Finance Minister Vicente Bengoa was in Washington, DC this week to sign a US$25 million program aimed at improving employability and providing skills for earning opportunities for at-risk youth from the country's poorest households. Pamela Cox, vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean, signed on behalf of the World Bank. The Youth Development Program provides training courses and internships designed to promote entrepreneurship and self-employment, particularly in rural areas of the country where there are few salaried job opportunities. The program also includes a capacity building component aimed at helping the Ministry of Labor and the National Institute for Professional Technical Training (INFOTEP) to support this segment of the population, and strengthens the Ministry of Education's Second Chance Basic Education for Adults and Secondary Education for Adults for school dropouts educational programs.
The Dominican Republic became on 7 July the 68th member of the World Trade Organization's Information Technology Agreement (ITA). Participation in the ITA is good news for consumers because it means that the country must eliminate tariffs and all other duties and charges on covered IT imports from all WTO members.
The other ITA participants in the Americas are: Canada, the United States, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Panama.
This WTO agreement seeks to help push the information technology revolution forward.
From the 29 participants that negotiated the ITA during WTO's First Ministerial Conference in Singapore in December 1996, membership has now risen to 68 that account for more than 97% of world trade in IT products.
For more information on the ITA, see http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/...
The Tax Department will renew license plate stickers for vehicles beginning 15 July and for motorcycles in September. The cost of license plate renewal for motorcycles is RD$400, up from RD$20 in 2002 when they were issued, as reported in the Listin Diario. The cost of stickers for motor vehicles remains at RD$2,200 for car models 2001 and later and RD$1,200 for car models older than 2001. In 2004 there were 2,122,739 motor vehicles in the Dominican Republic.
According to a public opinion survey of the first semester job performance of heads of state in Central America and the Dominican Republic recently released by the Costa Rica-based CID-Gallup organization, President Leonel Fernandez scored highest of seven presidents. He received a 55% good or very good rating by those polled. Worst rated was Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolanos, who according to more than half of Nicaraguans consulted did a bad job. El Salvador's Antonio Saca came in second place with 48% support, followed by Honduran Manuel Zelaya (39%) and Panama's Martin Torrijos (34%). Tied in penultimate position were Guatemala's Oscar Berger and Costa Rica's Abel Pichardo, who got 23%. The latter is no longer President.
For the poll, some 200,000 persons were polled in Central America and the Dominican Republic by by CID/Gallup. CID/Gallup has offices and personnel in all seven of the countries and maintains close relations with the media that sponsor its surveys.
For the poll summary, see http://www.cidgallup.com/archivos/bolca06_1.pdf
According to Supreme Court of Justice vice president, Judge Luciano Pichardo, the Criminal Procedure Code was imposed by international interests and many aspects require revisions. He stated that he was making this criticism from his perspective as a citizen. He mentioned that similar codes have not worked either in Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador and Argentina. He pointed out that Uruguay has suspended it and returned to their old code, and that Chile is considering taking the same course of action. He said that the powerful extra-territorial interests were behind its passing in Congress, despite several sectors which warned of the problems it would create with the many loopholes it includes, which they say would benefit criminals.
"Why is the same code being imposed and ruling in the majority of the Latin American countries at the same time? Is there something promoting that?" asked Pichardo, suggesting there was an unexplained international political interest in the criminal procedures code.
Outgoing USAID director Elena Brineman recently cited the Penal Procedure Code as one of the achievements of her work in the Dominican Republic during a presentation at the American Chamber of Commerce event.
Judge Pichardo said that that code should have been adapted instead of the DR applying it, as it was imposed. According to some experts, it is more progressive than the civil rights code in the United States, and too advanced for a country with significant deficiencies in its police force and prosecutors. As a result, criminals are apprehended and then promptly released. Pichardo's statements are carried in an interview with District Attorney Jose Manuel Hernandez Peguero, and published in the District Attorney's magazine, Fiscalia en Accion.
There is an ongoing debate on how to preserve the advances in civil rights, but at the same time provide the country with an instrument to fight crime.
The Dominican Petroleum Refinery and Coastal's San Pedro de Macoris terminal received 4.8 million gallons of LPG yesterday, which will contribute to ending the shortage that was being felt across the nation. Industry and Trade authorities said the shortage, which started on Wednesday, was due to the three-day delay in the arrival of a ship carrying 130,000 barrels. Reportedly, the ship was delayed as a result of bad weather. The refinery is expected to regularize its supplies to distributors. Another ship was expected at the refinery this morning. According to estimates, the country consumes approximately 750,000 gallons of LPG per day. It is used mainly for cooking and transportation.
The National Forensic Pathology Institute has reported that Milton Pelaez's death was not accidental in accordance with the scenario in which it took place. The autopsy concluded that the comedian died as a result of hemorrhagic shock caused by a bullet shot at intermediate distance, which entered the right side of his thorax without exit. District Attorney Jose Manuel Hernandez Peguero stated that investigations into the case continue. They are trying to determine whether the wife and stepson of Plutarco Gonzalez, the man who admitted to have shot Pelaez, have anything to do with the case. Judge Elka Reyes sentenced Gonzalez to three months in La Victoria jail while the case is heard. Meanwhile, Gonzalez's defense attorney Miguel Alberto Surun Hernandez has resigned amidst allegations that "private commitments" prevent him from taking on the case.
An investigation is under way at Banco del Progreso concerning irregular practices by Graciela Gomez, a former manager at the bank, and wife of Plutarco Gonzalez, the man who shot humorist Milton Pelaez earlier this week. The Director of Forensic Pathology, Santo Jimenez, stated that the characteristics of the shot tend to indicate that it was not accidental, as originally explained by accused Plutarco Gonzalez.
As reported in Listin Diario, the Pelaez family lawyer, Carlos Balcacer said in an appearance at the Gobierno de la Tarde radio program that Pelaez had handed US$60,000 (over RD$1.8 million) to the banker for conversion into certificates of deposit. On the morning of his death, Milton went to cash in those CDs and discovered that there were only two in his name, one for RD$300,000 and another for RD$400,000 and upon finding that Graciela Gomez no longer worked at the bank headed for the Gonzalez house to discuss this matter. The lawyer says that Pelaez was not aware of any irregular handling of the funds because he had received a bank administration check for RD$89,000 in payment for the CD's yield the previous month. Lawyer Balcacer explained that Plutarco Gonzalez had purchased the administration check at a Banco de Progreso branch. "We are going to prove in court that the money that Plutarco used to pay the loan to Milton Pelaez was paid with Milton's own CDs, which were handled by his wife, Graciela Gomez.
Michael Kelly, chief executive at the Banco de Progreso announced that the bank would cooperate fully to resolve the case. The bank had previously asked Gomez to resign when an audit discovered irregularities in her work and practices contrary to the institution's rules and procedures.
The Criminal Chamber of the San Cristobal Court of Appeals has sent former Attorney General Victor Cespedes Martinez and former Assistant Prosecutor Francisco Cadena Moquete, to criminal court accused of prevarication and misappropriation. El Caribe reports that the same sentence by Judges Altagracia Bautista, Feliz Matos Acevedo, Cesar Adames, Cesar Penalo and Miguel Herrera Machado, revoked the no possible cause ruling by the Third Criminal District Chamber which acquitted the accused. Cespedes Martinez was indicted by the Department for the Prevention of Corruption (DEPRECO) after verification that he ordered the payment of five million pesos to Assistant Prosecutor Cadena Moquete and attorney Maritza Cruz who were representing the state during an appeal that sought the release of Listin Diario, which was impounded by the government after the BanInter collapse.
The president of the Board of Directors of the Banco Popular of Puerto Rico, Richard Carrion, said that the Dominican Republic's current financial situation is much better than that two years ago, as reported by El Caribe. He believes that the approval of DR-CAFTA will open up many opportunities and assured that there are always changes and opportunities, which will adversely affect some sectors while benefitting others. In general however, he sees a positive atmosphere for the beginning of the treaty. Carrion says that the Dominican banking system is stronger and discounted the possibility of another situation like the one three years ago when the country's commercial banking sector was affected by the Baninter collapse.
Grupo Dibacorp will be celebrating the 2nd Dominican Business, Tourism and Real Estate Fair in Florida this coming 20-23 July 2006. The event is scheduled for the Sheraton Mart & Convention Center of 711 NW72nd Avenue, Miami Florida. The president of the National Hotel & Restaurant Association, Enrique de Marchena Kaluche, and the director of the Center for Export and Investment (CEI-RD), Eddy Martinez will be speakers at the event.
See http://www.floridadominicanbusiness.com
Paying for a private university education is becoming prohibitive for middle and lower class students due to the rising costs of tuition and other charges. Costs range from RD$12,000 to RD$35,000 per quarter or semester depending on the university, the course selected and the number of credits. A report by Listin Diario states this explains why Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo (UASD) has more than half of the college student population in the country, because the credits there cost just RD$6 for Dominican students. At other universities, credits cost from RD$305 to RD$860 and in addition to this, students must pay between RD$2,000 and RD$7,000 for registration. For students coming from many private schools, though, university is a financial break for the parents, as many grade school centers are much more expensive. Now it appears the universities want to catch up with their costs in order to offer better quality of education.
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