President Leonel Fernandez was scheduled to meet with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at 2pm today to discuss agreements concerning the supply of oil and the aspirations that both countries have for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council. According to speculation in Diario Libre, the Dominican Republic is seeking to negotiate more favorable petroleum terms with Venezuela, though Chancellor Carlos Morales Troncoso refused to comment on whether or not the Dominican Republic will use its UNSC aspirations as a bargaining tool in these negotiations. Guatemala, backed by the United States, and one of the Dominican Republic's largest trading partners, is also aspiring to a seat on the Council, though it is not clear how this will affect discussions with Venezuela. Fernandez is set to meet with the Prime Ministers of Vietnam, Malaysia and Qatar to discuss increased relations, and foreign investments between the countries.
After arriving in Havana, Cuba early on Thursday morning President Fernandez wasted no time in getting down to business. He was immediately received at the University of Havana by Dean Ruben Sardaya, together with other university faculty members. Later, Fernandez visited the International Film School of San Antonio de los Banos where he was received by director Julio Garan Espinosa. Fernandez also met with Latin American students who are attending the school, and watched a documentary made by a Dominican student at the university.
Later in the evening the President met with Foreign Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso and members of the Dominican Embassy in Cuba to prepare for his first day at the 14th Summit Meeting of the Non-Alligned Movement.
President Leonel Fernandez is aiming to fulfill three important goals during his four-day visit to Cuba. He will try to garner support for the Dominican Republic's bid to become one of the new holders of a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, attract new foreign investment to the country, and consolidate stronger petroleum agreements.
The Dominican Republic and the western African country of Mali have signed a memorandum of understanding establishing diplomatic relations between the two nations. The memorandum was signed by Dominican Foreign Affairs Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Republic of Mali, Moctar Ouani. The agreement was signed at the Dominican Embassy in Havana, Cuba. The agreement establishes diplomatic ties between the two nations in the hopes of developing political, economic and social relations, and takes effect immediately with the establishment of diplomatic posts in both countries. Both countries agreed to sign the memorandum based on the Vienna Conventions signed on 18 April 1961.
National Institute for Housing (INVI) director Alma Fernandez has announced that between the 15th and 24th of September a delegation from Intur, Invi, and the bank BHD will present a housing plan to the Dominican communities located in Lawrence, Boston, Philadelphia, Providence, the Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. The housing plan, which includes bonds of between RD$50,000 and RD$300,000 pesos, will be given to Dominicans who live in the United States so that they can buy homes in the Dominican Republic. Fernandez explained to El Caribe newspaper that beneficiaries will be able to use the bonds to make the initial payment on a house or an apartment, because this is the hardest amount to gather. Julio Vega, vice-president of Intur, said that there are 12 different types of houses and apartments for the beneficiaries to choose from, located in the Prados de San Luis and V Centenario residential developments in eastern Santo Domingo, and Santiago's Don Jaime residential development.
It will cost Dominicans at least US$120 million to convert the Cogentrix and Itabo fuel oil plants to run on natural gas, as reported in Diario Libre. The 300-megawatt Cogentrix plant, built by the Fernandez government in its first administration at a cost of US$267 million is closed, due to the high cost of operation. Nevertheless, the plant costs Dominican tax payers US$60 million a year (as reported by Bernardo Vega), as a result of a contract signed in 1998 by then Technical Secretary of the Presidency, Temisticoles Montas, who currently holds the same position, that makes it less costly for the plant to remain shut down than to operate the fuel-oil plant. This would also require the investment of US$16 million in the construction of a gas line from the AES Andres natural gas terminal in Andres, Boca Chica to San Pedro de Macoris, where the Cogentrix plant is located. Another US$4 million would be needed to convert the plant to natural gas. Diario Libre reports that the US$20 million investment will come from the government and Cogentrix.
This would make 550 megawatts available for the national power grid. The plan for Itabo is to convert these to combined cycle plants, to take advantage of the gases generated by the turbine to generate power. The conversion would take about a year and will cost US$100 million, for a US$120 million total conversion for both the Cogentrix and Itabo plants. The government owns 50% of Itabo, while Cogentrix is 100% foreign-owned.
A group of social and civil society organizations are demanding that constitutional reform should be carried out through a Constituent Assembly. Ciudad Alternativa, Centro Bono, Centro Juan Montalvo, Copadeba and others say that any changes to the constitution must be adjusted to contemporary needs, as reported by Diario Libre.
Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) President Jorge Subero Isa stated yesterday that President Leonel Fernandez has to consult the Supreme Court judges on everything related to the justice structure in the country from a constitutional standpoint. El Caribe reports that Subero made this statement while voicing disagreement with the President's proposal for constitutional reform in which the National Magistrates Council be empowered to select all judges. Subero agrees with Justice School Director Luis Henry Molina's opinion that removing the faculty of appointing judges from the SCJ would undermine their credibility as judges.
The Dominican Republic is becoming concerned about the delay in receiving a concrete response from the European Union about requests for resources needed by the country to make the changes needed in order to be in line with the Economic Partnership Agreement. During an event held yesterday, the National Business Committee for International Associations, which is led by chief trade negotiator Julio Ortega, business leaders agreed that the main problem with the negotiations is that so far the EU hasn't been willing to discuss the dimensions of their development plan for the Dominican Republic.
Ortega is quoted in El Caribe as saying that the EU should make development resources available for the African, Caribbean, and Pacific nations (ACP), in the same way it made EUR100 billion available when Spain entered the European Union. Ortega said that the agreement with the EU could mean EUR9 billion for the ACP nations.
During the upcoming Fifth Cariforum meeting that will be held in the DR, Caribbean nations will discuss the details of the agreements with the EU.
However, the agreement has its detractors. A report prepared by Oxfam International indicates that the EU EPA agreement doesn't offer any advantages to the participating Caribbean nations, and doesn't favor the region's development. On the contrary, it could jeopardize some countries' fulfillment of the United Nations Millennium goals. Oxfam concludes that any agreement in the region should have poverty reduction and sustainable development as its overall objectives. Oxfam asserts that this agreement doesn't fulfill any of these conditions. According to Oxfam International's Simon Ticehurst, criticisms of the agreement include the need for the ACP countries to open their markets to European products if they want their products to enter EU countries free of tax and quotas.
The city of Santiago has recently installed an electronic stoplight on the intersection between the Republica de Argentina and Estrella Sadhala streets. The Chinese-made electric stoplights, the first in the country, will be used during a 90-day trial period, after which members of the municipal authorities will evaluate their usefulness. One of the benefits of the more modern stoplight is its lower electricity consumption. It also allows the driver to time the change of a light from one color to another. Pedro Seijo Morales, from the company Gran Kaiman Teleco SA, added that there are over a million of these machines in China, and that they are also in use in the Cuban capital Havana.
EdeEste and the Santo Domingo East city council have recently reinstated street lighting along a 10-kilometer stretch of the Las Americas Expressway that leads to the Las Americas International Airport and the east of the country. The finished project, which extends from Juan Carlos Bridge to the toll booths along Las Americas Expressway, lights both sides of the motorway, and included the installation of 55 kilometers of cable, 747 bulbs, 31 transformers, and 7 metallic posts.
Jesus Bolinaza, general manager of EdeEste told El Caribe newspaper that the lighting situation on the expressway had deteriorated due to massive theft of roadside cables and transformers. To prevent this from happening in the future, EdeEste has installed aerial cables. Bolinaza also guaranteed that EDEE would keep the motorway lit up throughout the night and would be ensuring its continued maintenance. He asked the Armed Forces and the National Police to help with this.
Santo Domingo East mayor Juan de los Santos said that the project was part of a strategic plan to improve public spaces in the municipality, and that its completion came about as a result of an agreement between former mayor Domingo Batista and EdeEste.
Shortly after the release of information about three more children who have died of dengue in the last 24 hours, epidemiologists and specialists have asked the government to declare a state of emergency, because there are new dengue cases in hospitals and private clinics across the country every day. Listin Diario reports that physicians at the Robert Reid Cabral Pediatric Hospital received 28 cases in only three days, 21 remained as in-patients, two died in the center, one was dead on arrival, and seven were sent home after recovering.
Former colonel Pedro Julio "Pepe" Goico Guerrero, accused of complicity in the laundering of assets resulting from drug trafficking together with former captain Quirino Paulino Castillo, has asked Banco Popular to prove how many times it notified the National Drug Control Department (DNCD) of the deposits Paulino had in that bank, as established by law. According to a report in Listin Diario, Goico said that "the law obliges banks... all banks to report deposits over US$10,000 or their equivalent in foreign currency. I want Banco Popular to prove how many times it reported those deposits to the DNCD". He made these comments during a television interview with Julio Hazim.
The Santo Domingo Province Court of Appeals will rule today on the case of alleged Renove Plan fraud against the Dominican state for more than RD$1.8 billion. Diario Libre reports that Judges Olga Herrera Carbuccia, Hirohito Reyes and Manuel del Socorro Perez will also decide whether to impose fines of RD$549 million on the accused, and whether to seize 98 vehicles in their possession. This was the petition of the Justice Department representatives Hotoniel Bonilla, Francisco Garcia Rosa and Ernesto Mena. Accused in the case stand Pedro Franco Badia, Fabio Ruiz, Siquio Ng de la Rosa, Alfredo Pulinario (Cambita), Blas Peralta, Antonio Reynoso (Padre Tono), Francisco Antonio Perez, Gervasio de la Rosa, Antonio Marte, Milciades Amaro Guzman and Juan Julio Morales (Johnny).
The police arrested 63 people yesterday, 37 of whom had criminal backgrounds, during raids carried out in Boca Chica and La Caleta. Police spokesman General Simon Diaz also reported the seizure of 44 motorcycles, two scooters, one vehicle with two license plates and a Toyota pick-up truck without a license plate that was carrying several sacks full of aluminum and burned electric wires.
Police Chief General Bernardo Santana Paez also reported that Jesus Martinez Rodriguez was found dead in his car in the Santo Domingo neighborhood of Bella Vista on Wednesday night, in what is believed to be a drug-related case, according to Diario Libre.
Army intelligence personnel have arrested three people in Neyba and Navarrete, seizing 55 pounds of marijuana and the vehicles that were being used to transport the illicit drugs. According to Diario Libre, the army reported that they have arrested Junior E. Rosario and Elvis Balbuena in Neyba, and Francis Elias Corniel in Navarrete. Army Chief of Staff Juan Anotnio Campusano is re-doubling efforts against the smuggling and trafficking of drugs near the Haitian border.
Acclaimed Argentine saxophonist Leandro "Gato" Barbieri performs at the Renaissance Jaragua Hotel's Teatro La Fiesta tonight. He will share the stage with Peruvian Ania Paz and her Jazz Ensemble. Showtime is 9:00pm, according to information given during a press conference yesterday. Gato mentioned the insomnia-related health problems he is experiencing, but said that these should not affect the quality of his performance of over 30 of his best songs tonight. "When I go onstage, I turn into a devil, and forget my lack of sleep", joked the musician.
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 1996-2008. DR1. All Rights Reserved.