The VI Summit of First Ladies of Central America, Belize, Panama and the Dominican Republic, held in Santo Domingo this week, has concluded with an affirmation of commitment and political will to promote the integrated human development of the family, and to work towards the eradication of domestic violence. According to the "Declaration of Santo Domingo", a document approved yesterday, the group decided to support programs and projects aimed at developing public and private institutions that strengthen the family and its social role. Diario Libre reports that Margarita Cedeno de Fernandez, Ana Ligia Mixco de Saca, Wendy Widmann de Berger, Xiomara Castro de Zelaya, Lila T. Abaunza de Bolanos and Vivian Fernandez de Torrijos all agreed to promote initiatives oriented at the protection and support of members of the most vulnerable families.
The First Lady's office implements numerous and diverse initiatives which convert it into a quasi-ministry financed by public and private funding, according to Clave weekly newspaper. During the last 24 months, the department has received RD$321.1 million from the national budget, with a funding increase of 246%. It started in September 2004 with monthly allocations of RD$5.6 million and reached RD$19.3 million last July. The increases have been gradual while First Lady Margarita Cedeno de Fernandez's activism has been extraordinary, according to the report. Her office has also received state funds indirectly from INDOTEL (RD$16 million) towards the construction of eight technological community centers, and from the Heritage Fund for Reformed Enterprises (FONPER), with which it recently signed an agreement. Other funds are from private donations to the Foundation created by the First Lady and from benefit dinners and cultural events organized by her department. It's not known how much she has collected from the latter. The funds are used to build schools, refurbish hospitals and grant scholarships, according to the office's website. Given the First Lady's presence on so many different stages of life in the DR, her name even shows up on popularity surveys. Her charisma, youth, and overflowing energy stimulate the imagination, leading some to speculate about her own political aspirations.
According to a poll by Clave weekly newspaper, 71% of readers believe that President Leonel Fernandez will run for re-election in 2008. 27% think otherwise, whereas 2% doesn't know. 1,364 readers responded to the poll.
The Tax Department and the Metropolitan Transport Authority (AMET) has announced that the deadline for renewing license plate stickers for motor vehicles is 10 October and that it will not be postponed. They announced the opening of 26 new renewal points located in the Olympic Center, Ciudad Ganadera and the Quisqueya Stadium. The stickers can also be purchased online (www.dgii.gov.do) or by telephone. Vehicle owners who miss the deadline will be subject to a RD$400 surcharge.
Reinaldo Pared Perez is quoted in El Caribe today saying that he is against the practice of legislators allocating funds to their own private foundations. "I, Reinaldo Pared, am in favor of the elimination of all the NGOs from the Senate, and against their use of government funds, whether from the Ministry of Education, the Presidency, the Ministry of Culture or even the Congress to fund the NGOs belonging to the legislators," he says. He agreed with Father Cela who stated that the work that is supposedly funded by the NGOs should be carried out by government departments.
On the other hand, he said that the Senate is waiting to receive proposals for the candidates for judges at the JCE. "I understand that we should have a new JCE before the year ends, because time is running out, and we will have elections in less than two years that need to be prepared for," he told Hoy newspaper.
He has won the position of senator for La Altagracia for the third time, but influential Amable Aristy Castro has not yet been sworn in for the post, and seems to be thinking about remaining as secretary general of the Dominican Municipal League (LMD). Amable Aristy Castro was recently also in the news after the US revoked his B1/B2 tourist visa to travel to the US.
Diario Libre comments on how this is the third time in 12 years that Aristy Castro may turn down the post he won in the election for that of the LMD. The LMD handles the purse strings for municipal budgets nationwide.
The ruling PLD party has said that it is not interested in appointing one of their members to the post and has left it up to the opposition to choose the next secretary general. Thus, there are contenders from the PRD and the PRSC. Aristy Castro aspires to continue in the post that is also sought by his fellow PRSC member Johnny Jones, who ran for National District senator on the PRSC ticket in the past congressional election.
For the PRD, Alfredo Pacheco, former president of the Chamber of Deputies, has indicated that he is interested. Pacheco ran for Santo Domingo mayor on the PRD ticket and lost. Pacheco, nevertheless, is disappointed at recent statements by former President Hipolito Mejia, who leads an important faction within the PRD, who has said that he would support a PRSC candidate instead.
In the 2006 congressional and municipal elections, a PRSC faction allied with sectors in the PRD. The PRD, as a political party, has not publicly stated its position on who the party would back.
But yesterday, 52 city mayors sent a letter to the board of the PRD endorsing Aristy Castro continuing at the helm of the LMD.
Diario Libre recalls that when Aristy Castro was elected as senator of La Altagracia in 1998, he delegated his senate seat to Ramon Ricardo Sanchez de la Rosa. In the 2002 election he won again, but chose instead to seek re-election as League secretary. He then appointed his cousin German Castro Garcia as senator. Castro was elected a deputy in the 2006 congressional election. Diario Libre reports that meanwhile, Castro has been appointing staff for his office in the Senate.
The World Bank expects the DR to improve considerably in the world rankings for Doing Business in 2008. In a press release, the World Bank points out that presidential decrees enacted over the last six weeks will significantly reduce the cost of doing business in the DR.
Decree No. 244/06 from 9 June 2006 was passed on 28 July 2006, paving the way for establishing a one-stop shop for setting up a new business. Decree 326/06 was passed on 12 August 2006, modifying the deadline for obtaining a certificate of name registration from 45 days, as prescribed by Law 20-00, to five days.
The Dominican Republic was listed in 117th place in the Doing Business Report for 2007, based on data from 175 countries through April 2006, and is limited to reforms effective between 1 January 2005 and 31 March 2006.
The World Bank states in a press release that as a result of this the above two decrees were omitted from the 2007 report. These two reforms and other expected advances will be included in the next Doing Business Report 2008. Moving up in the ranking takes a sustained implementation effort: Countries have jumped up to 70 places in the rankings after a sustained effort over 2-3 years, the institution points out.
"These are concrete and important actions and a clear testimony of the high priority the Dominican authorities assign to increasing competitiveness," said Caroline Anstey, the World Bank's Country Director for the Caribbean. "Reducing the cost of doing business is a crucial element of growth and poverty reduction and one that will continue to require priority attention going forward. The World Bank stands ready to work with the government on this important agenda."
See http://www.doingbusiness.org/ExploreEconomies/?economyid=59
According to Tricom, the monopoly on submarine cables is the reason behind the high fees charged for internet services in the Dominican Republic. A report by Clave weekly newspaper indicates that coinciding with this complaint is Verizon's announcement that dial-up internet services will be free of charge for a large number of users. According to Jose Salce, vice president of Residential Lines at Tricom, one of the reasons that the cost of internet services has remained so high is that operators have to pay fees for the connection to submarine cables to and from the island, a service that is run by Verizon. "Access to the submarine cable is managed by a specific provider (Verizon) which does not charge costs for its services in the market that are charged to other operators and which are disproportionate when compared to other markets", complained Salce. The charges represent 15 to 20% of the fee applied to the end user. On 3 August, Clave reported on how European and United States providers offered access speeds 7 to 30 times faster than in the Dominican Republic, for lower prices. According to Verizon's Eduardo Valcarcel, the European and United States markets are not comparable to the local market. He stated that Verizon has some 80,000 broadband clients compared to 15 million users that any service provider in the US might have.
After four years in the red, international population indicators for the Dominican Republic have finally changed. According to the 2006 World State of the Population report by the United Nations Population Fund, last year the per capita gross national income increased from 6.210 in 2005 to 6.750 in 2006 (an 8% increase) and the urban growth rate grew from 2.1 to 2.4 (0.3%). According to Clave newspaper, the report states that life expectancy at birth for Dominicans increased by 0.2 years, reaching 64.8 years for men and 71.8 years for women. Public expenditure on health increased from 2.2 to 2.3% of Gross National Product (GNP), and this may have contributed to the reduction of infant mortality rate to 6%. The report also takes note of the low investment the state makes in education (a 3.9% reduction according to the document). This results in a low enrolment of students at elementary school level (a 6% decrease for boys and 15.6% for girls). Middle school enrolment however, increased by 8% for men and 9% for women.
According to Fr. Jose Luis Aleman, the Roman Catholic Church may commit excesses when it tries to force Dominican society to assume a determined behavior in which it does not believe. El Caribe reports that the economist stated that the Church cannot abdicate in the preaching of its opinion and that of its followers, but should not try to force people to adopt laws that adjust to its principles. He made these comments when referring to the issue of criminalizing or liberalizing the practice of abortion in this country, which is currently generating some public discussion. He said that the Church's duty is to preach to its faithful that abortion is not allowed, but another thing is to try to get the state to adopt that principle, when a great part of the population does not accept it. "Historically, what has most harmed the Church is their attempt to force the population to follow what it believes is needed, or ethical" said the priest, after stating that this causes it to lose authority and credibility.
He was referring to the pressure that some sectors in the Church have exerted on the revisions made to the penal code. In the past abortion was permitted in cases where the fetus showed signs of abnormalities, or in the case of rape. The church has lobbied for the revised code to criminalize all abortions. The medical community has been vocal about its opposition to the change.
The murder rate in the Dominican Republic dropped by 43.58% between June and August. Attorney General Radhames Jimenez Pena attributes the reduction to the success of the security measures recently adopted by the government. Diario Libre quotes a report by the AG's department stating that the number of violent deaths during July was 187 and in August 123, the lowest so far this year. In June, before the measures went into effect, the number of violent deaths was 218, the highest over the last eight months. In May there were 211 murders. The press release indicates that the effectiveness of the measures supports the position of those who do not want them to be changed. The new measures require businesses that sell alcoholic drinks to close at midnight from Sunday to Thursday, and at 2:00am on Friday, Saturday and holiday evenings.
According to the report, which was presented at a press conference, most of the deaths were people between the ages of 18 to 34 in the National District, San Cristobal, Santiago, San Pedro de Macoris and Duarte province (San Francisco de Macoris).
During August, Metropolitan Transport Authority (AMET) agents wrote out 85,174 tickets for traffic infringements country-wide. This represents an increase of 20.39% on last July's 67,807 tickets. El Caribe reports on the data provided by the Information Technology department of AMET and placed on its website www.amet.gov.do. The most common infringement was failure to carry the vehicle inspection sticker (revista), totaling 23,277 tickets. Other infringements included obstruction of traffic, with 13,622 tickets; red traffic light violations, 9,595 tickets; seatbelt, 7,487 tickets; lack of signage for public cars or transit on wrong day, 6,238, and using a cell-phone while driving, 5,886 tickets.
The daughter of a 34-year-old Venezuelan woman who was acting as a "mule" for international drug traffickers, was warned about getting into trouble by her daughter in a letter that was found by members of the National Drug Control Department (DNCD). In the letter, the daughter tells her mother she knows she was up to nothing good in her travels to Santo Domingo. The woman, Izmerly Josefina Romero Ortega was attempting to smuggle 10.910 kilos of heroin in her luggage.
The Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD) has announced that it is postponing the convention to choose its Presidential candidate for the May 2008 election until 7 January, as reported in El Caribe. The party had originally agreed on a 12 November date. The new date, though, requires the approval of the National Executive Committee that has yet to meet on a date to be announced by party secretary general, Orlando Jorge Mera. During a meeting held yesterday, the party appointed the members of the organizing commission for the convention. They are Ivelisse Prats, Anibal Garcia Duverge, Wellington Arnaud, Manuel Emilio Ramirez Perez, Dario Castillo, Roberto Furcal, Hector Cruz, Margarito de Leon, Cesar Sanchez, Jose Maria Diaz, Manola Sanchez and Luis Delgado.
The Dominican Republic was placed 8th in the recently completed Volleyball Grand Prix held in Reggio, Calabria, Italy. This is the best position ever achieved by the Dominican women's volleyball team in a world event, as reported in Diario Libre. Previously, the country had made 11th place (2005) and 12th place (2004). The national team only won two games, but achieved 11 points in the event. "To lose in five games with Brazil and Japan, to win a set to China (Olympic chamipions) and defeat the United States says something about the level we have grown to," said Alex Garcia, president of the Dominican Volleyball Federation. The next competition for the team is at the Copa TV Azteca in Mexico, where it will play against teams from Cuba, the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica and Mexico.
See http://www.fivb.org/EN/volleyball/competitions/WorldGrandPrix/2006/...
"The Producers" will be playing on Saturday, 16 September at Hard Rock Cafe Santo Domingo to close the event "50 Years of Peace, Love and Music". Their performance will follow performances by two local groups. First group, Beatles Classical brings nine classical musicians performing under Cuban guitarrist Ruben Gonzalez. The second group, NineCircus, is described as the best up-and-coming Dominican rock group. They are launching their first CD in the USA with their own songs. Tickets are RD$1,250. For more information and tickets, write to oncoblue@yahoo.com
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