2000

The sleepy little city of Nagua, on the DR’s northeast coast, has been transformed into a beehive of activity as dozens of police officials, armed forces officials, and the National Department of investigations (the DR’s FBI). Their vehicles can be seen everywhere, together with those of scores of reporters from the print and broadcast media. …

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President Hipolito Mejia wasted no time in promulgating his fiscal reform package. The Customs Reform Law (146-00) and the Tax Reform Law (147-00) went into effect at midnight, having only passed its final legislative hurdle just over 36 hours earlier. The law provides a simplified and reduced scale of duties of 0%, 3%, 8%, 14% …

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Representatives of scores of the nation’s NGO’s yesterday flocked to the building that houses the national legislature to protest their exclusion from the budget proposal submitted to congress by the Mejia Administration. Jose Ramon Laranquent, President of the Non-Governmental Organizational Block (BONG), and Francisco Paulino, President of the Frontier Associations foundation (FUNDEFRONT), stated that the …

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President Hipólito Mejía announced a 10% increase in the salaries of public employees. The raise is scheduled to take effect on January 1st, and will be reflected in public employees’ January paychecks. Nevertheless, the salary increment received a lukewarm reception by labor leaders. Within hours of Mejia’s announcement, Juan Hubieres, head of the National New …

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The Senator who represents Elias Piña Province announced that he would bring suit for fraud against former President Leonel Fernández, and two previous heads of the Dominican Port Authority. Senator Manuel Arcienagas, a member of Fernandez’ own PLD Party, charged that during the Fernández Administration, foreign vessels embarking and debarking from Dominican ports were made …

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The President of the Dominican Human Rights Committee (CDDH) has fiercely criticized the National Police (PN) for what he termed its "delinquency," and called on President Hipolito Mejia to step in and put an end to "murders at the hands of the PN." Virgilio Almanzar said that "The PN is a group of delinquents, a …

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The former Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Minou Tavárez Mirabal, has challenged the current Minister to provide proof of her mismanagement of funds for a series of international meetings and that her records were too "chaotic" to perform an audit. In a six-page letter addressed to Foreign Affairs Minister, Hugo Tolentino Dipp, which was made public …

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The front page of today’s Hoy carries a photo of a gas station’s gasoline price list and asks if we are moving "Toward the Guinness Book of Records." Under the caption, the text points out that during the past three weeks the price of a barrel of oil has fallen from US$36 to US$21, and …

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The front pages, and many interior pages, of every newspaper are filled with details concerning the murder of retired Army General Juan Rene Beauchamps Javier, who was shot to death in his farm house near the city of Nagua on the North Coast. The assailant fired a single mortal shot to Beauchamps head, and then …

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The national budget for 2001 was approved by the Senate yesterday within an hour of its introduction, and without debate. A single objection to a single line item was raised by Senator Ginette Bournigal (PRD-Puerto Plata Province), who complained that the Tourism Ministry had been authorized RD$50 million less than last year. The RD$65,177,000,000 budget …

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