Record high for remittances in 2018
Eduardo Estrella alerts National Budget Bill clears government to sell assets
Economists see red flags in US$600 million Chinese loan for energy sector
Rescuing phyton snakes
Santiago’s demographics
Farmers threaten to retake farming in Valle Nuevo protected area
Another young crocodile rescued and sent to the National Zoos
Pharmacies need to pay 10% of all sales to ARS
Italian sentenced to 10 years in jail for child sexual abuse
The best football team
The loud side of Dominican culture?
Maridalia Hernandez at the Teatro La Fiesta
Luis Miguel booked for March 2019 concert
Record high for remittances in 2018
Remittances sent by expats to their relatives in the Dominican Republic are up 10.2% in the first nine months of the year. The Central Bank reports these have increased from US$4,415.3 million from January to September 2017 to US$4,866.4 million for the same period in 2018, according to a story in Diario Libre. If the present flow of remittances continues, 2018 would end with an eight-year record. In 2017 total remittances were US$4,911.8 million, according to the Central Bank.
The Central Bank says that remittances make up 22% of all the hard currency that has entered the economy. Most of the remittances, or 77.34%, have come from the United States. Next were remittances from Spain (10.58%), Haiti (1.41%) and Italy (1.30%). There are also large Dominican populations that send remittances and are located in Switzerland, Puerto Rico, Panama, Germany, France and Canada.
The average remittance is US$221.14. But those living in Switzerland, nevertheless, on average send remittances of US$351.3. Those living in Spain and France also send above average remittances of US$343.7 and US$323.8, respectively.
https://www.diariolibre.com/economia/recepcion-de-remesas-aumento-10-2-LI11197783
Eduardo Estrella alerts National Budget Bill clears government to sell assets
Politician Eduardo Estrella has sent a Tweet alerting that Art. 59 included in the 2019 National Budget Bill under review in Congress violates the Constitution. The article would enable the Executive Branch to sell state assets without these having to be reviewed by the Legislative Branch.
Eduardo Estrella, who is a former Minister of Public Works in a past Balaguer administration, is currently president of the political party Partido Dominicanos por el Cambio. In his Tweet, Estrella wrote: “In Art. 59 the government is essentially writing a blank check to the Executive Branch. If the budget is approved as is, it would be authorizing the Executive Branch to sell state assets in amounts up to 10% of the national debt. The Executive Branch of the Republic could use these funds as it pleases and only would have to report expenditures to Congress 30 days afterwards,” said Estrella.
The Public Credit Agency indicated that the public debt was at US$31.55 billion as of August 2018. That is 10% of the debt would amount to US$3.15 billion.
Estrella especially criticized that a paragraph in the article authorizes the President to use the money at discretion without having to engage in the normal practice of sending a complementary budget for approval to Congress. The Presidency would only be required to inform Congress after making the sale. “This Art. 59 would set a bad precedent and is in violation of the Constitution. We are alerting Congress that it would be delegating its role of approving government loans,” alerted Estrella.
Opposition deputy Ginette Bournigal (Puerto Plata-PRM) requested the elimination of Art. 59 observing that it is “uncalled for, inappropriate and provocative.” Bournigal is a member of the Chamber of Deputies-Senate commission that is reviewing the 2019 National Budget Bill.
http://hoy.com.do/eduardo-estrella-critica-art-59-de-ley-de-presupuesto/
https://www.diariolibre.com/noticia...-medina-vender-empresas-del-estado-EJ11180400
https://www.diariolibre.com/actuali...eso-el-articulo-59-del-presupuesto-HI11199439
Economists see red flags in US$600 million Chinese loan for energy sector
Rafael Espinal, coordinator of the economics career at the INTEC university in Santo Domingo called for the government to share more details on what would be the first Exim Bank of China loan to the government. The government has announced it is negotiating a US$600 million loan for the energy sector.
“The strange thing about that loan is that it is not in next year's budget submitted to Congress,” he said. “That is a first wake-up call.” He also criticized that the use of the loan is not detailed.
Espinal said this is not the case of the US$400 million loan that was concurrently announced by the InterAmerican Development Bank to be also used for the energy sector. Espinal said this loan has an executing unit with a series of bidding and administrative conditions that call for close supervision.
An editorial in El Dia complains that in the past 16 years the government has invested more than US$15 billion in similar loans “to improve the financial management” of the electricity sector and has little to show. Technical losses are estimated at 28-35%.
Likewise, the president of the Association of Industries of Herrera (ANEIH), Antonio Taveras Guzmán expressed his concern that the national debt would be increased by US$1 billion “to finance the black hole, the bottomless barrel that the national electricity sector is, where there are no credible plans to reduce losses.” Taveras criticized the delays in the government reaching a consensus for the passing of the Electricity Pact.
In the Dominican Republic, most power distribution and a large part of the production is controlled by the state. Economist Bernardo Vega recently criticized the sector is highly politicized, with politics rather than who pays, deciding many areas that receive power 24/7 without necessarily paying for the service.
https://www.diariolibre.com/economi...or-la-cadena-de-prestamos-del-pais-HI11197527
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bbCrpLJe2U
http://eldia.com.do/danilo-medina-descarta-por-ahora-libre-comercio-con-china/
http://eldia.com.do/las-perdidas-electricas-bajan-solo-7-5-puntos-en-casi-20-anos/
http://eldia.com.do/estadistica-frustrante/
Python snakes sent to the National Zoo
The Ministry of Environment rescued two reticulated pythons that were in possession of unnamed persons in northwestern Santiago Rodríguez province. The pythons were sent to the National Zoo on Saturday, 3 November 2018. A video that is circulating on social media shows the snakes being transferred to the custody of Zoo personnel. The snakes measured 6 meters and 6.5 meters. The snakes are harmless to humans and are of the longest and heaviest in the world. The snakes are nonvenomous constrictors. They are native to Southeast Asia. They are excellent swimmers. They natural diet incudes mammals and occasionally birds.
As reported in El Dia, the phyton snakes were seized in Jicomé in northwestern Valverde province when they were being transferred from a private ranch to a zoo in Santiago are banned from import to the country. The Ministry of Environment says it has not authorized their import.
http://hoy.com.do/video-sorprendente-incautan-pitones-que-permanecian-en-cautiverio-en-el-pais/
https://listindiario.com/la-republi...entes-de-6-metros-y-6-5-en-santiago-rodriguez
http://eldia.com.do/entrada-serpientes-piton-esta-prohibida-en-el-pais/
Santiago’s demographics
A report in Listin Diario on Monday, 5 November 2018, looks into the new demographics for the city of Santiago. The city has sprawled out to an area of 120 square kilometers and a population estimated at around 1,225,000 inhabitants. An additional 100,000 to 125,000 people enter and leave the city every day.
Santiago is the second largest city in the country. 20 years ago the city had an extension of 70 square kilometers and a population of around 685,000 people. Experts say the expansion has seen the conversion of farm land into urban neighborhoods full of houses and shopping areas.
The experts say the city is now home to thousands that have migrated from other provinces, from Haiti and countries abroad.
Mayor Abel Martínez told Listin Diario that the flow of new residents is straining the city’s capacity to supply drinking water, rainwater drainage, sewage and other services.
The executive director of the Strategic Development Council of Santiago, Reinado Peguero told Listin Diario that the growth of the city should not be more than three square kilometers per year. He said Santiago, nevertheless, has been experiencing growth of five square kilometers per year. He favored city regulations that stimulate vertical growth, so that more productive farm land is not affected.
City planner Irving Vargas said Santiago urgently needs urban renewal works. Former director of urban planning of the Santiago city, Gilberto Serulle, said that the urban plan drafted during his term at the city government, was never implemented. He said this has lead to the present chaos in the city, evidenced in the congestion at the entrance and exit to the city. The city is also affected by a deficit in drinking water.
The president of the Federation of Neighborhood Boards of Santiago, Andrés Ramos, said that the chaos in Santiago is due to unchecked population growth. Likewise, spokesman for the Coordinator of Community Organizations and Neighborhood Boards of Santiago, Jose Alberto Peña said that people immigrate to Santiago from other areas in the country and abroad and demand services, but as in the case of the Haitians, do not pay for these services.
https://listindiario.com/la-republica/2018/11/05/540478/santiago-experimenta-explosion-demografica
Farmers threaten to reoccupy land in Valle Nuevo protected area
The Fundación Moscoso Puello has stated: The Valle Nuevo is the most important national environmental asset and is being destroyed with impunity.”
What is known is that several farmers are attempting to retake farm land in the Valle Nuevo National Park in the protected areas of Montellano and Pinalito. Hoy reported farmers in Pinalito were applying herbicide to prepare the land for planting last Wednesday, 31 October 2018.
In 2016, around 409 farmers were evicted from the protected area. Of these, 50 were identified as farm hands that lived inside the park and the government built new homes for these affected residents. But, other farmers say the government did not build the nurseries it said it would for farmers to continue to have a livelihood.
When Francisco Domínguez Brito was minister of Environment, Resolution 12/2016 was issued implementing a rescue plan for the protected area, upholding recommendations made by the Co-management Council of the protected area on 29 September 2016. Members of the Co-management Council are Fundación Moscoso Puello, Fundación Propagas, Museo Nacional de Historia Nacional “Prof. Eugenio de Jesús Marcano”, la Asociación The Nature Conservancy, the Jardín Botánico Dr. Rafael Moscoso Puello, the Asociación para el Desarrollo de San José de Ocoa, el Consejo Ambiental de Constanza, la Federación de Campesinos Hacia el Progreso, the Fundación Sur Futuro and Rafael Collado representing community people of the municipality of Cosntanza in La Vega and the Ministry of Environment.
The farmers are now demanding that they receive the same treatment as the illegal occupants of the south side of the protected area, the San José de Ocoa side, where farming has not stopped despite the resolution issued by the Ministry of Environment. According to the resolution the farming in that area should have been halted by April of this year. The Ministry of Environment, nevertheless, has a new minister. Angel Estevez, who previously was the country’s Minister of Agriculture and has spoken openly in favor of harmonizing farming and protected lands. The media has published statements attributed Estevez in favor of agriculture, despite the threat to national water sources.
While denied by Minister Estevez, the Fundacion Moscoso Puello documented the land invasion using drone technology showing the farm exploitation of park land in La Morita, La Nuez, La Loma de los Chivos and Las Espinas, primarily on the south side of San Jose de Ocoa, where the Ministry of Environment has yet to implement the 2016 resolution that ordered the end of farming in the area. The Foundation says the Ministry has not responded to evidence of the farming activity.
Among the photos is one showing the Ministry of Environment checkpoint in La Morita completely abandoned which is allowing unfettered access of farming equipment and petrochemicals to the protected area. The photographs also show illegal immigrants farming. There is intense avocado planting activity going on.
The Foundation shows a photo with pipes for transporting water for several kilometers, representing multi-million peso investments that small farmers could not underwrite. The Ministry of Environment is accused of looking the other way while major farming takes place in the protected lands.
The Foundation said that the Plan de Rescate del Parque Nacional Valle Nuevo implemented in 2016-2017 was a major achievement of civil society and the Ministry and the new incumbents are in the legal obligation to continue the policy.
https://www.diariolibre.com/medioam...el-caribe-es-destruido-impunemente-GJ11184156
Another young crocodile rescued and sent to the National Zoo
A crocodile was captured in Santo Domingo Norte. This is the second after the capture of Coqui, who was taken to the National Zoo and is recovering from the intense stress of living in an urban area, said the Zoo specialists.
The new crocodile was captured on Sunday, 4 November, and also taken to the Zoo, said Patricia Toribio, director of the National Zoo Park. The second reptile measures 77 centimeters, half of Coqui. The capture happened in the municipality of La Victoria.
https://listindiario.com/la-republi...atrapan-otro-cocodrilo-en-santo-domingo-norte
Pharmacies need to pay 10% of all sales to ARS
The president of the Union de Farmacias, Raul Hernandez, that represents working pharmacies, complained that the medical health providers (ARS) deduct 10% of sales of pharmaceuticals sold to ARS affiliates.
“And this happens under the indifferent and sometimes even complacent gaze of the agencies that must regulate their macabre actions,” he criticized. Hernandez criticized the complacency of the Superintendency of Health and Occupational Risks (SISALRIL).
He said as a result, owners of pharmacies now are only making gross profits of 13% because of the 23% earnings, they have to pay 10% to the medical health providers.
Hernandez says this 10% is not contemplated in Social Security Law 87-01.
ARS affiliates are authorized to consume up to RD$8,000 a year in pharmaceuticals prescribed by authorized physicians. In the case the fund is not used, the ARS gets to keep the difference, adding to the high profitability of the ARS companies.
"All because the business of these men should be more profitable so they can construct more buildings, buy boats, summer homes, take trips abroad to benefit them and their families. The indulgences of these businessmen in their pleasures are being paid for by patients and health providers in the Social Security system,” said Hernández.
The president of the Union of Pharmacies spoke during the celebration of the XIII Mortero de Oro awards, on the occasion of the Day of the Owner of Pharmacist.
https://www.diariolibre.com/noticia...amentos-que-venden-a-sus-afiliados-LG11179121
https://www.diariolibre.com/noticia...estos-a-trancarle-el-juego-a-la-ap-DE11159587
Italian sentenced to 10 years in jail for child sexual abuse
A Santo Domingo court sentenced Italian Giancarlo Corso to 10 years in jail after he was found guilty of sexual exploitation and psychological abuse to a 16-year old girl on 22 March 2018 in the Colonial City. The court determined that the Italian took advantage of the vulnerable young girl. As reported, he promised to help the child with RD$4,000 in cash so she could register in a modeling school. Then he took the teenager to the hotel where he was staying, where he raped her. The investigation carried out by prosecutor Alba Corona said the rape resulted in the child having to be hospitalized in delicate condition. The Italian was ordered to serve his sentence in La Victoria Jail.
http://eldia.com.do/a-la-carcel-ita...-perjuicio-de-adolescente-en-ciudad-colonial/
The best football team
The president of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) Giovanni Vincenzo Infantino has sent congratulations to the Cibao Futbol Club (Cibao FC) on their win of the Dominican Football League 2018 championship in the four years of participation in the tournament. This is the first time Cibao FC has won the tournament.
https://www.elcaribe.com.do/2018/11...a-al-cibao-fc-por-su-primer-titulo-en-la-ldf/
The loud side of Dominican culture?
Rollingstone online shares a video presenting the impressive community of Dominicans living in New York City that have transformed cars, vans and SUV into “gargantuan, roving speaker systems.” The short film, “Mas Fuerte,” presents the ins and outs of the underground musicologists and engineers, and received funding from Presidente Beer.
Rollingstone says that Más Fuerte, directed by Sean Frank, examines the differences and similarities between the speaker van aficionados in the Dominican Republic and those in the Dominican communities scattered across New York City.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/...ary-mas-fuerte-dominican-speaker-vans-749524/
Maridalia Hernandez at the Teatro La Fiesta
The Jaragua Renaissance Hotel in Santo Domingo presents, “Simplemente Maridalia,” with Dominican singer Maridalia Hernández this coming 24 November 2018. The concert will include her best hits over the years. Big Show is the promoter of the show.
Maridalia is a former singer with the 4 x 40 Juan Luis Guerra original group. She later went on to a career as a soloist, and in 1986 won first place at the 1986 Festival de Viña del Mar in Chile with “Para quererte”, written by José Antonio Rodríguez with musical arrangements by Manuel Tejada. Other memorable songs by her are “Quen no sabe de amor,” “Nuestro amor,” “Amantes secretos.” In 2018 she launched the new song, “La pimiento es la que pica,” in collaboration with Milly Quezada and Fefita.
Tickets for the show are for sale online at Uepa Tickets or at the box offices of CCN, Supermercados Nacional y Jumbo, for RD$2,165, RD$3,250, RD$4,330 and RD$5,415 depending on seating arrangements.
https://www.diariolibre.com/revista...en-el-teatro-la-fiesta-del-jaragua-HG11176724
Luis Miguel booked for March 2019 concert
Mexican singer Luis Miguel has included a performance of his “¡México Por Siempre!” 2019 tour at the Felix Sanchez Olympic Stadium on 29 March 2019. The event is a production of Saymon Diaz. Miguel is known for his romantic pop, ballads, boleros, tangos, big band and mariachi style songs. He has sold over 100 million albums around the world after beginning his career in 1982. When Luis Miguel was 15, he became the youngest artist to win a Grammy. He is Billboard’s best ranked Latin American.
http://www.luismigueloficial.com/
https://listindiario.com/entretenim...en-republica-dominicana-sera-en-marzo-de-2019
Eduardo Estrella alerts National Budget Bill clears government to sell assets
Economists see red flags in US$600 million Chinese loan for energy sector
Rescuing phyton snakes
Santiago’s demographics
Farmers threaten to retake farming in Valle Nuevo protected area
Another young crocodile rescued and sent to the National Zoos
Pharmacies need to pay 10% of all sales to ARS
Italian sentenced to 10 years in jail for child sexual abuse
The best football team
The loud side of Dominican culture?
Maridalia Hernandez at the Teatro La Fiesta
Luis Miguel booked for March 2019 concert
Record high for remittances in 2018
Remittances sent by expats to their relatives in the Dominican Republic are up 10.2% in the first nine months of the year. The Central Bank reports these have increased from US$4,415.3 million from January to September 2017 to US$4,866.4 million for the same period in 2018, according to a story in Diario Libre. If the present flow of remittances continues, 2018 would end with an eight-year record. In 2017 total remittances were US$4,911.8 million, according to the Central Bank.
The Central Bank says that remittances make up 22% of all the hard currency that has entered the economy. Most of the remittances, or 77.34%, have come from the United States. Next were remittances from Spain (10.58%), Haiti (1.41%) and Italy (1.30%). There are also large Dominican populations that send remittances and are located in Switzerland, Puerto Rico, Panama, Germany, France and Canada.
The average remittance is US$221.14. But those living in Switzerland, nevertheless, on average send remittances of US$351.3. Those living in Spain and France also send above average remittances of US$343.7 and US$323.8, respectively.
https://www.diariolibre.com/economia/recepcion-de-remesas-aumento-10-2-LI11197783
Eduardo Estrella alerts National Budget Bill clears government to sell assets
Politician Eduardo Estrella has sent a Tweet alerting that Art. 59 included in the 2019 National Budget Bill under review in Congress violates the Constitution. The article would enable the Executive Branch to sell state assets without these having to be reviewed by the Legislative Branch.
Eduardo Estrella, who is a former Minister of Public Works in a past Balaguer administration, is currently president of the political party Partido Dominicanos por el Cambio. In his Tweet, Estrella wrote: “In Art. 59 the government is essentially writing a blank check to the Executive Branch. If the budget is approved as is, it would be authorizing the Executive Branch to sell state assets in amounts up to 10% of the national debt. The Executive Branch of the Republic could use these funds as it pleases and only would have to report expenditures to Congress 30 days afterwards,” said Estrella.
The Public Credit Agency indicated that the public debt was at US$31.55 billion as of August 2018. That is 10% of the debt would amount to US$3.15 billion.
Estrella especially criticized that a paragraph in the article authorizes the President to use the money at discretion without having to engage in the normal practice of sending a complementary budget for approval to Congress. The Presidency would only be required to inform Congress after making the sale. “This Art. 59 would set a bad precedent and is in violation of the Constitution. We are alerting Congress that it would be delegating its role of approving government loans,” alerted Estrella.
Opposition deputy Ginette Bournigal (Puerto Plata-PRM) requested the elimination of Art. 59 observing that it is “uncalled for, inappropriate and provocative.” Bournigal is a member of the Chamber of Deputies-Senate commission that is reviewing the 2019 National Budget Bill.
http://hoy.com.do/eduardo-estrella-critica-art-59-de-ley-de-presupuesto/
https://www.diariolibre.com/noticia...-medina-vender-empresas-del-estado-EJ11180400
https://www.diariolibre.com/actuali...eso-el-articulo-59-del-presupuesto-HI11199439
Economists see red flags in US$600 million Chinese loan for energy sector
Rafael Espinal, coordinator of the economics career at the INTEC university in Santo Domingo called for the government to share more details on what would be the first Exim Bank of China loan to the government. The government has announced it is negotiating a US$600 million loan for the energy sector.
“The strange thing about that loan is that it is not in next year's budget submitted to Congress,” he said. “That is a first wake-up call.” He also criticized that the use of the loan is not detailed.
Espinal said this is not the case of the US$400 million loan that was concurrently announced by the InterAmerican Development Bank to be also used for the energy sector. Espinal said this loan has an executing unit with a series of bidding and administrative conditions that call for close supervision.
An editorial in El Dia complains that in the past 16 years the government has invested more than US$15 billion in similar loans “to improve the financial management” of the electricity sector and has little to show. Technical losses are estimated at 28-35%.
Likewise, the president of the Association of Industries of Herrera (ANEIH), Antonio Taveras Guzmán expressed his concern that the national debt would be increased by US$1 billion “to finance the black hole, the bottomless barrel that the national electricity sector is, where there are no credible plans to reduce losses.” Taveras criticized the delays in the government reaching a consensus for the passing of the Electricity Pact.
In the Dominican Republic, most power distribution and a large part of the production is controlled by the state. Economist Bernardo Vega recently criticized the sector is highly politicized, with politics rather than who pays, deciding many areas that receive power 24/7 without necessarily paying for the service.
https://www.diariolibre.com/economi...or-la-cadena-de-prestamos-del-pais-HI11197527
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bbCrpLJe2U
http://eldia.com.do/danilo-medina-descarta-por-ahora-libre-comercio-con-china/
http://eldia.com.do/las-perdidas-electricas-bajan-solo-7-5-puntos-en-casi-20-anos/
http://eldia.com.do/estadistica-frustrante/
Python snakes sent to the National Zoo
The Ministry of Environment rescued two reticulated pythons that were in possession of unnamed persons in northwestern Santiago Rodríguez province. The pythons were sent to the National Zoo on Saturday, 3 November 2018. A video that is circulating on social media shows the snakes being transferred to the custody of Zoo personnel. The snakes measured 6 meters and 6.5 meters. The snakes are harmless to humans and are of the longest and heaviest in the world. The snakes are nonvenomous constrictors. They are native to Southeast Asia. They are excellent swimmers. They natural diet incudes mammals and occasionally birds.
As reported in El Dia, the phyton snakes were seized in Jicomé in northwestern Valverde province when they were being transferred from a private ranch to a zoo in Santiago are banned from import to the country. The Ministry of Environment says it has not authorized their import.
http://hoy.com.do/video-sorprendente-incautan-pitones-que-permanecian-en-cautiverio-en-el-pais/
https://listindiario.com/la-republi...entes-de-6-metros-y-6-5-en-santiago-rodriguez
http://eldia.com.do/entrada-serpientes-piton-esta-prohibida-en-el-pais/
Santiago’s demographics
A report in Listin Diario on Monday, 5 November 2018, looks into the new demographics for the city of Santiago. The city has sprawled out to an area of 120 square kilometers and a population estimated at around 1,225,000 inhabitants. An additional 100,000 to 125,000 people enter and leave the city every day.
Santiago is the second largest city in the country. 20 years ago the city had an extension of 70 square kilometers and a population of around 685,000 people. Experts say the expansion has seen the conversion of farm land into urban neighborhoods full of houses and shopping areas.
The experts say the city is now home to thousands that have migrated from other provinces, from Haiti and countries abroad.
Mayor Abel Martínez told Listin Diario that the flow of new residents is straining the city’s capacity to supply drinking water, rainwater drainage, sewage and other services.
The executive director of the Strategic Development Council of Santiago, Reinado Peguero told Listin Diario that the growth of the city should not be more than three square kilometers per year. He said Santiago, nevertheless, has been experiencing growth of five square kilometers per year. He favored city regulations that stimulate vertical growth, so that more productive farm land is not affected.
City planner Irving Vargas said Santiago urgently needs urban renewal works. Former director of urban planning of the Santiago city, Gilberto Serulle, said that the urban plan drafted during his term at the city government, was never implemented. He said this has lead to the present chaos in the city, evidenced in the congestion at the entrance and exit to the city. The city is also affected by a deficit in drinking water.
The president of the Federation of Neighborhood Boards of Santiago, Andrés Ramos, said that the chaos in Santiago is due to unchecked population growth. Likewise, spokesman for the Coordinator of Community Organizations and Neighborhood Boards of Santiago, Jose Alberto Peña said that people immigrate to Santiago from other areas in the country and abroad and demand services, but as in the case of the Haitians, do not pay for these services.
https://listindiario.com/la-republica/2018/11/05/540478/santiago-experimenta-explosion-demografica
Farmers threaten to reoccupy land in Valle Nuevo protected area
The Fundación Moscoso Puello has stated: The Valle Nuevo is the most important national environmental asset and is being destroyed with impunity.”
What is known is that several farmers are attempting to retake farm land in the Valle Nuevo National Park in the protected areas of Montellano and Pinalito. Hoy reported farmers in Pinalito were applying herbicide to prepare the land for planting last Wednesday, 31 October 2018.
In 2016, around 409 farmers were evicted from the protected area. Of these, 50 were identified as farm hands that lived inside the park and the government built new homes for these affected residents. But, other farmers say the government did not build the nurseries it said it would for farmers to continue to have a livelihood.
When Francisco Domínguez Brito was minister of Environment, Resolution 12/2016 was issued implementing a rescue plan for the protected area, upholding recommendations made by the Co-management Council of the protected area on 29 September 2016. Members of the Co-management Council are Fundación Moscoso Puello, Fundación Propagas, Museo Nacional de Historia Nacional “Prof. Eugenio de Jesús Marcano”, la Asociación The Nature Conservancy, the Jardín Botánico Dr. Rafael Moscoso Puello, the Asociación para el Desarrollo de San José de Ocoa, el Consejo Ambiental de Constanza, la Federación de Campesinos Hacia el Progreso, the Fundación Sur Futuro and Rafael Collado representing community people of the municipality of Cosntanza in La Vega and the Ministry of Environment.
The farmers are now demanding that they receive the same treatment as the illegal occupants of the south side of the protected area, the San José de Ocoa side, where farming has not stopped despite the resolution issued by the Ministry of Environment. According to the resolution the farming in that area should have been halted by April of this year. The Ministry of Environment, nevertheless, has a new minister. Angel Estevez, who previously was the country’s Minister of Agriculture and has spoken openly in favor of harmonizing farming and protected lands. The media has published statements attributed Estevez in favor of agriculture, despite the threat to national water sources.
While denied by Minister Estevez, the Fundacion Moscoso Puello documented the land invasion using drone technology showing the farm exploitation of park land in La Morita, La Nuez, La Loma de los Chivos and Las Espinas, primarily on the south side of San Jose de Ocoa, where the Ministry of Environment has yet to implement the 2016 resolution that ordered the end of farming in the area. The Foundation says the Ministry has not responded to evidence of the farming activity.
Among the photos is one showing the Ministry of Environment checkpoint in La Morita completely abandoned which is allowing unfettered access of farming equipment and petrochemicals to the protected area. The photographs also show illegal immigrants farming. There is intense avocado planting activity going on.
The Foundation shows a photo with pipes for transporting water for several kilometers, representing multi-million peso investments that small farmers could not underwrite. The Ministry of Environment is accused of looking the other way while major farming takes place in the protected lands.
The Foundation said that the Plan de Rescate del Parque Nacional Valle Nuevo implemented in 2016-2017 was a major achievement of civil society and the Ministry and the new incumbents are in the legal obligation to continue the policy.
https://www.diariolibre.com/medioam...el-caribe-es-destruido-impunemente-GJ11184156
Another young crocodile rescued and sent to the National Zoo
A crocodile was captured in Santo Domingo Norte. This is the second after the capture of Coqui, who was taken to the National Zoo and is recovering from the intense stress of living in an urban area, said the Zoo specialists.
The new crocodile was captured on Sunday, 4 November, and also taken to the Zoo, said Patricia Toribio, director of the National Zoo Park. The second reptile measures 77 centimeters, half of Coqui. The capture happened in the municipality of La Victoria.
https://listindiario.com/la-republi...atrapan-otro-cocodrilo-en-santo-domingo-norte
Pharmacies need to pay 10% of all sales to ARS
The president of the Union de Farmacias, Raul Hernandez, that represents working pharmacies, complained that the medical health providers (ARS) deduct 10% of sales of pharmaceuticals sold to ARS affiliates.
“And this happens under the indifferent and sometimes even complacent gaze of the agencies that must regulate their macabre actions,” he criticized. Hernandez criticized the complacency of the Superintendency of Health and Occupational Risks (SISALRIL).
He said as a result, owners of pharmacies now are only making gross profits of 13% because of the 23% earnings, they have to pay 10% to the medical health providers.
Hernandez says this 10% is not contemplated in Social Security Law 87-01.
ARS affiliates are authorized to consume up to RD$8,000 a year in pharmaceuticals prescribed by authorized physicians. In the case the fund is not used, the ARS gets to keep the difference, adding to the high profitability of the ARS companies.
"All because the business of these men should be more profitable so they can construct more buildings, buy boats, summer homes, take trips abroad to benefit them and their families. The indulgences of these businessmen in their pleasures are being paid for by patients and health providers in the Social Security system,” said Hernández.
The president of the Union of Pharmacies spoke during the celebration of the XIII Mortero de Oro awards, on the occasion of the Day of the Owner of Pharmacist.
https://www.diariolibre.com/noticia...amentos-que-venden-a-sus-afiliados-LG11179121
https://www.diariolibre.com/noticia...estos-a-trancarle-el-juego-a-la-ap-DE11159587
Italian sentenced to 10 years in jail for child sexual abuse
A Santo Domingo court sentenced Italian Giancarlo Corso to 10 years in jail after he was found guilty of sexual exploitation and psychological abuse to a 16-year old girl on 22 March 2018 in the Colonial City. The court determined that the Italian took advantage of the vulnerable young girl. As reported, he promised to help the child with RD$4,000 in cash so she could register in a modeling school. Then he took the teenager to the hotel where he was staying, where he raped her. The investigation carried out by prosecutor Alba Corona said the rape resulted in the child having to be hospitalized in delicate condition. The Italian was ordered to serve his sentence in La Victoria Jail.
http://eldia.com.do/a-la-carcel-ita...-perjuicio-de-adolescente-en-ciudad-colonial/
The best football team
The president of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) Giovanni Vincenzo Infantino has sent congratulations to the Cibao Futbol Club (Cibao FC) on their win of the Dominican Football League 2018 championship in the four years of participation in the tournament. This is the first time Cibao FC has won the tournament.
https://www.elcaribe.com.do/2018/11...a-al-cibao-fc-por-su-primer-titulo-en-la-ldf/
The loud side of Dominican culture?
Rollingstone online shares a video presenting the impressive community of Dominicans living in New York City that have transformed cars, vans and SUV into “gargantuan, roving speaker systems.” The short film, “Mas Fuerte,” presents the ins and outs of the underground musicologists and engineers, and received funding from Presidente Beer.
Rollingstone says that Más Fuerte, directed by Sean Frank, examines the differences and similarities between the speaker van aficionados in the Dominican Republic and those in the Dominican communities scattered across New York City.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/...ary-mas-fuerte-dominican-speaker-vans-749524/
Maridalia Hernandez at the Teatro La Fiesta
The Jaragua Renaissance Hotel in Santo Domingo presents, “Simplemente Maridalia,” with Dominican singer Maridalia Hernández this coming 24 November 2018. The concert will include her best hits over the years. Big Show is the promoter of the show.
Maridalia is a former singer with the 4 x 40 Juan Luis Guerra original group. She later went on to a career as a soloist, and in 1986 won first place at the 1986 Festival de Viña del Mar in Chile with “Para quererte”, written by José Antonio Rodríguez with musical arrangements by Manuel Tejada. Other memorable songs by her are “Quen no sabe de amor,” “Nuestro amor,” “Amantes secretos.” In 2018 she launched the new song, “La pimiento es la que pica,” in collaboration with Milly Quezada and Fefita.
Tickets for the show are for sale online at Uepa Tickets or at the box offices of CCN, Supermercados Nacional y Jumbo, for RD$2,165, RD$3,250, RD$4,330 and RD$5,415 depending on seating arrangements.
https://www.diariolibre.com/revista...en-el-teatro-la-fiesta-del-jaragua-HG11176724
Luis Miguel booked for March 2019 concert
Mexican singer Luis Miguel has included a performance of his “¡México Por Siempre!” 2019 tour at the Felix Sanchez Olympic Stadium on 29 March 2019. The event is a production of Saymon Diaz. Miguel is known for his romantic pop, ballads, boleros, tangos, big band and mariachi style songs. He has sold over 100 million albums around the world after beginning his career in 1982. When Luis Miguel was 15, he became the youngest artist to win a Grammy. He is Billboard’s best ranked Latin American.
http://www.luismigueloficial.com/
https://listindiario.com/entretenim...en-republica-dominicana-sera-en-marzo-de-2019
