2000 – Page 164

The vice-presidential candidate of the PRSC, Jacinto Peynado, has come out against the involvement of U.S. officials in border surveillance. He charged that "other objectives" lie behind the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency’s (DEA) participation with Dominican armed forces in the initiative announced this week to stem illegal immigration, smuggling and drug traffic along the border …

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In less than twenty months, the National Tabacco Company (CAT) consumed over 13% of its assets. As a result, the private firm that purchased CAT from the state has reduced its payment by DR$54 million (around US$3.4 million). A Spanish company, Cita Caribe, took title to CAT on the fifth of this month, and immediately …

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Despite the voices united in opposition to his charges that the Central Elections Board (JCE) is preparing an electoral fraud, attorney Marino Vinicio Castillo has identified the civic group known as the Citizen Participation Movement (MPC), as a JCE collaborator. Castillo presented a deposition to the attorney general yesterday in which he charges the MPC …

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The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a subsidiary of the World Bank Group, will invest US$22 million to construct four hospitals. According to a press release, these private facilities will "set new standards of care for the local population" and will also provide a hospital infrastructure to serve tourism. Each of the hospitals will be located …

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The national airline, Dominicana de Aviacion (CDA), will be privatized next month. Three foreign firms have been "pre-qualified" in the bidding for the bankrupt carrier. CDA was closed in 1995 because it was mired in debt and had fallen under international sanction for mechanical and safety deficiencies. Competing for the assets and – more importantly …

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The estimated 800,000 Dominicans resident in the New York City area follow closely the fortunes of their preferred political parties back home, but unless they are willing to travel 2,000 miles and spend $400, they can’t vote in the presidential elections. Though most other nations have made provision for their citizens living abroad to vote, …

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Once again, the government will bail out another sector of agriculture. The onion producers association of San Juan de la Magauna had announced that its warehouses were stocked with over 50 thousand quintales of onions for which no market could be found. If the onions should be allowed to rot, they claimed, it would be …

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David Rabkin, consultant to the U.S. Agency for International Development will address the role of the potential for the internet to create virtual commerce in a seminar open to the public this Friday, April 14. Rabkin, an expert in commercial competition, will discuss the new culture of high tech, as exemplified by the case of …

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A concert featuring the Mexican group, Man?, will be held in the Quisqueya baseball stadium tomorrow night. The event will bring the young quartet in person before thousands of their Dominican admirers for the first time. The group’s CD’s, especially the most recent one, titled "Unplugged," have become popular here. Tickets for the one night …

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In a picturesque ceremony held on the steps of the National Palace, President Fernandez received the torch symbolizing the "National Games 200" event to be staged in La Romana at the end of this month. He received the torch from the hands Katty Acevedo, who won a silver medal at the Winnipeg games in 1998. …

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