Dominicans don’t need visa to travel to Qatar
Government employees to receive increase
Interest rates to remain unchanged
CDEEE says all is on schedule with test run of Punta Catalina coal-fired power plant
JCE orders city governments to remove campaign billboards
PLD Political Committee postpones reelection announcement
Guillermo Moreno demands JCE stop reelection campaigning
Jamaica releases 57 fishermen
Ángel Rondón begins his defense in Odebrecht case
Revolt inside the PRD for cancellation of primaries
Large marijuana haul
Police officer kills one, injures three, then commits suicide
Multiple vehicle collision causes injuries on eastern highway
Three bodies, including two minors, found inside a vehicle in La Vega
Accident in Las Americas tunnel leaves one dead
Dominicans don’t need visa to travel to Qatar
Foreign Minister Miguel Vargas announced that Dominicans no longer need visas for leisure travel to Qatar. Since 2007, Qatar nationals have been able to travel visa-free to the Dominican Republic. Qatar now reciprocates and authorizes visa-free travel for 90 days.
Likewise, Vargas said the Dominican Republic and Qatar have signed 18 bilateral agreements and memorandums of understanding and others are being drafted. The announcements were made yesterday at the Ministry of Foreign Relations.
Meanwhile, in Qatar, Dominican Ambassador Federico Cuello announced the growing interest of Qatar investors in the Dominican Republic. Cuello said the investors have shown an interest in tourism, electricity distribution, port infrastructure and logistics ventures.
Moreso, Cuello announced that advances have been made for the signing of an open skies aviation agreement with Qatar and the start of flights by Qatar Airways from Doha to a Dominican airport that would continue on to other destinations in the Americas. Cuello said the Qatar Airways flight would bring tourists and take back exports of fresh produce.
https://www.elcaribe.com.do/2019/04/02/panorama/dinero/empresarios-de-qatar-expresan-interes-en-rd/
Government employees to receive increase
At the end of this month, government employees who receive minimum salary, as well as pensioners, will receive the increases President Danilo Medina had announced on 27 February 2019.
Those who earn RD$5,117 will now receive RD$10,000 per month, those who earn between RD$10,000 and RD$20,000 per month, will receive a 10% increase, those who earn RD$20,000 to RD$30,000 will have a 5% increase, and the pensioners on the minimum pension of RD$5,117 or less will see their pensions rise to RD$8,000. Pensioners who have RD$8,000 a RD$20,000 will receive a 10% increase, and those on RD$20,000 to RD$30,000 will have a 5% increase.
According to Economy Minister Isidoro Santana, this will cost the government an additional RD$4.6 billion.
https://almomento.net/empleados-pub...s-recibiran-este-mes-aumento-prometio-medina/
Interest rates to remain unchanged
The Central Bank has decided to maintain its annual interest rate at 5.5%. The decision was taken at a recent meeting of the Monetary Board, which said that the decision was based on a detailed analysis of the balance of risks of inflation forecasts, including information provided by the international and domestic macroeconomic indicators, market expectations and medium-term projections.
Economic activity continues to grow as expected. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expanded by 7% during 2018, mainly due to domestic consumption and investment. Inflation closed at 1.17% last year.
https://listindiario.com/economia/2...o-central-mantiene-en-5-50-su-tasa-de-interes
CDEEE says all is on schedule with test run of Punta Catalina coal-fired power plant
The Dominican Public Electricity Corporation (CDEEE) reports that the operational testing at the Punta Catalina thermoelectric plant is proceeding as planned and the system is entering and leaving the National Interconnected Electricity System (SENI) without any major incidents. The plant has now generated upwards of 150 megawatts for several hours during the test period, says the CDEEE.
As reported, the Coordinating Body of the Electricity Superintendence (SIE) and the Energy Control Center of SENI are in constant contact with the distribution companies, Edenorte, EdeSur and EdeEste, to prevent their circuits being affected when Punta Catalina enters or leaves the system.
https://www.diariolibre.com/economi...50-megavatios-al-sistema-electrico-IB12463748
JCE orders city governments to remove campaign billboards
The Central Electoral Board (JCE) requested that city governments begin to remove political campaign banners and billboards. The JCE had given the pre-candidates 15 days to remove the billboards. The pre-campaign period has not yet been officially opened. The restrictions to campaigning, nevertheless, are openly violated by most politicians.
http://hoy.com.do/jce-ordena-cabildos-retirar-la-publicidad-politico-proselitista/
PLD Political Committee postpones reelection announcement
Expectations that President Danilo Medina would announce his overt backing for a move to amend the 2015 Constitution to allow him to run in 2020 were not met. The influential Political Committee apparently is delaying its decision until circumstances improve.
Polls show that if the Constitution is amended, Medina would be the most likely PLD presidential candidate for the 2020 presidential election. If it is not amended, former President Leonel Fernández leads in the party polls. His wife, Vice President Margarita Cedeño is in third place among pre-candidates.
Speculating on what the delay in defining the PLD pre-candidates means, journalist Altagracia Salazar in her morning show Sin Maquillaje said that what is going on is that voter polls are telling the government that it is not in the same situation as it was in 2015 when the high popularity of President Medina then allowed it to steamroll constitutional amendments that enabled Medina to run for President in 2016. She explains that while in 2015 President Medina had a popularity of around 80%, today his popularity is at around 50%, with a trend for decline. Likewise, in 2015 few Dominicans opposed changing the Constitution to accommodate his reelection.
This has changed. A recent Asisa Research Group poll indicates that more than 70% of the population is against changing the Constitution. This is expected to be confirmed by the Gallup and Penn & Shoen polls.
The Political Committee meeting was presided over by President Danilo Medina, former President Leonel Fernández, and secretary general, Senate president Reynaldo Pared Perez. At the end of the Monday, 1 April 2019 meeting, the ruling party instead announced it would take actions to update its internal statutes to the new Electoral Regime Law and Political Parties Law. Arts. 7,9,13, 16, 43, 44, 45, 46, 48, 49 and 50 need to be amended to comply with Political Parties Law 33-18 and the Electoral Regime Law 15-19.
The PLD Political Committee also announced that the party would allow for new members to register in their membership list. This contradicts the early announcement by the PLD that it would choose its presidential candidate in open primaries using the JCE voting list. Altagracia Salazar speculates this could mean the PLD may decide to hold primaries with its membership list, that President Danilo Medina has said needs to be cleaned up because it includes dead people. The PLD Political Committee is known to dictate what the PLD-majority Congress passes.
https://www.diariolibre.com/actuali...rira-padron-a-nuevos-simpatizantes-HB12469079
http://hoy.com.do/comite-politico-aprueba-utilizar-padron-jce-en-primarias/
Guillermo Moreno demands JCE stop reelection campaigning
The president of Alianza País (AlPaís), Guillermo Moreno complained that the Central Electoral Board (JCE) has been indifferent to the “frenetic campaigning for reelection” of followers of President Danilo. The former National District prosecutor demanded the JCE take actions to put a stop to the premature campaigning.
“Every week there are public events promoting re-election, where government officials display banners, pronounce re-election speeches, coerce public employees to attend these events and use vehicles and public resources of government ministries for these," the political leader said in a press release.
He said that last August he sent a letter to the JCE demanding that the electoral body take measures to avoid campaigns that promote presidential reelection that is a violation of the Constitution. He added that these have been ignored.
The 2015 Constitution bans the reelection of President Danilo Medina. But the President himself has postponed giving his definite answer to whether or not he would seek reelection.
http://hoy.com.do/alpais-exige-a-la-jce-detener-actos-por-la-reeleccion/
Jamaica releases 57 fishermen
The Ministry of Foreign Relations revealed that 57 Dominican fishermen jailed in Jamaica on charges of fishing illegally in Jamaica’s territorial waters were released on Saturday, 30 March 2019, after the payment of a fine by the owners of the two ships that were seized.
The fishermen were accused of violation of the Fisheries Act of Jamaica. They were caught in early March in possession of berried lobsters and undersized lobsters, possession of conch in closed season, fishing without a license and fishing without identification. The boats’ officers were charged with using the vessel as a processing plant without the permission of the government of Jamaica. The group had been arrested on 2 March 2019 in Jamaica.
Ángel Rondón begins his defense in Odebrecht case
Businessman Ángel Rondón, the principal accused in the US$92 million Odebrecht bribery case, began his defense on Monday, 1 April 2019, before Supreme Court of Justice judge Francisco Ortega Polanco. Rondón has always maintained that the money he received from Odebrecht was actually payment for his services to the company and was not for bribes to be handed over to Dominican government officials as part of his lobby services to secure government contract work.
According to the Public Prosecution Office, Odebrecht has confirmed that they transferred US$136,507,159 from their offshore companies, Klienfeld Services LTD, Constructora Internacional del Sur, Innovation Research Engineering and Development LTD, Fasttracker Global Trading LTD and Trident Inter Trading LTD, to the companies owned by Rondón Rijo, who was their business partner in the Dominican Republic.
Rondón denies this money ever arrived in his accounts and says that before he was contracted by Odebrecht in 2002, he had representation contracts with other companies for around US$17 million.
As defense lawyers for the others accused in the US$92 million Odebrecht case, Rondón defense lawyers based their defense on the weaknesses of the accusations case presented by the Attorney General prosecutors. Lawyer Miguel Minier says that the prosecutors nowhere have presented an audit showing that the 17 works built by Odebrecht have been overvalued to prove the fraud.
The defense of the accused Angel Rondón told Supreme Court of Justice judge Francisco Ortega Polanco that the public prosecution did not establish in the accusation the amounts of the supposed bribes that Rondón had paid in representation of Odebrecht.
https://almomento.net/caso-odebrech...a-hoy-su-defensa-ante-el-juez-ortega-polanco/
https://listindiario.com/la-republi...an-montos-en-la-acusacion-de-soborno-a-rondon
https://www.diariolibre.com/actuali...significa-gobernantes-en-portugues-AB12467546
Revolt inside the PRD for cancellation of primaries
Leaders of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD), a strong ally to the ruling Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) party, rejected the announcement by party president, Foreign Minister Miguel Vargas Maldonado that the party would not be participating in open primaries to choose their presidential candidate. Party dissident Guido Gómez Mazara said: "It is an act of winning ways with the President of the Republic and his attempt to perpetuate himself in power," said Gómez Mazara.
PRD secretary general Tony Peña Guaba said that by not holding primaries the PRD is only leaving itself the option of forming another alliance with the ruling PLD.
The PRD announced that it would not participate in the primaries that will take place on 6 October 2019 to choose the candidates for the 2020 May presidential election.
https://listindiario.com/la-republi...n-decision-de-no-realizar-elecciones-internas
Large marijuana haul
On Saturday, 30 March 2019, the Dominican Armada seized 645 kg of marijuana distributed in 151 packages. The packages were being transported by four individuals who tried to enter Dominican territory onboard a boat that had docked at Cabo Pequeño, off Isla Beata (Southwest).
The individuals fled by abandoning their boat after being spotted by two naval units of the Dominican Armada heading for them.
The marijuana was transferred to one of the naval units of the Dominican Armada for delivery to the National Drug Control Agency (DNCD) in Santo Domingo. The boat was towed to the Naval Base on Beata Island.
This interception is the result of the increased presence of armed forces throughout Haiti's land and sea border with the Dominican Republic in order to combat smuggling, drug trafficking, firearms and illegal Haitian migrants, as reported in Haiti Libre.
https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-...of-marijuana-seized-on-a-boat-from-haiti.html
Police Officer kills one, injures three, then commits suicide
A National Police captain has shot and killed a man, shot and seriously injured his partner and shot and injured two other people in a bar in Katanga de Los Mina. He was later found dead in a cabaña in Juan Dolio. The officer was identified as Luis Antonio Aybar Rivera who killed 57-year-old José Wilfredo Ureña Mora, known as “El Gordo”. Those injured are his partner, 41-year-old Katherine Marlennis Marte Hubiera, Rodolfo David Martínez Rodríguez, aged 29, and Gervasia Adon, aged 41.
Aybar Rivera was found in the early hours of Monday morning, 1 April 2019, with injuries to his neck and a shot in his head. Preliminary information shows that he hanged himself in the closet in the motel room and shot himself in the head.
https://eldia.com.do/se-suicida-cap...imo-hombre-y-hirio-tres-personas-en-los-mina/
https://listindiario.com/la-republi...-e-hiriera-a-su-pareja-y-a-otras-dos-personas
Multiple vehicle collision causes injuries on eastern highway
On Monday, 1 April 2019, several people were injured in a multiple traffic accident on the highway from La Romana to San Pedro de Macorís. The accident happened early in the morning and involved a tractor trailer, a bus, an SUV and a truck. They collided and one vehicle was crushed against the security barrier on the highway.
Although the names of the victims are not yet known, several were taken to hospital by the 911 emergency service along with private vehicles. According to initial versions, the accident happened when one vehicle, which was travelling at high speed, lost control.
https://listindiario.com/la-republi...mana-san-pedro-de-macoris-deja-varios-heridos
http://hoy.com.do/lo-mas-reciente-s...-en-carretera-la-romana-san-pedro-de-macoris/
Three bodies, including two minors, found inside a vehicle in La Vega
Three bodies were discovered inside a vehicle in the community of El Pino, La Vega, and according to the local prosecutor, Aura Luz Garcia, they were executed. The victims are 17-year-old Miguel Ángel Acevedo Martínez, 15-year old Carla Mariela Fernández Martínez, and 28-year old Santo Domingo resident, Miguel Hernández Delana Rondón. The bodies of the first two were on the back seat of the vehicle and the third was found in the truck.
The bodies were taken to the National Institute of Forensic Science in Santiago for autopsy, as they showed signs of having been beaten and shot. Preliminary reports state that bullets found at the scene show at least two different types of arms were used. The medical examiner stated that the victims had died early on Sunday morning, 31 March 2019.
According to the prosecution investigation, the vehicle had been rented by Delana Rondón at a and was found near the Professor Juan Bosch trauma hospital.
Several people have been detained in connection with the investigation. The police suspect Luis Alfredo Chavez (Chino Trinitario) for the murder. Chavez operated a drug sales point in Santiago, where the three were supposedly murdered.
https://eldia.com.do/dos-menores-y-un-adulto-ejecutados-en-la-vega/
https://eldia.com.do/acusado-de-ultimar-tres-operaba-punto-drogas-en-santiago/
Accident in Las Americas tunnel leaves one dead
On Monday morning, 1 April 2019, one person died and several were injured in a traffic accident that happened in the Las Americas Expressway tunnel. Among those injured was an agent from the National Police’s Directorate-General Office of Land Traffic and Transport Safety (Digesett) and several people who were in a truck full of plantains. The accident led to a traffic jam that stretched back to the Duarte Bridge. At this time, the cause of the accident and the identity of the deceased person are unknown.
https://eldia.com.do/un-muerto-y-varios-heridos-en-accidente-de-transito-en-tunel-de-las-americas/
Government employees to receive increase
Interest rates to remain unchanged
CDEEE says all is on schedule with test run of Punta Catalina coal-fired power plant
JCE orders city governments to remove campaign billboards
PLD Political Committee postpones reelection announcement
Guillermo Moreno demands JCE stop reelection campaigning
Jamaica releases 57 fishermen
Ángel Rondón begins his defense in Odebrecht case
Revolt inside the PRD for cancellation of primaries
Large marijuana haul
Police officer kills one, injures three, then commits suicide
Multiple vehicle collision causes injuries on eastern highway
Three bodies, including two minors, found inside a vehicle in La Vega
Accident in Las Americas tunnel leaves one dead
Dominicans don’t need visa to travel to Qatar
Foreign Minister Miguel Vargas announced that Dominicans no longer need visas for leisure travel to Qatar. Since 2007, Qatar nationals have been able to travel visa-free to the Dominican Republic. Qatar now reciprocates and authorizes visa-free travel for 90 days.
Likewise, Vargas said the Dominican Republic and Qatar have signed 18 bilateral agreements and memorandums of understanding and others are being drafted. The announcements were made yesterday at the Ministry of Foreign Relations.
Meanwhile, in Qatar, Dominican Ambassador Federico Cuello announced the growing interest of Qatar investors in the Dominican Republic. Cuello said the investors have shown an interest in tourism, electricity distribution, port infrastructure and logistics ventures.
Moreso, Cuello announced that advances have been made for the signing of an open skies aviation agreement with Qatar and the start of flights by Qatar Airways from Doha to a Dominican airport that would continue on to other destinations in the Americas. Cuello said the Qatar Airways flight would bring tourists and take back exports of fresh produce.
https://www.elcaribe.com.do/2019/04/02/panorama/dinero/empresarios-de-qatar-expresan-interes-en-rd/
Government employees to receive increase
At the end of this month, government employees who receive minimum salary, as well as pensioners, will receive the increases President Danilo Medina had announced on 27 February 2019.
Those who earn RD$5,117 will now receive RD$10,000 per month, those who earn between RD$10,000 and RD$20,000 per month, will receive a 10% increase, those who earn RD$20,000 to RD$30,000 will have a 5% increase, and the pensioners on the minimum pension of RD$5,117 or less will see their pensions rise to RD$8,000. Pensioners who have RD$8,000 a RD$20,000 will receive a 10% increase, and those on RD$20,000 to RD$30,000 will have a 5% increase.
According to Economy Minister Isidoro Santana, this will cost the government an additional RD$4.6 billion.
https://almomento.net/empleados-pub...s-recibiran-este-mes-aumento-prometio-medina/
Interest rates to remain unchanged
The Central Bank has decided to maintain its annual interest rate at 5.5%. The decision was taken at a recent meeting of the Monetary Board, which said that the decision was based on a detailed analysis of the balance of risks of inflation forecasts, including information provided by the international and domestic macroeconomic indicators, market expectations and medium-term projections.
Economic activity continues to grow as expected. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expanded by 7% during 2018, mainly due to domestic consumption and investment. Inflation closed at 1.17% last year.
https://listindiario.com/economia/2...o-central-mantiene-en-5-50-su-tasa-de-interes
CDEEE says all is on schedule with test run of Punta Catalina coal-fired power plant
The Dominican Public Electricity Corporation (CDEEE) reports that the operational testing at the Punta Catalina thermoelectric plant is proceeding as planned and the system is entering and leaving the National Interconnected Electricity System (SENI) without any major incidents. The plant has now generated upwards of 150 megawatts for several hours during the test period, says the CDEEE.
As reported, the Coordinating Body of the Electricity Superintendence (SIE) and the Energy Control Center of SENI are in constant contact with the distribution companies, Edenorte, EdeSur and EdeEste, to prevent their circuits being affected when Punta Catalina enters or leaves the system.
https://www.diariolibre.com/economi...50-megavatios-al-sistema-electrico-IB12463748
JCE orders city governments to remove campaign billboards
The Central Electoral Board (JCE) requested that city governments begin to remove political campaign banners and billboards. The JCE had given the pre-candidates 15 days to remove the billboards. The pre-campaign period has not yet been officially opened. The restrictions to campaigning, nevertheless, are openly violated by most politicians.
http://hoy.com.do/jce-ordena-cabildos-retirar-la-publicidad-politico-proselitista/
PLD Political Committee postpones reelection announcement
Expectations that President Danilo Medina would announce his overt backing for a move to amend the 2015 Constitution to allow him to run in 2020 were not met. The influential Political Committee apparently is delaying its decision until circumstances improve.
Polls show that if the Constitution is amended, Medina would be the most likely PLD presidential candidate for the 2020 presidential election. If it is not amended, former President Leonel Fernández leads in the party polls. His wife, Vice President Margarita Cedeño is in third place among pre-candidates.
Speculating on what the delay in defining the PLD pre-candidates means, journalist Altagracia Salazar in her morning show Sin Maquillaje said that what is going on is that voter polls are telling the government that it is not in the same situation as it was in 2015 when the high popularity of President Medina then allowed it to steamroll constitutional amendments that enabled Medina to run for President in 2016. She explains that while in 2015 President Medina had a popularity of around 80%, today his popularity is at around 50%, with a trend for decline. Likewise, in 2015 few Dominicans opposed changing the Constitution to accommodate his reelection.
This has changed. A recent Asisa Research Group poll indicates that more than 70% of the population is against changing the Constitution. This is expected to be confirmed by the Gallup and Penn & Shoen polls.
The Political Committee meeting was presided over by President Danilo Medina, former President Leonel Fernández, and secretary general, Senate president Reynaldo Pared Perez. At the end of the Monday, 1 April 2019 meeting, the ruling party instead announced it would take actions to update its internal statutes to the new Electoral Regime Law and Political Parties Law. Arts. 7,9,13, 16, 43, 44, 45, 46, 48, 49 and 50 need to be amended to comply with Political Parties Law 33-18 and the Electoral Regime Law 15-19.
The PLD Political Committee also announced that the party would allow for new members to register in their membership list. This contradicts the early announcement by the PLD that it would choose its presidential candidate in open primaries using the JCE voting list. Altagracia Salazar speculates this could mean the PLD may decide to hold primaries with its membership list, that President Danilo Medina has said needs to be cleaned up because it includes dead people. The PLD Political Committee is known to dictate what the PLD-majority Congress passes.
https://www.diariolibre.com/actuali...rira-padron-a-nuevos-simpatizantes-HB12469079
http://hoy.com.do/comite-politico-aprueba-utilizar-padron-jce-en-primarias/
Guillermo Moreno demands JCE stop reelection campaigning
The president of Alianza País (AlPaís), Guillermo Moreno complained that the Central Electoral Board (JCE) has been indifferent to the “frenetic campaigning for reelection” of followers of President Danilo. The former National District prosecutor demanded the JCE take actions to put a stop to the premature campaigning.
“Every week there are public events promoting re-election, where government officials display banners, pronounce re-election speeches, coerce public employees to attend these events and use vehicles and public resources of government ministries for these," the political leader said in a press release.
He said that last August he sent a letter to the JCE demanding that the electoral body take measures to avoid campaigns that promote presidential reelection that is a violation of the Constitution. He added that these have been ignored.
The 2015 Constitution bans the reelection of President Danilo Medina. But the President himself has postponed giving his definite answer to whether or not he would seek reelection.
http://hoy.com.do/alpais-exige-a-la-jce-detener-actos-por-la-reeleccion/
Jamaica releases 57 fishermen
The Ministry of Foreign Relations revealed that 57 Dominican fishermen jailed in Jamaica on charges of fishing illegally in Jamaica’s territorial waters were released on Saturday, 30 March 2019, after the payment of a fine by the owners of the two ships that were seized.
The fishermen were accused of violation of the Fisheries Act of Jamaica. They were caught in early March in possession of berried lobsters and undersized lobsters, possession of conch in closed season, fishing without a license and fishing without identification. The boats’ officers were charged with using the vessel as a processing plant without the permission of the government of Jamaica. The group had been arrested on 2 March 2019 in Jamaica.
Ángel Rondón begins his defense in Odebrecht case
Businessman Ángel Rondón, the principal accused in the US$92 million Odebrecht bribery case, began his defense on Monday, 1 April 2019, before Supreme Court of Justice judge Francisco Ortega Polanco. Rondón has always maintained that the money he received from Odebrecht was actually payment for his services to the company and was not for bribes to be handed over to Dominican government officials as part of his lobby services to secure government contract work.
According to the Public Prosecution Office, Odebrecht has confirmed that they transferred US$136,507,159 from their offshore companies, Klienfeld Services LTD, Constructora Internacional del Sur, Innovation Research Engineering and Development LTD, Fasttracker Global Trading LTD and Trident Inter Trading LTD, to the companies owned by Rondón Rijo, who was their business partner in the Dominican Republic.
Rondón denies this money ever arrived in his accounts and says that before he was contracted by Odebrecht in 2002, he had representation contracts with other companies for around US$17 million.
As defense lawyers for the others accused in the US$92 million Odebrecht case, Rondón defense lawyers based their defense on the weaknesses of the accusations case presented by the Attorney General prosecutors. Lawyer Miguel Minier says that the prosecutors nowhere have presented an audit showing that the 17 works built by Odebrecht have been overvalued to prove the fraud.
The defense of the accused Angel Rondón told Supreme Court of Justice judge Francisco Ortega Polanco that the public prosecution did not establish in the accusation the amounts of the supposed bribes that Rondón had paid in representation of Odebrecht.
https://almomento.net/caso-odebrech...a-hoy-su-defensa-ante-el-juez-ortega-polanco/
https://listindiario.com/la-republi...an-montos-en-la-acusacion-de-soborno-a-rondon
https://www.diariolibre.com/actuali...significa-gobernantes-en-portugues-AB12467546
Revolt inside the PRD for cancellation of primaries
Leaders of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD), a strong ally to the ruling Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) party, rejected the announcement by party president, Foreign Minister Miguel Vargas Maldonado that the party would not be participating in open primaries to choose their presidential candidate. Party dissident Guido Gómez Mazara said: "It is an act of winning ways with the President of the Republic and his attempt to perpetuate himself in power," said Gómez Mazara.
PRD secretary general Tony Peña Guaba said that by not holding primaries the PRD is only leaving itself the option of forming another alliance with the ruling PLD.
The PRD announced that it would not participate in the primaries that will take place on 6 October 2019 to choose the candidates for the 2020 May presidential election.
https://listindiario.com/la-republi...n-decision-de-no-realizar-elecciones-internas
Large marijuana haul
On Saturday, 30 March 2019, the Dominican Armada seized 645 kg of marijuana distributed in 151 packages. The packages were being transported by four individuals who tried to enter Dominican territory onboard a boat that had docked at Cabo Pequeño, off Isla Beata (Southwest).
The individuals fled by abandoning their boat after being spotted by two naval units of the Dominican Armada heading for them.
The marijuana was transferred to one of the naval units of the Dominican Armada for delivery to the National Drug Control Agency (DNCD) in Santo Domingo. The boat was towed to the Naval Base on Beata Island.
This interception is the result of the increased presence of armed forces throughout Haiti's land and sea border with the Dominican Republic in order to combat smuggling, drug trafficking, firearms and illegal Haitian migrants, as reported in Haiti Libre.
https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-...of-marijuana-seized-on-a-boat-from-haiti.html
Police Officer kills one, injures three, then commits suicide
A National Police captain has shot and killed a man, shot and seriously injured his partner and shot and injured two other people in a bar in Katanga de Los Mina. He was later found dead in a cabaña in Juan Dolio. The officer was identified as Luis Antonio Aybar Rivera who killed 57-year-old José Wilfredo Ureña Mora, known as “El Gordo”. Those injured are his partner, 41-year-old Katherine Marlennis Marte Hubiera, Rodolfo David Martínez Rodríguez, aged 29, and Gervasia Adon, aged 41.
Aybar Rivera was found in the early hours of Monday morning, 1 April 2019, with injuries to his neck and a shot in his head. Preliminary information shows that he hanged himself in the closet in the motel room and shot himself in the head.
https://eldia.com.do/se-suicida-cap...imo-hombre-y-hirio-tres-personas-en-los-mina/
https://listindiario.com/la-republi...-e-hiriera-a-su-pareja-y-a-otras-dos-personas
Multiple vehicle collision causes injuries on eastern highway
On Monday, 1 April 2019, several people were injured in a multiple traffic accident on the highway from La Romana to San Pedro de Macorís. The accident happened early in the morning and involved a tractor trailer, a bus, an SUV and a truck. They collided and one vehicle was crushed against the security barrier on the highway.
Although the names of the victims are not yet known, several were taken to hospital by the 911 emergency service along with private vehicles. According to initial versions, the accident happened when one vehicle, which was travelling at high speed, lost control.
https://listindiario.com/la-republi...mana-san-pedro-de-macoris-deja-varios-heridos
http://hoy.com.do/lo-mas-reciente-s...-en-carretera-la-romana-san-pedro-de-macoris/
Three bodies, including two minors, found inside a vehicle in La Vega
Three bodies were discovered inside a vehicle in the community of El Pino, La Vega, and according to the local prosecutor, Aura Luz Garcia, they were executed. The victims are 17-year-old Miguel Ángel Acevedo Martínez, 15-year old Carla Mariela Fernández Martínez, and 28-year old Santo Domingo resident, Miguel Hernández Delana Rondón. The bodies of the first two were on the back seat of the vehicle and the third was found in the truck.
The bodies were taken to the National Institute of Forensic Science in Santiago for autopsy, as they showed signs of having been beaten and shot. Preliminary reports state that bullets found at the scene show at least two different types of arms were used. The medical examiner stated that the victims had died early on Sunday morning, 31 March 2019.
According to the prosecution investigation, the vehicle had been rented by Delana Rondón at a and was found near the Professor Juan Bosch trauma hospital.
Several people have been detained in connection with the investigation. The police suspect Luis Alfredo Chavez (Chino Trinitario) for the murder. Chavez operated a drug sales point in Santiago, where the three were supposedly murdered.
https://eldia.com.do/dos-menores-y-un-adulto-ejecutados-en-la-vega/
https://eldia.com.do/acusado-de-ultimar-tres-operaba-punto-drogas-en-santiago/
Accident in Las Americas tunnel leaves one dead
On Monday morning, 1 April 2019, one person died and several were injured in a traffic accident that happened in the Las Americas Expressway tunnel. Among those injured was an agent from the National Police’s Directorate-General Office of Land Traffic and Transport Safety (Digesett) and several people who were in a truck full of plantains. The accident led to a traffic jam that stretched back to the Duarte Bridge. At this time, the cause of the accident and the identity of the deceased person are unknown.
https://eldia.com.do/un-muerto-y-varios-heridos-en-accidente-de-transito-en-tunel-de-las-americas/