2003 – Page 69

This morning’s papers report on the dramatic events in the Palace of Justice in the eastern side of Santo Domingo yesterday. A man who was appearing before an assistant district attorney was detained after he assaulted and made death threats to the ADA, Sandra Gomez. He was handcuffed and herded into a cell with dozens …

Read more…

A minor tremor measuring 3.9 on the Richter scale was registered at 5:00am Thursday. The quake was felt in the northern provinces of Santiago and Puerto Plata, which have been experiencing regular aftershocks since the 6.5 earthquake of 22 September, although they had diminished in recent weeks. This time reports of the tremor are much …

Read more…

El Caribe provides us with some respite from the gloom and doom of the day’s news with the encouraging story of the La Zurza neighborhood, located on the Isabela river bank under the Jacinto J Peynado Bridge in Santo Domingo. This part of the city has been the setting for an initiative funded by the …

Read more…

In an interview today with Miguel Guerrero on CDN TV and radio morning talk show, Technical Secretary to the Presidency Carlos Despradel confirmed the completion of the technical phase of negotiations with the IMF. He said that he is optimistic the agreement would be signed in January, thus enabling the country to resume access to …

Read more…

The Diario Libre newspaper reports this morning that the International Monetary Fund is indicating that the “technical level understanding” reached with the Dominican government (as reported in yesterday’s DR1 news) is not yet a sealed deal. According to a communique issued yesterday, also published on the IMF’s website, several conditions need to be met, including …

Read more…

Technical Secretary to the Presidency Carlos Despradel said that the IMF now requires that Congress pass the bills legalizing new taxes prior to resuming the assistance program. While the general consensus is that the IMF is the bad-tasting medicine the DR needs to take, the unknown is how soon or whether the Chamber of Deputies …

Read more…

If the president of the Chamber of Deputies Alfredo Pacheco’s reaction is anything to go by, the 2004 budget will not get a smooth ride through Congress. Yesterday, the president of the Chamber of Deputies met with Technical Secretary to the Presidency Carlos Despradel and budget director Ernesto Perez Cuevas, who presented him with a …

Read more…

The news on the revised IMF agreement represents “a second chance”, according to the main editorial in today’s El Caribe newspaper. The revised package, says the writer, is laden with challenges for the government, the business sector and Congress. The government’s main challenge is “transparency”, in that it has to explain all measures being taken …

Read more…

The second PRD convention, previously scheduled to have taken place this Sunday, will now take place in January, said Culture Minister Tony Raful, yesterday. This postponement followed meetings with President Hipolito Mejia and the three disgruntled pre-candidates who withdrew from the race earlier in the day. Milagros Ortiz Bosch, Rafael “Fello” Subervi Bonilla and Enmanuel …

Read more…

Economist Celso Marranzini told Hoy newspaper that the political crises in general, and that of the ruling PRD in particular, only serve to harm Dominican exporters’ credit facilities. He cited the recent analysis by the Economist Intelligence Unit, which recommended no further loans to the government because the funds could be diverted for political campaigning. …

Read more…