2001 – Page 13

Coffee growers have mixed feelings about a compensation fund created for the coffee sector. On one hand, the growers are grateful for the RD$200 subsidy per quintal (100 pounds) exported. But on the other hand, they wonder how they can export coffee and collect the subsidy if they don’t have “one centavo to begin collecting …

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Agriculture Minister Eligio Jáquez has announced a record seeding of 19 thousand tareas (629 square meters or 1195 hectares) of garlic in the Constanza and Tireo valleys. He estimates more than 160 thousand quintals should be harvested, which is enough to cover demand for the whole year. This would avoid having to import garlic bulbs …

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El Caribe newspaper reports there is growing concern in the capital about stray dogs and rabies. The National Rabies Center estimates that in Santo Domingo, there are some 150,000 street dogs who have no homes. Their reports also show 50 to 60 people are treated daily for animal attacks and bites, the majority of them …

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The executive director of the Airports Department has confirmed that an elected deputy tried to help a man leave the country by providing him with false documents. El Siglo reports that Deputy Jorge Luis Gómez Rojas (PRD, Duarte Province) went into the Ambassadors Salon at the Las Americas Airport last Wednesday with a person carrying …

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Listín Diario newspaper complains today that deputies in the lower chamber of the National House are paid a monthly salary of RD$57,800 (US$3470) plus a meal allowance of RD$10,000 (US$600) a month and many of them don’t even attend sessions. The paper points out that they are supposed to work only three days a week …

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Thousands of PRD members could be left without a vote in the upcoming party convention because they don’t have a cedula. PRD secretary Rafael Gamundi Cordero said yesterday that thousands of “perredeístas” signed up as party members with the promise they would get a cedula later but many still haven’t done so. He urged them …

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A meeting this morning could determine whether a nation-wide doctors strike will go ahead as scheduled or not. The Dominican Medical Association (AMD) was expected to meet this morning with representatives from the Executive Branch to work out conflicts within the health sector. After a series of rotating strikes, the doctor’s association had called for …

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Pathologist Sergio Sarita Valdez is critical of the fact that dead bodies are being removed from crime scenes without a coroner present. He said in Listín Diario that this country should create a National Institute of Forensic Science because at the moment bodies are being removed in cases of violent death without being inspected and …

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Education Minister Milagros Ortiz Bosch has accused many teachers of being irresponsible for creating conflicts at a time when the government is looking for solutions to education problems. Recently, hundreds of teachers claimed they hadn’t been paid for up to one year. Ortiz Bosch said in El Siglo that many of those teachers were not …

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The World Bank is waiting for US$110 million in matching funds from the DR government. Listín Diario reports that US$329 million in financing has been committed by the World Bank for ten development projects. Marco Mantovanelli, the DR representative for the World Bank, says one of the organization’s greatest concerns is the renovation of the …

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