DR1 Daily News - Thursday, 28 March 2019

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Next DR1 Daily News update: Monday, 1 April 2019
Live streamed interviews to Supreme Court of Justice candidates
Court orders Claro to share phone-tapping data with Judge Miriam Germán
Participación Ciudadana calls upon President to order closing Facebook page against judge Miriam Germán Brito
JCE judge alerts to consequences of a division within the PLD
Most med school graduates taking residency tests were UASD students
Altice mobile service down on Wednesday
Repairs begin on collapsed street in Santiago center
US ambassador expresses concern over Chinese concessions for strategic ports and cyberspace
Sweet beans procurement order canceled
People-smuggling mafia dismantled
Rains cause flooding in Santiago
Fox Sports “It’s in the blood” documentary on how players pass on the skill to their sons
Sopranos to sing Dominican classic songs at the Teatro Nacional
Altos de Chavon presents “Pinceladas de passion”
Santo Domingo Book Fair opens 26 April in the Colonial City
Yiyo Sarante and Sergio Vargas at Hard Rock Café Santo Domingo



Next DR1 Daily News update: Monday, 1 April 2019
The next DR1 Daily News update will be published on Monday, 1 April 2019. The Monday issue will compile headline news for the previous Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Breaking news can be followed 24/7 in the Forums. See DR1 Forum at http://www.dr1.com


Live streamed interviews to Supreme Court of Justice candidates
The National Council of the Magistracy (CNM) has begun the assessment interviews of the 78 candidates for positions in the Supreme Court of Justice. The interviews are set for the 27th, 28th, and 29th of March 2019 at the Presidential Palace. The interviews are being streamed live.

Present at the meeting where this was decided were CNM members President Danilo Medina, Supreme Court of Justice judge Fran Soto, Senate president Reinaldo Pared Perez; Chamber of Deputies president Radhamés Camacho; president of the Supreme Court of Justice Mariano Germán; PRM senator José Ignacio Paliza; PRM deputy Josefa Castillo. Also participating was lawyer Flavio Darío Espinal, who is the legal advisor to the Executive Power and technical advisor to the CNM.

The first 26 candidates were assessed on Wednesday, 27 March.

https://www.metrord.do/do/destacado...tara-78-aspirantes-ocho-fueron-objetados.html
https://presidencia.gob.do/noticias...eciones-sobre-candidatos-jueces-scj-y-acuerda
https://elnacional.com.do/cnm-evalu...-vacantes-scj-entrevistas-siguen-este-jueves/


Court orders Claro to share phone-tapping data with Judge Miriam Germán
Judge Diana Moreno, of the 8th Penal Hall of the First Instance Court of the National District, ordered Claro telecom to share with Supreme Court of Justice judge Miriam German Brito documentation on the tapping of her mobile, acknowledging the victim’s constitutional right. The judge gave the company 10 days to comply with the request.

The judge had submitted a habeas data, whereby all persons have the right to judicial relief to obtain and access information about themselves registered in public or private records or databases. The order was given after the telecom had refused to deliver the data to Germán Brito.

Judge Moreno ruled that the refusal by Claro violated the judge’s constitutional right to access the information.
A Santo Domingo West judge had ordered the taping upon request by the office of the Attorney General. The taping was by order 2018 AU 09661, dated 24 November 2018, by the Jurisdicción de Atención Permanente del Distrito Judicial de Santo Domingo Oeste.

https://elnacional.com.do/ordenan-entregar-a-miriam-datos-intervencion-telefono/


Participación Ciudadana calls upon President to order closing Facebook page against judge Miriam Germán Brito
The civic society watchdog group Participación Ciudadana urged that President Danilo Medina order a stop to what they call “a campaign of the Attorney General Jean Alain Rodríguez” against Supreme Court of Justice Judge Miriam Germán Brito in order to lend “something of credibility” to the ongoing selection of the judges of the Supreme Court of Justice.

Participación Ciudadana says the process has been seriously marred since 4 March 2019, when Attorney General Rodríguez made serious accusations against the honesty of the judge in violation of the ruling for the judge assessment. These accusations have been proven to not be true and the presentation of these violated the ruling of the Supreme Court of Justice assessment procedure. Nevertheless, the campaign to sully the reputation of the judge is ongoing, says Participación Ciudadana. In the Dominican Republic, the Attorney General is appointed by the President of the Republic.

Participación Ciudadana accused the Attorney General of carrying out a media campaign to promote the letters he said were anonymous, with the intention of planting doubts about the judge. Germán Brito has had a career of 40 years in the judiciary and is one of the most highly reputed judges in the country.

Participación Ciudadana says there is a Facebook page dedicated to sully the career of the judge and all our suspicions fall on the Attorney General as the mastermind of this page. “That is illegal and the president of the National Council of the Magistracy has the obligation to put a stop to this,” said PC in a press release.
http://hoy.com.do/urge-presidente-medina-detener-campana-pgr-contra-miriam/


JCE judge alerts to consequences of a division within the PLD
Central Electoral Board (JCE) substitute judge Luis García writes in El Día newspaper on 28 March 2019 about the clash between the two leading politicians in the ruling PLD and how this is affecting the permanence of the party in power. García is known to be very close to President Danilo Medina.

“The two leaders are risking their political future in the current situation, since in the case of 67-year old Medina, he would be ‘politically retired’ if the constitutional reform is not passed to enable him to seek the candidacy for the Presidency of the Republic; and 65-year old Fernandez, who, if he does win the election on the purple party ballot, would lose strength for future electoral processes.”

In the midst of these confrontations, García writes, the PLD would be left vulnerable, if the two politicians do not reach an agreement. He writes the party risks being divided, which, he says, could result in the party that has governed for 20 of the past 24 years, losing the presidency.

García says that the ruling party faces a complex scenario where a pact between both leaders is necessary “to guarantee a new electoral victory for the PLD.” The PLD was founded in 1973, 45 years ago, by PRD dissident politician, the late President Juan Bosch.

García says that a constitutional reform to enable President Medina to again run for reelection could motivate Fernández to seek to run as a candidate for a minority party. Recently Fernández showed up at a meeting of the Foro Permanente de Partidos Políticos that groups several minority parties. On the other hand, in his analysis, the judge of the Central Electoral Board says that if Fernández is chosen the PLD candidate for the 2020 general election, PLD party members partisan to Danilo Medina could decide not to vote for him, facilitating a win of the opposition.

There is an impasse, he writes. On one side those favoring Fernández say most of the population rejects changing the constitution to allow the reelection of Medina, and on the other end, those favoring Medina say he is the only candidate that can ensure the electoral victory.

García says that hundreds of thousands of party members employed in government risk losing their jobs. “But what is most at risk for the interests of the purple-colored party is that a victory of the opposition would pave the way for the opening of the circus of alleged cases of corruption in court, regardless if they are substantiated or not.“

He concludes with the reminder: “The PLD controls the Executive Branch and the Legislative Branch and this means it has a majority in the National Council of the Magistracy, the body that chooses the judges of the Supreme Court of Justice and other high courts.”

PLD deputy Juan Quiñones, a Leonel Fernández supporter in Congress, told Diario Libre in an interview that the excuse to modify the Constitution is the supposed need to unite the municipal election scheduled for February 2020 with the presidential and legislative elections scheduled for May 2020. Nevertheless, he warned the vote of many legislators would have to be bought. The backers of the reelection are not sufficient to pass the motion without the backing of Leonel Fernandez followers or opposition party members.

https://eldia.com.do/pld-enfrenta-el-dilema-de-pactar-o-perder/
https://www.diariolibre.com/actuali...cion-tambien-divide-a-minoritarios-AE12433452
https://www.diariolibre.com/actuali...on-pasaria-con-un-pacto-o-sobornos-ME12432842


Most med school graduates taking residency tests were UASD students
While in percentage, the UASD ranked among the worst, in absolute numbers more UASD graduates passed the standardized residency test than those from other universities, simply because the UASD presented the most candidates. But of those sitting for the test from the UASD, only 31.8% passed.

The Health Sciences School dean, Rosel Fernández said that nevertheless, in absolute numbers they were first. She said that 34.83% or 650 of the 1,866 that passed the test were UASD graduates.

She said several recent UASD graduates have been accepted to US residency programs.

El Dia had published numbers from the standardized residency test scoring that revealed that of 4,837 that took the test, 1,837 passed and 3,000 failed.


Altice mobile service down on Wednesday
911 Emergency Service reported technical difficulties due to a “general incident” on Wednesday, 27 March 2019, with the collapse of the Altice telecom that services their mobile lines. The blackout affected voice and data services. The company acknowledged the problems and expressed in a press notice: “We are sorry for the inconvenience.”

The Altice mobile service collapse comes just a week after Claro telecom was affected by a more than an hour-and-half to three-hour blackout on their service. Claro reported this was due to a Ministry of Public Works contractor cutting sections of the Nagua-Río San Juan and Virellia-Puerto Plata optic fiber lines in the north.

Meanwhile, the Dominican Institute of Telecommunications (Indotel) says that it has requested a record on the duration and causes of the breakdown and corrective measures. Indotel has stated that it investigating the Altice case and is checking to see if the companies had taken preventive measures and instated corrective measures to avoid these blackouts.

https://www.elcaribe.com.do/2019/03...ultades-de-comunicacion-por-averia-en-altice/
https://www.elcaribe.com.do/2019/03...bra-optica-de-claro-afecto-servicio-internet/
http://z101digital.com/el-911-infor...cta-llamadas-al-sistema-de-emergencias-de-rd/
https://listindiario.com/la-republi...falla-en-servicio-se-debe-a-incidente-general


Repairs begin on collapsed street in Santiago center
The Ministry of Public Works reports that the collapse of approximately 40 meters of the Calle Bisonó Toribio corner Av. Juan Pablo Duarte, besides a construction site, was caused by the breakage of a pipe of the Santiago Water Corporation (Coraasan). The technicians say the breakage has been repaired.

Engineer Roberto Cruz, speaking for the construction site company, explained that the structural technicians of the Ministry of Public Works had evaluated their construction of an eight-floor building near the Clínica Materno Infantil and the Bella Terra Mall. The street was shut off to traffic to prevent any possible accident, affecting the neighborhoods of La Esmeralda, La Rinconada, Rincón Largo and Villa Olga.

Nevertheless, those responsible for the construction began the filling in of the giant hole left by the landslides with the emptying of more than 200 trucks of stones, and the placing of gabions to ensure that the road would not be affected again. However, they claim that the landslide was caused by the breakage of the pipe, and not the construction itself.

http://hoy.com.do/rotura-tuberia-causo-danos-via/


US ambassador expresses concern over Chinese concessions for strategic ports and cyberspace
Former Dominican ambassador in Washington, D.C., economist Bernardo Vega, points out that behind the alert by US Ambassador Robin Bernstein during a televised interview with Alicia Ortega, is the concern of the US government that the Manzanillo Port may be granted in concession to a Chinese company. The observations were made by Bernstein towards the end of the interview with Alicia Ortega on her perspective of the country after her first months in the country.

The Dominican government has signed a memorandum of understanding with a Chinese government company to build a multimodal complex at the site of the Manzanillo Port in the northwest. The port is crucial for farm and manufacturing zone exports. Nevertheless, so far, in the 2019 budget, the Dominican government has only allotted funds to make small improvements to the port, not the expansion that the business community says is necessary.

In the interview, US Ambassador Robin Bernstein stressed the importance of the strategic assets of the country remaining in Dominican hands. She called for carefully analyzing contracts to not lose ownership of strategic assets. She observed the Dominican business sector wants to control the strategic assets. The Manzanillo Port MOU that revealed the possible concession of the port to Chinese interests was only known by the general public after the story broke when it had been covered by Chinese media and was picked up by a specialist journal.

Likewise, she alerted to the importance of not giving up cyberspace rights. Former OAS ambassador for the Dominican Republic, Roberto Alvarez has speculated that the government of China wants the Dominican Republic to sign rights for the installation of Chinese 5G network.

http://hoy.com.do/el-presidente-dijo-no-buscare-la-reeleccion/
https://elinformeconaliciaortega.com/una-embajadora-aplatanada/


Sweet beans procurement order canceled
Yokasta Guzmán, director of Compras y Contrataciones del Estado, the national procurement agency, says the “urgent” tender that would have been held to purchase “kits” for the preparation of the traditional Sweet Beans dessert in time for the Easter holidays was canceled. She said the reason was that something so insignificant could not be declared an emergency. She made the observation when interviewed for Enfoque Matinal of CDN, Channel 37. She said the emergency declaration gave an unfair advantage to suppliers who were previously in the know.

Last week, the Social Assistance Plan of the Presidency (PASP) had called a tender for the participation of small and medium-sized companies to supply kits for the preparation of the traditional dessert.

https://listindiario.com/la-republi...chuelas-con-dulce-dice-es-algo-insignificante


People-smuggling mafia dismantled
Fernando Quezada, of the Public Ministry, announced the arrest of 29 persons in what he described as the largest operation ever against people-smuggling in the country. He said among those arrested are two members of the Specialized Airport Security and Aviation Corps (CESAC) and six inspectors of the Migration Agency (DGM). Participating in the operation were 294 police assigned to the criminal investigations unit, SWAT agents, 16 prosecutors and members of the National Drug Control Agency (DNCD).

Quezada explained the criminal networked trafficked in persons to the United States, using routes through Haiti, Bahamas, Tortola, Mexico and Puerto Rico. The customers of the network received fake Spanish, Venezuelan, Guatemalan, Chilean, Panamanian and Costa Rican travel documents. They charged US$22,000-US$27,000 for the service.

https://listindiario.com/la-republi...o-contra-trata-de-personas-deja-29-arrestados
https://www.diariolibre.com/actuali...oderosa-red-de-trata-internacional-IE12433784
https://www.elcaribe.com.do/2019/03...e-trata-de-personas-entre-ellos-funcionarios/


Rains cause flooding in Santiago
Heavy rains fell for a second consecutive day in Santiago. The rains came with a trough that is making its way through the island. News reports are that at least 200 homes were flooded in Hoya del Caimito. Likewise, videos were shown of major leakages in the newly remodeled Hospital José María Cabral y Báez, the leading public hospital in the Cibao.

Despite the floods, the rains were most welcome in the Cibao region, which is affected, as most of the country, by a long dry spell. Reports are that the rains improved the water level at the important Tavera Dam.

https://www.elcaribe.com.do/2019/03.../lluvias-muestran-vulnerabilidad-de-hospital/


Fox Sports “It’s in the blood” documentary on how players pass on the skill to their sons
Fox Sports is filming the documentary “En la Sangre” inspired by baseball players Vladimir Guerrero and Fernando Tatis, the two sons of legendary Dominican MLB baseball players. The documentary is produced by Joshua Shelov, the Emmy-award-winning writer, director, and producer, and looks into telling the father-son stories of the two players. An eight-person Fox Sports team spent a week in the Dominican Republic interviewing the Guerrero and Tatis families.

They traveled to Don Gregorio, the small community where Vladimir Guerrero senior still lives. In the case of 20-year old shortstop Fernando Tatis, Jr., who on 26 March 2019 announced that he had signed with the San Diego Padres, the Fox team interviewed Fernando Tatis about his son, as well as his other son, who is the manager of the Estrellas Orientales. In the family, there is also a 12-year old who also aspires to make it to MLB.

https://listindiario.com/el-deporte/2019/03/27/559020/fox-hara-filme-sobre-guerrero-y-tatis-jr
https://listindiario.com/el-deporte/2019/03/27/559020/fox-hara-filme-sobre-guerrero-y-tatis-jr


Sopranos to sing Dominican classic songs at the Teatro Nacional
This Thursday, 28 March 2019, sopranos and tenors Pura Tyson, Anna Tonna, Otilio Castro and José Heredia will perform the concert, “La canción lírica dominicana” at 8:30pm. The concert is directed by Maestro Manuel Tejada with the performance at the piano of María de Fátima Geraldo’s and Elioenai Medina and the 15 musicians that make up the Camareta Santo Domingo. The concert is sponsored by the Fundación Refinería Dominicana de Petróleo-PDV in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture.

On the program are songs by Dominican composers Julio Alberto Hernández, José Dolores Cerón, Luis Rivera, Nelson Lugo, Aura Marina del Rosario, Ramón Díaz, Luis Rivera, Billo Frómeta, Enrique de Marchena and Fabio Fiallo.

https://www.diariolibre.com/revista...ierto-la-cancion-lirica-dominicana-LF12429233


Rosario and Lolita Flores at the National Theatre
The two legendary contemporary flamenco singers, Rosario and Lolita Flores will be on stage at the National Theater Carlos Piantini Hall on Tuesday, 23 April 2019. The concert, “Fores, Cantar es lo que soy” will be at 8:30pm. Tickets are for sale online at Uepa Tickets and at the CCN, Supermercados Nacional and Jumbo stores.


Altos de Chavon presents “Pinceladas de passion”
The Galería Altos de Chavón in La Romana invites the general public to the art exhibition by Spanish artist Guiomar Álvarez de Toledo opening 5 April 2019 at the cultural village that is part of Casa de Campo.

La Galería Altos de Chavón presents la exhición “Pinceladas de pasión” de Guiomar Álvarez de Toledo. The artist is the wife of the Spanish ambassador in the Dominican Republic and has been living here since late 2017. She describes the exhibition as “an experimental office for ideas.”

"Pinceladas de pasión" is a portrait of her life where she joins what she has read about, her travels, mood and lately the Dominican sky and its intense colors. She explained that as an artist she likes to innovate and mix materials and different techniques to create something new. In the 22 works on exhibit, she paints everyday scenes of the Dominican Republic. “For me art is freedom,” said Álvarez.


Santo Domingo Book Fair opens 26 April in the Colonial City
For the first time ever, the Santo Domingo International Book Fair (FILSD 2019) will be held in the Colonial City. The event will take place from 26 April to 5 May at several venues in the historic area of the capital city.

The event this year is dedicated to nine Dominican writers. The book fair is in its 22nd year. Special recognition ceremonies will honor Dominicans that have made important contributions to culture: cookbook author Miriam de Gautreaux, Nan Chevalier, children book author Leibi Ng, historian José Chez Checo, psychiatrist César Mella, environmentalist Eleuterio Martínez, and play writer Reynaldo Disla, and Dominican expat poet Yrene Santos. The FILSD 2019 is dedicated to author Virgilio Díaz Grullón.

The director of the Book Fair, Ruth Herrera said that each of the authors will be honored on a different day during the event. And on Saturday, 27 April, the fair will honor the Librería Mateca, and its owners Santiago and Luisa Povedano, for their four decades in the business.

Puerto Rico is the guest country this year, with a delegation of authors and cultural promoters from Puerto Rico coming for the event.

https://www.elcaribe.com.do/2019/03/19/gente/a-y-e/nueve-escritores-seran-reconocidos-en-filsd/


Yiyo Sarante and Sergio Vargas at Hard Rock Café Santo Domingo
Hard Rock Café Santo Domingo at Blue Mall in Santo Domingo presents salsa singer Yiyo Sarante and merengue and bolero singer Sergio Vargas this Saturday, 30 March 2019. The concert, “Los titanes” is a production by Ramsés Peralta. Showtime is 10pm. Tickets are for sale at Hard Rock, CCN, Supermercados Nacional, Jumbo ticket offices and online at Uepa Tickets. Admission starts at RD$1,700.

https://www.metrord.do/do/entretenc...-sarante-sergio-vargas-hard-rock-cafe-sd.html
 
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