Medina administration says no to requesting DR-CAFTA renegotiation
Central Bank keeps its interest rate at 5.5%
Ministry of Tourism publishes high-rise resolution
Samana gets 911 service
Passport center at Sambil Mall
HS students to be surveyed regarding drug use
CORAASAN to invest US$100 million to improve water supply in region
Medina administration maintains stand in favor of abortion flexibility
State Sugar Council woos buyers from China
CONANI files for 116 adoption requests
Manuel Matos Moquete, National Literature Prize 2019
President of Senate admits Medina administration fails in security
The longest standing government employees
Charges levied and pre-trial custody set in Tremols tax evasion accusation case
State prosecutors present 100s of pieces of evidence against Angel Rondon
Police shuts down drug points in the south
Buche gets one-year pre-trial custody in Daniel Ramos murder case
Deputy and family in tragic Samana highway accident
24-year old Venezuelan found dead in her apartment
Extreme drought in the south, southwest and northwest
Luguelin Santos prepares for Pan Ams and IAAF Worlds
Dominican gymnast and dancer makes it to finals of Spain’s Got Talent
Zero Waste Home with Bea Johnson
Medina administration says no to requesting DR-CAFTA renegotiation
Administrative Minister of the Presidency José Ramón Peralta says the Medina administration has done nothing to advance the process of renegotiating of the DR-CAFTA free trade agreement. Peralta made the remark during his participation in an event where he was honored for his contributions to the manufacturing free zone sector at the Centro de Innovación y Capacitación Profesional (Capex) in Santiago on Thursday, 31 January 2019.
"The government, I assure you and as I have said many times, has not done anything concerning the renegotiation with the Free Trade Agreement," said Peralta. During the event, Peralta spoke of the fast-paced growth of the country in the past six years of the Medina administration. He said the Dominican Republic is the leader in growth in Latin America with 7%.
He said that all over the world, the private sector energizes the economy and is the great generator of wealth in national economies. He said that 87% of the wealth in the country has been generated by the private sector.
The event was sponsored by the Asociación Dominicana de Zonas Francas (Adozona), la Corporación Zona Franca Santiago (CZFS) y la Asociación de Empresas de Zonas Francas de Santiago (AEZFS).
Responding to the remark, Agriculture Minister Osmar Benitez said that while the local farm sector is not ready for tax-free imports of US farm produce, it needs to adhere to the decision of the government to not seek a revision. Benitez had backed those who sought to renegotiate the agreement in order to extend the years of protection to a selection of crops in the country.
The US is the big winner of DR-CAFTA. In its first 14 years, the Dominican Republic has increased its trade deficit with the US to US$1.78 billion.
http://hoy.com.do/el-gobierno-no-va-renegociar-tratado-de-libre-comercio/
http://eldia.com.do/revision-dr-cafta-queda-descartada/
Central Bank keeps its interest rate at 5.5%
The Central Bank of the Dominican Republic announced on 31 January 2019 that it would maintain its monetary policy reference interest rate at the current 5.5%. This decision was based on the -0.22% inflation rate for December, ending the year at 1.17%.
The underlying inflation, which isolates the effects of volatile components, closed the year at 2.47%. The system of forecasts indicates that inflation converges gradually to the range of 4.0% +/- 1% at the 24-month horizon.
Recently, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published the update of its report on World Economics and they stressed the deceleration of world economic growth, reducing their projection for 2019 from 3.7% to 3.5% and for 2020 from 3.9% to 3.7%.
https://www.bancentral.gov.do/a/d/4209-bcrd-mantiene-su-tasa-de-politica-monetaria-en-550--anual
Ministry of Tourism publishes high-rise resolution
The Ministry of Tourism published the controversial resolution 002/2017 that amends the maximum number of floors for the construction of high rises in the Punta Cana tourist destination area. The resolution was published a year and three months after it was enacted by the Ministry, in violation with set Ministry of Tourism procedures. The resolution changes the decades-long development strategy for lowrise development in the Punta Cana area that is thought to be a major factor in the successful development of the area.
When rumors circulated for the government support of the change in authorized heights for the Punta Cana area, the National Hotel & Tourism Association (Asonahores) objected, but at last minute in December 2018, the leading hotel association desisted from taking legal action against the government.
The resolution authorizes the construction of five-story buildings in the Punta Cana area (Punta Cana, Bavaro, Macao) and increases the maximum floor height to 22 in some points.
In an interview on Hoy Mismo TV show, Tourism Minister Francisco Javier Garcia said there is no discord with the measure and any differences of opinions were left in the past. He stated: "What everyone wants is that, in the measure of what is possible, or always, as has been the spirit of the Ministry of Tourism, that we handle ourselves within the framework of dialogue."
Diario Libre consulted Asonahores but was told the organization does not have an official position on the publishing of the resolution. But a source from the sector says that the mere fact that the government published the later on 31 January 2019 when it was adopted on 12 October 2017 is an example that the Ministry has not implemented the procedures correctly.
Samana gets 911 service
The province of Samaná is now serviced by the 911 Emergency System. The service coordinates efforts of 264 police agents and 115 medical workers (doctors, nurses, paramedics, ambulance drivers) of 503 other security and health workers, that are backed by 22 pickups, 23 motorcycles, 12 ambulances, speed boats and fire engines.
The government says that with the coverage of Samaná, 74% of the population of the country is covered. The system operates in 14 provinces and 51 municipalities.
https://listindiario.com/la-republi...-activa-el-servicio-del-sistema-911-en-samana
Passport center at Sambil Mall
The Passport Agency announced it now has opened a Citizen Attention Center at the Punto GOB of the government located at the Sambill Mall on Av. John F. Kennedy. The new center will enable citizens to issue and renew their passports. Previously, the only center where this could be carried out was at the Centro de los Heroes on the sea-fronting Malecon boulevard in Santo Domingo.
http://www.pasaportes.gob.do/index....ro-de-atencion-al-usuario-en-punto-gob-sambil
HS students to be surveyed regarding drug use
A sample of students throughout the nation’s secondary schools will be surveyed in order to learn as much as possible regarding the prevalence of drug use within this sector of the population. The news was released by the National Drug Council, which will conduct the survey.
The survey is an attempt to obtain scientific data that will be used to improve programs focused on education and prevention of drug use. The study is part of an on-going program that is part of the European Union’s “Crime and Security Cooperation Program, and will be coordinated by Cariforum and supported by the Multilateral Cooperation Agency. The effort will be carried out in coordination with the Ministry of Education and cover the entire country.
The press release notes that the survey will be carried out by the Solomon Group, and will be led by Julia Hasbún. This group, in turn, is being trained by the specialist and former boss Of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), Francisco Cumsille. The protocol will follow that laid out in “The Survey of High School Students of the Inter-American System of Uniform Data.”
https://www.diariolibre.com/actuali...el-pais-sobre-el-consumo-de-drogas-AB11985522
CORAASAN to invest US$100 million to improve water supply in region
Santiago Water and Sewer Corporation (CORAASAN) director Silvio Durán has announced the start of several projects designed to improve the water supply in Santiago province. The projects will be funded by US$100 million in financing from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
Durán said they are working with neighborhood boards and municipal governments in the projects. These include: the Cienfuegos aqueduct, the water tanks in Gurabo, and the South Zone of Santiago, along Yapur Dumit Ave., and many new sewer lines throughout the area.
Sanitation works to improve the environment in Santiago are also planned for Licey al Medio, Tamboril, Villa Gonzalez, Navarrete, San Jose de las Matas, Baitoa, Puñal and all of the municipal districts in the area.
https://www.diariolibre.com/actuali...millones-en-municipios-de-santiago-LB11983998
Medina administration maintains stand in favor of abortion flexibility
Representatives of the Dominican state ratified on Wednesday, 30 January 2019, during a United Nations human rights meeting in Geneva the commitment of the Medina administration to continue working for the legislative approval for an amendment to the Penal Code to decriminalize abortion in three cases.
The Dominican Penal Code, sanctioned by the National Congress in 2014, has been vetoed twice by the President Danilo Medina, because it maintains the penalty of abortion in all cases, even when pregnancy poses a risk to the mother’s life, if the fetus is not viable or is the pregnancy is the result of a rape.
In order to resolve the impasse in Congress amongst those that favor the religious point of view of zero flexibility for abortion and the Medina administration position proposed in April 2018 that the abortion article be excluded from the Penal Code that is in review.
During her participation in the presentation of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) to the UN, Women Minister Janet Camilo also referred to problems of teenage pregnancy, and reiterated the responsibility of the country in implementing a policy of sexual education and reproductive system that prevents them, according to a Ministry of Women press release.
In that sense, the official informed that, under the coordination of the Vice Presidency of the Dominican Republic, in February a new National Plan for the Reduction of Pregnancy in Adolescents (PERA-RD) will be presented for the period 2019-2023 and its operational plan 2019-2020.
In September 2018, the United Nations urged the Dominican Republic to strengthen measures to reduce teenage pregnancy. Statistics indicate that 22% of women 12 to 19 years has been pregnant.
https://www.metrord.do/do/destacado...mpromiso-despenalizar-aborto-3-supuestos.html
State Sugar Council woos buyers from China
The Dominican State Sugar Council (CEA), once the bulwark of the nation’s economy, and now reduced to a shadow of its former greatness, has announced the possibilities and opportunities facing the entity with luring investors from China. Pedro Mota Pacheco, the head of the CEA, told El Día reporters that after establishing relations with the People’s Republic of China, the CEA is receiving two and three investor Chinese commissions each week who are looking for land in this area. Pacheco admitted that the state sugar mills only contribute to some 2% of the national sugar yield, yet he said the country had a huge potential to re-launch production.
Pacheco is optimistic for the relaunching of 2 of the 12 sugar mills that have been closed, abandoned or sold off. The CEA boss says that with proper administration the state can once again reclaim its position that once provided 30,000 jobs and produced 60% of Dominican sugar.
He described the refurbishing of the Porvenir sugar mill that has increased production from 10,000 tons to 30,000 tons. In addition, the Pringamosa mill in Hato Mayor is under consideration for re-opening. In order to do this the CEA needs between RD$500 and RD$600 million in financing. An additional part of the recovery plan is the rebuilding and remodeling of the a dozen bateyes, the quarters where imported Haitian laborers lived while working in the sugar fields in harvest time. These are all that is left of the more than 600 that once dotted the Dominican sugarcane fields.
The State Sugar Council for years now has been in the media for numerous corruption scandals regarding what was once vast land holdings.
http://eldia.com.do/la-industria-azucarera-gubernamental-se-va-relanzando-a-pasos-lentos/
CONANI files for 116 adoption requests
Adoption in the Dominican Republic is extremely difficult both for Dominicans as well as foreigners. The paperwork and bureaucracy is nearly endless. The new director of the National Children Council (Conani), Kenia Lora that oversees the abortions, wants to change this. Conani is the agency charged with protecting children and adolescents, attempt to reunite families and guarantee the rights of children.
In an interview with Adriano Miguel Tejada, executive editor of Diario Libre, Lora said that she has met with authorities from the Central Electoral Board (JCE) that handles civil registry in the country, in order to reduce the paperwork entailed in birth registrations. “In 2018 adoption requests doubled because we streamlined some of the processes that complicated things in former years,” she told Tejada.
Regarding adoption statistics… The majority of the children adopted are in Greater Santo Domingo, and there are 14 requests for adoption from overseas, especially Spain. Recent figures show 123 adoptions, almost evenly split between boys and girls. Of the 62 boys, 45 were adopted by Dominican families and 17 by foreigners, while the 61 females went to 52 Dominican families and the other 9 went overseas. At least 69 of these children had lived with foster parents, which are called “padres de corazon” in Spanish (parents from the heart).
In its efforts to protect the children, Conani has established seven half-way houses, and has a hotline called Life Line (Línea Vida) where cases involving children in danger can be reported.
https://www.diariolibre.com/actuali...tes-para-adopciones-en-el-ano-2018-EB11984990
Manuel Matos Moquete, National Literature Prize 2019
Writer, educator and academic of the Dominican Academy of the Language, Manuel Matos Moquete has been unanimously awarded with the National Prize of Literature 2019. Matos Moquete will receive the award granted by Corripio Foundation and the Ministry of Culture for his commendable trajectory and valuable contributions in research, analysis of discourse and literary criticism, narrative and essay, as well as his studies on Dominican education and his fertile presence in the classroom for half a century. The recognition, will be presented on 26 February 2019, and consists of a diploma and an endowment of RD$2 million.
Upon receiving the news, Matos Moquete, said "that he accepts the award with humility and with the responsibility of continuing to work for the development of the country and of all Dominican society. “
Manuel Matos Moquete is a professor and researcher at the Santo Domingo Technological Institute (INTEC), professor at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD), advisor to the Ministry of Education in the Spanish language area, coordinator of the Academy's Linguistic Commission of Sciences of the Dominican Republic and member of the number of the Academy of Sciences of the Dominican Republic. He is a poet, novelist, essayist, literary critic and educator.
http://www.asale.org/noticias/manuel-matos-moquete-premio-nacional-de-literatura-2019
http://www.asale.org/academicos/manuel-matos-moquete
President of Senate admits Medina administration fails in security
President of the Senate Reinaldo Parez Pérez (PLD-National District) says that his political party needs to come about a new model, more appropriate for the 21st Century, and move away from mechanisms and systems that have been inherited from the Trujillo dictatorship days. "Our party cannot continue looking for excuses or justifying the insecurity suffered by the country on the basis of lament," he said, while advancing that security in its various aspects is one of the pillars of the Electoral Platform that he will present the country in the face of the elections of 2020. Parez Perez has announced his aspirations to seek the presidency for the PLD in 2020. He said he has traveled more than 20 provinces, and in each one of these demarcations the population has expressed their support to his pre-candidacy.
Parez Perez is the brother of Sigmundo Pared Perez, a former Minister of the Armed Forces, who is the present national director of the National Department of Investigations, the local FBI. His other brother, Carlos Parez Perez is personal assistant to President Danilo Medina.
Speaking in a press conference at the Santo Domingo Sheraton on Friday, 1 February 2019, Pared Pérez said the time is ready for new faces in politics. He says that the Constitution bans President Medina from seeking reelection. Addressing former President Leonel Fernandez, he remarked that Dominican society is not the same as in 1996 or 2004.
“Those who have tried to close the electoral debate to only these two leaders do so on the false premise that none of the emerging political projects that have emerged within the PLD have caught on to the symphony or the electorate,” he observed. But he said that there are polls that say differently. He said the polls show people want new fresh figures to participate in the 2020 election.
https://www.diariolibre.com/actuali...ad-quiere-rostros-nuevos-para-2020-FB11986300
https://www.diariolibre.com/actuali...-seguridad-implementan-autoridades-GD12005627
The longest standing government employees
Listín Diario shares a feature on those who have been in key government positions for decades.
Among these are: Héctor Valdez Albizu, named governor of the Central Bank during the Balaguer administration in 1994. He would remain on the position until 2000. He was removed by then President Hipólito Mejía but was recalled back to the job by President Leonel Fernandez in 2004 and is still on the job.
Máximo Castro Silverio has been a deputy representing the Partido Reformista Social Cristiano for 29 years. He has been elected for eight periods.
Marino Collante Gomez is the director of the Airport Department. Formerly he served several terms at the Chamber of Deputies. He was deputy for Santiago for from 1990 to 2016 when he resigned to take his present post in the Medina administration.
Amable Aristy Castro, senator for the province La Altagracia. He was elected on several occasions for the Partido Reformista Social Cristiano (PRSC), but now represents the Partido Liberal Reformista. He was first voted in as a deputy in 1982, and then became senator for La Altagracia from 1990 to 1998, when he resigned to take on the Secretaria General de la Liga Municipal Dominicana (LMD). In 2002, he returned to the senator seat for the province and in 2006 resigned to return to the LMD. Aristy Castro arranged for his cousin, German Castro Garcia, to take his seat in the legislature. In 2010, he resigned from the LMD, appointing to that position another cousin, and seeks the senate seat for La Altagracia, and was elected for the 2016-2020 term.
Euclides Gutiérrez Felix, member of the Central committee of the PLD, and who has held the positions of secretary of state, director general of the State Enterprises Corporation (Corde), and also Superintedent of Insurance in the PLD government 1996-2000. He has been secretary without portfolio, and in charge of the Superintendence of Insurance from 2004-2008 and 2008-2012, also during PLD government.
José Ramón Fadul, today Interior & Police Minister, is probably the person with the longest tenure in an important government position of those in the Medina cabinet. Fadul began as a deputy in 1982-1986 under a Balaguer administration, was mayor of Santiago 1990-1994, was back in the Chamber of Deputies 1994-1996, where he came president of the Chamber 1995-1996. He was also appointed secretary of state and liaison of the PLD with Congress in 1996, and then director of Corde, from 1997-1998. He was minister of Labor 2004-2008 and minister of Industry & Commerce, appointed 16 August 2008. He was also minister of Interior & Police in 2011, reassigned to the ministry of Labor, and then to Interior and Police, where he continues today.
Francisco Javier García, a member of the Political Committee of the PLD, held high positions during the three governments of former President Leonel Fernandez (1996-2000, 2004-2008, 2008-2012) and during those of President Danilo Medina (2012-2016, 2016-) he has been Minister of Tourism. He has also served as administrator of the National Lottery, president of the Petroleum Refinery, secretary of Industry & Commerce and director general of the Port Authority.
Alejandrina German, today minister of Superior Education, Science & Technology (MESCyT) entered the PLD government in 1996 when she was appointed president of the Consejo Nacional de Educacion Superior (Cones) with rank of secretary of state through August 1999. Then she was named Secretary of the Presidency until August 2000. Afterwards on 2004, with the return of the PLD government she was appointed secretary of Education until 2008, when she was named Minister of Women.
Listin Diario mentions others who have long careers in government key positions:
Eduardo Selman, today Minister of Culture, served many years as consul in New York.
Jaime David Fernandez has been senator, Vice President of the Republic, Minister of Sports and now member of the Monetary Board.
Bautista Rojas has been mayor, senator, minister of public health and environment.
Lidio Cadet has been secretary of state without portfolio, director of Pro-Industria and now director of the government ethics department.
José Joaquín Bidó Medina is a past record of the UASD, judge, deputy, president of the government ethics committee, among other positions.
Jose Tomas Perez, member of the PLD Political Committee, was named to Fomento Industrial, Civil Aviation, was senator for the National District and is today Dominican ambassador in Washington, D. C.
Felix Jimenez was minister of tourism for an eight year term under President Leonel Fernandez and is today president of the Dominican Refinery Council.
Danilo Medina, today President, was president of the Chamber of Deputies and minister of the Presidency under the Leonel Fernandez presidency.
https://listindiario.com/la-republi...os-con-mayor-tiempo-en-los-poderes-del-estado
Charges levied and pre-trial custody set in Tremols tax evasion accusation case
Judge Alejandro Vargas issued pre-trial restricting orders for nine of the 10 accused by the Drug Agency (DGII) of tax evasion fraud for more than 4 billion. The judge ordered three months home arrest to Ramón Rafael Tremols Payero, founder of the Grupo Tremols. He also is banned from leaving the country, must wear an electronic bracelet and post bail for RD$5 million.
Others who were sentenced to pre-trial custody are Eddy Samuel Tremols Payero and Doris Alexandra López Urbáez who were allowed to post bail for RD$1 million, but also are banned from leaving the country and must wear the electronic bracelet. Lesser bail was ordered for Hervys Rafael Tremols Payero, Daniel de Jesús Tremols Payero, Leonardo Antonio Tremols Payero, Eduardo de Jesús Tremols Cruz and Carmen Adela Tremols Cruz, allowed to post bail for RD$500,000, but who also cannot leave the country.
Judge Vargas only banned Rafael Tremols Acosta from leaving the country due to the later’s advanced age and frail health.
The DGII on 29 March 2018 had determined that the Tremols Group had committed tax fraud from 2010 to 2017. The business group includes Licores y Bebidas del País, Licores y Bebidas Dominicanas, Licores Roya and Dominican Hotel Register Company, companies that were investigated by the DGII when placing the tax fraud case. The charges are violation of articles 236, 237, 238, 239 and 246 of the Dominican Tax Code, articles 265, 266 and 405 of the Dominican Penal Code and art. 3 of the Money Laundering Law 72-02.
https://listindiario.com/la-republi...sados-de-fraude-fiscal-millonario-contra-dgii
http://eldia.com.do/dgii-acusa-a-grupo-tremols-evadir-1-3-mil-millones-con-destileria-ilegal/
State prosecutors present 100s of pieces of evidence against Angel Rondón
Prosecutors for the state continued the preliminary hearing of several of those implicated in the Odebrecht scandal involving some US$92 million (over RD$4.5 billion at today’s rates) in bribes to obtain large government contracts. The prosecutors read a long list of evidentiary materials together with eight testimonials, 25 pieces of materials and presented a stack of supposedly incriminating documents. The prosecution also produced the plea agreement between the Attorney General and Odebrecht and the accompanying judicial resolution of the same. The hearing lasted nine hours as the defense lawyers asked that the statements of the Odebrecht officials be read in their entirety. The hearings will resume later this week as the defense lawyers go over the evidence presented by the prosecutors. Rondón has said that he will collaborate with the AG, as long as any repayment is out of the question. In one interview, he said that he “only received US$79 million for ‘his services’”.
The case continues this week with the accused now presenting their defense statements.
https://elcaribe.com.do/2019/01/31/...-pruebas-que-tiene-en-contra-de-angel-rondon/
Police shuts down drug points in the south
After the 8 January 2019 murder in Baní of a police colonel was seen as evidence of the complicity of the National Police with drug trafficking in the Dominican Republic, the Antinarcotics Central Agency (Dican), the drug combatting division of the National Police announced that in the past two weeks after the incident it has shutdown 1,471 drug points in 62 searches nationwide, and arrested and sent to justice 1,117 persons. Colonel Frank Duran, spokesman for the police, said in a press conference that drugs were seized, including cocaine, heroin and crack. He said the interventions included points in Santiago and Bani, where drug points were said to be dismantled.
General Juan Alberto Then, regional commander for the Central Region of the Police and Senator Wilton Guerrero, in another event had presented the team that will work on the dismantling of drug points in Baní. On numerous occasions, Guerrero had said that it was vox populi where these drug sales points were located. General Then said that the operation against drug trafficking would be named for the late Colonel Daniel Ramos Alvarez. As reported, 18 interventions were made to drug sales point in Baní. These were located in the barrios of El Maní, Los Cajuilitos, Santa Rosa and Calle 5, in Pueblo Nuevo. Many of these have been demolished. As reported, they were operated by persons only identified as “Inkita”, “El Pesao” and “El Canalla” that have not been detained. Yet, the Police reported the confiscating of four dogs that were used by the vendors to ensure that drug control agents did not get near to the sales points.
Meanwhile, Dican reported the arrest of 10 persons in operations carried out to combat micro-trafficking in San Juan de la Maguana and Azua, in the southwest.
https://listindiario.com/la-republi...ntos-de-drogas-y-apresa-a-mas-de-mil-personas
https://listindiario.com/la-republi...puntos-de-droga-en-bani-advierten-seran-todos
https://listindiario.com/la-republi...ocales-donde-operaban-puntos-de-droga-en-bani
https://listindiario.com/la-republi...s-utilizados-por-vendedores-de-drogas-en-bani
http://hoy.com.do/operativos-apresan-10-personas-por-microtrafico-de-drogas/
Buche gets one-year pre-trial custody in Daniel Ramos murder case
Rafael Antonio Diaz (Buche) was sentenced to a year of pre-trial custody Judge Rosaura Garabito in the murder case against colonel Daniel Ramos in Baní on 8 January 2019. Others sent to pre-trial custody are Luis Milcíades Santana (El Chamo) and Milcíades Ruiz (Chiquito Mala Fe), accused of murdered of gunshot the commander of the drug control depart at the Police Department in Peravia.
https://listindiario.com/la-republi...-hombres-por-muerte-del-coronel-ramos-alvarez
http://hoy.com.do/buche-no-hablo-so...e-hombre-en-la-carcel-pero-su-acompanante-si/
Deputy and family in tragic Samana highway accident
A tragic accident involved Santo Domingo East deputy Karen Ricardo who was returning with her husband Lorenzo Sanchez, child and nanny from Samana on Saturday afternoon. The parents and nanny Alexandra Vargas were hospitalized at the Dario Contreras Trauma Hospital and her two children were sent to the Dr. Hugo Mendoza Pediatrics Hospital on Av. Charles de Gaulle in eastern Santo Domingo. The deputy suffered trauma of the torax, cervical, and injuries in her right arm but is stable.
The crash occurred at the point of Km. 29 on the Autopista del Nordeste (Papa Juan Pablo II) on the Samana toll road. The Sanchez family SUV crashed into another vehicle, a Toyota Paseo, driven by 29-year old policeman Johnny Armando Santana Rodriguez of Los Llanos, San Pedro de Macoris, who died shortly after at the Monte Plata public hospital where he was taken.
https://www.elcaribe.com.do/2019/02...vehiculo-con-el-de-la-diputada-karen-ricardo/
https://elnacional.com.do/muere-uno-y-cinco-heridos-en-accidente-involucro-diputada-karen-ricardo/
https://listindiario.com/la-republi...ntra-en-condiciones-de-cuidado-tras-accidente
24-year old Venezuelan found dead in her apartment
Virginia Carolina Rojas Collado, who had not long ago migrated from Venezuela, was found dead with knife wounds in her Av. Núñez de Cáceres apartment in San Gerónimo apartment in the National District. The apartment was locked but when a foul smell resulted, the firemen broke down the door finding the horrific scene of her death. She was found dead in the bathroom in a pool of blood. Two knives, one of 8 and 11 inches are analyzed for finger prints.
A neighbor told police investigators that the last time she was seen alive was on Sunday, 27 January when she told her neighbor she was going out for some errands. Her cousin Luis Mendez had placed a claim in the Department of Missing People of the Police that the cousin was missing. A neighbor of the woman called 911 when noting a stench coming from the apartment.
The Venezuelan had moved to the DR seeking new opportunities given the economic and political situation in Venezuela.
The body was sent to the National Forensic Sciences Institute (Inacif) for an autopsy.
http://hoy.com.do/jefe-de-la-polici...cerrado-por-lo-que-hubo-que-romper-la-puerta/
https://www.metrord.do/do/destacado...olana-santo-domingo-la-segunda-lo-va-ano.html
Extreme drought in the south, southwest and northwest
The National Meteorology (Onamet) declared the south, southwest and northwest in extreme drought. The most affected by the drought are the municipalities of Villa Vasquez, Santiago Rodriguez in the northwest, Jimaní and Barahona and Hondo Valle in the southwest. Moca in the center of the country is also affected by extreme drought conditions.
https://listindiario.com/la-republi...-sequia-extrema-en-el-sur-suroeste-y-noroeste
Luguelin Santos prepares for Pan Ams and IAAF Worlds
Dominican London Olympics silver medallist Luguelin Santos is preparing for his two most important commitments this year -- the Pan Am Games in Lima, Peru (26 July - 11 August 2019) and the IAAF World Championships in Doha, Qatar from 28 September to 6 October 2019. His coach Jose Ludwig Rubio announced the preparatory competitions leading to these competitions.
Santos has won two silver medals in the Pan Am Games 2011 (one in the relay) but still has to win a gold in the important regional competition. In the world athletics championship, he won bronze in Moscow 2013.
His trainer says he will be preparing with competitions in:
2 February in Karlruhe, Germany.
6 February in Torun, Poland
8 February in Madrid, Spain
16 February in Birmingham, England
20 February in Dusseldorf, Germany.
Luguelin Santos trains in Bahrain, where his coach works with other athletes of the Dominican national team.
https://www.diariolibre.com/deporte...s-competira-desde-manana-en-europa-KB11986628
Dominican gymnast and dancer makes it to finals of Spain’s Got Talent
Surviving a tragic traffic accident in Samaná but losing his right leg when he was 16 years old in a motorcycle accident in Samaná, young dancer José Luis Gutiérrez performed at the Spain’s Got Talent reality show last week and landed a ticket to the semi-finals with a mesmerizing dance performance that ended with his posting the sign “No Limits.” He was commended for his capacity to adapt. Gutiérrez is from San Francisco de Macoris.
Gutiérrez says that he won the spot, despite a stressful day that had begun at 5am and came to a climax when at 2am he performed for the live audience. He said his dance tells his story. He said he has to train the double, but loves to dance.
His perseverance has made a difference. He explained the first prosthesis he received was not working and he almost quit. Despite the many rejections and difficulties in his first year, he said his perseverance made a difference, and doors began to open. Fortunately, a mentor sent him to Orlando, Florida where he was fitted with his present prosthesis that has made all the difference.
Different TV shows in Santo Domingo presented his story, requesting sponsorship so he could return to Spain for the next phase. An important local government contractor, Grupo Malespín, offered backing for his trip to Spain.
This is not Gutiérrez’s first big win. In Santo Domingo, he was the winner of the popular vote of the Sueño Ser Artista section of the Soberano Awards in 2018.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn1JSz0Eu8w
Dancer, at 16 years old he lost his leg in a motorcycle accident.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBrJq7Lnt1E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4lpzQASssQhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4lpzQASssQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4lpzQASssQ
Zero Waste Home with Bea Johnson
The pioneer of the Zero Waste movement of the United States, Bea Johnson, is the special guest speaker at 6pm Chez Space in Santo Domingo on Wednesday, 6 February 2019. The talk is sponsored by Sostenibilidad 3Rs, a local recycling movement. The cost of the talk is RD$2,000 per person and the talk is a benefit for the recycling cause in the Dominican Republic. Tickets are for sale online at tix.do
Johnson, a French woman living in California, is behind a waste management global movement that has inspired thousands of people throughout the world to live simply and take a stance against needless waste. Her 5R’s are: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Rot (and only in that order).
For more information on the talk, call 809 540-5571.
https://zerowastehome.com/about/bea/
https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/2019/01/223011/zero-waste-home-movement-bea-johnson
Central Bank keeps its interest rate at 5.5%
Ministry of Tourism publishes high-rise resolution
Samana gets 911 service
Passport center at Sambil Mall
HS students to be surveyed regarding drug use
CORAASAN to invest US$100 million to improve water supply in region
Medina administration maintains stand in favor of abortion flexibility
State Sugar Council woos buyers from China
CONANI files for 116 adoption requests
Manuel Matos Moquete, National Literature Prize 2019
President of Senate admits Medina administration fails in security
The longest standing government employees
Charges levied and pre-trial custody set in Tremols tax evasion accusation case
State prosecutors present 100s of pieces of evidence against Angel Rondon
Police shuts down drug points in the south
Buche gets one-year pre-trial custody in Daniel Ramos murder case
Deputy and family in tragic Samana highway accident
24-year old Venezuelan found dead in her apartment
Extreme drought in the south, southwest and northwest
Luguelin Santos prepares for Pan Ams and IAAF Worlds
Dominican gymnast and dancer makes it to finals of Spain’s Got Talent
Zero Waste Home with Bea Johnson
Medina administration says no to requesting DR-CAFTA renegotiation
Administrative Minister of the Presidency José Ramón Peralta says the Medina administration has done nothing to advance the process of renegotiating of the DR-CAFTA free trade agreement. Peralta made the remark during his participation in an event where he was honored for his contributions to the manufacturing free zone sector at the Centro de Innovación y Capacitación Profesional (Capex) in Santiago on Thursday, 31 January 2019.
"The government, I assure you and as I have said many times, has not done anything concerning the renegotiation with the Free Trade Agreement," said Peralta. During the event, Peralta spoke of the fast-paced growth of the country in the past six years of the Medina administration. He said the Dominican Republic is the leader in growth in Latin America with 7%.
He said that all over the world, the private sector energizes the economy and is the great generator of wealth in national economies. He said that 87% of the wealth in the country has been generated by the private sector.
The event was sponsored by the Asociación Dominicana de Zonas Francas (Adozona), la Corporación Zona Franca Santiago (CZFS) y la Asociación de Empresas de Zonas Francas de Santiago (AEZFS).
Responding to the remark, Agriculture Minister Osmar Benitez said that while the local farm sector is not ready for tax-free imports of US farm produce, it needs to adhere to the decision of the government to not seek a revision. Benitez had backed those who sought to renegotiate the agreement in order to extend the years of protection to a selection of crops in the country.
The US is the big winner of DR-CAFTA. In its first 14 years, the Dominican Republic has increased its trade deficit with the US to US$1.78 billion.
http://hoy.com.do/el-gobierno-no-va-renegociar-tratado-de-libre-comercio/
http://eldia.com.do/revision-dr-cafta-queda-descartada/
Central Bank keeps its interest rate at 5.5%
The Central Bank of the Dominican Republic announced on 31 January 2019 that it would maintain its monetary policy reference interest rate at the current 5.5%. This decision was based on the -0.22% inflation rate for December, ending the year at 1.17%.
The underlying inflation, which isolates the effects of volatile components, closed the year at 2.47%. The system of forecasts indicates that inflation converges gradually to the range of 4.0% +/- 1% at the 24-month horizon.
Recently, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published the update of its report on World Economics and they stressed the deceleration of world economic growth, reducing their projection for 2019 from 3.7% to 3.5% and for 2020 from 3.9% to 3.7%.
https://www.bancentral.gov.do/a/d/4209-bcrd-mantiene-su-tasa-de-politica-monetaria-en-550--anual
Ministry of Tourism publishes high-rise resolution
The Ministry of Tourism published the controversial resolution 002/2017 that amends the maximum number of floors for the construction of high rises in the Punta Cana tourist destination area. The resolution was published a year and three months after it was enacted by the Ministry, in violation with set Ministry of Tourism procedures. The resolution changes the decades-long development strategy for lowrise development in the Punta Cana area that is thought to be a major factor in the successful development of the area.
When rumors circulated for the government support of the change in authorized heights for the Punta Cana area, the National Hotel & Tourism Association (Asonahores) objected, but at last minute in December 2018, the leading hotel association desisted from taking legal action against the government.
The resolution authorizes the construction of five-story buildings in the Punta Cana area (Punta Cana, Bavaro, Macao) and increases the maximum floor height to 22 in some points.
In an interview on Hoy Mismo TV show, Tourism Minister Francisco Javier Garcia said there is no discord with the measure and any differences of opinions were left in the past. He stated: "What everyone wants is that, in the measure of what is possible, or always, as has been the spirit of the Ministry of Tourism, that we handle ourselves within the framework of dialogue."
Diario Libre consulted Asonahores but was told the organization does not have an official position on the publishing of the resolution. But a source from the sector says that the mere fact that the government published the later on 31 January 2019 when it was adopted on 12 October 2017 is an example that the Ministry has not implemented the procedures correctly.
Samana gets 911 service
The province of Samaná is now serviced by the 911 Emergency System. The service coordinates efforts of 264 police agents and 115 medical workers (doctors, nurses, paramedics, ambulance drivers) of 503 other security and health workers, that are backed by 22 pickups, 23 motorcycles, 12 ambulances, speed boats and fire engines.
The government says that with the coverage of Samaná, 74% of the population of the country is covered. The system operates in 14 provinces and 51 municipalities.
https://listindiario.com/la-republi...-activa-el-servicio-del-sistema-911-en-samana
Passport center at Sambil Mall
The Passport Agency announced it now has opened a Citizen Attention Center at the Punto GOB of the government located at the Sambill Mall on Av. John F. Kennedy. The new center will enable citizens to issue and renew their passports. Previously, the only center where this could be carried out was at the Centro de los Heroes on the sea-fronting Malecon boulevard in Santo Domingo.
http://www.pasaportes.gob.do/index....ro-de-atencion-al-usuario-en-punto-gob-sambil
HS students to be surveyed regarding drug use
A sample of students throughout the nation’s secondary schools will be surveyed in order to learn as much as possible regarding the prevalence of drug use within this sector of the population. The news was released by the National Drug Council, which will conduct the survey.
The survey is an attempt to obtain scientific data that will be used to improve programs focused on education and prevention of drug use. The study is part of an on-going program that is part of the European Union’s “Crime and Security Cooperation Program, and will be coordinated by Cariforum and supported by the Multilateral Cooperation Agency. The effort will be carried out in coordination with the Ministry of Education and cover the entire country.
The press release notes that the survey will be carried out by the Solomon Group, and will be led by Julia Hasbún. This group, in turn, is being trained by the specialist and former boss Of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), Francisco Cumsille. The protocol will follow that laid out in “The Survey of High School Students of the Inter-American System of Uniform Data.”
https://www.diariolibre.com/actuali...el-pais-sobre-el-consumo-de-drogas-AB11985522
CORAASAN to invest US$100 million to improve water supply in region
Santiago Water and Sewer Corporation (CORAASAN) director Silvio Durán has announced the start of several projects designed to improve the water supply in Santiago province. The projects will be funded by US$100 million in financing from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
Durán said they are working with neighborhood boards and municipal governments in the projects. These include: the Cienfuegos aqueduct, the water tanks in Gurabo, and the South Zone of Santiago, along Yapur Dumit Ave., and many new sewer lines throughout the area.
Sanitation works to improve the environment in Santiago are also planned for Licey al Medio, Tamboril, Villa Gonzalez, Navarrete, San Jose de las Matas, Baitoa, Puñal and all of the municipal districts in the area.
https://www.diariolibre.com/actuali...millones-en-municipios-de-santiago-LB11983998
Medina administration maintains stand in favor of abortion flexibility
Representatives of the Dominican state ratified on Wednesday, 30 January 2019, during a United Nations human rights meeting in Geneva the commitment of the Medina administration to continue working for the legislative approval for an amendment to the Penal Code to decriminalize abortion in three cases.
The Dominican Penal Code, sanctioned by the National Congress in 2014, has been vetoed twice by the President Danilo Medina, because it maintains the penalty of abortion in all cases, even when pregnancy poses a risk to the mother’s life, if the fetus is not viable or is the pregnancy is the result of a rape.
In order to resolve the impasse in Congress amongst those that favor the religious point of view of zero flexibility for abortion and the Medina administration position proposed in April 2018 that the abortion article be excluded from the Penal Code that is in review.
During her participation in the presentation of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) to the UN, Women Minister Janet Camilo also referred to problems of teenage pregnancy, and reiterated the responsibility of the country in implementing a policy of sexual education and reproductive system that prevents them, according to a Ministry of Women press release.
In that sense, the official informed that, under the coordination of the Vice Presidency of the Dominican Republic, in February a new National Plan for the Reduction of Pregnancy in Adolescents (PERA-RD) will be presented for the period 2019-2023 and its operational plan 2019-2020.
In September 2018, the United Nations urged the Dominican Republic to strengthen measures to reduce teenage pregnancy. Statistics indicate that 22% of women 12 to 19 years has been pregnant.
https://www.metrord.do/do/destacado...mpromiso-despenalizar-aborto-3-supuestos.html
State Sugar Council woos buyers from China
The Dominican State Sugar Council (CEA), once the bulwark of the nation’s economy, and now reduced to a shadow of its former greatness, has announced the possibilities and opportunities facing the entity with luring investors from China. Pedro Mota Pacheco, the head of the CEA, told El Día reporters that after establishing relations with the People’s Republic of China, the CEA is receiving two and three investor Chinese commissions each week who are looking for land in this area. Pacheco admitted that the state sugar mills only contribute to some 2% of the national sugar yield, yet he said the country had a huge potential to re-launch production.
Pacheco is optimistic for the relaunching of 2 of the 12 sugar mills that have been closed, abandoned or sold off. The CEA boss says that with proper administration the state can once again reclaim its position that once provided 30,000 jobs and produced 60% of Dominican sugar.
He described the refurbishing of the Porvenir sugar mill that has increased production from 10,000 tons to 30,000 tons. In addition, the Pringamosa mill in Hato Mayor is under consideration for re-opening. In order to do this the CEA needs between RD$500 and RD$600 million in financing. An additional part of the recovery plan is the rebuilding and remodeling of the a dozen bateyes, the quarters where imported Haitian laborers lived while working in the sugar fields in harvest time. These are all that is left of the more than 600 that once dotted the Dominican sugarcane fields.
The State Sugar Council for years now has been in the media for numerous corruption scandals regarding what was once vast land holdings.
http://eldia.com.do/la-industria-azucarera-gubernamental-se-va-relanzando-a-pasos-lentos/
CONANI files for 116 adoption requests
Adoption in the Dominican Republic is extremely difficult both for Dominicans as well as foreigners. The paperwork and bureaucracy is nearly endless. The new director of the National Children Council (Conani), Kenia Lora that oversees the abortions, wants to change this. Conani is the agency charged with protecting children and adolescents, attempt to reunite families and guarantee the rights of children.
In an interview with Adriano Miguel Tejada, executive editor of Diario Libre, Lora said that she has met with authorities from the Central Electoral Board (JCE) that handles civil registry in the country, in order to reduce the paperwork entailed in birth registrations. “In 2018 adoption requests doubled because we streamlined some of the processes that complicated things in former years,” she told Tejada.
Regarding adoption statistics… The majority of the children adopted are in Greater Santo Domingo, and there are 14 requests for adoption from overseas, especially Spain. Recent figures show 123 adoptions, almost evenly split between boys and girls. Of the 62 boys, 45 were adopted by Dominican families and 17 by foreigners, while the 61 females went to 52 Dominican families and the other 9 went overseas. At least 69 of these children had lived with foster parents, which are called “padres de corazon” in Spanish (parents from the heart).
In its efforts to protect the children, Conani has established seven half-way houses, and has a hotline called Life Line (Línea Vida) where cases involving children in danger can be reported.
https://www.diariolibre.com/actuali...tes-para-adopciones-en-el-ano-2018-EB11984990
Manuel Matos Moquete, National Literature Prize 2019
Writer, educator and academic of the Dominican Academy of the Language, Manuel Matos Moquete has been unanimously awarded with the National Prize of Literature 2019. Matos Moquete will receive the award granted by Corripio Foundation and the Ministry of Culture for his commendable trajectory and valuable contributions in research, analysis of discourse and literary criticism, narrative and essay, as well as his studies on Dominican education and his fertile presence in the classroom for half a century. The recognition, will be presented on 26 February 2019, and consists of a diploma and an endowment of RD$2 million.
Upon receiving the news, Matos Moquete, said "that he accepts the award with humility and with the responsibility of continuing to work for the development of the country and of all Dominican society. “
Manuel Matos Moquete is a professor and researcher at the Santo Domingo Technological Institute (INTEC), professor at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD), advisor to the Ministry of Education in the Spanish language area, coordinator of the Academy's Linguistic Commission of Sciences of the Dominican Republic and member of the number of the Academy of Sciences of the Dominican Republic. He is a poet, novelist, essayist, literary critic and educator.
http://www.asale.org/noticias/manuel-matos-moquete-premio-nacional-de-literatura-2019
http://www.asale.org/academicos/manuel-matos-moquete
President of Senate admits Medina administration fails in security
President of the Senate Reinaldo Parez Pérez (PLD-National District) says that his political party needs to come about a new model, more appropriate for the 21st Century, and move away from mechanisms and systems that have been inherited from the Trujillo dictatorship days. "Our party cannot continue looking for excuses or justifying the insecurity suffered by the country on the basis of lament," he said, while advancing that security in its various aspects is one of the pillars of the Electoral Platform that he will present the country in the face of the elections of 2020. Parez Perez has announced his aspirations to seek the presidency for the PLD in 2020. He said he has traveled more than 20 provinces, and in each one of these demarcations the population has expressed their support to his pre-candidacy.
Parez Perez is the brother of Sigmundo Pared Perez, a former Minister of the Armed Forces, who is the present national director of the National Department of Investigations, the local FBI. His other brother, Carlos Parez Perez is personal assistant to President Danilo Medina.
Speaking in a press conference at the Santo Domingo Sheraton on Friday, 1 February 2019, Pared Pérez said the time is ready for new faces in politics. He says that the Constitution bans President Medina from seeking reelection. Addressing former President Leonel Fernandez, he remarked that Dominican society is not the same as in 1996 or 2004.
“Those who have tried to close the electoral debate to only these two leaders do so on the false premise that none of the emerging political projects that have emerged within the PLD have caught on to the symphony or the electorate,” he observed. But he said that there are polls that say differently. He said the polls show people want new fresh figures to participate in the 2020 election.
https://www.diariolibre.com/actuali...ad-quiere-rostros-nuevos-para-2020-FB11986300
https://www.diariolibre.com/actuali...-seguridad-implementan-autoridades-GD12005627
The longest standing government employees
Listín Diario shares a feature on those who have been in key government positions for decades.
Among these are: Héctor Valdez Albizu, named governor of the Central Bank during the Balaguer administration in 1994. He would remain on the position until 2000. He was removed by then President Hipólito Mejía but was recalled back to the job by President Leonel Fernandez in 2004 and is still on the job.
Máximo Castro Silverio has been a deputy representing the Partido Reformista Social Cristiano for 29 years. He has been elected for eight periods.
Marino Collante Gomez is the director of the Airport Department. Formerly he served several terms at the Chamber of Deputies. He was deputy for Santiago for from 1990 to 2016 when he resigned to take his present post in the Medina administration.
Amable Aristy Castro, senator for the province La Altagracia. He was elected on several occasions for the Partido Reformista Social Cristiano (PRSC), but now represents the Partido Liberal Reformista. He was first voted in as a deputy in 1982, and then became senator for La Altagracia from 1990 to 1998, when he resigned to take on the Secretaria General de la Liga Municipal Dominicana (LMD). In 2002, he returned to the senator seat for the province and in 2006 resigned to return to the LMD. Aristy Castro arranged for his cousin, German Castro Garcia, to take his seat in the legislature. In 2010, he resigned from the LMD, appointing to that position another cousin, and seeks the senate seat for La Altagracia, and was elected for the 2016-2020 term.
Euclides Gutiérrez Felix, member of the Central committee of the PLD, and who has held the positions of secretary of state, director general of the State Enterprises Corporation (Corde), and also Superintedent of Insurance in the PLD government 1996-2000. He has been secretary without portfolio, and in charge of the Superintendence of Insurance from 2004-2008 and 2008-2012, also during PLD government.
José Ramón Fadul, today Interior & Police Minister, is probably the person with the longest tenure in an important government position of those in the Medina cabinet. Fadul began as a deputy in 1982-1986 under a Balaguer administration, was mayor of Santiago 1990-1994, was back in the Chamber of Deputies 1994-1996, where he came president of the Chamber 1995-1996. He was also appointed secretary of state and liaison of the PLD with Congress in 1996, and then director of Corde, from 1997-1998. He was minister of Labor 2004-2008 and minister of Industry & Commerce, appointed 16 August 2008. He was also minister of Interior & Police in 2011, reassigned to the ministry of Labor, and then to Interior and Police, where he continues today.
Francisco Javier García, a member of the Political Committee of the PLD, held high positions during the three governments of former President Leonel Fernandez (1996-2000, 2004-2008, 2008-2012) and during those of President Danilo Medina (2012-2016, 2016-) he has been Minister of Tourism. He has also served as administrator of the National Lottery, president of the Petroleum Refinery, secretary of Industry & Commerce and director general of the Port Authority.
Alejandrina German, today minister of Superior Education, Science & Technology (MESCyT) entered the PLD government in 1996 when she was appointed president of the Consejo Nacional de Educacion Superior (Cones) with rank of secretary of state through August 1999. Then she was named Secretary of the Presidency until August 2000. Afterwards on 2004, with the return of the PLD government she was appointed secretary of Education until 2008, when she was named Minister of Women.
Listin Diario mentions others who have long careers in government key positions:
Eduardo Selman, today Minister of Culture, served many years as consul in New York.
Jaime David Fernandez has been senator, Vice President of the Republic, Minister of Sports and now member of the Monetary Board.
Bautista Rojas has been mayor, senator, minister of public health and environment.
Lidio Cadet has been secretary of state without portfolio, director of Pro-Industria and now director of the government ethics department.
José Joaquín Bidó Medina is a past record of the UASD, judge, deputy, president of the government ethics committee, among other positions.
Jose Tomas Perez, member of the PLD Political Committee, was named to Fomento Industrial, Civil Aviation, was senator for the National District and is today Dominican ambassador in Washington, D. C.
Felix Jimenez was minister of tourism for an eight year term under President Leonel Fernandez and is today president of the Dominican Refinery Council.
Danilo Medina, today President, was president of the Chamber of Deputies and minister of the Presidency under the Leonel Fernandez presidency.
https://listindiario.com/la-republi...os-con-mayor-tiempo-en-los-poderes-del-estado
Charges levied and pre-trial custody set in Tremols tax evasion accusation case
Judge Alejandro Vargas issued pre-trial restricting orders for nine of the 10 accused by the Drug Agency (DGII) of tax evasion fraud for more than 4 billion. The judge ordered three months home arrest to Ramón Rafael Tremols Payero, founder of the Grupo Tremols. He also is banned from leaving the country, must wear an electronic bracelet and post bail for RD$5 million.
Others who were sentenced to pre-trial custody are Eddy Samuel Tremols Payero and Doris Alexandra López Urbáez who were allowed to post bail for RD$1 million, but also are banned from leaving the country and must wear the electronic bracelet. Lesser bail was ordered for Hervys Rafael Tremols Payero, Daniel de Jesús Tremols Payero, Leonardo Antonio Tremols Payero, Eduardo de Jesús Tremols Cruz and Carmen Adela Tremols Cruz, allowed to post bail for RD$500,000, but who also cannot leave the country.
Judge Vargas only banned Rafael Tremols Acosta from leaving the country due to the later’s advanced age and frail health.
The DGII on 29 March 2018 had determined that the Tremols Group had committed tax fraud from 2010 to 2017. The business group includes Licores y Bebidas del País, Licores y Bebidas Dominicanas, Licores Roya and Dominican Hotel Register Company, companies that were investigated by the DGII when placing the tax fraud case. The charges are violation of articles 236, 237, 238, 239 and 246 of the Dominican Tax Code, articles 265, 266 and 405 of the Dominican Penal Code and art. 3 of the Money Laundering Law 72-02.
https://listindiario.com/la-republi...sados-de-fraude-fiscal-millonario-contra-dgii
http://eldia.com.do/dgii-acusa-a-grupo-tremols-evadir-1-3-mil-millones-con-destileria-ilegal/
State prosecutors present 100s of pieces of evidence against Angel Rondón
Prosecutors for the state continued the preliminary hearing of several of those implicated in the Odebrecht scandal involving some US$92 million (over RD$4.5 billion at today’s rates) in bribes to obtain large government contracts. The prosecutors read a long list of evidentiary materials together with eight testimonials, 25 pieces of materials and presented a stack of supposedly incriminating documents. The prosecution also produced the plea agreement between the Attorney General and Odebrecht and the accompanying judicial resolution of the same. The hearing lasted nine hours as the defense lawyers asked that the statements of the Odebrecht officials be read in their entirety. The hearings will resume later this week as the defense lawyers go over the evidence presented by the prosecutors. Rondón has said that he will collaborate with the AG, as long as any repayment is out of the question. In one interview, he said that he “only received US$79 million for ‘his services’”.
The case continues this week with the accused now presenting their defense statements.
https://elcaribe.com.do/2019/01/31/...-pruebas-que-tiene-en-contra-de-angel-rondon/
Police shuts down drug points in the south
After the 8 January 2019 murder in Baní of a police colonel was seen as evidence of the complicity of the National Police with drug trafficking in the Dominican Republic, the Antinarcotics Central Agency (Dican), the drug combatting division of the National Police announced that in the past two weeks after the incident it has shutdown 1,471 drug points in 62 searches nationwide, and arrested and sent to justice 1,117 persons. Colonel Frank Duran, spokesman for the police, said in a press conference that drugs were seized, including cocaine, heroin and crack. He said the interventions included points in Santiago and Bani, where drug points were said to be dismantled.
General Juan Alberto Then, regional commander for the Central Region of the Police and Senator Wilton Guerrero, in another event had presented the team that will work on the dismantling of drug points in Baní. On numerous occasions, Guerrero had said that it was vox populi where these drug sales points were located. General Then said that the operation against drug trafficking would be named for the late Colonel Daniel Ramos Alvarez. As reported, 18 interventions were made to drug sales point in Baní. These were located in the barrios of El Maní, Los Cajuilitos, Santa Rosa and Calle 5, in Pueblo Nuevo. Many of these have been demolished. As reported, they were operated by persons only identified as “Inkita”, “El Pesao” and “El Canalla” that have not been detained. Yet, the Police reported the confiscating of four dogs that were used by the vendors to ensure that drug control agents did not get near to the sales points.
Meanwhile, Dican reported the arrest of 10 persons in operations carried out to combat micro-trafficking in San Juan de la Maguana and Azua, in the southwest.
https://listindiario.com/la-republi...ntos-de-drogas-y-apresa-a-mas-de-mil-personas
https://listindiario.com/la-republi...puntos-de-droga-en-bani-advierten-seran-todos
https://listindiario.com/la-republi...ocales-donde-operaban-puntos-de-droga-en-bani
https://listindiario.com/la-republi...s-utilizados-por-vendedores-de-drogas-en-bani
http://hoy.com.do/operativos-apresan-10-personas-por-microtrafico-de-drogas/
Buche gets one-year pre-trial custody in Daniel Ramos murder case
Rafael Antonio Diaz (Buche) was sentenced to a year of pre-trial custody Judge Rosaura Garabito in the murder case against colonel Daniel Ramos in Baní on 8 January 2019. Others sent to pre-trial custody are Luis Milcíades Santana (El Chamo) and Milcíades Ruiz (Chiquito Mala Fe), accused of murdered of gunshot the commander of the drug control depart at the Police Department in Peravia.
https://listindiario.com/la-republi...-hombres-por-muerte-del-coronel-ramos-alvarez
http://hoy.com.do/buche-no-hablo-so...e-hombre-en-la-carcel-pero-su-acompanante-si/
Deputy and family in tragic Samana highway accident
A tragic accident involved Santo Domingo East deputy Karen Ricardo who was returning with her husband Lorenzo Sanchez, child and nanny from Samana on Saturday afternoon. The parents and nanny Alexandra Vargas were hospitalized at the Dario Contreras Trauma Hospital and her two children were sent to the Dr. Hugo Mendoza Pediatrics Hospital on Av. Charles de Gaulle in eastern Santo Domingo. The deputy suffered trauma of the torax, cervical, and injuries in her right arm but is stable.
The crash occurred at the point of Km. 29 on the Autopista del Nordeste (Papa Juan Pablo II) on the Samana toll road. The Sanchez family SUV crashed into another vehicle, a Toyota Paseo, driven by 29-year old policeman Johnny Armando Santana Rodriguez of Los Llanos, San Pedro de Macoris, who died shortly after at the Monte Plata public hospital where he was taken.
https://www.elcaribe.com.do/2019/02...vehiculo-con-el-de-la-diputada-karen-ricardo/
https://elnacional.com.do/muere-uno-y-cinco-heridos-en-accidente-involucro-diputada-karen-ricardo/
https://listindiario.com/la-republi...ntra-en-condiciones-de-cuidado-tras-accidente
24-year old Venezuelan found dead in her apartment
Virginia Carolina Rojas Collado, who had not long ago migrated from Venezuela, was found dead with knife wounds in her Av. Núñez de Cáceres apartment in San Gerónimo apartment in the National District. The apartment was locked but when a foul smell resulted, the firemen broke down the door finding the horrific scene of her death. She was found dead in the bathroom in a pool of blood. Two knives, one of 8 and 11 inches are analyzed for finger prints.
A neighbor told police investigators that the last time she was seen alive was on Sunday, 27 January when she told her neighbor she was going out for some errands. Her cousin Luis Mendez had placed a claim in the Department of Missing People of the Police that the cousin was missing. A neighbor of the woman called 911 when noting a stench coming from the apartment.
The Venezuelan had moved to the DR seeking new opportunities given the economic and political situation in Venezuela.
The body was sent to the National Forensic Sciences Institute (Inacif) for an autopsy.
http://hoy.com.do/jefe-de-la-polici...cerrado-por-lo-que-hubo-que-romper-la-puerta/
https://www.metrord.do/do/destacado...olana-santo-domingo-la-segunda-lo-va-ano.html
Extreme drought in the south, southwest and northwest
The National Meteorology (Onamet) declared the south, southwest and northwest in extreme drought. The most affected by the drought are the municipalities of Villa Vasquez, Santiago Rodriguez in the northwest, Jimaní and Barahona and Hondo Valle in the southwest. Moca in the center of the country is also affected by extreme drought conditions.
https://listindiario.com/la-republi...-sequia-extrema-en-el-sur-suroeste-y-noroeste
Luguelin Santos prepares for Pan Ams and IAAF Worlds
Dominican London Olympics silver medallist Luguelin Santos is preparing for his two most important commitments this year -- the Pan Am Games in Lima, Peru (26 July - 11 August 2019) and the IAAF World Championships in Doha, Qatar from 28 September to 6 October 2019. His coach Jose Ludwig Rubio announced the preparatory competitions leading to these competitions.
Santos has won two silver medals in the Pan Am Games 2011 (one in the relay) but still has to win a gold in the important regional competition. In the world athletics championship, he won bronze in Moscow 2013.
His trainer says he will be preparing with competitions in:
2 February in Karlruhe, Germany.
6 February in Torun, Poland
8 February in Madrid, Spain
16 February in Birmingham, England
20 February in Dusseldorf, Germany.
Luguelin Santos trains in Bahrain, where his coach works with other athletes of the Dominican national team.
https://www.diariolibre.com/deporte...s-competira-desde-manana-en-europa-KB11986628
Dominican gymnast and dancer makes it to finals of Spain’s Got Talent
Surviving a tragic traffic accident in Samaná but losing his right leg when he was 16 years old in a motorcycle accident in Samaná, young dancer José Luis Gutiérrez performed at the Spain’s Got Talent reality show last week and landed a ticket to the semi-finals with a mesmerizing dance performance that ended with his posting the sign “No Limits.” He was commended for his capacity to adapt. Gutiérrez is from San Francisco de Macoris.
Gutiérrez says that he won the spot, despite a stressful day that had begun at 5am and came to a climax when at 2am he performed for the live audience. He said his dance tells his story. He said he has to train the double, but loves to dance.
His perseverance has made a difference. He explained the first prosthesis he received was not working and he almost quit. Despite the many rejections and difficulties in his first year, he said his perseverance made a difference, and doors began to open. Fortunately, a mentor sent him to Orlando, Florida where he was fitted with his present prosthesis that has made all the difference.
Different TV shows in Santo Domingo presented his story, requesting sponsorship so he could return to Spain for the next phase. An important local government contractor, Grupo Malespín, offered backing for his trip to Spain.
This is not Gutiérrez’s first big win. In Santo Domingo, he was the winner of the popular vote of the Sueño Ser Artista section of the Soberano Awards in 2018.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn1JSz0Eu8w
Dancer, at 16 years old he lost his leg in a motorcycle accident.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBrJq7Lnt1E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4lpzQASssQhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4lpzQASssQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4lpzQASssQ
Zero Waste Home with Bea Johnson
The pioneer of the Zero Waste movement of the United States, Bea Johnson, is the special guest speaker at 6pm Chez Space in Santo Domingo on Wednesday, 6 February 2019. The talk is sponsored by Sostenibilidad 3Rs, a local recycling movement. The cost of the talk is RD$2,000 per person and the talk is a benefit for the recycling cause in the Dominican Republic. Tickets are for sale online at tix.do
Johnson, a French woman living in California, is behind a waste management global movement that has inspired thousands of people throughout the world to live simply and take a stance against needless waste. Her 5R’s are: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Rot (and only in that order).
For more information on the talk, call 809 540-5571.
https://zerowastehome.com/about/bea/
https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/2019/01/223011/zero-waste-home-movement-bea-johnson
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