2000 – Page 91

TV producer Nuria Piera gave birth yesterday to a baby girl, Leslie Paola. The first born of the famous Dominican investigative journalist weighed 6.7 pounds at birth. Piera is married to journalist Pablo McKinney. Piera married McKinney 14 September of last year. The baby was born by C-section. Her physicians were Jose Garrido Calderon, Luis …

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President-elect Hipólito Mejía announced the appointment of lawyer Orlando Jorge Mera as the next president of the Dominican Institute of Telecommunications (Indotel). Mariano Germán Mejía resigned from the post yesterday, effective 15 August, accepting a recent opinion of the Supreme Court that paved the way for his replacement by the new government. The Supreme Court …

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Listín Diario reports on the menus for the official social events planned for VIPs coming on occasion of the inaugural ceremonies of the Hipólito Mejía government. A committee made up by Peggy Cabral, Danny Mendez, Carolina Mejia, Chabela de Grullon and Fantina Sosa is working on the events and has chosen the following: 2 pm …

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President Fernandez visited the Army yesterday to formally deliver new equipment. The Army was fitted with 53 pick ups, four helicopters, 10 four wheel pick ups, 12 ambulances, 69 four wheel diesel jeeps, 100 motorcycles, and 100 computers. Major General Jose Elías Valdez Bautista received the equipment yesterday at the Comando del Ejercito Nacional 16 …

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The appointed Administrative Secretary of the Presidency Pedro Franco Badia said he favors the increase of the value-added tax and of the tax on luxury items (impuesto selectivo al consumo). In his opinion, these taxes are those that less affect the low income sectors, as food items and medicines are exempt.

Economist Andrés Dauhajre said that because of the lack of transparency, and the absence of regulatory and supervisory institutions, consumers have been left without anyone to defend them. In comments for Hoy newspaper, he said that the DR today pays the highest electricity rates in the Americas and that this could continue if the contracts …

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New government electricity authorities and private distributors have been holding talks to negotiate new contracts, according to a report in the Listin Diario, where Karl Huber of the AES was interviewed. He said that any change in the contracts will be made with the consent of both parties. He said that there are things that …

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The daughter of General Isidoro Martinez, Josefina Martinez, said that those who sought to close the case of the murder of Orlando Martínez used her father as scapegoat. The former General died in November 1999, of several months of severe diseases. She said that the murder of Orlando Martinez had as center of conspiracy the …

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Protests in Puerto Plata, Santiago and San Francisco de Macoris as consumers reject the recent 50% increases in telephone bills, scarcity of propane gas, and the long blackouts. Celso Marranzini, president of the National Council of Businesses, criticized the government’s budget management that has produced what is being called as "financial blackout." Power distributors are …

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