2004 – Page 295

The Central Electoral Board’s (JCE) independent monitoring committee, headed by Monsignor Agripino Nunez Collado, has come out strongly against the proposed Ley de Lemas. The implementation of the law could jeopardize the Presidential elections scheduled for 16 May, as well as violate the rights of the other parties’ Presidential candidates. The committee’s secretary, Radhames Mejia, …

Read more…

Hoy newspaper reports that Miguel Amado, the European Union’s ambassador in Santo Domingo, has offered the international community’s assistance in “smoothing the path towards clean and totally transparent elections.. He said that it was not just the JCE (central electoral board) that bore this responsibility, but every state institution, of which the JCE is a …

Read more…

The Chamber of Deputies approved nine loans for a total amount of US$382 million, as reported in El Caribe. The funds would be used to rehabilitate power lines, build a hydroelectric dam, and improve the communications system of the Armed Forces and the pluvial drainage system of Guajimia en Santo Domingo. The loans are being …

Read more…

Attorney General Victor Cespedes Martinez, in an effort to deflect responsibility, says the Comision de Indultos, the governmental commission in charge of pardoning sentences of those in jail, released Raul Martinez Medrano and that he was not aware the man had been condemned for 20 years for robbery and the kidnapping of banker Juan Francisco …

Read more…

The Listin Diario reported yesterday that the Public Health Ministry has begun to deliver to the public hospital due funds. Yesterday afternoon, administrators of the hospitals visited the financial manager of the ministry to receive certain allotments. The newspaper reported that the government is two to four months behind in making payments to the hospitals, …

Read more…

Architect Emilio Jose Brea Garcia reminds overenthusiastic city mayors today that there is such a thing as a park. Brea expresses his concern that after the success of turning a stretch of the sea-bordering Malecon into a park by closing it off on Sunday’s, city governments are forgetting that residents have the option of many …

Read more…

One week past tradition, the non-traditional President Hipolito Mejia yesterday received New Year greetings at the Presidential Palace. At his side were First Lady Rosa Gomez de Mejia, Vice-President Milagros Ortiz Bosch and Foreign Relations Minister Frank Guerrero Prats. As protocol dictates, first in line were Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez, Papal Nuncio Timothy …

Read more…

The crumbling of the public health system in the Dominican Republic, due to lack of timely government funding, has produced the end to the services of the Luis Eduardo Aybar Public Hospital’s Pearl F. Ort Burn Unit. Built through a donation from an American philanthropist, the hospital prior to 2002 had been regarded as a …

Read more…

United States Trade Representative Robert Zoellick will be coming to the Dominican Republic next Wednesday to discuss the proposed bilateral Free Trade Agreement, according to a Mario Mendez piece in today’s Hoy newspaper. Marking his first visit to the DR, Zoellick will meet with representatives of both the public and private sectors. Next weekend, a …

Read more…

The Chamber of Deputies approved the 2004 National Budget yesterday, with 123 votes in favor and 12 against. Of the PRD block, 71 voted in favor, while the PRSC accounted for 29 in favor and 2 against. Of the PLD block, 22 voted in favor, 8 voted against and 9 abstained. The bill to implement …

Read more…