2004 – Page 144

After months of being without telephone service, the phone lines at the Education Ministry have been restored. The ministry had its service cut in April 2004 for non-payment of debts owed. The ministry was recently able to pay RD$20 million on the RD$37-million debt to Verizon and promised to pay the remainder in the coming …

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The national energy situation was considered to be slightly improved over much of the weekend. Saturday?s Diario Libre reported that two generators at EGE-Haina had entered into service, adding 200 MW to the local production. On Thursday, total electric generation was meeting less than 60% of demand, while blackouts of up to 20 hours were …

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While a shipload of LPG was expected momentarily, homemakers and public transportation drivers were feeling the propane gas scarcity, as reported in El Caribe and Hoy newspapers. The Dominican Refinery ran out of LPG on Saturday, and most retailers had closed their operations earlier that day. Those few LPG retailers that did have propane experienced …

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Journalist Claudio Cabrera looks at the major problems facing the transition team of the next government in an article in Hoy today. As the PLD government-to-be receives the scraps and rubble left over from the crisis, none of the proposed solutions has achieved a balance. Cabrera identifies the quasi-fiscal deficit (primarily the RD$100 billion in …

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The Diario Libre newspaper carries the headline that the United States is disgusted with the Mejia government because of its inability to control illegal immigration. Meetings much too private for the details to be made public between Ambassador Hans Hertell and President Mejia are rumored to have ended in bitter discussion. The former complacent attitude …

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The credit portfolio of the private banking sector has been seriously affected by the current economic crisis and the application of restrictive credit policies by the Central Bank in connection with the IMF accords. The high interest rates (ranging from 58% to 60%) that the Central Bank is paying for on investment certificates has been …

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Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation from the United States, working in conjunction with local officials and law enforcement officers, arrested eight Cubans and one American on charges of Medicare fraud and money laundering to the tune of US$20 million. The arrests were carried out in Santo Domingo on Thursday, and at least 13 …

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All that remains at the primary school at the batey ?Mata los Indios? in the San Luis sugar mill lands is a pile of stones, after the building?s total collapse that killed a young Canadian and injured two Haitians. It could have been worse, since just a few minutes earlier the building was full of …

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The 300 wooden houses being built by the governmental INVI department as a donation to those left homeless after the floods in Jimani would not stand up to a future tropical storm, say press reports. According to engineer Alexander Holsteinson, members of a commission of the Dominican College of Engineers who investigated the disaster zone …

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The pay check for each of the 37 Santo Domingo city government aldermen is more than that paid to city Mayor Roberto Salcedo himself. El Caribe newspaper points out that the city councillors now earn RD$64,000 a month to cover their per diems to attend the meetings of the city government, while the city mayor?s …

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