2004 – Page 33

The Ministry of Agriculture and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) signed an agreement to stimulate Dominican commercial organic farming. The agreement calls for an investment of RD$180 million in five years, as reported in Hoy newspaper. Agriculture Minister Amilcar Romero and JICA director in the DR, Shozo Fukuda signed. The project seeks to make …

Read more…

Not willing to give in to major difficulties in resolving the garbage collection service in the city of Santo Domingo, the capital city’s mayor wants a second chance. To this end, he is importing 30 garbage compacting trucks from Miami that are expected to arrive at the end of the month. The city government says …

Read more…

AES Corporation has announced the sale of 50% of its shares in the AES EdeEste power distribution company to an entity called Dominican Energy Holdings, LP. AES says that the main shareholder of this company is TCW Energy Advisors, LLC, which is based in California. As reported in Diario Libre, under the terms of the …

Read more…

James J Heckman, who was honored with the 2000 Nobel Laureate in Economics for his development of theory and methods for analyzing selective samples, is currently in the Dominican Republic to attend the 20th General Assembly of the Inter-American Conference on Social Security. Speaking during the event that is taking place in Casa de Campo, …

Read more…

It has been abnormally cold for this time of the year in the Dominican Republic, with the lowest temperatures mostly being felt in the Central mountain range, with unusual lows reported for Alto Bandera, which lies at 2,669 meters above sea level near the city of Constanza. Diario Libre reports this area saw temperatures drop …

Read more…

Dominican David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox is leading in the Major League Baseball online poll on who should win the American League’s most valuable player. David Ortiz’s stats are: .301, 41 HR, 139 RBIs. And of his 175 hits, 91 have been for extra bases. In an online commentary, MLB site indicates that …

Read more…

The government reported today that it is building its 2005 budget around an exchange rate of RD$37 to US$1. Technical Secretary to the Presidency Temistocles Montas made the announcement today, but said that, nevertheless, the government has not yet sent the bill to Congress, as reported in the Listin Diario. Montas said the decision to …

Read more…

The DR’s taxation department, the DGII, reported that tax collections for October were RD$933.5 million more than those for the same month in 2003. The official report indicates that the government collected RD$4.6 billion in October 2004, while the enhanced revenue is being partly attributed to the increases in taxes passed by Congress in September.

President Leonel Fernandez authorized the extradition of nine Dominicans that had been requested by the US authorities. The extradition is dated 11 November. Of the nine, seven are wanted on drug trafficking charges. These are Rafael Dominguez Carvajal, Joj Yoel Nunez, Ramon Arnoldo Pimentel Guerrero, Bienvenido Roa, Agustin Henriquez and Oscar Santos Santos. Jeremias Gomez …

Read more…

Lawyer Roberto Alvarez writes in El Caribe that the Dominican Republic should request backing from the United States Embassy to carry out a study similar to that which the US Embassy in Jamaica financed on the behavior of Jamaican deported nationals. He says that of 12,036 deportees to Jamaica, 63% were repatriated for criminal reasons, …

Read more…