The Clintons (Bill, Hillary and Chelsea) arrived last week to Punta Cana for a vacation. The Clintons were scheduled to arrive on Thursday but the time and day of their actual arrival is in doubt. The press was not given access to cover their visit. A security officer confirmed the visit was for rest and relaxation only. There will be no interviews, the press has been told. Media reports say that the Clintons arrived on a private jet on Saturday. But no one actually saw them arrive. Insider sources told DR1 the Clintons actually arrived on Wednesday and would be staying at the villa at Los Corales de Punta Cana of Ted Kheel, the leading US investor in the company that initiated the development of the Punta Cana vacation area. Earlier it was rumored the Clintons would stay at the Corales villa of Oscar de la Renta, where Hillary Clinton stayed on her first visit to the DR in 1998, following Hurricane Georges. Later, it was said they would be guests of Frank and Haydee Rainieri, the Dominican partners of the Corales development. The Clintons are expected to be in the DR for a week. The Army and Navy are securing the area where they are staying and keeping out the media. News reports say that President Hipolito Mejia and First Lady Rosa Gomez flew to Punta Cana for dinner with the Clintons on Saturday evening at the villa of Oscar de la Renta. Reporters were not able to find out who else was at the dinner. Reportedly, Clinton played golf at the brand new Pete Dye-designed Punta Cana Resort and Golf Club with his friend, the owner of a newspaper in Nevada who flew in on a private plane. The Clintons are staying at the Los Corales 52 villas development, about two kilometers from the Punta Cana International Airport. So far, their visit has gone pretty much unnoticed, causing no traffic jams. Los Corales is one the smallest developments within the 19,000-room Punta Cana-Bavaro-Macao-Uvero Alto development of the 50 kilometer beach strip along the East Coast. (16 April 2001)
