1998 – Page 71

After participating in the Playa Grande golf tournament, NBA basketball player Chris Webber was arrested upon entering San Juan, Puerto Rico for the possession of 11 grams of marijuana in his luggage. A customs dog on a routine inspection in the transit lounge at the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport made the discovery. Webber was …

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Most of the 1,921 government officers elected in the 1998 congressional and municipal elections were sworn in yesterday in events held all throughout the nation. Seventy-two deputies of the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano chose to abandon the Chamber of Deputies without being sworn in. The senators and deputies representing the 29 provinces and one national district, …

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In politics anything is possible. Despite strong differences and confrontations, the Partido Reformista Social Cristiano (the party of former President Joaquín Balaguer) and the Partido de la Liberación Dominicana (the ruling party) allied with dissident forces within the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano to re-elect president of the Chamber of Deputies, Hector Peguero Méndez for a two-year …

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The today president of the Chamber of Deputies, Héctor Rafael Peguero Méndez was strongly opposed by the leading faction within the PRD that had proposed Winston Arnaud. Politically astute, Peguero Méndez was able to win the election with the vote of nine fellow dissident PRD members, that are now calling themselves the Bloque Peñagomista within …

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Angel Lockward, a PRSC director, said that what has happened with the election of Peguero Méndez is fair game in politics. "It is normal that the parties take advantage of the errors of the others and the expelling of Peguero Méndez was a costly error," he said. Lockward explained that the PRD board underestimated Peguero …

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If the PRD does not watch it, the party may suffer another political defeat. Press reports indicate that eastern political strongman, Amable Aristy Castro seeks the presidency of the Dominican Municipal League and just might win. The reports suggest that the PLD could ally with the PRSC to give Aristy Castro the sufficient votes to …

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It was nothing new for a government branch that has accustomed the nation to only acting in favor of individual interests. On Sunday, 16 August, the Chamber of Deputies presented for the Dominican people a laugh-or-cry show. PRD politicians took their internal problems to the congressional floor on Sunday and the nation watched as several …

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The members of the PRD met after at the party headquarters and expelled six more PRD deputies from the party for violation to the party’s directives. The Political Commission expelled Rafael Vásquez, Radhamés Castro, Manuel Mesa, Fátima Pérez, Eurípides Pérez and Emilio Crespo that voted in favor of Peguero Méndez. The party reasoned the elected …

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The 30 senators of the National Senate unanimously voted in favor of Ramón Alburquerque, PRD-Monte Plata. Other members elected to the board of the Senate are Jesús Vásquez (PRD-María Trinidad Sánchez), vice president; Dagoberto Rodríguez Adames and Ginnete Bournigal de Jiménez, secretaries. The Senate announced its work sessions will begin on Tuesday, 18 August. Alburquerque …

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Cardinal Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez congratulated the new members of the National Congress and the municipal governments and called them to "think more of the better interests of the nation and not of personal profit." He spoke on the "Fe y Acontecer" TV program and urged the Congress to labor to rescue the soiled …

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