2008 – Page 164

The new president of the Herrera Association of Industries, Manuel Cabrera, described President Leonel Fernandez’s announcements made last week in reaction to the rising prices of fuel and food on international markets as “timid” and called for more austerity. Cabrera welcomed the focusing of subsidies on GLP through the use of the Solidarity Card and …

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The Central Electoral Board (JCE), which is responsible for issuing all personal documents in the Dominican Republic, has called a halt to what it describes as “simulated weddings” in the major tourist resorts in the Punta Cana and Bavaro area on the east coast. The JCE decision was taken to prevent confusion for couples that …

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The Women’s Jail in Bani will become a Correctional and Rehabilitation Center, along the new lines currently in use in ten other centers around the country. These facilities are used by inmates who are nearing the end of their terms of incarceration and have displayed good behavior. According to Attorney General Radhames Jimenez Pena, these …

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Investigative reporters Minerva Isa and Eladio Pichardo have taken a long hard look at drug dealing in the poorest areas of Santo Domingo and their report makes grim reading. As reported in Hoy newspaper, Isa and Pichardo describe how a drug sales point could be a fried meat stand, a tiny vegetable stand, under a …

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In his long-awaited address to the nation last night, President Leonel Fernandez presented the Integrated Action Plan, which consists mainly of a collection of cost-cutting measures aimed at compensating lower-income sectors of the population for rising fuel and food costs. Fernandez repeated the intention to cut government spending by 20%, or RD$20 billion this year. …

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Opposition and business leaders have responded to the President’s 2008 proposal with skepticism and criticism. As reported in El Caribe, opposition party leaders, PRD secretary general Orlando Jorge Mera and PRSC president and secretary general Quique Antun Batlle and Victor Gomez Casanova Jr., respectively, complained that President Leonel Fernandez’s “Integrated Action Plan” was insufficient. Jorge …

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The Dominican government is flush with cash, with taxpayers serving more than was budgeted for the year. Clave newspaper reports that for the first half of the year, the government tax collections were 105.3% more than budgeted, for RD$6.77 billion windfall. “This makes it clear that the fiscal deficit is not due to a lack …

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Jose Tomas Perez, director of the Civil Aviation Institute, was present at yesterday’s inauguration of the Santo Domingo Ecological Heliport. The heliport, which is located on the 30 de Mayo Highway, has the capacity for 40 helicopters. During his speech Perez said that before this heliport’s construction, there wasn’t a public landing pad for use …

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While city government workers might feel happy at the prospect of a pay rise, Fausto Ruiz, president of the Dominican Municipalities Federation (FEDOMU), said there is no way that the nation’ s municipalities can implement the wage increase initiative proposed by President Leonel Fernandez yesterday because they simply don’t have the money, and payrolls are …

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Agriculture Minister Salvador Jimenez has said that all shipments coming from Haiti will be fumigated as part of an initiative to prevent the spread of a carnivorous ant outbreak that has been reported in border areas. Jimenez said the ant, the Paratrechina (Hymenoptera formicidae), is a very aggressive ant that attacks crops and livestock. The …

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