2001 – Page 149

President Mejia left this morning at 8 am on a private jet for New York en route to Quebec, Canada to participate in the III Summit of the Americas. He is making a nine-hour stopover in New York where he is scheduled to give a conference at the University of Columbia and attend a dinner …

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President Hipolito Mejia urged Dominicans to have faith that there are better days ahead. "I know that we have had difficult times. We have had to take very strong measures, but these things pass and soon after this process passes, I am sure the waters will return to their usual levels and the forces of …

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Vice President Milagros Ortiz Bosch, who is also the Minister of Education, announced yesterday the implementation of an ambitious computer education program in public schools. She said her department has available 3,600 scholarships for teachers interested in training to become computer education instructors. She said that one of the leading aides of the Clinton administration …

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Major General Manuel Ernesto Polanco justified the purchase of new equipment for the army yesterday. The army has secured a US$10 million loan to purchase helicopters and all terrain equipment to patrol the border. He said that since Haiti’s army was dismantled the entire burden of patroling the frontier is left to the Dominican military. …

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The Mejia administration announced the start of construction of a lake and two lagoons at the river bed of the Yaque del Norte river in the province of Santiago. The program is part of efforts to rescue the river from years of contamination. The program calls for a RD$350 million investment in its first phase …

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President Mejia told a member of his own party, Senator Dario Gmez (PRD-Santiago Rodriguez), to mind his own business. He was reacting to the latter’s suggestion that the President fire his economic team. "He should make laws, not govern the DR. Everyone should mind their own business," said Mejia. He spoke after leaving the Patronato …

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PRSC deputies requested yesterday that Minister of Industry and Commerce Angel Lockward resign his post out of a sense of shame. Angel Lockward is a controversial member of the Partido Reformista Social Cristiano that accepted a post in the PRD Mejia cabinet. PRD deputies don’t like him either and would also like him to resign …

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Luis Ernesto Perez Cuevas, director of the National Budget Office (ONAPRES), announced the government has reduced its income projections for 2001 by RD$5,000 million. Originally, the government had expected to reap RD$65,000 million, but it now says prospects are for RD$60,000 million. He said the government is reducing budgets for employee expense accounts, supplies and …

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Minister of Public Health Jose Rodriguez Soldevila complained yesterday that there are too many people on his payroll. He said the new staff is causing payroll problems. He said the Budget Office returned this month’s payroll because of an excess of employees that brought the wage total to more than what was budgeted. This has …

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Federico Cuello, permanent representative of the DR to the United Nations and the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, urges passage of the Market Ordering Code in an article in El Caribe newspaper today. He said it is urgent this code be approved along with the Electricity Bill. He says this code would eliminate oligopolistic …

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