2003 – Page 98

The Listin Diario reports that 450 families were left without homes in the wake of the recent flooding that affected as many as 2,000 houses along the rivers of the Cibao Valley. Authorities also established a “yellow alert” for persons residing below Hatillo dam, since the overflow could cause local flooding. The head of the …

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On the eve of his departure for Bolivia, President Hipolito Mejia told an extended government council meeting that the business sector needs to make more sacrifices to confront the current economic crisis, and that the government had already complied with the International Monetary Fund’s demands to curb public spending. The business sector’s main duty, according …

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In an attempt to avoid the threatened blackout, the authorities have authorized a further payment of RD$1.75 billion to the power generating companies, due to be processed in the next 48 hours. The sum of this installment represents, however, a mere 15% of the total sum owed by the government to the generating companies, who …

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Another aspect of President Hipolito Mejia’s controversial interview with Univision’s Jorge Ramos (see yesterday’s DR1 news) was his comment about Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Mejia said that if Chavez was afraid, he should not visit Santo Domingo. This was a reference to the allegations by Chavez that the Dominican authorities were complicit in an assassination …

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Supreme Court president Jorge Subero Isa has come out in defense of President Hipolito Mejia’s decision to override the Central Bank and District Attorney’s arrest warrants for the accused in the Bancredito fraud case. According to the chief justice, the President was acting legitimately and within his powers in ordering that District Attorney Maximo Aristy …

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A delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) arrived in the country on Wednesday and resumed its talks with the Dominican authorities on the progress of the standby agreement signed in August. The Central Bank announced that the teams set to work immediately on studying macro-economic figures, a stage of the process that is expected …

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The government has abolished all taxes on medicines and the raw materials used in their manufacture, as well as some unspecified agricultural supplies. This came on the heels of a decree by President Hipolito Mejia, with the aim of easing the burden on the country’s poor. “The people will begin to feel the benefits of …

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El Caribe reports that certain state hospitals are facing the prospect of having to work without electricity, as a result of the over-use of their backup generators. The newspaper quotes several hospital administrators, one of whom, Bienvenido Mejia Mejia of the Luis E. Aybar “El Morgan” hospital, is requesting the hospital be transferred to a …

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The opposition Reformist party’s executive committee has suspended Jacinto Peynado and other leading members, “depriving them of all rights” as penalty for their violation of Article 123 of PRSC party statutes. Jacinto Peynado, Carlos Morales Troncoso, Angel Lockward, Leonardo Matos Berrido, Humberto Salazar and Hector Rodriguez Pimentel will face a disciplinary tribunal for challenging the …

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British Ambassador Andy Ashcroft paid a courtesy visit to the Chamber of Deputies yesterday, where he notified its president, Alfredo Pacheco, that British investment in the Dominican Republic amounted to US$400 million. He stated that this showed that foreign investors had confidence in the Dominican market. Trade relations between the DR and Great Britain are …

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