encompass the new trends and new technologies. He distanced himself from the Declaration of Punta Cana agreed upon during the event.
"I informed the President, the hoteliers and the international speakers who took part in the event about this study," he stressed. He insisted that the plan that was developed in his first administration and released prior to his leaving the post encompassed 10-year development, and was part of a consensus between the public and private sectors. "The Ministry of Tourism understands that this strategic tourism development plan should be revised and updated," he said. He added that the Ministry is currently engaged in an internal three-day seminar to determine which aspects they need to work on to bring the strategic plan up to date, as it was prepared for the 2000-2010 period. He said that the Ministry of Tourism under his direction again has been following the recommendations that are part of the 1999 research.
As reported in Hoy newspaper, he rejected the role of the National Competitiveness Council and insisted that the law specifies that only the Ministry of Tourism has the responsibility and authority to implement a tourism development plan and establish tourism development policy in the country.
"While I am Minister of Tourism, they have to respect this Ministry and if there are people in the private sector who understand that the present government and this ministry do not deserve respect, then I wish them a good trip," he stated in the press conference. Jimenez was openly critical to the president of the National Association of Hotels & Restaurants, Enrique de Marchena, for his role in supporting the drawing up of a competitiveness plan.
Clave Digital interviewed Enrique de Marchena, who responded: "Asonahores backs the Declaration of Punta Cana since it is the result of an international event held in the presence of President Leonel Fernandez and the minister of tourism, and its only purpose was to establish the base for development and competitiveness of our industry into the next ten years. National and international guest speakers of the highest level were also present at the event that was backed by the National Competitiveness Council that is presided by President Fernandez, himself," said De Marchena.
During the Forum, international speakers presented the new, constantly changing trends in tourism that focus on sustainable development of the industry and the need for the Dominican Republic to align itself with these and take advantage of the new technologies. During the event, President Leonel Fernandez, in the presence of Tourism Minister Felix Jimenez, endorsed the work being carried out by the National Competitiveness Council and approved the implementation of a National Competitiveness Plan for Tourism that would serve as a framework for these objectives. See the Declaration of Punta Cana that summarized several of the points addressed during the forum. http://dr1.com/news/2005/111205_puntacanadeclaration.shtml
World tourism experts speaking in the presence of the President and the Tourism Minister were Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, secretary general of the Caribbean Tourism Organization; Peter Yesawich, chairman of Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown & Russell (YPB&R), America's leading travel marketing and advertising agency; Matt McNulty, former minister of tourism of Ireland, and Rene Villareal, a world competitiveness expert from Mexico. During the morning session that was not attended by the minister of tourism, speakers were Augusto Huescar, head of market intelligence and promotion at the United Nations World Tourism Organization; German Porras, former Spanish tourism minister; and Ruben Dario Rodriguez, advisor to the Mexican Ministry of Infrastructure, Communication and Transport. The president of the Caribbean Hotel Association, Berthia Parle, and Alec Sanguinetti, director general of CHA also attended and spoke during the event.
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) representative Moises Pineda has informed that the organization will be investing over US$610 million to strengthen governance, competitiveness, and the creation of infrastructure for the prevention of natural disasters in the DR. Listin Diario reports that the first disbursement of US$150 million will be made during the first months of 2006. Pineda visited the Senate yesterday to inspect the final phase of the refurbishment of the Congress building.
The Haitian authorities have presented a formal apology to the Dominican government for the protests which took place during President Leonel Fernandez's visit to Port-au-Prince last Monday. Diario Libre reports that the Dominican government accepted the apology immediately, declaring that the Haitian government was not responsible for the incidents. Fernandez's visit to Haiti had to be cut short due to violent protests that took place in front of the Presidential Palace in Port-au-Prince while the President was meeting with Haitian President Boniface Alexandre. Foreign Relations Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso attributed the aggression to groups operating in Haiti that do not represent the feelings of the Haitian people. The Minister said that incidents such as Monday's would not harm the excellent relations between the two countries.
District Attorney Jose Manuel Hernandez Peguero said that as of 5 December some 3,000 signatures had been collected in a petition against the recently passed law that authorizes the installation of slot machines in sporting betting shops. He hopes that President Leonel Fernandez will present a recourse of violation of the Constitution of the law to the Supreme Court of Justice.
The law also extends the working hours of casinos and grants them privileged tax exemptions. The law is due to be signed into law by President Fernandez. There is widespread opposition to the law from several quarters, on the grounds that it poses a threat to young Dominicans, by making gambling more easily available to the public.
Hernandez Peguero insists that the law violates Art. 8 of the Constitution that establishes that one of the roles of the state is to adopt rules that fight social vices with adequate measures and with the assistance of conventions and international organizations.
"The passing of this law is shameful at a time when the country needs all its institutions and political leaders to seek immediate solutions to serious problems of education, citizen safety, the fragility of the family, and respect for the rights of women," he said.
Attorney Tomas Castro has asked the Department for the Prevention of Corruption (DEPRECO) to open an investigation concerning a RD$9 billion fraud detected at Banco del Progreso, which is allegedly the main reason behind the removal of the bank's president Pedro Castillo. According to Listin Diario, DEPRECO Director Octavio Lister says that the fraud was detected by the Superintendence of Banks and consists of parallel accounting, or hidden bank, whereby the banking group had issued commercial papers worth RD$9 billion. Castro said he could not understand why the authorities had not investigated the case if it was discovered several months ago and there are special prosecutors for banking cases. He explained that the Banco del Progreso case is similar to the other collapsed banks, and includes loans to associates that are defined as asset laundering in Law 72-02. Lister said he would study the case and will open an investigation, which would include all those implied in the case. Castro has presented a list of witnesses he thinks should take the stand, including Superintendent of Banks Rafael Camilo, Central Bank Governor Hector Valdez Albizu, former Banco del Progreso President Pedro Castillo, and the members of the Bank's Board of Directors. He also mentions Francisco Alvarez, attorney to Banco del Progreso and the Central Bank and Juan Jose Arteaga, a member of the bank. The case involves violations of the Monetary and Financial Law, Asset Laundering, falsehood in public and private documents and criminal association, among other accusations.
One of the promoters of the artificial island to be built off the shore of Santo Domingo was convicted earlier this year by the First Criminal Chamber of the National District for presenting checks with insufficient funds to the tune of RD$300,000. Listin Diario reports that Augusto Rafael Menendez was also sentenced by the Civil and Commercial Chamber of Santo Domingo Province, which ordered the sale of a plot of land claimed by the Duarte Savings and Loans Association. Judge Francisco Ortega Polanco made the ruling against Augusto Menendez in January 2005, sentencing him to one month imprisonment and payment of a RD$300,000 fine after finding him guilty of breaking law 2859 which regulates checks. He was also sentenced to pay RD$1 million in damages to the plaintiff.
The alliance being negotiated between PRSC and PRD will include unified efforts to define important issues still pending in Congress, among those the selection of the Ombudsman. The parties also contemplate the approval of the law which regulates government purchases and contracting, and other legislation pertaining to migratory policy, the environment and natural resources. After the 2006 election, both parties plan to promote an extensive constitutional reform that will include a change in the method of electing members of the Central Electoral Board and the Accounts Chamber.
The shortage of Haitian workers for the coffee harvest in the municipality of Villa Trina, as a result of them fleeing after local neighborhood associations gave them a deadline to leave, has led to the loss of almost 40% of this year's harvest. According to Diario Libre, the Haitians were forced to leave Villa Trina after the murder of a Dominican, which was blamed on a Haitian. The president of the Villa Trina Association of Coffee Farmers, Hugo Gonzalez, explained that they only have 140 of the 300 workers they need to pick the crop, and they are expecting financial a loss of over RD$3 million.
The son of the suspended Dominican Consul in Puerto Rico has been indicted by US federal authorities two and a half months after his arrest on 26 September 2006, when he was caught preparing portions of heroin and cocaine in an apartment complex in Rio Piedras, as reported by Listin Diario. Edison Espinal Genao, the son of Eladio Espinal Villafana, had been released in September but was detained again this Tuesday and presented to Federal Judge Camille Velez Rive of the US District Court in Puerto Rico, according to press reports.
Bones found in a seven-meter pit during the excavations for the Metro station in the Olympic Center in Santo Domingo are those of an animal, according to technicians of the Dominican Anthropological Museum (Museo del Hombre Dominicano). Diario Libre reports that Glenys Tavarez, Director of the Department of Physical Anthropology who was in charge of the investigation reported she was sent by the Museum Director to determine to which period the bones correspond and whether they are related to a particular period in Dominican history. The President of the Dominican Republic Academy of Sciences, Nelson Moreno Ceballos said that they were willing to contribute to identifying the findings characteristics, whether it is archaeological or not. The Academy is willing to put together an inter-disciplinary commission to study the bones, said Moreno. He also warned that they should not be touched before being analyzed.
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