Presidency Technical Secretary Temistocles Montas has explained that a possible typing error in the planned fiscal reform led many to believe that freight vehicles will be taxed under the proposed fiscal reform. Montas said that the error would be corrected, and that freight vehicles will not be subject to a 5% levy. The Secretary said that if there are any other errors or concerns about the reform they would be studied and corrected, but stood firm in saying that the RD$5 increase in gasoline is not negotiable. Montas continued by saying that once the government has heard from all the different sectors of the nation, they would press ahead with a reform that will be "beneficial" for the whole country. El Caribe newspaper explains that the confusion arose when in a paragraph that explained that passenger vehicles will not be taxed, the word freight vehicles was mistakenly excluded.
Members of the ruling PLD and opposition PRSC parties are joining forces against article 38 of the fiscal reform presented by the Executive Branch, expressing their concern that removal of exemptions for free trade zones (FTZ) located in the special border development regions would come as a setback for development in these areas. Article 38 of the new fiscal reform project stipulates the removal of all exemptions for free trade zones located in the country's border regions. Finance Minister Vicente Bengoa expressed his concern about the situation and said that he would provide some answers on the issue in the next few days. El Caribe newspaper writes that during a meeting to discuss the fiscal reform, which was attended by Bengoa, Presidency Technical Secretary Temistocles Montas and Tax Department Director Juan Hernandez, 41 articles of the fiscal reform were discussed and article 38 was the one that caused most friction. PLD senator for Montecristi Hans Vieluf told El Caribe that senators from the provinces that will be affected by the reform would not vote for it when the time comes.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is postponing the fifth and sixth revisions of the Dominican Republic's Stand-by agreement until 24 January 2007. The agreement was supposed to be reviewed on 22 December. This is the third postponement of the reading. The IMF representative in the DR, Erik Offerdal says that the negotiations that correspond to the first semester of next year are going well. In August the government and the IMF were supposed to meet to discuss the revisions, but the government wasn't ready at that point. The meeting was postponed again in October, and now once again, which is why the government hasn't received any IMF funds since May. Listin Diario reports that the IMF has given the country more than US$365 million to date, which is only part of a total US$631.7 million under the Stand-by agreement.
The first part of a US$150 million loan was finally given to the Dominican Republic after the country paid off a US$45 million outstanding debt to the energy distributors. The loan, which was approved in 2005, will be directed towards the energy sector. The World Bank stipulated that the DR had to pay off the US$45 million and improve its microeconomic situation before it could receive the money. Finance Minister Vicente Bengoa has worked consistently on this program in order for the funds to be given before the end of the month. Radhames Segura, head of the State-Run Electricity Companies (CDEEE), will hold a press conference today to explain where the funds will be spent.
Customs (DGA) head Miguel Cocco is voicing his concern about inefficiency on the part of the courts in convicting criminals who have been apprehended by the Customs department. Cocco says that the DGA does its job in catching the criminals but that the courts don't prosecute them. Cocco said that there still haven't been any breakthroughs in last week's case where 11 large shipments of merchandise, with an estimated value of RD$300,000 were stopped at customs while being smuggled into the country without paying taxes, and added that the shipment was billed to ghost companies, which are set up to receive such shipments. Cocco commented that either the DGA is not doing its job or the courts aren't doing theirs.
Executive Director of the Presidential Council on AIDS (COPRESIDA) Humberto Salazar says that in the last nine months the government, through COPRESIDA, has invested more than RD$20 million in fighting the disease in the sugar cane workers settlements, known as bateyes, where mostly Haitian migrants live. Salazar made his comments in response to the concerns voiced by a delegation of US congress members about the quality of life in the bateyes. Salazar said that the funds have gone towards helping stop the spread of the disease and that the work has been done in conjunction with 25 other organizations. Senator Francisco Dominguez Brito, also responding to the findings of the delegation, said that the visitors were not meddling in Dominican affairs, adding that the most important thing would be an international effort aimed at helping the Haitian community.
On the other hand, Labor Minister Jose Ramon Fadul has accused the US delegation of discrediting the government and said that the purpose of their trip here was to dirty the DR's image. Fadul says that government officials know what they have to do about the issue at hand and that no other country should come in and denounce or express their opinions on how the government does things.
Vice President Rafael Alburquerque says that whom the country decides to give nationality to is a matter of national sovereignty and that no country has the right to express their views on the issue. He says that foreigners have no right to tell the government who they can or can't call Dominican and that you can not go against what is written in the Constitution. US legislators apparently are under the impression that all born in the DR are due Dominican nationality, while a December 2005 Supreme Court ruling clarified that only those born to legal residents qualify for citizenship.
Pre-presidential candidate Miguel Vargas Maldonado was supportive of the trip by the delegation, describing their visit as positive and saying that relations between the two nations have always been good.
US Ambassador to the DR Hans H. Hertell calmed concerns when he said that regardless of what the US delegation in the country thinks, the country's entry into DR-CAFTA will proceed as planned, seeing that there are only a few details need to be hammered out, which President George Bush needs to sign off on. Hertell did explain that these Congress members heavily influenced the DR-CAFTA negotiations on the question of labor laws, but said that it will not impede the country's entrance into the free trade agreement unless the DR doesn't fulfill the final steps that are required. The Ambassador also said that although the delegation has not written its report, he doesn't believe that they are trying to harm the country. Hertell stated that he thought they were just trying to help the poorest sectors of the nation.
The Japanese government and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) have signed off on a donation for the province of Bahoruco with a total value of US$228,000. The funds will be implemented through the program "Improvement of Nutrition for Children in Bahoruco Province," and is part of the "Educational Schools Garden program." The funds will help raise the nutritional levels of 4,400 children in 44 schools, providing training for 240 teachers, as well as for 2,640 parents and 50 community leaders. The funds come from the special Japanese fund to help reduce poverty and will be administered by Dominican women's development organization MUDE.
Today is the run-off election in Kissimmee, Florida (located near Orlando) for the two largest vote-getters in the November 7 city elections. Jaime Matos, a Dominican with strong roots in the Kissimmee/Orlando region, is vying to become the first Latino ever elected to the Kissimmee City Commission and the first Dominican ever in the State of Florida. Under Kissimmee law, a candidate must win 50%+ 1 vote to avoid a run-off and the winner of the November election, Cheryl Grieb (who is not Latino) received 49% of the vote. The election is considered a dead-heat because the Latino community had divided their votes between Jaime Matos (Dominican) and Arturo Otero (another Latino). However the combined vote may help Matos pull off a victory. This is considered to be the closest that a Dominican has come to winning an election in Florida, where thousands of Dominicans reside. It is estimated that 60% of the residents in Kissimmee are Latino, but have never had a Latino representative in the city commission.
Business consultant Federico Martinez expresses his concern for the lack of capacity for Dominican governments' lack of capacity of rectifying. He brings up the issue in Hoy newspaper's economic section, commenting on a recent talk by Jared Diamond, author of the best-selling "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed" and stresses two points made in the book/talk: The role of people who take decisions (kings, politicians and the wealthy) and their isolation from the consequences of their decisions; and the fact that successful societies are those that re-evaluate their fundamental values."
Martinez criticizes the fact that the DR's wealthy have isolated themselves in their villas at Casa de Campo where they do not suffer blackouts, but live securely, in abundance and far from the sight of poverty and thus from the consequences that their decisions have had on the rest of the population." He points out that this group has ensured policies that benefit their interests, while corruption has created a business capital that has turned politicians into wealthy businessmen, and now it is difficult to control these. "In this scheme of things, the interest of businessmen who do not live off politicians is to avoid paying more taxes, while that of the politicians in government is to ensure the funds so that they can remain in power, and that of the politicians in the opposition is to seek the contrary," he explains. "The middle class and the poor are nothing but spectators (and victims) of this clash of interests.
He highlights the fact that from 1997 to 2002, the poorest 10% of the Dominican population saw a decline in their share of the Gross Domestic Product from 1.5% to 0.7%, according to ECLAC. In economic terms, that means that in 1997, 800,000 Dominicans had to live on 77 US cents a day, while in 2002, 900,000 had to survive on 46 US cents a day. He points out that in just five years, the poor suffered a decline of 41% in the real value of their income, while the 10% wealthiest segment saw a 37% increase.
He mentions that every month he hears of a young professional who quits and goes to live in Miami, because of the higher cost of living here, new violence and contradictions in Dominican society. He describes the country as "a country where to be corrupt and have stolen funds that were collected to combat poverty, is not a source of shame or a reason for going to jail; on the contrary, it is a prerequisite for being a candidate for something."
Martinez comments that the present trend will lead the DR to collapse, and urges the country to pause for a moment and take stock of our code of values. "If we continue to permit the increase of poverty and extreme wealth and we grant criminal impunity to those proven corrupt in the private and public sector, we will be digging our own grave as a nation. We have to pay fair taxes to an honest government that places priority on using those funds to create private and public jobs and on investing in the future through education and health," he writes, concluding that the country has taken the wrong road. He says we are witnesses to chaos in the stealing of a red light and the approval of RD$60 million to restore the presidential vacation home. "I fear that the disillusioned voters will just vote in another jerk to the presidency and we will wallow in another four years of demagoguery and fraud."
He ends with a plea on behalf of his children and grandchildren for a nation where they can live with dignity, and explains that this is why he wrote the article. "Sometimes I think that I would best fulfill my responsibility towards them by migrating; because I do not want to have to lower my head when one of them decides that one has to "seek the big buck at any cost" ("buscarsela como sea").
http://www.tomandoencuenta.blogspot.com/
Public Works Minister Freddy Perez is denouncing the robbery of power cables from the Juan Pablo Duarte Bridge over the Ozama River, as reported in Diario Libre. The robbery of power cables has become a common occurence in the DR, leaving many main thoroughfares in darkness. Journalist Marino Zapete, who became famous during the Hipolito Mejia administration for his public exposure of the construction of the former President's million dollar home in Jarabacoa, commented on the frequent theft of cables in his morning show on 88.5FM. In his opinion, the authorities have to be complicit in these robberies. On the show, there was speculation that there was possible profit to be made in new purchases of the important cables. Callers to his radio program also mentioned the possibility of complicity with power company employees, given the highly sophisticated task of removing these cables. Several called in to report empty lots where stolen cables are delivered for smelting and export of metals on a regular basis, commenting that it appeared that the police was aware of what was happening, but was being paid a fee for turning a blind eye.
A judge has denied retired Colonel Pedro Julio "Pepe" Goico permission to leave the country. El Caribe writes that Goico had asked permission to leave the DR for Spain for a period of 10 days so he could tend to business regarding his residency in that country. The Attorney General's office said that his departure is not possible since he is on trial and has a hearing on 19 December.
The Central Electoral Board (JCE) is to submit its case against DataCentro to the Corruption Prevention Department (Depreco) for what they believe is fraud. The JCE paid DataCentro US$16 million for the automation of government offices, design of the new cedula identification card, and fingerprinting, but the new JCE members feel that the company has failed to provide the services that were agreed upon. Listin Diario writes that the JCE's administrative chamber says that there are supposed to be more than four million fingerprints in the archives, but that currently there are only 70,000, and that none of these are functional. The original contract for the automation was signed in 1997 for a total of US$18.2 million, of which US$16.6 million have been paid. Speaking for the JCE, administrative chamber head Robert Rosario said that the worst thing about the case was that DataCentro had asked the JCE for more than US$2 million in advance, without ever having completed anything.
National District prosecutor Jose Manuel Hernandez Peguero has expressed his concern about a loophole in the Dominican Penal Code that allows foreigners to post bail after they have committed a crime. Hernandez said the penal code should be reformed so that no undocumented foreigner who is accused of committing a crime in the country can post bail. Hernandez gave the examples of Colombians who come to the country, usually for drug-related business, and kill people, but once they are caught they just post bail. Hernandez was particularly concerned about the cases of Simon Bolivar Castillo Sanchez and Socrates Mena Castillo whose bodies were found in two tanks at Cruce Pajon, in Monte Plata province, after what is believed to have been a drug-related killing.
Colombians Jaime Alonzo Calle Munoz and Juan Reynaldo Ramirez Rondon will be allowed to post bail if they pay RD$50 million each in cash This was the ruling handed down by Judge Daira Medina Tejada for two drug dealers who were found in possession of 442 kilos of cocaine during a raid at a hotel parking lot in the city of Santo Domingo. Interestingly it was Calle Munoz who was involved in the case where a prisoner at the Victoria prison, where he was being held, went out for a night on the town with one of the police officers who worked at the prison. Prosecutors Gustavo de los Santos Coll and Isidro Vasquez have asked for the decision to be rescinded.
As the year draws to a close, El Caribe newspaper takes a look back at this year's artists and entertainers who are "in" and those whose 15 minutes of fame are winding down. The list includes musicians, comedians, designers, actors, models, fashion designers, and other celebrities and television personalities in the Dominican spotlight. On the "In" list this year is Merengue star Eddy Herrera, street Merengue artist Julian Oro Duro, Bachata star Anthony Santos, as well as Bachata group Monchy & Alexandra. Also on the "In" list is comedy show Titirymundati, Manolo Ozuna as best comedian, Roberto Angel Salcedo as the "In" actor of the moment and Maria del Carmen as the "In" actress. For the full In & Out list go to www.elcaribecdn.com
Dominican-born Jose Espinal has scored his first goals for the Italian soccer team Novara from the Italian C1 division. Espinal, who had previously played with division A team Atalanta and Samremese, had played well for the team, but so far failed to score a goal. Espinal scored in the 37th minute and then again in the 72nd minute of the match. Interestingly enough Espinal was playing against his brother, Vinicio, who plays for the rival team Monza. Both brothers were born in Santo Domingo, but immigrated to Europe with their mother.
Though the "Safe Christmas" plan was launched on Sunday it has been reported that there has been little to no change in the number of police officers patrolling the target areas in and around Santo Domingo. Reports indicate that the delay in placing officers is due to a lack of coordination. Each year the police increase security around Christmas time to provide a safer holiday season for Dominicans.
Interior and Police Chief Franklyn Almeyda has warned PLD officials that the PLD Political Committee will punish any PLD member who votes against the fiscal reform. Almeyda, speaking in Hoy newspaper, said that during the party's last meeting the 22 members present agreed unanimously in favor of the fiscal reform. Almeyda says that the Committee decides the party's strategies and makes decisions for the party. He stated that the party couldn't afford to have a group of legislators doing whatever they want. He says that a person can't be voted into power through a political party and then not do what the party asks of them.
There were no games last night, but El Caribe newspaper reports that Major League Baseball is considering holding a few exhibition games here in 2007. Major league teams have played in the DR before, to sell-out crowds in 1997 and 1999, and it comes as part of an effort by Major League baseball to expand the sport's fan base by playing games outside the United States. MLB needs to approve renovations to Estadio Quisqueya before any games are played in the country.
Standings
| Team | W-L | Avg. | Games Behind |
| Gigantes | 27 - 14 | .659 | -- |
| Aguilas | 26 - 14 | .650 | .5 |
| Licey | 24 - 17 | .585 | 3.0 |
| Estrellas | 18 - 22 | .450 | 8.5 |
| Escogido | 14 - 27 | .341 | 13.0 |
| Azucareros | 13 - 28 | .317 | 14.0 |
* Santo Domingo
Estrellas vs. Licey
* San Francisco de Macoris
Escogido vs. Gigantes
* La Romana
Aguilas vs. Azucareros
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