2003 – Page 44

DR1 daily news will not be published on Monday, 10 November as Dominicans celebrate Constitution Day. Monday’s news will be compiled for the Tuesday, 11 November edition. For breaking news during this period, see the DR1 Message Board. Link through http://www.dr1.com

Community leaders are accusing the police of harassing the organizers of Tuesday’s national day of protest. Fernando Morillo, of the National Unity Council, said that all popular leaders are being followed by agents “in a provocative manner.” Four such organizers were arrested by police in the Villa Maria district of the capital on Wednesday night, …

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The International Monetary Fund has confirmed that its delegation to the Dominican Republic will return next week, to continue its negotiations with the government that were suspended over one month ago when it was announced the government would take over the electricity supply companies Edesur and Edenorte from Spanish power company Union Fenosa. The IMF …

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Central Bank Governor Jose Lois Malkum told senators yesterday that it was possible that the increase in the exchange rate commission on imports, as announced last month, could be reversed, providing the IMF agreement makes way for alternative income-generation mechanisms. In a letter to Senate leader Jesus Vasquez Martinez, Malkum outlined the reasons for this …

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Diario Libre devotes a full page inside today’s edition to the current fortunes of the Dominican tourist industry. The fall of the peso, while disastrous for so many, makes the Dominican Republic a very attractive proposition for tourists, and the sector is experiencing a boom, with high hotel occupancy levels. The first ten months of …

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Employees in the tourist sector will see a rise in their minimum wages, according to an announcement by the national salaries commission. This means that the monthly minimum wage will go up from RD$3,310 to RD$3,800 – less than US$100 at the current exchange rate.

Glad tidings for consumers: Certain brands of soft drinks and milk are to go down in price. Both Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola’s local bottling agents are lowering their prices to RD$15 a liter, RD$10 for a half-liter and RD$7 for the 10oz bottle. Jose Ramon Sanchez Payano of Embotelladora Dominicana, bottlers of Pepsi Cola …

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Hundreds of PRSC branch leaders who had originally supported Jacinto Peynado’s bid for the party’s Presidential candidacy have now decided to switch their allegiance to Eduardo Estrella, who won the primary election earlier this year amidst allegations of fraud and irregularities. Defeated pre-candidate Jacinto Peynado is still contesting the result. An increasing number of the …

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TV news channel Cadena de Noticias is reporting this morning that the propane gas shortage – as reported in yesterday’s DR1 news – is over, and that after several days of scarcity, distribution is now back to normal. Importers and wholesalers had held back supplies in protest over the government’s debt to the sector. The …

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All today’s papers carry the news that a fuel tanker accidentally spilled thousands of gallons (figures vary from 1,300 in El Caribe to 3,500 in Diario Libre) of diesel fuel into the Haina river, necessitating a massive clean-up operation involving the navy, the police, the transport police (AMET), the fire departments, Civil Defense volunteers, the …

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