2004 – Page 160

Sunday is Mother?s Day in the Dominican Republic. Expect popular restaurants to be filled with families for lunch. Shops will survive the rainy days as sons and daughters rush to get something for mother. This is one of the most respected holidays in the Dominican Republic.  

The death toll from Sunday?s flash flood in the watershed of the Soleil River (called Blanco River in Jimani) continues to rise, as hundreds of unidentified corpses are being buried in communal graves. The Soleil, normally just a dry creek bed, filled with run-off from the torrential rains that fell Friday and Saturday on Haiti?s …

Read more…

Pope John Paul II joined those who expressed their solidarity for the deaths caused by the flooding in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. He called upon those of good will to cooperate to help remedy the tragedy of the survivors. Meanwhile, aid workers from across the country have gathered food, water and household supplies for …

Read more…

Among the many bridge structures damaged or weakened by the recent flood waters, the Presidente Troncoso Bridge on the Sanchez Highway that crosses the Haina River was closed by authorities due to a weakening of the eastern side of the structure. Inspectors gave three causes for the structure?s damage: the flood waters that pounded the …

Read more…

Hundreds of people were evacuated from beneath the Barquita Bridge, as the waters of the Ozama River continued to rise, according to Hoy newspaper. The front-page photo of the area shows flooding all along the river?s edge. At last count 700 individuals had taken shelter at the refugee centers in the area while another large …

Read more…

The Listin Diario and the Diario Libre report that the recent rains have caused some blackouts. While the Listin Diario article says that the rain is responsible for some of the power outages, it does not say where and why. The Diario Libre says that flooding from the Camu River caused transmission towers to fail …

Read more…

In spite of an IDB suggestion to replace the members of the government?s Accounts Auditing Office (Camara de Cuentas), the Senate ratified the list of its current members. Not even the resignation of the two IDB technicians, Mario Andrade Trujillo and Rafael Palomo, could sway the legislators. It was Tonty Rutinel Dominguez, the head of …

Read more…

Judge Nelson Gomez, the head of the Administrative Chamber of the Central Electoral Board (JCE), spoke out yesterday in favor of unifying the presidential and congressional elections. Gomez also spoke out against the continued existence of the miniscule political parties that survive by forming alliances with one of the three major parties. As reported by …

Read more…

El Caribe reports that of the six polling companies, three foreign and three local, the Gallup organization was the closest to predicting the percentages won by each party, according to the last JCE bulletin. In terms of absolute values, the cross-checking of the final numbers contained in JCE Bulletin No. 10 with the last polling …

Read more…

Rafael Subervi Bonilla, the vice-presidential candidate of the PRD in the 16 May election, revealed he will aspire to become the party?s presidential candidate in the 2008 presidential election. Subervi was recently appointed by President Mejia to preside over the governmental transition team.