President Leonel Fernandez will attend the XIV Summit Meeting of the Non-Alligned Movement scheduled for the 11 to 16 September in Cuba. Minister Carlos Morales said on Despierta con CDN morning talk show that from Havana, the President will continue on to New York City where he will speak at the General Assembly of the United Nations.
The Non-Aligned Movement was formed in the mid-20th century during the Cold War between the United States and the then Soviet Union. It currently consists of 116 member nations. Two new members will be included in this summit, thus increasing the total number of members to 118.
Morales explained that Fernandez is taking advantage of these events to reach out to a large number of nations that will be present to seek their vote for a Dominican to sit in the United Nations Security Council when the seat becomes available in 2007. This will be the President's 23rd trip abroad during this presidency.
The VI Meeting of First Ladies opens today with the aim of strengthening the family and implementing social policies in the region, particularly in favor of women and children. Attending are the First Ladies of Panama, El Salvador, Honduras, Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.
President Leonel Fernandez has cut the ribbon at the formal inauguration ceremony of the Professor Juan Bosch Traumatology Hospital in La Vega, on the Duarte Highway. Construction of the hospital began during the Mejia administration. As reported in Diario Libre, the hospital was built and equipped with commercial bank financing guaranteed by the US government export agency, US Eximbank at a cost of RD$1.25 billion. The hospital has seven operating rooms, offices for 26 doctors, 18 beds in the intensive care unit, blood bank, laboratories, and facilities for responding to emergencies. The central location was chosen to contribute to a reduction in the number of deaths from emergency cases. The director of the Cibao region for the Ministry of Health, Ramon Alvarado told Diario Libre that there are about 5,000 emergency cases each year, but that 20% of patients would die because they do not receive medical attention in time.
The construction of the Santo Domingo Metro is advancing as planned despite the heavy rains that have affected the city in recent weeks, according to Leonel Carrasco from the Office for the Reorganization of Transport (OPRET), which is executing the project. He admitted that the rain has hindered some of the work, but said that OPRET has used that time to perform other work that needs to be done. Diario Libre reports that less than one year after the work started, the super-structure of the railway in Villa Mella is already being installed. Work has already started on seven of the 10 underground stations which will make up the first subway line, and the remainder are due to be started before the end of the year. In addition, 85% of the tunnel between the 27 de Febrero and the National Theater station is already complete, according to Carrasco.
Several senators, including the president of the Senate, do not agree with the observation of President Leonel Fernandez that the judges of the Central Electoral Board (JCE) be chosen by the National Council of the Magistracy. At present the ruling party is absolute majority in the Senate.
The National Council of the Magistracy (CNM) is presided by the President of the Republic. Other members are the president of the Senate, a senator that belongs to a different party than that of the president of the Senate, the president of the Chamber of Deputies and a deputy that belongs to a different party than the president of the Chamber, the president of the Supreme Court and a judge of the Supreme Court chosen by the members of the Supreme Court. That is, the three government branches are represented in addition to political parties.
The president of the Senate, Reynaldo Pared Perez said that first a constitutional reform would have to be passed to approve the CNM choosing the judges of the JCE.
Senator Adriano Sanchez Roa (PRSC), Charles Mariotti and Euclides Sanchez (PLD) favor that the 32 senators choose the JCE judges, as reported in El Caribe. The president of the PRSC, Federico Antun Batlle said that the Senate is perfectly capable of choosing judges at the level of the former Cesar Estrella Sadhala and Juan Sully Bonelly, as reported in the Listin Diario. The newspaper highlights the urgency in choosing the judges given that the presidential elections are scheduled for May 2008, and not having to wait for constitutional reform.
Nevertheless, Justo Pedro Castellanos, former director of the Department for the Prevention of Corruption, said that the CNM option will be included in the constitutional reform proposal to be presented soon to Congress by a commission appointed by President Leonel Fernandez.
Lawyer Miguel Reyes Sanchez writes in El Caribe today that the main objective in choosing the new judges should be to achieve the minimum linkages of the JCE judges to political parties in order to ensure fairness in their decisions. He also calls for expanding of the criteria to choose a judge. At the present time, the Electoral Law only allows lawyers to be appointed JCE judges.
Roberto Rodriguez Marchena, spokesman for the President, pointed out that President Fernandez understands that the limiting the appointment of judges to those that are lawyers is obsolete. He mentioned the CNM proposal was included on page 33 of the PLD government program.
Jesuit Priest Jose Luis Aleman has joined the debate regarding whether the government should increase taxes or issue a bond in order to reduce the quasi-fiscal deficit of the Central Bank that at present is around RD$161 billion. Aleman, who is dean of economics of the PUCMM university, described the proposal for issuing a bond as a "dangerous" one. As reported in El Caribe, he says that the government could become accustomed to this financing and would find itself obliged to increase taxes to meet the payment schedule. He said that foreign economists have alerted that this could stimulate the fleeing of capitals. He advised against the country taking on more debt in foreign currency.
He also criticized the government fostering a new "fiscal reform." "In the country there has never been a reform to control how the government invests and spends the state revenues," said the economist when participating in a luncheon at the El Caribe. Aleman said that the problem with the reforms is that they are never been carried out to increase the investment made in health, education or other social services, but to make more money available for superfluous government spending, such as on current expenditures, per diems, advertising and payroll.
Tax Department director Juan Hernandez has told Diario Libre that the government is limited in the scope of fiscal reform. Hernandez favors the government cut spending, reduce tax evasion and remove subsidies. He is also in favor of expanding the number of products that are subject to ITBIS (VAT). He advocates reducing the subsidies to the electricity sector and propane gas, which according to World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank studies would mean government savings of RD$20 billion a year.
Yesterday, in an item in El Caribe, business consultant Freddy Perez advocated that the government lower the ITBIS rate to 10% and expand it to cover all services. He argues that this will reduce evasion and feels it will lead to an increase in government tax collections.
A report by the World Bank and the International Financial Corporation ranks the Dominican Republic in 117th position out of 175 nations, based on the quality of the facilities offered for doing business. In a previous report the DR was ranked 114th. "Doing Business 2007" is the name of the report in which the country is below four of the five Central American nations and fellow signatories of DR-CAFTA. The report pinpoints some 213 specific reforms in over 100 economies. It explores when and how it is most effective for governments to streamline their business regulations.
The Dominican Republic was ranked 117th for ease of doing business, 119th for starting a business, 77th for dealing with licenses, 127th for employing workers, 126th for registering property, 33rd for getting credit, 135th for protecting investors, 146th for paying taxes, 55th for trading across borders, 108th for enforcing contracts and 142nd for closing a business. The country only shows improvements in the areas of getting credit and enforcing contracts from 2005 to 2006. For more details on how the Dominican Republic fared in the ranking, see http://www.doingbusiness.org/ExploreEconomies/?economyid=59
Herrera manufacturers are urging the government to launch a more coherent national strategy given that the country is about to implement a free trade agreement with the United States. Speaking for the Herrera Industrialists Association (AEIH), Jesus Moreno advocated that the government should make more resources available for education and technical training. As reported in Listin Diario, Moreno said that in the light of the decline in local manufacturers' ability to compete, 21% of the companies in the industrial area have had to switch to importing due to rising costs for manufacturing here. Moreno mentioned that the business sector has requested more of a say over 35% of the 1% of wages that industries presently contribute to the government's Institute for Professional Training (INFOTEP) for training. He said that almost every company has their own training facilities where these resources could be put to use.
Moreno also called for support for the development of industrial clusters, such as efforts to encourage the candy industry and industries to serve the increasing number of Dominican beauty salons in the United States.
Former AEIH president Antonio Espin commented that manufacturers have to pay for social security twice over, as well as for an expensive and deficient power supply, among other sub-standard services, that make manufacturing here expensive.
Jose Moreno disputes comments made by Simon Guerrero about the importation of dolphins in a response published in today's Diario Libre (see dr1 daily news Monday, 4 September 2006). Guerrero had criticized the inadequate conditions in which the dolphins are kept at Manati Park. Moreno says that it is not Manati Park that is requesting the imports, but their sister park, Dolphin Island. He explains that Dolphin Island is an open sea dolphin park. The park is located in the Bavaro area. Moreno says that there is no regulation that says that an autopsy needed to be carried out on dolphins that died at Manati Park. Moreno takes the stand on behalf of millions of tourists that visit the more than 200 dolphin parks around the world. He argues that if they are not authorized to import dolphins, they will have to close their operation.
President Leonel Fernandez has awarded British Members of the House of Lords George Foulkes and Tristan Garel Jones the Order of Merit of Duarte, Sanchez and Mella in the degree of Great Silver Cross. The ceremony took place at a private function in the Ambassadors Hall of the Presidential Palace. Both Lords have kept in close contact with Latin American issues throughout their respective parliamentary careers, according to a report by Diario Libre.
The District Attorney's Department has received an indictment against the wife of Plutarco Ernesto Gonzalez, who is accused of the murder of humorist and businessman Milton Pelaez. The indictment includes a report by the National Forensic Sciences Institute indicating that Graciela Gomez allegedly forged the victim's signature on 19 certificates of deposit. According to Diario Libre, the indictment was submitted by Banco del Progreso attorneys Francisco Alvarez Valdez, Roberto Rizik, Luciano Jimenez and Tomas Hernandez Metz acting in representation of the bank's Executive Committee president Michael Kelly. Plutarco Gonzalez is in custody at La Victoria jail.
The Police and the Justice Department seized four motor vehicles and music equipment in Santiago during the first day of the drive to control noise in Santiago. Santiago's Environmental Prosecutor, Jacinto Mejia, informed that the vehicles that were impounded belong to William Tavarez and Richard Taveras. The owners of the confiscated music equipment were fined.
The National Drug Control Department (DNCD) arrested its staff in Sosua, Puerto Plata yesterday on the grounds that they had engaged in extortion of a British citizen, as reported in El Caribe. The agents were arrested after Hugh Edwards accused the police of extorting RD$25,000 in return for his release, and for not notifying the corresponding authorities about the incident, which took place in August 2005. As reported in El Caribe, the "deal" was that they would not record the incident in the book kept at the station that lists confiscated drugs. Upon receiving the complaint, the new president of the DNCD Rafael Ramirez Ferreiras appointed an officer to look into the case. The arrested Navy corporal was sent to the DNCD headquarters in Santo Domingo for investigation.
The Weather Department is recommending that residents of high-risk areas in the northeast, southeast, southwest and western Cibao Valley should take precautions against possible sudden flooding and landslides due to rain caused by a tropical wave located over the country on Thursday. The tropical wave continues to move over the Mona Passage with rain, thunder, and occasional wind gusts and will persist over a greater part of the country during the next 24 to 48 hours. For daily weather updates, see the last post at http://dr1.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50817
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