Today’s column of “Que se dice” in Hoy newspaper has a couple of interesting paragraphs. The first one deals with the mess at the Dominican Refinery, where the refinery’s president Aristides Fernandez Zucco and Minister without Portfolio Miguel Mejia are launching attacks against each other regarding the transportation of petroleum and petroleum products from Venezuela to the Dominican Refinery. According to Fernandez Zucco, he will obey “orders from above” to shut up on the subject. However, he pointed out that he has never objected to Venezuelan transport of the oil, but he felt that he had to emphasize the fact that if the Dominican Refinery breaks the contract that it has with its oil transporter, it will cost the government US$900,000 a month in penalties until 31 January 2006 when the contract expires. Fernandez says this is peanuts to an oil-rich country like Venezuela but a fortune to a country like the Dominican Republic.
The second paragraph says that congratulations are in order for the National District prosecutor, Jose Hernandez, who has decided to continue the judicial process against nearly five dozen current and former high-ranking Police officials. The police officers are under indictment for the illegal use of stolen vehicles that were recovered by the Police but never returned to their owners.