2004 – Page 33

The major news story today is the jailing of so many of the PRD’s top brass, as well as a former Armed Forces minister, for their part in the Plan Renove fiasco. El Caribe dedicates three pages to the story, and all the major papers carry headlines alluding to the arrests. An audit carried out …

Read more…

President Leonel Fernandez ordered a halt to the return of heavy equipment that had been decreed by the Ministry of the Interior and the Police. The Presidential Press Office said that representatives of the Executive Branch would await the results of a dialogue being held between a governmental commission and the mayors of the various …

Read more…

Women’s Affairs Minister Gladys Gutierrez told reporters that her office will strive to fight child prostitution, especially in those areas dedicated to serving tourism. The minister said that child prostitution was a most serious problem that must be met head-on using every possible means. Gutierrez met with the personnel of the Corripio Communications Group during …

Read more…

As reported in El Caribe today, AES Dominicana says that it notified the authorities on the sale of the AES Ede-Este distribution company to Dominican Energy Holdings. A letter dated 3 September was sent to Superintendent of Power Francisco Mendez and another dated 10 September was sent to the administrator of the CDEEE, Radhames Segura, …

Read more…

The Dominican government is projecting an income of RD$180 billion during fiscal 2005, but the budgets submitted by its various departments still manage to surpass such a lofty figure. This was what Presidential Minister for Technical Affairs Temistocles Montas told the press yesterday. He said that a high-level commission departed for Washington yesterday, where they …

Read more…

The IMF does not like the way the DR handles tax exemptions for imports, particularly on industrial machinery. According to the Listin Diario, the IMF feels that these exemptions should not exist when there is a fiscal deficit in public finances. This latest observation came as the Dominican government was negotiating with the IMF and …

Read more…

Both houses of Congress have approved the legislation that will allow an association of funds, which in turn will allow the Executive Branch to transfer RD$3.86 billion from the tax reform income. This strategy only came about, according to El Caribe, after the Budget Office approved an additional RD$45 million for Congress. The legislation specifies …

Read more…

Leaders of the retail and wholesale business community promised the Industry and Commerce minister that prices would drop by as much as 20% in the short term. Minister Francisco Javier Garcia and the head of the Office of Price Controls, Francisco Mancebo, headed the meeting that resulted in the pledge to move prices down by …

Read more…

Op-ed contributor Marisol Vicens writes in El Caribe that the first 100 days of President Leonel Fernandez’ second term indicate a positive balance sheet with regards to the restoration of confidence at both the national and international levels. Nevertheless, and despite the fact that the issue of electricity is one of the most pressing, the …

Read more…

Victor Cespedes Martinez, the former attorney general of the Dominican Republic under the Mejia Administration, has had his visa to enter the United States cancelled. The permanent revocation of his travel permit was based on Section 212 of the Nationalization and Immigration Law, which declares anyone presumed to be or having been an illegal trafficker …

Read more…