1996 – Page 68

A proposed increase in the minimum wage in the United States would benefit the industrial free zones of the Dominican Republic, where some 30,000 jobs have been lost as a result of the entrance of Mexico to the North American Free Trade Agreement. The proposed increase has the support of both the Democrats and Republicans. …

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The construction sector grew by 6% in 1995, which places the country in second place in the Americas in this area of the economy. Chile has the construction sector with the greatest growth in Latin America – 11%. Brazil came in third. Engineer Diego de Moya, president of the Dominican Construction Chamber, provided the figures. …

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Sugar industry experts are forecasting that there will be a deficit of 100,000 short tons on the local market this year, that will have to be covered by imports as most of the Dominican production will go to fulfilling its commitments in the preferential U.S. market. National consumption is estimated at 315,000 metric tonnes a …

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The majority of striking doctors belonging to the Asociación Médica Dominicana (AMD) have yet to return to work due to the refusal of the Instituto Dominicano de Seguro Social (IDSS) to pay them for the months of January, February and March, as did the Ministry of Public Health. The almost more than five-month-old doctors’ strike …

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During a political rally in La Romana, President Joaquin Balaguer told journalists that he has instructed the government-run Banco de Reservas to pay US$4,500,000 to the Smith-Enron company, which shut down its power station in Puerto Plata late last month, due to lack of payment for electricity provided to the state-owned Corporacion Dominicana de Electricidad …

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The Port-Au-Prince newspaper, Le Nouveliste, has reported that part of last month’s agreements reached between Haitian President Rene Garcia Preval and his Dominican counterpart Joaquin Balaguer was the arrest and/or deportation of ex-officials of past Haitian military governments who supposedly have been planning an operation of “de-stabilization” of the current government in Port-Au-Prince. According to …

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The Attorney General of the National District, Dr. Zoila Martinez de Medina, has called for a “total disarming” of the civilian population. Her statements are apparently a reaction to the tragic death of a judge who was overseeing the eviction of a businessman from a property in Santo Domingo. During the action, Apolinar Tineo, the …

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Payment of the January, February and March salaries to striking doctors, the last obstacle to the lifting of the five-month-old work stoppage, was made by the Ministry of Public Health, but apparently not by the hospitals of the Instituto Dominicano de Seguro Social (IDSS). While the news media reported that some doctors employed at the …

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Monsignor Hugo Polanco Brito of Higuey died on 13 April at the age of 78. Monsignor Polanco Brito, the founder and first rector of the Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM), “dedicated his life to the spiritual well-being of the D.R.” These words were spoken by the cardinal of Santo Domingo, Nicolas de Jesús …

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In the early hours of 12 April the National Police, the Department of Drug Control (DNCD) and the Navy carried out a joint operation against drug-traffickers and other criminal activities in the poor neighborhood of Gualey, just east of the Ozama river. In the operation, which was directed by the Chief of Police, Antonio Segundo …

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