2004 – Page 241

President Hipolito Mejia met with power generators and representatives of the electricity distribution companies yesterday in an attempt to end or reduce the long blackouts. Unites States Ambassador Hans Hertell also attended the meeting at the Presidential Palace. The President was accompanied by the Central Bank Governor Jose Lois Malkun, former Electricity Superintendent Julio Cross, …

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The president of Globalia, the Spanish tourism conglomerate, in a press conference yesterday made a clarification that substantiated their claim regarding the construction of a hotel on National Park of the East grounds. The use of protected lands for the commercial development is being opposed by the National Hotel & Restaurant Association and the nation’s …

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Hoy’s economic editor Mario Mendez reports that the IMF will force the Dominican Republic to take a hard look at the banking crisis and “let the chips fall where they may.” In order to do this, a panel of independent international experts will be named to study the problems of governance associated with the banking …

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The Senate approved a US$16-million loan yesterday from an international commercial bank for the purchase of speedboats and Navy equipment. The Dominican Ministry of Armed Forces has assumed responsibility for patrolling the Mona Channel, the water passage between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. For the US, vigilance of the channel is a given in …

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Industry & Commerce Minister Sonia Guzman says that the Free Trade Agreement being negotiated in Puerto Rico this week with the United States government is a step forward from trade concessions the Dominican Republic currently enjoys under the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI). Guzman explained that the US negotiators are wiilling to open duty-free markets to …

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Both the Listin Diario and El Caribe’s economic sections are reporting on the very real opportunity for Dominican poultry and beef to enter the United States market as a result of the free trade talks taking place in Puerto Rico this week. Also included in the proposals are meat products such as salami and other …

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Although there have been pronouncements that local rice producers can fulfill the demand of the local market, Hoy reports today that amid talk of price speculation and hoarding, the government must import 2.5 million quintals of rice (1 quintal = 100 lbs). Hoy’s source of information is Gilberto Luna, the president of the Dominican Federation …

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Two of the major newspapers (Listin Diario and El Caribe) headlined yesterday’s passage of the electoral reform bill, or Ley de Lemas through the Senate. While the law is now known as the Presidential Preferential Vote Law, it is apparently a case of “same church, different pew” and will now be sent the Chamber of …

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The Dominican Council of Bishops said that it was “unacceptable” for certain political leaders to qualify the council’s public statements as “partisan,” as did Vicente Sanchez Baret, the dubious new president of the PRD last Sunday. The bishops said that interpreting their guidance as being partisan or prejudiced was something that was hurtful and offensive. …

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Page 2 of Hoy newspaper continues to be one of the best reads on any given day. Humor, satire, flat-out critiques and human interest grace this page daily, with today’s offering presenting a fine example. The eye first catches “Eloy,” the political cartoon, which features a gravestone with the inscription “Here lies a poor Dominican …

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