2004 – Page 283

Local press carries speculation on the reasons for Jorge Subero Isa’s threat to resign. Hoy newspaper’s “Coctelera” page 2 column commentary speculates that the President of the Supreme Court of Justice has always held major differences with his first substitute, Judge Rafael Luciano Pichardo. The columnist says that with all due respect, no one should …

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Former President Salvador Jorge Blanco has announced that the official designation of President Hipolito Mejia as the PRD Presidential candidate will take place on 31 January. He attributed the delay to a meeting of delegates scheduled for 25 January, denying that it was to allow time for some agreement that might permit other Presidential hopefuls …

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Wednesday’s papers indicated that those behind the proposed Ley de Lemas were asking that it now be postponed. Henry Sarraf, the PRD deputy and official architect of the controversial bill, also known as the Preferential Presidential Vote Bill, said yesterday that there is not enough time between now and the 2004 election date, 16 May, …

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Jacinto Peynado now says that if the Ley de Lemas goes through he will stand as a second PRSC candidate in the Presidential elections. Contradicting previous reports of his position on the issue several days ago, the former Vice-President and unsuccessful Presidential candidate said that he was “in total agreement” with the proposed law. Speaking …

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Vice President and pre-Presidential candidate hopeful Milagros Ortiz Bosch is warning that the current uncertainties surrounding the Central Electoral Board (JCE) could attract the attention of an international commission to scrutinize the elections as happened in 1986. Her statement came in reaction to the pronouncements by JCE president Luis Arias, who proclaimed the selection of …

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Given that Wednesday, 21 January is a national holiday, the DR1 Daily News will not be produced. News for Wednesday will be compiled in the Thursday, 22 January update. Tomorrow’s holiday celebrates the Dia de la Altagracia, which honors the Virgin of High Grace. Commemorative events will take place in Higuey at the Basilica La …

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The government is heavily in arrears with suppliers of the public school breakfast program. Several suppliers that have already accumulated millions in debt have suspended the dispatches, as reported in Hoy newspaper. Eduardo Hidalgo, a spokesman for the Dominican Teachers Association (ADP), denounced the massive debt owed to them by the Ministry of Education, which …

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Technical Secretary to the Presidency Carlos Despradel says that resuming the International Monetary Fund agreement will depend on the Chamber of Deputies’ approval of the systematic financial risk bill that had been previously approved by the Senate, but was not given priority in the lower house. The deputies have not reconvened since the move to …

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Former President Leonel Fernandez traveled to Washington, D.C. yesterday for consultations with the International Monetary Fund. Hoy newspaper reports that the presidential candidate of the PLD was accompanied by former Minister of Finance Daniel Toribio and former Governor of the Central Bank Hector Valdez Albizu. He would meet with officers of the IMF, the World …

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Franco Uccelli, who covers the Dominican Republic for the Bear Stearns brokerage firm, reports that the Dominican Republic’s next bond payment looms large, with a US$27-million payment due on Friday, January 23. “While we believe that the Dominican government has worked too hard and for too long to let its efforts go unsatisfied by allowing …

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