The Dominican Republic has formally entered the United Nations Global Pact and is thus obliged to push business management in conjunction with civil society in order to promote social and environmental principles of a universal nature and face the challenges of globalization. According to El Caribe, President Fernandez headed the ceremonies at his Global Foundation headquarters. The Dominican Republic is the seventh nation in Latin America and the Caribbean to join this initiative. Speaking at the ceremony, Presidential Minister Luis Manuel Bonetti, who is also director of corporate relations for the Global Foundation, said that over 200 Dominican companies have declared their commitment to take on the responsibilities of corporate society. The idea of the Global Pact is the development of "a world economy that is more sustainable and inclusive."
The Ministry of the Environment has closed the Metaloxa plant "for good", according to a report in Diario Libre. The ministry said that the definitive closure of the processing plant was due to the fact that the facility did not follow legal regulations for working with lead processing. This is the factory that polluted the area known as "God's Paradise" just outside Santo Domingo, near the Haina Industrial Park. Metaloxa had been granted permits to operate under strict pollution controls, but these were not followed. The company recycles lead from batteries and has been operating since 1979. According to the ministry, the company polluted the land and ground waters, but no action was taken until 1996 when environmental controls were introduced. Because of their repeated failure to fulfill the requirements of the Environmental Protection Institute (INPRA), the ministry's predecessor, the institute ordered Metaloxa to be closed down in 1999. Studies carried out by INPRA, the Blacksmith Institute and the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) outlined a series of measures that would guarantee the environmental health of the area, but these were not implemented. According to Juan Ditren Flores, the ministry's Quality Control director, the weighty file on Metaloxa shows that the company has polluted the Lower Haina valley area, and "does not deserve to continue operating."
The Monetary Board has just approved a new set of rules governing the remittance industry in the Dominican Republic. Exchange houses and remittance offices will be subject to fines of up to RD$10 million for violating the new rules. These rules will go into effect within 45 days. Commercial banks and savings and loan banks are also included in the package.
The Monetary Board says that the regulations require businesses to contribute 0.5% of their capital towards covering the costs of the Central Bank and the Superintendent of Banking for supervising their operations, and that the dollar will be the default currency with which to state foreign currency. The new code also calls for exchange companies to obtain identification from currency vendors and buyers, the transaction amount, money given and received, and form of payment for each monetary transaction. Finally, businesses will only be allowed to have, for extended periods of time, an amount equivalent to no more than 20% of the liabilities designated in foreign money.
An article in Diario Libre points out that investment in the DR telecommunications industry is worth between US$350 and US$800 billion, and that the index of Dominican telecommunications grew from 4.70% in 1998 to 13 in 2006 in the last eight years, making it of the main portions of the country's GDP. Indotel president Dr. Jose Rafael Vargas made the announcement and told the newspaper that the industry is one of the most dynamic and has the largest overall growth of any industry in the country.
Listin Diario reports that a threatened strike, starting at 6:00am today, could affect 160,000 students at the UASD University. Members of the Federation of Professors (Faprouasd) and employees, part of the Employee Association (Asodemu) at the UASD University will meet today to discuss the next step in their protest, which will continue if the administration doesn't reconsider the recently signed medical insurance contracts. The UASD's professors are angered that the University has decided to contract ARS Humana Insurance as the school's insurance provider, without any previous public bidding by other insurance companies. University Dean Roberto Reyna pleaded with professors to go back to teaching and to their administrative duties, and assured that the University would remain open despite the protest.
At least a quarter of the Dominican public has some form of private health insurance. According to Listin Diario, of the country's 9,092,333 inhabitants, 2, 229,855 have insurance, whether it is formal insurance or the use of an "iguala" (retainer). The vast majority is insured by one of the 24 ARS (Administrators of Health Risks) or local HMOs. The ARS have 2,000,763 people on their files. Many patients interviewed by the newspaper said that they admire their doctors' professional capacity, but complained about the high cost of medical treatment. One of the more common complaints is the list of restrictions contained in most health insurance policies. Of all the funding of the local HMOs, a total of 86% has come from the private sector as contributions from employers and private families.
Council members from Santo Domingo East are admitting that they had no idea what they were voting for when they voted to award a refuse collection contract to a company owned by Mayor Juan de los Santos, a company that according to an article published in last Friday's Diaro Libre had no experience in the sanitation business. Council members said that they unwittingly voted for resolution 74-06 without proper public bidding for the contracts. Some of the Council members claimed that they abstained from voting, precisely because they had no idea of the nature of the deals with Pro-Hygiene and Health Services Company (SEHISA). Interestingly enough, Mayor de los Santos is now apologizing for what have been described as "corrupt actions", and says that he "regrets" what he did, and that he was thinking of the municipality's wellbeing.
Listin Diario is reporting that all the energy companies that are operating under the Madrid Accord are in fact breaking the rules stipulated by the contract, when it comes to the purchase and sale of energy. The paper says that no company has fulfilled its contractual obligations. According to the newspaper, the Itabo, Haina, Dominican Power Partner, Cogentrix, and Union Fenosa energy generators are required to produce 1,360 MW per hour, but they only produce an average of 635.6 MW, for a total deficit of 724.12 MW of power, or 53.2%. Listin is quoting a report released by the state-run Electric Companies (CDEEE).
Diario Libre reports on the way in which the electric companies break the rules by stating that according to the same Madrid Accord, only 80% of energy sales are to be by contracts, with a minimum of 20% bought on the spot market and that to this point in the year the companies have 92.8% of energy by contracts. This limits the spot market, which is supposed to increase competition on the market. Diario Libre reports that EdeNorte contracted 84.5%% of energy, while EdeSur and EdeEste contracted out 93.6 and 99.9%, for an average of 92.8% of contract bought energy. This left only 7.2% to be bought on the spot market.
Meanwhile, the electricity generator EGE-Haina is questioning the sincerity of the new talks on the existing contracts with the generators. According to Diario Libre, the company says that there is "something hidden" in the talks and that the government is trying to "cover the sun with a finger," and, according to a letter written by Mejico Angeles, the Regulatory Affairs director for EGE-Haina, the government is "trying to open the sector for the two coal-fired plants that were recently contracted." Angeles said that his firm has invested $280 million in plant improvements and in increasing the facility's generating capacity. The Haina official said that the blackouts are the result of the losses suffered by the power distributors (EDEs) and that if the state did not have to compensate the high costs of non-payment and electricity theft, the distributors would be in a position to pay for energy and cover the demand.
United States ambassador to the Dominican Republic Hans Hertell has congratulated the Condovi company for its work with Haitian laborers. Hertell and the American ambassador to Haiti, along with other staff, toured the grounds of the Condovi complex that operates on the Haitian side of the border in Juana Mendez (the Dominican name for the Haitian border town of Ouanaminthe). In the free trade zone where Condovi operates there are 2,000 Haitian employees, at various levels. The importance of Condovi's success is that, according to El Caribe newspaper, it represents the beginning of the development of an industrial cluster of twin plants located along the border between both nations. The newspaper goes on to say that the development of these clusters will have positive social and political effects on both nations.
Spokespersons for Verizon are denying reports that they have sold 100% of shares to the company Telmex, and are saying that any sale would need the approval of the Dominican Telecommunications Institute (Indotel), which they do not yet have. Verizon is stuck in a bitter legal battle with the Tax Department (DGII) and the government over taxes that Verizon is supposed to pay on capital gains made in the country, taxes they have to pay before they are allowed to sell their company shares. El Caribe newspaper is reporting that the DGII says that Verizon has already sold all of its shares. The government is calling on Verizon to pay RD$17 billion in taxes. Verizon is claiming that capital gains are only paid when the company has actually had monetary gains.
Judge Jose Manuel Hernandez Peguero is calling for the Supreme Court to investigate judges who deliver favorable sentences in drug-related court cases. Hernandez cited the release on bond of a man believed to be an accomplice of former Captain Ernesto Quirino Paulino's international drug ring. Quirino is in jail, awaiting trial in the United States for his role in the drug trafficking ring. Hernandez is quoted in Listin Diario as saying that it is not fair to set a drug trafficker's bail at RD$50,000 while someone who steals from a vending machine gets RD$200,000 bail.
Gustavo de los Santos Coll, coordinator of the National District District Attorney's Drug Trafficking and Consumption Department is also accusing many interim Instruction Magistrates of being too lenient or of acting in complicity with accused drug offenders. He has requested the intervention of the Supreme Court Chief Justice Jorge Subero Isa, to intervene in the case. De los Santos Coll said that the interim magistrates do not take into consideration the evidence submitted by the prosecutors, and which would allow the accused to be convicted in the first instance. De los Santos Coll cited the case of a Puerto Rican woman, Ginayra Adorno Alvarez, sent to trial by interim magistrate of the Fifth Court of Instruction, Ana Magnolia Mendez Cabrera, but with a variance in the detention measures that granted the accused a bail bond of just RD$20,000. Alvarez is accused of attempting to transport 1.5 kilograms of cocaine to Puerto Rico. The prosecutor told Listin Diario reporters that it was "inconceivable" that a foreigner with a local domicile should receive such treatment. De los Santos Coll also mentioned another interim judge who released a Colombian accused of transporting two kilograms of heroin in spite of a prosecutor's request for an additional time period in which to present the complete files and evidence in the case. The magistrate, Juan Pablo Monegro declared the case closed for lack of evidence.
The government's drug czar Marino Vinicio "Vincho" Castillo agreed with the claims and says that there is a culture of complicity between judges and drug traffickers, which allows for drug crimes to evade justice in the DR.
The "Bienvenido Sea" (You're welcome) foundation works with 35,000 Dominicans who have been deported from the United States for different crimes or violations of their resident status. The foundation proposes the creation of a job agency and a cooperative that would seek to re-insert these people back into society. Ex-convicts Victor Santos and Rene Vicioso who head up the foundation, spoke of their experiences in US jails, and swore that because they know what can happen to people, what they are proposing to create is a crime prevention program. However, the men reject the accusation that the country's recent crime wave is the result of actions by deportees. Santos served 16 years of an 85-year sentence and feels that since he has served his time, he should not be rejected by society. Speakers at a recent workshop sponsored by the Baldom Company included Dr. Juan Ramirez from the Vanessa Foundation (named for the young girl shot and killed for her cell phone) and psychologist Fiordeliza Feliz. A report from the VOSES (Volunteers for Santiago Safety) group said that violent deaths in the city have fallen to less than 13 per month since the beginning of the anti-violence campaign.
Institute of Innovations in Biotechnology director Bernarda Castillo has told Hoy newspaper that the Dominican Republic has become the world's number one liquid ginger exporter. She said that ginger is an example of what the country can do with its natural resources, and said that they are working on 20 other formulas, like yogurt made from rice. The formula was created by Dominican Diogenes Aybar in 1988 while studying in Russia, and it is now that the exportation of the liquid is reaching mass production.
Dominican-born Nelson de la Rosa was 54cm (about 22in) tall and was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the World's Smallest Man. He passed away yesterday in his hotel in New York, apparently of a heart attack. He had just returned from a series of performances with a circus in Chile and was on his way to Boston. He featured in the cult movie "The Human Rat" and was said to have been the inspiration for Miniyo, of Austin Powers fame. He also appeared in the 1996 film The Island of Dr. Moreau with Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer. He is survived by his son Cristian Alberto and his wife Jennifer. Nelson often said that he had lived a good life despite his diminutive size: "I could die right now and go happily because I have lived.... I have worked in television, in movies and I have danced."
A dramatic moment in the life of Dominican fauna was captured by the lens of young American Rick Stanley, 17, a winner of a photography contest sponsored by Shell and the BBC. An announcement in Diario Libre said that the winning photograph called "The Dilemma" was photographed during a hike in the Dominican Republic. Rick and a friend found a tree frog in the jaws of a snake. The friend scared the snake and freed the frog. Stanley said that the scene created a dilemma: would it have been morally correct to allow the snake to eat the frog?
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