1998 – Page 89

The defense lawyers of Mario Jose Redondo Llenas have called former President Joaquin Balaguer to testify in the case of the homicide of 12-year old Jose Rafael Llenas Aybar. Also called are Marino Vinicio Castillo, president of the National Council of Drugs; deputy Anibal Páez; Eduardo Pellerano, president of the Listín Diario; Nuria Piera, television …

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ALM, the Caribbean affiliate of KLM, the Dutch airline, has moved its reservations center from Miami , Florida to Santo Domingo. The decision was made based on the availability of quality telecommunications services in the country. The new center of reservations is open from Monday to Friday from 9 to 7 pm. EDT and from …

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The Central Bank announced the peso is now valued officially at RD$15.32 to the US$1. The rate is three points lower than last week’s rate of RD$15.35. Clarissa de la Rocha, director of the International Department of the Central Bank, said the decline is due to an increase in the availability of dollars in exchange …

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The Political Commission of the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano chose to expel the president of the Chamber of Deputies Hector Rafael Peguero Méndez. In recent statements to the press, Peguero Méndez had insisted that he could seek the presidency of the Chamber of Deputies during the election that will be held on 16 August. The commission …

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The Ministry of Education announced it will begin an educational television series, targeted at 7th, 8th and 9th grade students. The series seeks to bring quality high school classes to areas where it is not cost worthy to build a high school. The director of the new program, Jose Enrique Trinidad explained the program is …

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The Senate passed a bill that establishes the guidelines for the donation of human organs. transplants. The bill makes it legal to carry out human organ transplants and creates the Consejo Nacional de Transplantes, the new Ministry of Public Health organization that will regulate the donation of organs. The bill prohibits the sale of organs, …

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The Senate passed a bill that exempts computers from having to pay sales tax and reduces import tariffs on these. In an extraordinarily busy session, the Senate also approved the bill that creates the General Law of Customs, that seeks to make more efficient and modern tariffs collection. Another bill passed by the Senate specializes …

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President Leonel Fernández will visit Italy in October. The ambassador of Italy in the DR Ruggiero Vozzi said that the trip is important given the increase in tourism and trade exchanges between both nations. He said that 300,000 Italians visited the DR last year. In addition, he explained that 10,000 Italians are permanent residents of …

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The administrator of the Corporación Dominicana de Electricidad (CDE), explained the 40% increases in electricity billing consumers are receiving. Radhamés Segura, administrator of the state electricity utility, said they are caused by the devaluation of the peso and the increase in energy served.

The Listín Diario newspaper reported that the government is expecting a 20% increase in tax revenues for 1999. In 1998, the government budgeted income for RD$38,000 million. Forecasts are that the income in 1999 will surpass RD$46,000 million. On the other hand, the Secretary of the Presidency Danilo Medina said that the tax reform the …

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