2004 – Page 161

Diario Libre comments that several senators have received requests to ?volunteer? their positions to members of the PPH faction of President Hipolito Mejia?s PRD administration. The speculation is that these Mejia government officers expect to be brought to justice. Legislators can only be tried by the Supreme Court of Justice. One legislator from La Vega …

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President-elect Leonel Fernandez made a stopover yesterday in Miami, Florida to visit Jacinto Peynado, the former Vice-President of the Republic under Joaquin Balaguer. Earlier this year Peynado endorsed Fernandez?s candidacy in the 2004 presidential election, instead of that of his own PRSC party?s candidate. After the Peynado meeting, Fernandez was scheduled to fly to New …

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According to reporter Idonelia Perez Blanco, writing for El Caribe, the decision made by President Hipolito Mejia to leave the business of tax reform to the incoming administration will force the tax reform package into the year 2005. The problem is that this runs counter to the IMF Standby Accord that requires the tax reform …

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Economist Pedro Silverio goes after a statement made by President Mejia that indicated the PRD, or at least his part of it, would wait to see which tax reforms the PLD party submitted to Congress before taking any action. The reform proposals have been agreed to by the IMF and are part and parcel of …

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The Diario Libre reports that the Dominican economy took a step backwards in the month of May due to an increase in current expenses, monetary emissions and money in circulation. According to a report from the Finance Ministry, central government expenses stood at RD$48.5 billion and current expenses were RD$38.08 billion. Financial emissions accounted for …

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The Dominican Republic?s highest Catholic official, Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez, was not a happy person yesterday, as he made a series of statements to reporters from all of the nation?s newspapers. Over the weekend the cardinal was asked to remove his shoes, belt and jacket by security personnel at the Santo Domingo airport …

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The National Emergency Commission (CNE) now confirms in its Bulletin No. 5 that the official death toll due to this weekend?s flooding is greater than the 104 bodies found as of noontime, including adults and children, both Haitians and Dominicans. El Caribe newspaper reports that 95 of the fatalities occurred at around 2:30am on Monday, …

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The National Weather Department predicts that the rains will continue at least through Wednesday. Their report indicates that a low-pressure system located in front of the southern coast of Haiti and a tropical wave have interacted with a large tropical wave that is moving over the Mona Channel between the DR and Puerto Rico. ?These …

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The Diario Libre ?Rosca Izquierda? cartoon celebrates today the virtue of Dominican adaptability and its entrepreneurial spirit. The character Rosca, while holding up an oar with one hand and proudly showing his ?yola? or rowboat, tells his friend, who is using an umbrella to cover from the rain: ?To have success in business one has …

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The confirmed deaths of 19 children under the age of seven due to diphtheria during the first four months of the year points to the breakdown of the governmental vaccination program under Public Health Minister Rafael Soldevila. Diphtheria is a completely preventable disease with aid of a low-cost vaccination. Hospitals nationwide nevertheless say that 35 …

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