President Leonel Fernandez led a public function yesterday to mark the reopening of several buildings at the Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo (UASD). According to Diario Libre, he spoke about the importance of the center for the discussion and production of knowledge and the social transcendence of state Universities for their role in helping students who cannot pay for their education at expensive centers. The refurbished buildings are the main auditorium (Aula Magna), the chancellery and vice chancellery buildings.
El Caribe writes that the government has invested more than RD$500 million in the buildings that were reopened yesterday. This increased the total government investment in the UASD to more than RD$1.25 billion. Still under construction are a new cafeteria, an administrative office building, a building for the School of Cinema, Art and Communications, and an underground parking lot.
The National Development Council is scheduled to meet today to debate the 2006 Budget and Public Expense bill. The meeting will be chaired by President Leonel Fernandez at 6:30pm, according to Presidential Technical Secretary Temistocles Montas, who reported that an increase in social spending is to be expected, particularly in the areas of health and education.
The country's main hospitals are ready to handle emergencies during the holiday season according to Public Health Minister Bautista Rojas Gomez, who announced an investment worth RD$40 million in medical supplies and equipment for the emergency units. Diario Libre reports that the hospitals that received the provisions are Dario Contreras, Francisco Moscoso Puello, Luis Eduardo Aybar, and San Lorenzo de Los Mina, in Santo Domingo. Hospitals which benefited in other cities are Jose Maria Cabral y Baez in Santiago, Antonio Musa in San Pedro de Macoris, Jaime Mota in Barahona, and San Vicente de Paul in San Francisco de Macoris.
Police Chief Major General Bernardo Santana Paez has warned that vendors found to be selling fireworks illegally will be shut down as from today. Listin Diario reports that Interior and Police Minister Franklin Almeyda Rancier has said that this sort of product must be regulated as many vendors sell to minors. According to Santana, every year children are injured or disfigured by burns when playing with fireworks.
According to El Caribe, if vendors are found to be selling fireworks to minors, their licenses will be revoked and their stands shut down. The Minor's Code refers to the sale of fireworks to minors, and established fines and prison terms to offenders.
Yesterday, the Chamber of Deputies passed an urgent bill to raise US$300 million based on the reopening of bonds issued in 2005 and which will mature in 2018, or through the emission of a new loan acceptable by the international capitals market. According to Diario Libre, the bonds are meant to finalize payment of US$699.8 million that the state owes to the Dominican Electricity Distribution Company (DIDOEL), a subsidiary of Union FENOSA.
According to Listin Diario, PLD Senator Pelegrin Castillo doesn't agree with the bill, and says the state should never have reached an agreement with Union FENOSA. Castillo has stated that the operation was "scandalous, obscure, and censurable" in many aspects and it should be clarified with Union FENOSA. The new emission of bonds was approved with a 110 to 5 vote in favor and now goes to the Senate for passing and later to be signed into law by the Executive Branch.
El Caribe reports that the new bonds will be placed in similar or better conditions than those that mature in 2018. The bill had been presented to Congress on 13 September 2005 by the Executive Branch.
According to Clave Digital, the estimated rate for the new bonds will be near 8%. The contract between the state and Union FENOSA transferred the entire stock portfolio of the EdeNorte and EdeSur electrical distribution companies to the state.
The Dominican promoters of the Novo Mundo XXI artificial island to be built off the shore of Santo Domingo have withdrawn from the project, offering no explanation for the reasons behind their decision. In a brief notice published in several of this morning's papers, Pedro J. Borrel, Gustavo Luis More, Eulogio J. Santaella and Danilo Arzeno say that they remain convinced of the project's social and economic benefits. The notice also informs the public that Santaella has resigned from his post as President of Santo Domingo Re-Development, Ltd., the company that signed the contract with the government for the development of the mega-project. There has been some speculation that the withdrawal of the Dominican professionals has to do with complaints regarding the questionable track record of one of the associates. The project had received the support of President Leonel Fernandez and the contract was pending congressional approval.
Concessionaires of vehicle manufacturers announced that as from next year new automobiles will be taxed with an additional 17% as determined in the recently passed and signed tax reform law. Meanwhile, Customs Director Miguel Cocco believes that if prices are increased, sales will not remain at the same level because demand for new automobiles is "elastic". The information was offered after a Christmas luncheon attended by the concessionaires, Cocco and journalists at Restaurant Positano.
The president of the Social Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRSD), Hatuey De Camps has said that he is open to negotiating with President Leonel Fernandez with a view to achieving a concentration of democratic forces for the improvement of the quality of life in the country. Listin Diario reports that De Camps has criticized the conditions in which the PRSC formed an alliance with the PRD, which he broke away from earlier this year.
According to El Caribe, President Fernandez's statements about the creation of a national progressive block received diverse reactions among PRD and PRSC leaders and lawmakers. Former President Hipolito Mejia gave little importance to the President's call and defined it as a "reactionary front". He believes that PRSD support for the PLD would be insignificant. PRD Secretary General Orlando Jorge Mera said the President's statements show he is desperate. In Congress, Deputy Marino Collante recalled that Fernandez was the first to have negotiated with the PRSC. Deputy Reyes Ozuna also described the President's statements as a desperate reaction to the PRD - PRSC alliance.
Over 200 aircraft per year enter the DR loaded with drugs en route to the United States according to intelligence reports that base their calculations on the number of shipments detected in 2004. According to military sources consulted by Listin Diario, the critical illegal use of Dominican air space is the responsibility of the US surveillance organizations, which are not informing the Dominican Armed Forces about the detection of aircraft that use the DR as a bridge or transit to carry their shipments to US territory. Armed Forces Minister Sigfrido Pared Perez has said that there was an urgent and irreversible need to have our own methods of aircraft and boat detection.
Reverend Sun Myung Moon has visited the DR and addressed a conference at the Hotel Dominican Fiesta yesterday. Moon is well known for the mass wedding ceremonies he has celebrated around the world. According to Diario Libre, his conference on Monday was attended by politicians, religious leaders and diplomats who prayed for world peace. The controversial and very wealthy Korean visited Santo Domingo as part of a 100-day tour that is taking him to 100 cities and 67 nations. On the tour, Moon is promoting the "World Peace King Bridge-Tunnel," a bridge over the Bering Strait or a tunnel under it, "so that it will be able to connect the world super highway starting from the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa to Santiago in Chile, and from London to New York, making the world a single community." He sees his trip as part of his struggle for peace that he says will end with his death.
More than 2.5 million schoolchildren officially start their Christmas vacation today, as reported by Listin Diario. Christmas vacation in Dominican schools ends after Three Kings' Day (Feast of the Epiphany) on January 6th. According to tradition, the Epiphany marks the day when the three wise men from the Orient arrived in Bethlehem bringing gifts of frankincense, myrrh, and gold to the newborn baby Jesus. January 6th is the day when most Dominican children receive their Christmas gifts. But this year, the Three Kings Day holiday will become a long weekend, as the government has decided to call Monday, 9 January a holiday. Schools will reopen on Tuesday, 10 January.
Manny Acta, who is managing the Dominican "dream team" to the World Baseball Classic announced that a mini-camp will take place at the end of January once the roster of the Dominican team is announced. Rules establish that a maximum 60-man roster for each nation must be submitted by 17 January, and at that point, all players will begin to be drug tested under the auspices of Olympic-type penalties - two years of banishment from international play for a first offense. The actual 30-man roster must be finalized 24 hours prior to the start of the tournament.
Acta, who is third base coach for the New York Mets, said that the mini-camp could be held at the Quisqueya ball park in Santo Domingo or in Boca Chica. "We chose that date because many of the players will be almost ready to travel back to the US for spring training. Our goal is to get the players together, even those that live abroad," Acta told El Caribe in an interview. The idea is to get all of the players together for five days in the same place. Stanley Javier, who is in charge of the Dominican team, had announced earlier that while the Dominican team would be one of some of the brightest stars in US Major League Baseball, the challenge was to get them to play together.
The landmark tournament brings together teams from Australia, Canada, China, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, South Africa, Chinese Taipei, the United States and Venezuela.
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