2000 – Page 139

Women who had gathered yesterday outside the Santo Domingo home of former President Joaquin Balaguer in hopes of receiving a Mothers Day gift were cursed, pushed, and beaten by security personnel and police when they attempted to get beyond the high fence that surrounds the house. The scramble to penetrate the security perimeter was catalyzed …

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Mandatory drug testing will be introduced at the Santo Domingo Autonomous University (UASD) beginning next week. University president, Miguel Rosado told press that the tests would be administered to students, professor and staff on the basis of a "determined profile’ of behavior that characterizes the drug user. The first to be tested would be the …

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The debate about extending for two years the term of currently elected senators and deputies was joined by the powerful voice of Santo Domingo’s Catholic archbishop. Msgnr. Nicolas De Jesus Lopez Rodriguez described the idea as "imprudent." Speaking on his weekly TV program, the nation’s highest ranking Catholic cleric urged legislators to complete the four-year …

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The State Sugar Council (CEA) and the Public Enterprise Reform Commission (CREP) have announced the discontinuation of land sales until the new administration of Hipolito Mejia begins on August 16. According to Felix Alcantara, CEA director, the decision was taken "to avoid suspicion" of impropriety during the transitional period. Belief is widespread among Dominicans that …

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Poachers are despoiling the nests of "bubies" of 1,000 eggs per day on the "Seven Sisters," the north coast string of islets that serve as home to the endangered and protected species. A type of seagull, the "bubies" ­ scientifically known as sula leucogaster ­ are under the protection of the National Parks Department (DNP), …

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The health of the national poet, Pedro Mir, remains unchanged as he continues to be confined to the intensive care ward of the Plaza de Salud in Santo Domingo. The 87-year old poet and university professor has been suffering from emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and a pulmonary constriction. Mir is breathing with the help of an …

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According to former Santo Domingo mayor, Rafael Corporan de los Santos, the widow of PRD leader, Jose Francisco Peña Gomez, would be a good choice to replace Milagros Ortiz Bosch as Senator from the National District (Santo Domingo and environs). On August 16, Ortiz Bosch will be sworn in as the nation’s vice president, creating …

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For the first time, owners of vehicles apprehended in nighttime disturbances on Abraham Lincoln Avenue will be prosecuted. According to Roxana Reyes, head of the District Attorney’s complaints and conciliation office, vehicles belonging to three adolescents have been impounded. Its alleged that the three are representative of the huge, informal groupings of noisy and disorderly …

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Residents of the Pedregal neighborhood, lying adjacent to Luperon Avenue, have appealed for the relocation of the Sunday flea market. Fearing reprisal, neighbors asked not to be identified, but informed reporters that their quiet streets are transformed each week into a filthy, dangerous, unhygienic chaos. They allege that the green area next to the teeming …

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Fifteen computers, an air conditioner, tables and chairs were destroyed, and three classrooms were damaged by smoke and water, when a fire broke out in a computer lab on the campus of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD). The fire, which was quickly extinguished by firemen who responded to an alarm wrung by a …

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