President Hipolito Mejia was unrepentant in his response to yesterday’s pastoral letter. He continued to blame external factors for the economic ills the country is experiencing, along with the government bail-out of this year’s major banking collapses. “Thanks to us 700,000 savers have their ‘chelitos’ (pennies),” Mejia said. In an address yesterday, Mejia focused on what he saw as positive developments, such as the recent improvement in the electric supply, saying, “The light bulbs are switched on and will remain that way!” He attacked the critics of August’s Pan American Games, which he insisted were a success. The President admitted that while the losing battle to stabilize the beleaguered peso was causing him concern, he vowed to confront it and issued a warning to speculators in the currency exchange market. Yesterday the peso stood at RD$44.25 to US$1, showing a slight recovery from the record low of RD$44.50. Finance Minister Rafael Calderon defended the government’s record, saying the country was in a “state of emergency”, which he also attributed to external factors. Calderon is quoted in several newspapers as saying, “If President Mejia had not been in power, we would not have a country.”