2003 – Page 291

Six flights to Puerto Plata?s international airport were diverted to other airports due to inclement weather and flooding of the landing strip. A flight from Newark to Santiago was redirected to Santo Domingo because of the poor visibility caused by torrential downpours in the area.  Ellis Perez told El Caribe newspaper that operations were suspended …

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Miguel Tejada (A’s) hit a 3 run homer in the first inning and ?guilas added two unearned runs in the 5th to put Escogido away and maintain a first place tie with Estrellas. Julian Tavarez (1-1) gave up 5 hits over 7 innings to get the win. Estrellas maintaned the fight for first with a …

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President Hipolito Mejia would meet today with bankers, moneychangers and remittance companies to discuss the current scarcity of dollars. Freddy Ortiz, the head of the Association of Remittance Companies, said that 45 percent of their clients are requesting that monies sent from abroad be paid to the recipients in dollars. This obliges the remittance companies …

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President Hipolito Mejia announced yesterday that the economic team of the government is reviewing the RD$83-billion national budget in order to increase the allotments to certain institutions and whittle down the budgets of other governmental departments.  Among those called upon yesterday to make the modifications were: Jose Lois Malkum, Minister of Finance; Vicente Sanchez Baret, …

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The Center for Economic Research in the Antilles, Cenantillas, says in its most recent newsletter that the 2003 budget threatens the economic stability of the nation and is an obstacle that will severely limit the capacity of the government to seek investments from the private sector.  The newsletter says that the government must start a …

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Persia Alvarez de Hernandez, the Superintendent of the Pension Fund Administration, assured reporters yesterday that the enrollment of workers into the system would be carried out in a fair and equitable manner. Questioned in relation to a story that appeared in yesterday?s Listin Diario, Alvarez de Hernandez said that enrollments would be handled using the …

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Union Fenosa, the Spanish company that controls two-thirds of power distribution in the Dominican Republic, says it has amassed debts of RD$14.5 billion in its first four years of operation. The company, in a letter dated 19 December 2002 and signed by executive vice president Antonio Pantoja de Andres, asks that the government provide assistance …

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Although the exact causes are being disputed, a major fire has destroyed one of the fuel deposits at the Smith-Enron power plant in Puerto Plata. The electrical supplier did not go off-line, but did, however, reduce its output by 75 megawatts. Some reports say that the fire was the result of self-combustion, caused by low …

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The president of the Central Electoral Board (JCE), Manuel Ramon Morel Cerda, detached the JCE from the disposal of hundreds of cedulas, the Dominican ID and voter registration card. Scavengers at the Duquesa garbage dump found nearly a dozen bags of discarded cedulas and began a spree of illegal sales. Reporters were shown hundreds of …

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2003 has begun with a series of horrific cases of violence against women. Yesterday, in separate incidents, two women died as a result of injuries suffered at the hands of their estranged husbands or lovers. One woman was beaten and then tied to a cylinder of gas that was ignited, burning 30 percent of her …

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