DR1 Daily News - Monday, 25 July 2016

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May 3, 2000
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Asonahores calls for talks for beach access bill
Quarterly public deficit is 4% of GDP
Villa Consuelo abortion facility shut down
Tree causes major blackout in Las Terrenas
Speaking up for the Malecon
Three judges dismissed
37 more arrested in children smuggling
Government reinforces patrols on border
Pokeman Go fever in Santo Domingo
Mustang exhibition at Novocentro
7 Mujeres at the National Theater


Asonahores calls for talks for beach access bill
The National Hotel & Restaurant Association (Asonahores) wants in on the drafting of a new bill to guarantee access of citizens to rivers, lakes, lagoons, beaches and coasts. PLD senators Felix Maria Nova Paulino and Jose Rafael Vargas Pantaleon are the authors of a recently presented bill that would impose penalties on companies and individuals that impede public access, with fines of RD$1,000 to RD$1 million. Both senators won their bids to continue in the 2016-2020 Senate.
The bill establishes harsh penalties for those not ensuring paths to reach the inland lagoons, lakes, or rivers or the coastal beaches. Representatives of the hotel industry say the bill has measures that could affect the security and commercial operation of the tourism sector.
In a press release, Asonahores says the bill contradicts the present regulations for access to rivers, lakes and beaches and its approval would create confusion and a juridical limbo that would harm the development of the country.Asonahores favors the drafting of comprehensive norms to regulate public access to beaches and proposed the drafting of the bill to regulate river, beach and lake access be entrusted to a multi-sectorial and multi-institutional technical commission. The bill would replace the Nova and Vargas bill.
http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias...ular-el-acceso-del-publico-a-playas-BX4415047
http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias...as-conllevaria-multa-de-rd-1-millon-CA4424859
http://www.diariolibre.com/economia...rios-es-deficiente-y-contradictorio-LM4385805
http://www.metrord.do/noticias/mini...e-violacion-o-incesto/ftwpgw---65oFsO8PfqABU/
http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias...yecto-de-ley-de-acceso-a-las-playas-BE4446883

Quarterly public deficit is 4% of GDP
According to a report published by Participacion Ciudadana civil society group and the Regional Center for Sustainable Economic Strategies (CREES), the central government incurred a RD$33.47 billion budget deficit for the first quarter of the year.
This is the largest quarterly deficit recorded for the past five years.
The report was presented by economists Jose Rijo Presbot, Miguel Collado di Franco, Vladimir Pimentel and Rafael Jovine together with Josefina Arvelo, general coordinator for Participacion Ciudadana.
Di Franco explained the deficit is 1% of the Gross Domestic Product, but forecast this could increase this figure to 2.3% of GDP by the end of the year. If the debt of the Central Bank is added to the calculation, the public deficit would be 4.06% of GDP.
Economist Rijo Presbot expressed concern that 51% of the tax revenues are now going to pay debt and its interest payments, or RD$63.45 billion, with total revenues of RD$115,62 billion.
The report indicates that public spending for the first quarter was up 35.5% compared to 2015.
http://hoy.com.do/deficit-gobierno-primer-trimestre-fue-rd33475-9-mm/

Villa Consuelo abortion facility shut down
The government security forces linked six fetuses found in a plastic bag on San Isidro Highway on Monday, 18 July 2016, to clandestine abortions carried out at the Centro Medico Nacional located at the intersection of Teniente Amado Garcia and Abreu streets in Villa Consuelo. Eight persons were arrested at what neighbors told Listin Diario reporters was a ?slaughterhouse.?
During the raid on the center conducted on Sunday, 24 July 2016, two patients, aged 17and 29 were arrested. Likewise, physicians Rafael Delgado Quezada (age 57) and Agustin Hung Guillen (67), and his wife, Aravelis Josefina Mendez (age 37) were detained. Guillen and Mendez are believed to be the owners of the facility.
Four staff members of the facility were also arrested: 21-year old secretary Zuleica Mendez, 57-year old nurse Zoila Polanco Canelo, 39-year old cook 39-year old Omeris Arroyo Rosa and 59-year old Cecilio Perez Liriano, who served as the driver at the center.
Police intelligence showed that the fetuses of four to 12 weeks found on the previous Friday had been transported in a Nissan pickup that was registered in the name of Hung Guillen.
Neighbors now say that the clinic had been operating for years ?killing children and nobody did anything.? As reported in Listin Diario, the neighbors observed that most of those who visited the clinic were minors.
The arrests come as the abortion debate heats up in the country, following the passage in the Chamber of Deputies of amendments to the Penal Code that establishes harsher measures for medical procedures that terminate pregnancies even if the mother?s fetus is malformed or that the pregnancy is a result of incest. Advocates of abortion as a woman?s right, say the criminalizing of abortion results in many, who cannot afford to travel abroad, resorting to clandestine abortion clinics that operate at high risk to the patients. There are an estimated 75,000 clandestine abortions performed a year in the country, making the later a public health matter.
http://www.listindiario.com/la-repu...stos-en-una-clinica-tras-el-hallazgo-de-fetos
http://www.listindiario.com/la-repu...adero-clinica-allanada-tras-hallazgo-de-fetos

Tree causes major blackout in Las Terrenas
Edenorte was hard at work to re-establish electricity service in Las Terrenas after a tree fell in Naranjito on the Sanchez on Friday, 22 July 2016 at around 10pm causing interruption of the electrical service. Because the electricity supply in Las Terrenas is considered to be reliable, many commercial establishments do not have alternate power service to last through long blackouts and were caught off guard. The downed tree affected the primary power line bringing service to Las Terrenas as well as briefly blocking traffic on the highway.
http://www.elcaribe.com.do/2016/07/...eria-provocada-por-derribo-arbol-las-terrenas

Speaking up for the Malecon
An editorial in Diario Libre questions the wisdom of expanding the seaside drive (Malecon) of Santo Domingo to facilitate flow traffic. In the editorial, Ines Aizpun, an editor at Diario Libre, asks if the Malecon really needs an extra lane or if too many vehicles already circulate on the drive.
She speculates that the Malecon should be made more pedestrian friendly, rather than making it easier for more and more vehicles to clog the seaside drive.
?The Malecon has too many vehicles, we are sure of that. To stroll fronting the Caribbean Sea should not be an extreme sport. For starters, it is nearly impossible for children, seniors and women in high heels or the disabled to safely cross the Av. George Washington,? she writes.
She continues: ?Once there, on the south side of the road, facing the sea, you will be enraptured by the beauty of the sunset, yes. But you will also swallow the exhaust fumes from trucks and trucks as they whizz by at breakneck speed.?
Aizpun says that the Malecon should be the ?postcard of the city?, and that the reinforced concrete skeletons of abandoned buildings and empty lots full of debris are eye sores.
She concludes that the Malecon should be ?the balcony of Santo Domingo?, where people can sit and dream of a clean, organized city, with construction rules that even the mayor, city councilors, government ministers and builders follow.
The mayor-elect of Santo Domingo, David Collado has said the Malecon is a top priority in his city government plan.
http://www.diariolibre.com/opinion/am/el-malecon-FE4431788

Three judges dismissed
The Judicial Branch Council (CPJ) has dismissed three judges of the Penal Court of the Court of Appeals of Santo Domingo for ?serious misconduct" in the exercise of their functions. The judges relived of their duties are Victor Mejia Lebron and Roso Vallejo Espinosa and the judge of the Second Hall of the Labor Court of Santo Domingo Jose Dionisio Duverge Mejia. The decision was reported in a press release by the CPJ.
The decision was made by the CPJ members, president of the Supreme Court of Justice Mariano German Mejia and fellow Supreme Court of Justice judges Victor Jose Castellanos Estrella, Etanislao Radhames Rodriguez, Fernando Fernandez Cruz and Leonardo Recio Tineo. They said the evidence shows serious offenses that constitute unacceptable neglect and acts contrary to ethics. The decision was taken reportedly to preserve the professional and institutional morality that should govern all members of the Judiciary ".
http://www.7dias.com.do/portada/201...-destituye-tres-jueces-por-faltas-graves.html

37 more arrested in children smuggling
The Army announced the arrest of 24 women and 13 men that were accused of attempting to smuggle 37 children from Haiti into the Dominican Republic. The army announced that with these recent detentions, a total of 607 Haitian minors have been detained attempting to illegally cross the border. The children were delivered to the authorities of the Conani. They were detained at military check points at Manga de Guayubin and Copey in Montecristi.
A press release says that while the some of the women detain claimed to be the mothers of the affected children, the authorities noted that many of the adults exhibited behavior that indicated that they were indifferent to the babies they carried in their arms and the other small children accompanying them.
Criminal networks are known to abduct babies and small children from their parents in Haiti and deposit them on the streets in the Dominican Republic to beg for money.
In recent weeks, the Army has reported an increase in number of children crossing into the country, many without a parent or legal guardian.
http://www.citysantiago.com.do/2016...37-ninos-con-sus-madres-nacionalidad-haitiana

Government reinforces patrols on border
Following controversy onset of the film ?Death by a Thousand Cuts? that focused on government complicity to deforestation on the border with Haiti, the army has started to crack down on the makers of charcoal in areas near the communities of Jimani, Boca de Cachon, Tierra Nueva and Lajas.
The exercise that involved 100 agents was ordered by the Commander General of the Army, Major General Jose E. matos de la Cruz.
He mobilized units of the Sexto Batallon de Cazadores, del Batall?n de Comando, de la Unidad Humanitaria de Rescate, 5ta. Brigada de Infanter?a under the supervision of the G-2 Intelligence Unit of the Army and Brigade General V?ctor A. Mercedes Cepeda.
http://hoy.com.do/ejercito-realiza-operativo-contra-produccion-de-carbon/

Pokeman Go fever in Santo Domingo
The media is following the effects of the Pokeman Go game as apparently Santo Domingo gamesters are not spared from the global frenzy. Listin Diario reports that children, youths, adults and seniors have been taken by the game. Players were seen at the Plaza de la Cultura, named ?Pokepark? by the players in their quest to trap the largest possible number of pokemons. Another popular spot to play the game is the Mirador del Sur Park.
Local psychiatrist Jose Miguel Gomez warned that the game can be addictive and may provoke abnormal social behavior similar to drug dependency. He said he has been treating gamers for addiction like symptoms ? with many of his affected patients after admitting to being glued their screens 8 to 12 hours playing Pokeman Go.
http://www.listindiario.com/la-republica/2016/07/24/428320/la-fiebre-de-pokemon-aglutina-a-familias

Mustang exhibition at Novocentro
The Mustang Club RD is exhibiting more than 30 Mustang models at the Novocentro Mall on Av. Lope de Vega. The exhibition tells the story of the history of the Ford Mustang with vehicles from 1964 to date on display.
http://www.7dias.com.do/sociedad/20...o-expone-modelos-automovil-marca-mustang.html

7 Mujeres at the National Theater
The Mexican drama ?7 Mujeres? (Seven Women) will be presented at the Sala Ravelo of the National Theater the weekends of 4-7 August and 14-17 August 2016. The play is a Improvisus Academy production. The play is directed by Ivan Mejia and the producers are Antonio Coronado and Ismael Almonte. The comedy is a critique to sociocultural conflicts and focuses on the importance of intrafamily communication.
The lead roles are by Yanela Hernandez, Rosa Aurora Lopez, Katyuska Licairac, Johanny Garcia, Chabela Estrella, Susy Aquino, Elizzabeth Chahin and Patricio Leon.
The play was written by Mexicans Humberto Robles and Juan R?os Cantu and is based on real happenings. During the play, on Lola?s wedding day, six other women -- the bride?s mother, grandmother, elder and younger sisters, best friend and the wedding organizer -- open a Pandora Box and share their different visions on marriage and love.

Read more about upcoming events at http://www.dr1.com/calendar

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