1999 – Page 198

More than 3,000 US Army soldiers will be coming to the DR to participate in the Caribbean Castle 99 Operation, a US$10 million effort. The operation seeks to rebuild or build bridges and rural schools that were destroyed by Hurricane Georges last September. Similar efforts are also in place in Central American countries affected by …

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The Pan American Baseball Confederation chose the DR as site of the Pan American Baseball Championship to be held in August of this year. The tournament is a classifying round for the world games to be held in China.

A report in the Listin Diario’s Sunday edition states that Mattel’s Barbie doll, that this year commemorates her 40th year as the most sold doll ever made, first came to the DR 24 years ago. She was sold for US$2 at the time. Today the doll is priced from US$6 to US$32. According to the …

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The assistant director of the cultural center Museo de las Casas Reales, 47-year old artist Maria Nieves Sicart was found dead at her home in the El Cacique neighborhood on Saturday afternoon. She had been brutally beat to death with a bat. The police arrested her former 17-year old maid and 15-year old boyfriend who …

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The ruling Partido de la Liberaci?n Dominicana announced it will chose on 11 April the party’s official pre-candidates for the presidential election of year 2000. The announcement was made when Jos? Tom?s P?rez was sworn in as new secretary general of the party. He replaces Lidio Cadet, who had been secretary general for 15 years. …

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The former president of the Junta Central Electoral, Cesar Estrella Sadhal? was chosen presidential candidate for the Partido Revolucionario Independiente (PRI) during an assembly of the central committee of that minority political organization. Estrella Sadhal? apparently seeks to attract the vote of those that reject the traditional political parties, presenting himself as an alternative. Political …

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Yesterday’s session of the political dialogue between the three major political parties – the ruling Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD, which currently controls Congress) and the Reformist-Social Christian Party (PRSC) – produced no breakthrough on the two thorniest agenda items, the composition of the Central Election Board (JCE) and who should …

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The President of the National Council of Private Enterprise (CONEP), Celso Marranzini, publicly advised the Dominican government to refuse to sign any market access protocol with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) if the latter continues to insist on a long list ("negative list") of products exempt from the August 1998 Treaty’s trade liberalization measures. He said …

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In interviews published in the news daily El Siglo, managers of the Dominican subsidiaries of Texaco and Exxon called on the government and the Dominican Petroleum Refinery (REFIDOMSA) to establish true transparency in the prices they pay for imported petroleum and petroleum derivatives. Texaco Caribbean General Manager Angel Rivera and Esso Sales Manager Jaime Mart? …

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Yesterday Central Elections Board (JCE) President Morel Cerda accused Migration Director-General Danilo D?az of fabricating false voter identity cards ("cedulas") in order to discredit the JCE. He accused Migration of secretly using JCE’s own equipment to fabricate the cards. Counterfeiting cedulas is a "grave" criminal offense, he warned, and if the JCE had to take …

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