2007 – Page 71

Vice President Rafael Alburquerque says that a Gallup poll commissioned by the government found that 51.7% of users of the new government health plan, the SFS, are ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with the service so far. Of those polled, 21.6% said they felt things were much the same with the new health plan. According to …

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Economic, Planning and Development Minister Temistocles Montas is quoted in Hoy as saying that the subsidy for the energy sector will come to US$600 million for this year, despite having been budgeted at US$400 million. Montas was speaking during the American Chamber of Commerce monthly luncheon. Montas claims that part of the problem with the …

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An IMF report says that the DR will grow by 8% this year, two percentage points more than was estimated in April this year, according to a EFE press agency release published in Diario Libre. The IMF foresees a 4.5% growth for 2008, due to climbing petroleum prices. The DR has experienced consistent economic growth …

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The trade deficit between the DR and the United States has grown to US$1.1 billion in the first eight months of the year, according to economist Luis Vargas, as reported in Hoy. During the same period in 2006 the US goods trade surplus was already at a record high of US$819 million. In 2005 the …

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Hoy is reporting on the plight of 100 Mexican workers stuck in the DR for the last 10 days. The newspaper explains that they were on their way to the Turks & Caicos when they were denied entrance into the country, and were subsequently returned to the DR. They have not been able to return …

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The remains of the late Father Luis Quinn were given a hero’s welcome in San Jose de Ocoa yesterday. Father Quinn, who passed away earlier this week in Miami, had worked for 42 years in the community where he distinguished himself for his leadership in developing the southwestern mountain region. Thousands of mourners packed the …

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Drivers waited in long lines yesterday in order to receive posters for display on their vehicles. The posters promote the President Leonel Fernandez’s re-election, but the twist is that these drivers are being paid RD$1,000 in return for driving around the city with the posters and have been promised the same pay in the following …

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Juan Carlos Genao Dorrejo has been sentenced to three months preventive custody at La Victoria prison, after being caught as he tried to leave the country with US$250,000 in cash. It is illegal to travel through airports with more than US$10,000 of undeclared money. In related news, Diario Libre is reporting that Dominican William Perez, …

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The National Drug Control Department (DNCD) cooperated in Tuesday’s drug bust that uncovered a drug ring that operated out of Santo Domingo’s Las Americas International Airport and JFK airport in New York City. Reports indicate that baggage handlers at AILA would pack the drugs into the baggage of travelers headed to NY. Once the drugs …

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Merengue singer Domingo Antonio Concepcion Ramirez (aka Dimanchy) has been released by the authorities after his arrest on drug charges. Listin Diario reports that Dimanchy and several other men were arrested in a house with 12 packets of heroin, a 12 caliber rifle with 12 shells, a 9 millimeter rifle and military camouflage clothing, as …

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