President Leonel Fernandez has expressed his appreciation for the long-term credit that Hugo Chavez's government has granted for the Dominican Republic's petroleum purchases from Venezuela. The President made these comments while attending the Non-Alligned Movement summit in Cuba. The agreement with the Venezuelan government gives the country a 15-25 term to pay for petroleum purchases at an interest rate of 1%. Fernandez explained that the Venezuelan petroleum sales program helps mitigate the effects that wars have had on fuel prices. "Every time the combat or rhetoric heats up, the prices of the barrel of petroleum hit unreachable levels for our nations: our economies stagnate, the foreign debt increases, the currency devaluates, and expenditures in education and health decline, while investments in infrastructure evaporate," said Fernandez. He advocated that the NOAL movement play a more prominent and innovative role in defending the interests of nations that are struggling for development.
President Fernandez continued on to United States, where he has a full agenda (see DR1 Daily News 14 September 2006). Reportedly, he arrived in Chicago on Sunday to begin the second leg of his 7-day trip through the United States. In Chicago, Fernandez will attend several meetings with businessmen, university professors, and politicians.
The Dominican Republic has announced that it is establishing diplomatic relations with Vietnam. The formalization took place in a meeting between President Leonel Fernandez and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Minh-Triet during the Non-Alligned Movement Summit in Havana.
When you go by the INFOTEP building in Santo Domingo, you might notice the little "airplane" on the roof. Many curious observers are wondering what it could be. The National Professional Technical Training Institution (INFOTEP) is one of the few government agencies promoting alternative sources of energy in a proactive manner. The "airplane" is actually a small wind turbine that provides between 5 k/hr and 10k/hr, which is transferred to the institute's internal circuits. The wind energy is being used in the INFOTEP offices whether there is mains electricity or not. According to INFOTEP director general Melanio Paredes, this particular generator was installed with the help of the Japanese International Agency at a cost of RD$1.9 million. The energy produced by the wind generator costs US$0.01 a k/hr versus the US$0.26 cost for electricity from the distributors.
The Supreme Court of the Dominican Republic (SCJ) established an important precedent in the Dominican legal system as it confirmed the sentence that conferred a RD$1 million compensation order for the children of Bolivar Guerrero Morales and Fidelina Maria Suazo Duarte. Guerrero Morales was killed in 1995 by a tanker truck that belonged to Falconbridge Dominicana in Bonao as he waited by the roadside for a bus to Santo Domingo. Both parents are now dead, and the ruling is on behalf of their children, who are 12 and 14. The significance of the case resides in the fact that this is the first time the SCJ has established inheritance rights for the children or heirs of a common law relationship. Guerrero Morales and Suazo Duarte were together for eight years, and paternity was established after the fatal accident. By confirming the rights of partners in a common law relationship, the Supreme Court eases property and inheritance questions for as many as 40% of couples in the general population.
The Supreme Court has removed the privileged position of the Third Penal Chamber in Santo Domingo. The Third Chamber was responsible for the exclusive handling of cases arising from the application of the new Penal Code, especially in cases related to governmental corruption. As so happens, the Third Chamber, with one exception, has found cause to discharge all of the accused in the corruption cases that have been brought before it and this, in turn, has resulted in the Supreme Court overturning these verdicts. The most famous cases, such as Plan Renove, Victor Cespedes and the greenhouses, were later overturned by the SJC and sent back to other courts for trial. The only case where the Third Chamber found sufficient evidence against the accused was the case involving police officials who had used recovered stolen vehicles with no regard for the owner's rights. The court overturned a lower court's decision and sent the officials to jail. In the sudden move, magistrate Jose Arturo Uribe Efres informed the Third Chamber that in the future the First and Second Chambers would also hear cases filed under the new Penal Code.
The Penal Court of Santo Domingo, presided by Judge Olga Herrera Carbuccia, reaffirmed the judgment that was made on 17 October 2005 regarding 10 of the accused in the Plan Renove transport program fraud case that took place during the Mejia administration. Their sentences had been revoked by the Third Penal Chamber. Judge Herrera's court also ordered that a trial be held in the cases of Siquio Ng de la Rosa and Juan Julio Morales (Johnny). Defendants in the Plan Renove case were sentenced as follows: Pedro Franco Badia, three years house arrest; Fabio Ruiz, four years in Najayo jail; Milciades Amaro Guzman, three years in Najayo; Gervasio de la Rosa, two years in Najayo; Blas Peralta, six months in Najayo and a fine of RD$2 million; Antonio Perez, six months house arrest; Antonio Reynoso, two months house arrest; Freddy Mendez, six months house arrest; Alfredo Pulinario (Cambita), six months house arrest and Antonio Marte, three years house arrest. The court freed Ramon Emilio Jimenez and Diogenes Castillo from sentence.
The defendants have ten days to take their case to the Supreme Court for determining if it was judged correctly. The case has been heard in courts over the last 22 months.
Hoy's "Que Se Dice" column reveals a new scandal at the Central Electoral Board (JCE), in which 11 of its officials appear on a "privileged payroll" that allows them to have access to compensation payments worth millions of pesos every trimester. JCE secretary general Dr. Antonio Lockward Artiles has named the people concerned. "Que Se Dice" says that there have been serious complaints about the Junta over the last two years, but nothing has been done. He recalls the talk of nepotism at all levels, complaints about contracts to direct assignations, festival of funds authorized by the civil registry offices, and now the payrolls. An audit by the Chamber of Accounts also showed serious irregularities. "Que Se Dice" says that JCE president Luis Arias or the administrative person responsible should give explanations.
Judge Jose Alejandro Vargas has ordered the case against former Minister of Industry and Commerce, Angel Lockward to be sent to criminal court. Lockward is accused of irregularities in the handling of propane gas coupons when he was at the helm of the government department. He and 34 others are being held responsible for RD$200 million in mismanaged funds. Judge Vargas determined that fraud against the state had taken place in the sale of propane gas, in which propane gas dealerships were charging as if the gas sold had been subsidized, as reported in El Caribe and Diario Libre. A decision on the case had been pending since it was sent to justice on 7 March on charges of breach of trust, corruption, embezzlement, conspiracy and extortion.
Prices have increased over the last month, in spite of the fact that the government has removed the onerous 13% "exchange commission" tax on imported goods. News reports, nevertheless, have mentioned that Customs has increased the base values on which items are taxed, in a way compensating for the elimination of the exchange commission. What is known is that prices for staples have shown increases of between 3% and 90% over this period. Processed milk, cooking oil, soaps and salted cod and herring have all gone up in price. The product with the largest increase is cornflakes, which rose from RD$60 an 18oz box to RD$115. Even though the Central Bank announced that inflation for August was just 0.1% and the yearly rate was pegged at 4.7%, prices were much higher in the colmados and supermarkets. Today's Diario Libre publishes a list of articles and their average prices in today's edition.
http://www.diariolibre.com/app/article.aspx?id=79400
Consumers have felt some relief as a result of steadily declining fuel prices that have fallen by RD$33.80 and RD$25.80 for premium and regular gasoline. For several consecutive weeks the Ministry of Industry and Commerce has been announcing fuel price cuts, reflecting the decline in world market prices. Taxi unions have announced minor reductions in fares, although these are much less than the increases they made when fuel prices went up. Petrol prices again declined over the weekend.
Simon Guerrero writes again in Diario Libre on Saturday, 16 September, about the plight of the dolphins kept at the Manati Park facility. He comments on a reply from Manati Park's Jose Moreno in response to Guerrero's previous article about the Manati Park dolphins for the newspaper. (See DR1 Daily News, 4 September and 7 September).
He says that while Moreno claims that the requested importation of dolphins for the park is not irregular because they have a "no objection" letter from the authorities dated June 2004, he points out that the import period that this type of letter authorized cannot be unlimited as circumstances change.
Guerrero reaffirms that studies carried out by the Dominican Marine Studies Foundation (Fundemar) indicate that the dolphins in Manati Park are being kept in inadequate spaces and the quality of the water is very poor - very low salinity, excess turbidity, signs of pollution and a strong smell of chlorine due to its excessive use as a disinfectant, which leads to toxicity and serious eye and skin problems for the dolphins. He says that some visitors to the park have filmed videos that confirm the dolphin facility's run-down conditions.
Guerrero writes that Moreno says that the law does not oblige them to carry out autopsies on dead dolphins. He explains that the park has to submit to Ministry of Environment regulations, including the obligation to ensure that dolphins captivity are kept in good conditions, which is impossible to monitor if it is not known what the dolphins have died of. He also points out that Moreno does not explain, after having said that they did not carry out an autopsy and had incinerated the remains, where the phantom autopsy report that they eventually sent for the purchase of new dolphins had come from.
Furthermore, he points out inconsistencies in the inventories of dolphins kept at Manati Park, adding that if one does the math there should be 10 dolphins but only five are left, meaning that five dolphins are unaccounted for.
He also mentions a claim against Manati Park that was presented by Fundemar, the Academy of Sciences and the Foundation for the Development of Bayahibe for the alleged illegal capture of eight dolphins in National Park of the East waters in 2002. He stresses that if this accusation were to be confirmed, the company would have broken the law by capturing dolphins in a national park. He says that the small school of dolphin that lives in the park, that has been an attraction for the park visitors, would definitely leave. He argues that this type of practice is detrimental to tourism.
In his article, he states that the International Humane Society, representing its 9.5 million members, has requested the closure of the dolphin facility and congratulated the Dominican government for impeding the import of the dolphins requested by the group. He concludes his article by asking if a Dominican company would be allowed to operate under these same conditions in Spain.
Gynecologist Lilliam Fondeur believes that the Dominican Republic should study the decision by Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, a pediatrician, who has made the morning-after pill available for free to teenage girls age 14 and above, without requiring prior parental consent. The decision comes as a result of a situation where almost 4,000 babies are born to child-mothers every year. The move is aimed at reducing the number of unwanted teenage pregnancies and to help poor children to have the same opportunities as daughters of better-off parents who are able to purchase the pill. She points out that in the DR, tackling the problem of teenage pregnancy and mortality has been established as a priority in national programs. She goes on to say that the DR should follow Chile's example and improve conditions for women, in real terms: not just in words, but through actions, as President Bachelet's government has done.
"The ideal is that our teenagers postpone becoming sexually active until they are physically and emotionally mature, but this is not the reality," writes the gynecologist in her column in El Nacional. She points out: "Many children and teenagers, mostly poor, are initiated into sexual activity between the ages of 9 and 12. This is not a government problem, but a problem for all Dominicans," she concludes.
The main opposition to contraception programs has come from the strong Catholic Church. Recently, Jesuit Priest Jose Luis Aleman questioned the Catholic Church's imposition of its point of view on the question of whether to allow rape victims or mothers carrying abnormal fetuses to abort, observing that the church cannot impose its points of view on a population.
Dr. Fondeur can be contacted at lfondeur@gmail.com
The famous Praia disco, located in one of Santo Domingo's upscale districts, was the scene of a tragic shooting that resulted in the involuntary death of a young student, Pura Nunez Rodriguez by one of the security people, Ramon Antonio Sanchez. The tragic incident followed arguments that took place after one of the girl's companions was denied entrance because, as stated in the local press, of the dress code requirements. El Caribe reports that as things got heated, stones were thrown, breaking some of the glass fronting of the disco. As the young people were "escaping" from the parking area, the security guard shot at the vehicle several times, killing Pura Nunez. The police have arrested the security guard and seized several weapons.
1995 Pan American gold medalist and former World Boxing Organization 122lb champion, Joan Guzman successfully challenged World Boxing Organization champion Jorge Barrios at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas yesterday. Guzman went into the fight unbeaten in 25 bouts with 17 KOS. Dominican Guzman thus became the world's super featherweight champion, defeating the Argentinean on points. Guzman made RD$165,000 on the fight, including an additional RD$10,000 because Barrios failed to make weight. He was 1.5 lb overweight.
Alfonso Soriano is the fourth player in Major League history to join the exclusive 40-40 club. The club is made up of those rare ball players who combine power and speed to hit at least 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in the same season. Soriano, who plays for the Washington Nationals, has 45-40 steal bases so far this season. The others before him have been Jose Canseco (1988), Barry Bonds (1996) and Alex Rodriguez (1998).
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