DR1 Daily News - Dominican Republic
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The Vice President candidates have aired their views for the National Association of Young Entrepreneurs (Anje) debate. The debate on 23 April 2024 was marked with Vice President Raquel Peña questioning the country that the opposition candidates described and the source of statistics.
Vice President Raquel Peña gave insights into what the government is doing and insisted the country was advancing when questioned about several topics.
Opposition vice president candidate Zoraima Cuello was the most vocal with her criticism. She said her stats came from the Ministry of Economy and National Competitiveness Council. She criticized that several websites of the government were not being updated.
Of the three women representing the leading political parties, Ingrid Mendoza, vice president candidate for the People’s Force, was the least capable of expressing her ideas. Of the three, Mendoza is the only who has not been a government officer. A corporate lawyer, Mendoza is the widow...
158 mayors nationwide will be sworn in to start their four-year terms on Wednesday, 24 April 2024 nationwide. In the 18 February 2024 municipal election, the ruling Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) won 121 mayoralties, the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) won 16, the People’s Force (FP) six and the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD) one.
The mayors-to-be sworn in on 24 April in the country’s top 5 municipalities are:Carolina Mejia (PRM), reelected for the National DistrictDio Astacio (PRM), elected for Santo Domingo EastUlises Rodriguez, elected for SantiagoBetty Geronimo, Santo Domingo NorthFrancisco Peña, reelected for a fourth term for Santo Domingo West
In addition to the 158 mayors, 235 directors of municipal districts and other authorities elected on 18 February 2024 will be sworn in for the 2024-2028 term. Of the 3,849 local government authorities elected, there...
President Luis Abinader will be the first sitting President to participate in a debate with opposition candidates on the evening of Wednesday, 24 April 2024. President Luis Abinader seeks to be reelected. For more than 30 years, the National Young Entrepreneurs Association (Anje) had sought to organize the debate. One of the participants, Leonel Fernandez had rejected to participate when invited when in office. He confirmed his participation this time after Abinader accepted to participate in the debate.
An economist and businessman before reaching the Presidency in 2020, 56-year old Abinader seeks to be reelected for his first time. He enters into the debate with over 20 points above his main contender, three-term Leonel Fernandez. 70-year old Fernandez is known as a sage politician and very talented public speaker. In the 2024 presidential election, he is running...
The Grupo Corripio, the largest media association in the country, announces affiliate media are making available free air time and coverage for the presidential candidates in the Dominican Republic. The presidential election is set for Sunday, 19 May 2024.
The schedule for presentations is:30 April 2024: President Luis Abinader (Partido Revolucionario Moderno – PRM)1 May 2024: Abel Martinez (Partido de la Liberacion Dominicana – PLD)2 May 2024: Leonel Fernandez (Fuerza del Pueblo – FP)3 May 2024: Miguel Vargas Maldonado (Partido Revolucionario Dominicano – PRD)
The program will be conducted by Roberto Cavada and José Monegro, with a repeat on the next day at 7am.
The presidential candidate presentations will continue with minority party candidates given free time live at 7am. The moderators for these candidates will be Adalberto Grullon and Edith Febles.
The...
Traffic for those circulating in access roads to the Ministry of Education on Av. Maximo Gomez was practically paralyzed. Eduardo Hidalgo, the president of the ADP, the ever-powerful public school teacher union, had called for public school teachers to not go to work and instead head to the Ministry of Education to demand a 20% increase in wages. The director of the union called for 120,000 teachers nationwide to participate in the protest instead of going to teach.
Public schools were off for Tuesday, 23 April 2024, affecting 2.6 million students nationwide.
The showing of power days before the presidential election seeks to twist the arm of Minister of Education Angel Hernandez. Hernandez replaced the infamous Roberto Furcal, a former president of the ADP who was the campaign manager for President Luis Abinader into the 2020 presidential election and his...
The Ministry of Foreign Relations reports the visit of 10 ambassadors from different countries, some of them members of the UN Security Council who are officially are visiting to learn about the progress and development of the Dominican Republic in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The diplomats include the current president of the Security Council, Ambassador Vanessa Frazier, of Malta; and Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett of Guyana, who chairs the United Nations Haiti Sanctions Committee.
Also making up this group of ambassadors are the permanent representatives to the UN of Bahrain, Jamal Fares Alrowaiei; from Benin, Marc Hermanne Gninadoou Araba; from Greece, Evangelos Sekeris; Indonesia, Arrmanatha Christiawan Nasir; from Kuwait, Tareq M. A. M. Albanai; from Libya, Taher M. T. El-Sonni; from Slovenia, Bo tjan Malovrh; and...
LeNouvelliste of Haiti has reported on the landing of a US army airplane in Port-au-Prince. Le Nouvelliste reported that a US Southcom AC-130 landed on Tuesday, 23 April 2024 at Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince. The airport had been closed to air traffic after gangs fired at an airplane.
The arrival of the US military is just before the installation of a new presidential transition council in Haiti. The installation of the members of the Presidential Transitional Council is set to take place on Thursday, 25 April 2024 at the Villa d’Accueil, Leslie Voltaire, member of the Council, announced on 23 April 2024 to Le Nouvelliste.
Immediately after their installation, the presidential advisers will proceed to the election of the President of the Council.
Read...
Somos Pueblo, a leading muckraking news organization, reports on what would be a conflict of interest in the contracting of mass transport systems for Santiago and Santo Domingo. Ricardo Ripoll of Somos Pueblo defined as a major conflict of interest the contracting by the state involving engineer Jhael Isa Tavarez. He says Isa Tavarez is “judge and party” in the Santiago Monorrail contracting. The Santiago Cable Car and Monorail contract is for more than EUR500 million.
Somos Pueblo reports that Jhael Isa has appeared as a consultant in a private initiative proposal on the Santo Domingo Monorail Project presented to the General Public-Private Partnerships Agency (DGAPP) by the consortium — SOFRATESA – INCOFER – SERVINSCO on 24 February 2021.
Somos Pueblo indicates that after this, on 18 June 2021, President Luis Abinader signed the decree that created the...
The Dominican Republic has expressed a strong interest in fostering robust cooperation with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported on 22 April 2024 from Abu Dhabi. The stronger ties would be to combat climate change through clean energy initiatives.
Two senior officials from the Dominican Republic highlighted the potential for the UAE’s investments in renewable energy, emphasizing the mutual benefits of such a partnership, in an interview with the Emirates News Agency (WAM) on the sidelines of the International Renewable Energy Agency’s (IRENA) Assembly in Abu Dhabi last week.
Elaborating on the possibilities of bilateral cooperation in the renewable energy sector, Rafael Orlando Gómez Del Giudice, Vice Minister of Energy of the Dominican Republic, said: “Engaging more effectively with the UAE has enabled us to establish open...
The Dominican Association of Free Zones (Adozona) says there are 103 call centers operating in the National District (49.5%), Santo Domingo (12.6%) and Santiago (23.3%). These operate as free zones, with attractive tax regimes under Law 8-90, as reported in Diario Libre. They have installed themselves in the major urban areas seeking to attract bilingual staff. Call centers are a mayor employer of young people in the Dominican Republic.
Read more in Spanish:
Criminals dismantled the cables that power a large section of the Malecón boulevard lightening. The government power utility EdeSur/EdeEste and the city government of Santo Domingo announced the 40 light post wiring and lamps in three section sof the city sea-fronting boulevard will be reinstalled. The lights had been installed less than a year ago.
The city government made the announcement after comments in social media on the darkness of several sections of the important city avenue.
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Students from the Dominican Republic had won two first-place awards and a second place when NASA announced on 22 April 2024 the winners of the 30th Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC).
The annual engineering competition, one of NASA’s longest-standing challenges, held its concluding event on 19 and 20 April 2024 at the US Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.
Dominican students were on the list of 2024 award winners in the College/University Division with second place reached by the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (Intec). First place in that category went to the University of Alabama in Huntsville and third place to Cambell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina.
Dominican students from the Instituto Especializado de Estudios Superiores Loyola (San Cristobal) won the Safety Award in the...
New York Yankees Juan Soto’s towering 3-run home run during the game against the Tampa Rays on Friday, 19 April 2024 sent Yankee Stadium into a frenzy in the bottom of the 7th when the Rays were leading 1-0.
It may be that Juan Soto will have one of the best seasons of his just-starting career. Yahoo Sports’ Jordan Shusterman and Jake Mintz discuss online how Juan Soto appears to be elevating baseball in what has been an absolute dream start for Soto with the New York Yankees.
Soto is expected to become a free agent this year, opening the way for much speculation as to whether he will continue to play with the Yankees.
Ministry of Public Health has taken preventive medicine to heart and for 10 days visited 117,763 homes where 51,383 sites were found positive for the breeding of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, transmitter of dengue. A population of 276,806 residents were registered in the homes.
The Ministry of Public Health has taken a proactive approach to reach out and help families prevent the spread of dengue by eliminating mosquito breeding points in their homes.
Ministry of Public Health crews found containers that accumulate water where the virus-transmitting mosquito breeds.
The interventions took place from 8 to 18 April 2024.
Among the containers found in homes in different provinces of the country there were 169,920 water storage tanks and 137,819 others identified as bottles, rubber bands, vases and cans.
The 71,623 mosquito breeding sites were eliminated through actions of simply...
The Central Bank reports that remittances from abroad for January to March 2024 reached RD$2.6 billion, more than in 2023 and 2022. Remittances were up 6.2% compared to the first quarter in 2023. Month per month, the remittances were higher than in the previous years.
The Central Bank attributes the increase to the good performance of the US economy. 86% of remittances is sent back by expatriates who live in the United States.
The relatively high level of remittances is one of the leading foreign sectors boosting the rising growth and development in the Dominican Republic. Others are rising tourism receipts, free zone manufacturing, and foreign investment. Together, they have maintained the stability of the Dominican peso.
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Foreign Minister Roberto Álvarez once more appeared before the Security Council of the United Nations to emphasize the high cost the Dominican Republic bears of the chaos in Haiti.
“The Dominican Republic has maintained solidarity with Haiti despite the sacrifice this implies. Now, we cannot go beyond our material possibilities and even less adopt measures that threaten the stability and security of our country. We simply will not allow it, no matter who asks for it.”
Along the same lines, during his speech at the periodic meeting of this body to address the Haitian situation, Foreign Minister Álvarez expressed that the Dominican government has continued to provide its collaboration, most recently, with the evacuation through its territory of personnel from the United Nations and other organizations, as well as diplomats and nationals from more than a dozen countries, including...
Military spending by the Dominican Republic rose by 14% in 2023 in response to worsening gang violence in neighboring Haiti. The Dominican Republic’s military spending has risen steeply since 2021, when the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse threw Haiti into a worse crisis than in previous years.
New data on the rising military costs the Dominican Republic has had to assume was shared in the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), presented on 21 April 2024 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The SIPRI report revealed that the Dominican Republic increased its military spending by 14% in 2023 due to the worsening of gang violence in Haiti.
“The use of the military to quell gang violence has been a growing trend in the region for years, as governments are unable to solve the problem with conventional means or prefer immediate and often...
Former rector of the state university UASD (1987-1990) who was also a former long-time Minister of Interior and Police (2004-2011) Franklin Almeyda Rancier died on Friday, 19 April 2024. He died at 83 years. He was buried with honors on Sunday.
President Luis Abinader had declared a day of warning on Saturday, 20 April 2024.
After the wake at the Funeraria Blandino, Almeyda’s body was taken for a ceremony at the UASD.
Interior and Police Minister Jesús Vásquez Martínez highlighted the contributions of Almeyda to creating Dominican institutions.
Former National District Attorney and dean of Law at Unibe, politician Guillermo Moreno campaigned for President Luis Abinader during the one-hour National District senate seat debate vs Omar Fernandez, the son of former three-term President Leonel Fernandez.
In the previously aired Santiago debate that opened the series of Senate televised debates, the better expositions were those of Demóstenes Martinez for the Fuerza del Pueblo and Dr. Daniel Rivera for the PRM. Former Deputy Marino Collante, running for the PLD, had difficulties when verbalizing his answers.
The Santiago debate happened to the backdrop of President Luis Abinader taking his weekly press conference to Santiago and dedicating his introduction to tell what his administration has done for Santiago. The PRM government is the administration that has invested the most government funds in Santiago...
Former President Leonel Fernández affirmed on Monday, 22 April 2024 that President Luis Abinader’s government is manipulating the country’s crime and citizen insecurity statistics to hide information.
“We are observing in recent times, as a consequence of the increase in homicides, crimes, assaults, etc., a manipulation of statistics in the first quarter of each year from 2019 to 2023. In 2019, there were 242 homicides, in 2020, which fell to 241 due to the pandemic, in 2021, 283, in 2022, 306, in 2023, 324 deaths from homicides and in 2024, suddenly, it falls to 39,” said Fernandez.
“The first thing one notices is that there is a statistical inconsistency. Nothing falls so abruptly. There is something there that is being hidden. We call it statistical manipulation,” stated Fernández.
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The defense lawyer of deputy Rosa Amalia Pilarte, wife of also charged Santiago businessman Micky Lopez, said during the hearing before the Supreme Court of Justice that there is no way the charges of his client’s ties to drug trafficking can be proven. The PRM legislator for La Vega is accused of asset laundering for RD$4 billion for drug trafficking operations led by her husband, Miguel Arturo López Florencia (Micky Lopez).
Pilarte’s defense lawyer Amado Gomez says he deposited hundreds of documents that prove the innocence of the legislator. He said the documents evidence the transparency in the management of the money in Pilarte’s bank accounts. He said the documents are evidence that the funds came from farm activities carried out by the Lopez-Pilarte family.
Since 2020, the Pilarte Lopez family members have cases pending in the judiciary. Pilarte’s husband Micky López...
A Unicef telethon gathered RD$21,855,958 for UNICEF programs in the Dominican Republic. The telethon was transmitted by the government station, Channel 4 and 20 other local channels.
“With the telethon we achieved a better present and future for children in the Dominican Republic. At UNICEF we work so that children and adolescents have the best start to their lives and grow up healthy,” said Carlos Carrera, representative of Unicef in the DR.
This year, the telethon was hosted by Jatnna Tavárez, National Goodwill Ambassador of UNICEF, and the “Friend of Childhood” communicator, Enrique Quailey, who, together with singer Manny Cruz, who is also the National Goodwill Ambassador of the international organization, motivated the donations.
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Billy Horschel won the Corales Puntacana Championship, part of the PGA Tour on Sunday, 21 April 2024. Upon rethinking his victory, he called golf “a fickle game.”
It was Horschel’s first time playing in the Dominican Republic. He went home with 300 points of the FedExCup and US$720,000 in cash. The golf tournament distributes US$4 million in cash prizes.
AP reported that Horschel ran off four straight birdies on the front nine to get in the mix, began to pull away with an eagle on the par-5 12th hole and closed with a 9-under 63 for a two-shot victory in the Corales Puntacana Championship. He defeated Wesley Bryan who on Saturday had finished a wild round of birdies and bogeys with one last birdie to break a tie with a 2-under 70, giving him a one-shot lead ahead of Kevin Tway going into the last round of the suddenly wide-open Corales Puntacana Championship.
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Tourism Minister David Collado was in Montecristi for the inauguration of the renovated Parque Duarte, the northwestern city’s historic city park. The Ministry of Tourism’s Tourist Zone Infrastructure Execution Committee (CEIZTUR) funded RD$35,616,215.21 to renovate the 4,935 square meter park.
Collado explained the renovation is part of the efforts by the Ministry of Tourism to promote the development of the northwestern Montecristi province as a tourist destination.
The intervention of the park included the renovation of the iconic metal structure of the Montecristi Clock Tower, as well as its commissioning, as a focal point of the park. The clock tower is regarded as a monument of great historical value and an architectural jewel of the Dominican Republic.
As part of the reconstruction, the sidewalks and curbs and the exterior fence were...
A recent study carried out by Analytica, a leading local research company, reveals that more than six million Dominicans engaged in domestic tourism from 2016 to 2022. Local tourists contributed US$1.55 billion in value added to the tourism sector. Deputy Minister Jacqueline Mora presented the results of the study, “Results of Dominican Tourism.”
Mora said domestic tourism was key to the recovery of the local tourism sector during the Covid-19 pandemic. Locals migrated to live in tourism destinations in pandemic months and then were the first to travel locally, especially as vacationing abroad was off limits or difficult to do during Covid-19 months.
Key indicators analyzed from 2016 to 2022 reveal that the hotel industry generated an added value of US$22.19 billion in 2022, with a multiplier effect of 2.88 in the rest of the economy, in terms of GDP.
This is equivalent to...
The Ministry of Tourism has undertaken the drafting of the National Tourism Sustainability Strategy. A series of encounters with public and private entities and contributors to the tourism value chain are being held to compile information for the plan. Veronica Pinilla and Victor Gorga, of the Technical Cooperation-Tourism/United Nations are assisting the government in the preparation of the plan. The work tables are coordinated by Deputy Tourism Minister for International Cooperation Carlos Peguero.
Vice Minister Peguero said the initiative starts with gathering information. The plan seeks to define the steps to be taken in terms of sustainability in tourism, to ensure better conditions for tourism development. The strategy will look into areas such as environment, land use, water use, energy, solid wastes, and statistics.
Peguero highlighted the drafting of the...
The Dominican Republic has receives 3.2 million visitors in the first three months of the year.
Tourism Minister David Collado says that in March 2024 alone the Dominican Republic received 1,104,270 visitors. Collado reported that visitors in March alone were 16% more than in the same month last year. The monthly total for March is a new high. In March, 836,502 visitors arrived by air and 267,768 by sea.
The Dominican Republic continues to surpass its visitor arrival record, reaching 3,225,484 visitors in the first quarter of this year.
“We continue to reach spectacular figures: 1,104,270 visitors last month, which gives us the magic number 3,226,484 in the first three months of this year, something never seen in the history of Dominican tourism,” said Minister Collado when presenting the stats for March during an activity in Punta Cana.
The official stated...
Wyndham Hotels (WH) is operating the Wyndham Alltra Samana in Las Galeras, Samana to be managed by Playa Hotels & Resorts N.V. The hotel is the renovated Grand Paradise Samana, an all-inclusive family resort right on its own beach in Las Galeras.
The hotel chain is working on opening its second Alltra property, the Wyndham Alltra Punta Cana (renovated Jewel Punta Cana) scheduled to start receiving guests as of 29 April 2024.
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The Ministry of Tourism said that it is postponing the regularization of Airbnb renters in the Dominican Republic for another year.
The lack of a tax plan that must be prepared by the Tax Agency (DGII) will delay the signing of an agreement to regularize short-rent properties through the Airbnb platform in the country.
“The regularization of Airbnb by the Ministry of Tourism is a matter of security, care, that what they offer to tourists is there. And if there is any inconvenience, just as we supervise hotels, we can supervise Airbnbs,” said Tourism Minister David Collado.
He also pointed out that the private sector represented by the National Association of Hotels and Tourism of the Dominican Republic (Asonahores) was who asked the Ministry to postpone the signing of the agreement that had been scheduled for February 2024, until the DGII prepared the plan that must...
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjárto visited last week to strengthen diplomatic and cooperation ties between both countries. Foreign Minister Roberto Álvarez hosted his colleague, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary, Péter Szijjárto. Szijjárto has been in the position since 2014.
Szijjárto’s visit is the first in 40 years of bilateral diplomatic relations. The Ministry of Foreign Relations reported the ministers held discussions on their perspectives and positions on a variety of issues on the global agenda, including national security challenges, such as irregular immigration and international policy.
The ministers advocated the defense of multilateralism as an indispensable resource for dialogue and the search for peace among peoples and agreed to continue working together in the different spaces provided by the United Nations...
José Melo, Angie Martínez, Hon. Kamina Johnson Smith and Jose Julio Gomez / Jamaica Government
The Second Dominican Republic-Jamaica Business Forum took place at the AC Hotel by Marriott Kingston in Kingston, Jamaica on 18 April 2024. Vice Minister of Bilateral Foreign Policy in the Ministry of Foreign Relations Dominican Republic Jose Julio Gomez and the president of the Chamber of Commerce of Jamaica in the Domiican Republic Juan Jose Melo traveled to Jamaica to participate. The event had the backing of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Jamaica Kamina Johnson Smith, the Dominican ambassador to Jamaica Angie Martinez and the president of the Private Sector Organization of Jamaica (PSOJ), Metry Seaga.
Jamaica Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Kamina Johnson Smith said at the event that the...
The Dominican Association of Exporters (Adoexpo) elected the members of its board of directors for the period 2024-2026. Karel Castillo, from the company Agroindustria Ocoeña, a leading avocado exporter, was chosen the chair of the Dominican Republic’s main export organization.
Speaking during ordinary assembly, Castillo highlighted the country could double its exports.
In addition to Castillo, the board of directors includes Manuel Singer, from Termo Envases, first vice president; Roberto Bonetti, from Mercasid, second vice president; Anyarlene Bergés, from Metaldom, third vice president; Edgar del Toro, from Banco Multiple Lafise, treasurer; Robinson Bou, from Banco Popular Dominicano, vice treasurer; Roberto Jiménez, from the Reserve Bank (BanReservas), general secretary, and Karsten Windeler, from Marıtima Dominicana, deputy general secretary.
The named Adoexpo directors...
Manuel Otero / Acento
Minister of Agriculture Limber Cruz Lopez has put forth suggestions to improve agricultural production in neighboring Haiti. These suggestions have received solid support from the InterAmerican Institute for Agricultural Cooperation (IICA).
Obviously, the farming situation in Haiti can only be described as chaotic at best, and is horribly deficient in providing food for the population. There is a scarcity of fertile soils, droughts, and little water available for irrigation, according to the IICA spokesperson.
Dominican Agriculture Minister Cruz Lopez provided the IICA with a series of recommendations that could improve the implementation of water using newer technologies. These recommendations included wells, the creation of small reservoirs, and pest controls which would increase crop production in the poorest country in the Americas.
Haiti farm production...
Elma Saiz / Listin Diario
The Spanish Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, announced Spain is allocating EUR890,000 to assist Dominican, Colombian and Ecuador migrants in Spain. She made the announcement when speaking at the Spring meetings of the World Bank to launch a ‘Global Skills Alliance’ between Spain and Latin America that is held in Washington, D.C., USA.
The EUR890,000 program will be managed by the World Bank.
Minister Saiz noted that 13% of all workers in the Social Security system of Spain are foreigners (about 2.8 million), and Colombia (180,000), Ecuador (71,000) and the Dominican Republic (30,000).
The Dr. Ney Arias Lora Traumatological University Teaching Hospital filed an appeal for review before the Constitutional Court regarding Sentence SCJ-TS-24-0126 issued by the Supreme Court of Justice. The ruling requires the Ministry of Hacienda to pay on behalf of the hospital RD$10 million after losing a lawsuit for a case that occurred in 2016, in which a young man lost a leg, as a result of a bacteria he would have contracted in the hospital.
The sentence was handed down by the Third Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice. The hospital and the medical association seek for the ruling to be reviewed “because the defendant was not allowed to present expert evidence, nor the review of management protocols, nor the review of the guidelines.”
“We trust that the honorable judges of the Constitutional Court will be guarantors of fundamental rights and a fair and...
Purchasing real estate in the Dominican Republic can be very tedious, bureaucratic, and even risky. The newspapers are full of stories of people getting ripped-off by scoundrels selling things that are not theirs to sell or that, in some cases, do not even exist. For this reason, the Association of Housing Builders and Promotors (Acoprovi) has prepared a list of pointers to look out for when buying property here.
First among the recommendations is that a potential buyer should always look for experience, which is to say to ensure you are buying from a company that is solid and with long-standing credibility in the marketplace.
Then comes legality. Is the project or property legally situated? A look at records at the local city government or at the Ministry of Housing (Mived) will serve to locate the bona fides of any project.
Buyers should search the legality of the...
President Luis Abinader signed three presidential decrees that authorized the extradition of three Dominicans who were wanted on different charges in the United States and in France. One of the charges is from Puerto Rico where the person was charged with lewd acts and incest in 2022. Another person was charged with drug trafficking and faced formal charges back in 2021. A third person was charged with armed robbery and murder in Pointe-au-Pitre, Guadaloupe, the French overseas province in the Eastern Caribbean.
President Abinader noted that the 2015 Constitution of the Dominican Republic, in its article 128, grants him the authority to decree the extradition of Dominican nationals to foreign jurisdictions. Sometimes it takes a long time for justice to move in these cases. A case in point is the crime in Guadaloupe which was committed in 2016.
At least two of the most recent...
Agents from the Specialized Corps for Border Security (Cesfront), working with Migration Agency authorities, discovered six dozen undocumented Haitian migrants in a hotel in the border town of Elias Piña. According to reports, the persons were lodged at the Eureka Hotel, where human traffickers prepare them for insertion into Dominican cities.
The Cesfront agents turned the undocumented Haitians over to the authorities at the Migration Agency.
The Dominican Republic has recently been in the news because of its policy of deporting undocumented migrants or those who violate local immigration laws. Given the current situation in Haiti, there is heavy migration pressure at the around 400 km border that separates the two countries.
Deportations are a minuscule part of the thousands that enter illegally and remain after finding work. Almost 200,000 Haitians, mostly...
The preventive custody hearing against an Air Force recruit accused of raping a Haitian minor was postponed for Friday, 26 April 2024 in La Altagracia. The soldier is identified as Paulino de la Cruz, and he was one of 15 soldiers who accompanied immigration inspectors searching for undocumented immigrants in the community of Verón, where migrants mostly from Haiti have settled.The hearing was postponed to give time for an interview with the minor on Wednesday, 24 April.
According to the Public Ministry file, De la Cruz entered the victim’s residence on 5 April 2024 and took advantage of the fact that the 14-year old was alone at home to commit the act.
The investigation of the incident is headed by prosecutors Hendrich Ramírez, Silveria Poueriet, Ronny Mercedes and Rocío García, who are following up on a complaint made by the mother of the minor. De la Cruz would be tried for...
Those who drive on the roads and highways in the Dominican Republic need to exercise all their defensive driving skills. In almost every newspaper, almost every day there are news items referring to traffic accidents, usually concerning motorcyclists. The past week was no different as over half a dozen persons, including an infant, lost their lives in traffic accidents.
In Constanza, three persons were killed when their motorcycle was hit by a pickup truck. In Las Galeras, on Samana Peninsula, a promising baseball player, his father and another individual were killed when their two motorcycles crashed into each other. The infant perished in a one-vehicle car accident. A tire exploded and the driver lost control, resulting in a violent crash. The other three passengers were injured.
With over three million motorcycles and nearly two million cars and light trucks on the...
Marileidy Paulino, world champion in the 400m, won the race in the first Diamond League meet of 2024 held in Xiamen, China. Paulino is in training for the Paris Olympics. She is a strong contender for the Olympic gold.
At the race in China, Paulino clocked in at 50.08, defeating Natalia Kaczmarek (50.29) from Poland, Britton Wilson (51.26) from the United States and Sada Williams from Barbados (51.97) in the race that took place in an Olympic year. The race has a US$10,000 cash prize.
President Luis Abinader gave the keynote speech during the opening of the Dominican Republic Logistics Summit 2024. Business people are gathering 17-18 April 2024 at the Hotel Embajador in Santo Domingo under the theme “Connecting Global Opportunities.”
The Dominican Republic is taking steps to consolidate its position as a world-class logistics hub. The country’s strategic location, cuts export and import times to and from Europe, the US, Asia, Central America and South America.
President Abinader emphasized the DR is capitalizing on its privileged geographic position, excellent infrastructure, connectivity, export free zone and logistics services, with more than 300,000 square meters already serving international logistics.
“Global connectivity not only benefits our exporters and importers, but also attracts foreign investments, generating employment and promoting the...
President Luis Abinader broke tradition and is the first sitting President to accept to participate in a National Association of Young Entrepreneurs (ANJE) presidential debate.
Participating in a panel on the debates on Esta Noche con Mariasela, controversy expert Nelson Espinal called the 24 April 2024 presidential debate “a historic event.” ANJE members had lobbied for the debates for the past 30 years.
The presidential debate is expected to reach record television ratings when it airs at 8pm on 24 April 2024. The presidential debate is scheduled from 8 to 10pm on that Wednesday.
President Luis Abinader was the first to accept to debate for this presidential election. Upon accepting, he said: “Debating is not an obligation, but rather an act of responsibility to Dominican democracy”. He will face three-term former President Leonel Fernandez who did not accept to...
Public Works Minister Deligne Ascención accepts the challenge of keeping garbage off the side of roads and has enlisted dozens of city governments to assist in the endeavor.
Minister Ascención said that the mayors that officially begin on 24 April 2024 will work in coordination with the Ministry of Public Works to clean the roads and highways under the new “My Clean Highway” program, with funds from the Ministry for permanent maintenance plans for the country’s trunk roads. The program begins on 26 April 2024.
“With this program, the MOPC seeks to have a favorable impact on the environment and health, as well as promote a culture of cleanliness on public roads, reporting that every day, brigades from the institution lift an average of about 240 tons each month,” he said.
He explained that the program also seeks that “those who visit us can enjoy an organized and clean...
The Listin Diario for years has urged Dominican authorities to take action to stop the degradation by private parties of the dunes in Baní. After Listin Diario again raised an alert of new actions, Environment Minister Miguel Ceara Hatton said the degradation was happening in the buffer areas. Environmentalists defend the unique natural resource and urge government action to stop removing the desert area’s forestry coverage.
“Before reaching the heart, all the organs that are around it must also be protected because the heart depends on them. It means that it is a bit sad, a bit poor argument, to say that this is outside the protected area,” declared reputed environmentalist Eleuterio Martínez, an agronomist by profession, as reported in Listin Diario.
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The investigation carried out by the Higuey-based prosecutor office has identified Paulino de la Cruz, an Air Force enlisted man, as the person responsible for raping a Haitian 14-year old when working as part of a team that carried out migration inspection raid in Veron, La Altagracia.
Prosecutors accuse De la Cruz of entering the victim’s residence on 5 April 2024 and sexually abusing the child. The investigators did not mention others who may have accompanied De la Cruz on the migration blitz in Veron.
The La Altagracia Prosecutor’s Office will request preventive detention against the military.
The prosecutors say De la Cruz entered the victim’s residence and took advantage that the girl was alone.
La Altagracia prosecutors began the investigation of the incident after the mother of the minor placed the complaint.
Paulino de la Cruz is accused of violating articles 330...
The National Drug Control Agency (DNCD) reports on a new cocaine shipment mode. The DNCD says cocaine was detected in a shipment of 13 wall clocks. The wall clocks would be exported by a resident in La Ureña, Santo Domingo East, to a resident in Álfhólsvegur, Iceland.
The agents and prosecutors, assisted by a canine unit, carried out the inspection in a warehouse in the National District, where several wall clocks that had 13 sheets of cocaine hidden in their interior were found in boxes ready for export.
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Intense rains falling on Monday and Tuesday, 15 and 16 April 2024 caused flooding of rivers, streams and ravines in municipalities in Puerto Plata province, Diario Libre reports. Social media shared videos of flooding in the beach town of Sosua.
Civil Defense reports indicate that the overflowing of the rivers and gullies cut off several towns in the province.
Among the places that were isolated are: Madre Vieja in Sosúa, Los Peralta in Yásica, Los Ciruelos in Montellano, and Guzmancito in Maimón.
Better weather is forecast for the weekend as the trough moves east to Puerto Rico.
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The Weather Office has most of the Dominican Republic on yellow alert for possible rains and flooding on Thursday. The trough is moving East to Puerto Rico, and forecasts are for good weather for the weekend.
Yellow alerts have been issued for Greater Santo Domingo, Espaillat, Santiago, La Vega, Santiago Rodríguez, San Pedro de Macorís, La Romana, Puerto Plata, San Juan, Elías Pina, San José de Ocoa, Independencia, Bahoruco and Monte Plata.
The intense rains have mainly affected communities in Puerto Plata and Samana. Two dead were reported and dozens of people had to leave their homes and businesses. Recovery efforts are underway nationwide.
Festival Capitalia is on for Saturday, 20 April 2024 at the Felix Sanchez Olympic Stadium. The event opens with young Dominican rapper J Noa, who has been nominated for a Latin Grammy. Afterwards the international performers UK’s Sting, Colombia’s Juanes and Puerto Rico’s Residente will have 50 minutes each to perform. Dominican Juan Luis Guerra will have the closing show of the event. The show opens at 7pm at the stadium fitted for a maximum of 40,000 fans.
The event is presented by SD Concerts and tickets range from RD$5,500 to RD$14,750.
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The Fourth Felix Sanchez Athletics Classic is taking place this Saturday, 20 April 2024 at the Luguelin Santos track in Bayaguana, Monte Plata province, as of 2pm. The event gathers international competitors and is listed by World Athletics, the international athletics federation, as part of its Continental Tour.
Among those registered to participate are Alexander Ogando (DOM), Ronal Longa (COL), Salwa Eid Naser (BRN), Yeral Núñez (DOM), Anabel Medina (DOM), Roxana Gómez Calderón (CUB), Fiordaliza Cofil (DOM), José González (DOM), and Franquelo Pérez (DOM).
The event is held at the Monte Plata track given that the largest stadium in the country, the Felix Sanchez Olympic Stadium for the past years has been dedicated to international artist shows that have damaged the track. Festival Capitalia is happening at the stadium on the same Saturday, 20 April. The track is long due...
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