2004 – Page 249

The Dominican Dream Team continued its steamrolling of the opposition, as it took a ten-inning game from Venezuela by 4-3. Mendy Lopez (Kansas City Royals) had the golden hit that left the Venezuelan team all by themselves on the playing field. Lopez got his hit against the sensational Venezuelan relief pitcher Francisco Rodriguez, who had …

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The Organizing Committee of the XXXIV Caribbean Series announced that as of yesterday, fans purchasing a “preferential section” ticket to see the games will get one free ticket as a bonus. These tickets cost US$40. Already, the organizers have lowered the price of the bleacher seats to RD$100. Today, the DR matches runner-up Mexico in …

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El Caribe newspaper says that the Spanish travel conglomerate Globalia Corporation is behind the intent to slice 4 million square meters from the National Park of the East, a protected area. The newspaper explains that Globalia is lobbying the Dominican Congress for approval of an initiative that would legalize the use of the land for …

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The Chamber of Deputies approved the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) loan for US$200 million to be used by the government to complete the payment of the foreign-service debt and to make payments to power generation companies, as reported in El Caribe. Carlos Despradel, the technical secretary to the Presidency, said the government expects to receive …

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Standard & Poor’s Rating Services joined Fitch and Moody’s by lowering its long-term sovereign credit and senior unsecured debt ratings on the Dominican Republic to ‘CC’ from ‘CCC’. Standard & Poor’s also affirmed its ‘C’ short-term sovereign credit rating on the DR, with a continued negative outlook. According to credit analyst Richard Francis, the downgrade …

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Hoy newspaper reports that the peso fell to RD$56-US$1 yesterday, with expectations for continued depreciation. While banks were buying dollars at RD$53, there were few that were selling. The newspaper mentions as factors contributing to the depreciation the political turmoil, the uncertainties regarding the resumption of the IMF agreement and the government’s arrears in fulfilling …

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Meanwhile, as reported in the Listin Diario, Superintendent of Banks Julio Cross says the private sector maintains a US$7-billion short-term debt, which also pressures the foreign exchange market. Cross says this is far more than the US$5-billion debt he attributes to the government, including the US$1.1 million in sovereign bonds. He said that the foreign …

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Two homemade Molotov-type bombs were thrown yesterday at the PRD’s headquarters on Avenida Bolivar, signalling that the division within the ruling party could take on a violent tinge. On Saturday, in a convention organized by the PPH faction of the PRD, party president Hatuey Decamps was ousted and replaced by Vicente Sanchez Baret, director of …

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Diario Libre reports today on the opinion of two lawyers, who say that if Hipolito Mejia seeks re-election in May and loses, he will not be able to run for office again. The newspaper cites lawyer Egmidio Valenzuela’s interpretation of the Art. 49 of the Constitution that reads: “The President of the Republic may opt …

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As of 2 February, the former Compania Dominicana de Telefonos, more recently known as Codetel, officially became Verizon Dominicana. The company is the leading local, long-distance and wireless telephone service provider in the Dominican Republic. Verizon also has operations in Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Venezuela. Contrary to its minority positioning in those countries’ telecommunications …

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