All media continue to focus on the Angel Lockward case, with today’s
papers highlighting the fact that one of the defense lawyers for the former commerce & industry minister is Salvador Jorge Blanco ? the
only former President of the Dominican Republic to have been brought to justice for corruption. Today Lockward, who considers his detention
as tantamount to ?kidnapping?, will have served 48 hours in custody, the legal time limit a person can be held before having to appear
before the court. In another political corruption case, La Vega PRD deputy and former Dominican consul in Haiti, Radham?s Ramos Garc?a,
accused of trafficking in illegal Chinese immigrants, has applied for
a special exit permit so that he can seek medical treatment in Cuba. Diario Libre, in its back page commentary, gives a possible
explanation for Jorge Blanco?s defending of Lockward: ?That shows that he does not hate the Reformistas.? The PRD has been courting the PRSC
to garner enough votes to retain power in the 2004 presidential election.