President Leonel Fernandez met with Saudi Arabia ambassador to the United States, Prince Turki Al-Faisal, at the New York Palace Hotel yesterday to discuss the practicalities of building a petroleum refinery that would benefit the country and investors wanting to refine crude oil close to the United States market. Diario Libre reports that the refinery would be located in the northern part of the country and would produce some fuel for internal demand and the rest for the US east coast market. Receptive to the idea, the Saudi prince said the construction was feasible as it coincides with the need for petroleum producers to supply the US market with products refined at a geographical position near the US, such as the Dominican Republic.
See http://www.presidencia.gov.do/frontend/articulo.php?id=4537
The deputy director for Customs Intelligence, Rafael Jimenez, has announced that the customs office will implement the same technology in all Dominican ports that recently helped discover a 2,582-kilo shipment of illegal narcotics through the Multimodal Caucedo port. The American donated x-ray machine, valued at US$ 2 million, is part of the Container Security Initiative, which calls for increased security in the 50 international ports with which the United States does most business. The initiative emphasizes the security of containers for international ports, arriving in the US, and looks to guarantee that they do not enter the United States with nuclear substances or contraband. The Multimodal Caucedo port is the only national and Caribbean port that is in line with the regulations. The system at Multimodal will have a permanent American counterpart monitoring the equipment and ensuring that all requirements are met. Customs Director Miguel Cocco announced that there would be bidding in order to purchase the equipment for all national ports.
The National Council of Higher Education has approved the reclassification of the Las Americas Technological Institute (ITLA) as a Higher Education Technological Institute. On 18 July, the Council approved the opening of the Stevens Institute of Technology International (SITT) in accordance with standing Dominican legislation. ITLA becomes this new institute and will begin operating with three programs at the higher technical level and a curricular offer oriented towards automated manufacturing, multimedia and networks.
The District Attorney for Santo Domingo and the Attorney General have announced the closure of an alleged brothel that was selling the services of young women aged 18 to 24, as well as the closure of 14 internet cafes that supposedly allowed the downloading of child pornography. The Department for the Illegal Transport of Migrants and the Prostitution of People had warned the owners about law 136-03 on the illegality of child pornography and informed about the confiscation of a computer from an internet cafe in Santo Domingo which a man had used to look at child pornography.
The authorities also announced that they had closed down a brothel in the municipality of Santo Domingo East called "Diamond Lady House," where young women where found semi-naked and where alcohol was being sold. The brothel is charged with recruiting young women in order to exploit them sexually.
The minority deputy bloc of the PRSC has refused the Icasur contract on the grounds that it would not be beneficial for the government and the Dominican public. Icasur was bidding to manage vehicle revisions, but the PRSC representatives claim that the contract is onerous and would be burdensome for the country. Listin Diario quotes the PRSC spokesperson as saying that the Icasur agreement, as well as preceding Spanish promoters, are only self-interested and that dozens of scandals in Latin America and Europe involving Spanish businessmen, have made this quite clear. The privatization of vehicle inspections would triple the cost of this service, as reported in the press. Right now, actual inspections are rare, and while the government charges for the inspection sticker and AMET officers stop vehicles that have not secured these, the original objective of removing unsuitable cars from circulation is not being met, primarily for political reasons.
The National Department for Drug Control (DNCD) has announced that they are raising the salaries of their special operations officers to reduce corruption on the job. Robert Lebron, spokesperson for the DNCD, announced the raises are effective this month, according ot a report in El Caribe. More raises would be forthcoming as funding to the department is increased. Lebron did not disclose the actual amounts involved, but explained that the DNCD has strengthened its employee evaluation process and now requires the fulfillment of new requirements set forth by new Director Rafael Ramirez Ferreiras. The announcement comes after the DNCD fired 220 officials and closed three offices for committing improprieties.
Lebron also announced that the DNCD has arrested a Canadian man who was traveling to Spain, with 8.715 kilos of cocaine in his jeans, and the arrest of three men who were on the run for narcotics trafficking.
Hundreds of public officials will not collect their paychecks this Monday after yesterday's five o'clock deadline for submitting their sworn asset statements. This was announced by the Director of the Department for the Prevention of Administrative Corruption (DPCA) Octavio Lister, who specified that 1,023 officials had made their statements out of a total of 1,500 who requested a username to enter the website that was set up for submitting the statements. Listin Diario reports that today a website by the Attorney General Department will publish a listing of all officials who have made their sworn statements in accordance with the law.
The power generating companies have been answering some of the questions posed by the Administrator of the Dominican Corporation of State-Owned Electrical Companies (CDEEE), Radhames Segura, and stated that the generators are out of service due to damage on the 69,000-Volt transmission line. Diario Libre reports that separate releases by AES Dominicana, which manages the Andres and Itabo generators and the Haina Generating company, explained that the transmission area is CDEEE property. The generating companies assured that they had informed the Superintendence of Electricity's Coordinating Office about their plants going out of service, and rejected Segura's statement that they had been irresponsible in failing to explain the reasons for the power outages affecting the country.
The Colombian ambassador in the Dominican Republic, Jorge Enrique Garavito Duran, and the Technical Deputy Minister for International Cooperation, America Bastidas, have signed the first agreement for technical, educational and cultural cooperation between the two nations, through which more than 20 projects will be implemented. Representatives from both countries highlighted the importance of sharing experiences and knowledge between public institutions in both countries, and the agreement will facilitate cooperation and exchanges between Colombia and the Dominican Republic. Education, agriculture and environmental studies will be features of the new programs.
Outgoing Canadian Ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Alvin Curling has expressed surprise at his early recall after having completed just one third of his term. In statements to the "Toronto Star", Curling said "I can't see any sense in this, I can't see the rationale and I can't see what Canada gains - I think it loses more than it gains". The only possible reason he can find for his substitution is that he is from the Liberal Party and the new government is Conservative. The 66-year-old diplomat and former parliamentarian for the Province of Ontario was appointed last year by the previous Canadian administration. Canada has investments worth about US$1.5 million in the Dominican Republic. In 2005, bilateral trade surpassed US$240 million, 16% more than in 2004.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1...
The recent discovery of a hidden small state-of-the-art wireless microphone in the office of a prominent Santo Domingo businessman has sent shockwaves through Dominican companies. Leading businesspeople are concerned that they too could be the targets of espionage. Some businessmen are calling for exhaustive measures to find any of the small microphones that blend into the setup of an office. Others have decided to hold confidential meetings in non-traditional settings.
Telecommunications provider Verizon Dominicana has denied allegations by its main competitor Tricom that it practices a monopoly that increases the cost of Internet service in the country. Tricom's vice president of residential lines, Jose Salce, had complained to Clave newspaper that Internet services in the country were expensive due to the fees that other operators have to pay for the connection to the submarine cables where they have contracted capacity through "landing points" owned by Verizon. According to Salce, these costs represent between 15% and 20% of the end user's payment for the service. "The landing point was built by and is managed by Verizon. But according to the cable agreements signed from the beginning, Verizon has the obligation to provide access for Tricom and other companies that are co-owners of the cable, which is done free and willingly by contract. The conditions are renegotiated every certain period of time," stated Robinson Pena Mieses, Regulatory Director of Verizon Dominicana, when explaining the impossibility of more than one company controlling the cable's landing point, as suggested by Tricom. According to Pena Mieses, Verizon does not take advantage of the facilities to a greater extent than is legitimate, and monopoly is not an applicable word in this case.
At least five incidents involving racism or class discrimination have occurred at Praia nightclub, which was closed down this week after student Alexandra Nunez was shot to death by one the center's security guards. Clave reports that the press has reported four other incidents since 2003, in which famous and not so famous people claimed to have suffered discrimination by the nightclub. In the first week of December 2003, much debate was generated in the press when Indhira Martinez, the daughter of popular Dominican singer Vickiana, was not allowed into Praia. According to the young lady, who was 28 years old at the time, she was denied access on 29 November when she tried to enter with two friends. One of the security officers warned her, according to the 5 December 2003 edition of El Nacional, that black people were not allowed in the nightclub.
That same week, journalist Pablo MacKinney referred to the case in his column "El bulevar de la vida" and mentioned that something similar had happened a few days earlier to his 24-year-old nephew, a well-dressed engineer and bank employee.
In October 2005, another scandal added to Praia's notoriety, as reported by Clave. Mariany Pimentel Orde, a 23-year-old architecture student was thrown out of the bar allegedly under orders of actor Vin Diesel, according to her statement, for refusing to go back to his hotel with him. This complaint was also reported in the international press. On 12 August, Juan Antonio Bengoa Torres stated that he had been ejected from the nightclub with a group of friends after the son of an unnamed controversial celebrity, who was allegedly inebriated, pushed him and ordered him to be thrown out.
Last Tuesday, the District Attorney closed down the nightclub as an administrative measure upon the request of the Attorney General, a measure that is pending court ratification. Meanwhile, this week Praia's website showed an unusual notice: "No activities are planned for this month."
The Alheli Workshop in Barahona, a group of 13 women and young people, is making handcrafted dolls and hoping to sell them for Christmas. The dolls are made completely by hand with embroidery details. Their larimar (pale blue semi-precious stone unique to the area) eyes and other details make them attractive Christmas presents. Their label clearly states that they come from Barahona. The gift sets come with flowers and small sacks of nuts, organic coffee or brown sugar from Barahona, as well as oregano from the region. The dolls are 56cm tall and 16cm wide. They sell for RD$500 each. For contact details to place orders, contact Elena Nunziatini of the Barahona Tourism Cluster at clusterprovinciabarahona@yahoo.es
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