2004 – Page 40

Negocios son negocios, the film that tells the tale of mistaken identity and a major banking fraud, is the latest Dominican production to hit movie theaters. The comedy, set for a 18 November general opening and a 11 November premier, stars Cuquin Victoria, Luis Jose German, Karina Larraury, Irvin Alberti and Nurin Sanlley. To make …

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Dominican President Leonel Fernandez, speaking at the XVIII Group of Rio Summit in Rio de Janairo, Brazil, suggested that the assembly consider the integration of former Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide in the talks concerning the DR’s blighted neighbor to the west. He defined Haiti as a country suffering from a power vacuum and whose …

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The union leaders of the Dominican Republic warned business owners yesterday that they were obliged to honor the new wage scale signed on 26 October and would otherwise face renewed and more stringent efforts by the labor groups to have their wages increased. The Listin Diario says that Rafael Abreu, the head of the CGT …

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A deal was struck in the construction sector between the various bodies of that industry and the workers’ representatives. The new package will yield the construction workers pay increases of 82.5%. Although union spokespersons Jose Eugenio Ruiz and Pedro Julio Alcantara had requested and fought hard for a 150% increase in workers’ daily wages, the …

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Fernando Garcia, the president of the Organization of Commercial Enterprises (ONEC), said yesterday that over the past three months some US$2 billion have returned to the Dominican Republic. Meanwhile, the exchange rate dropped by RD$0.53 yesterday, sitting at RD$31 pesos to US$1, the second such significant stride taken by the Dominican peso this week. Last …

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Goldman Sachs Economic Research has released a 4 November report card on the Dominican Republic, in which Latin American economist and analyst Geoffrey Gottlieb reviews the recent evolution of the debt burden and outlines the macroeconomic assumptions that lead many to think the DR’s primary problem is but a liquidity crisis. He also looks at …

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Hundreds of municipal authorities, mayors and council members, gathered at the Municipal Federation to demand that the central government let them keep the heavy equipment that was ceded to them by the past administration. They also demanded the return of their municipal police forces (a total of 700 men nationwide, most offices), which were disbanded …

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With Smith-Enron, Cogentrix III and the three AES units out of service, the national energy deficit reached 521 MW and put 187 of the 472 circuits offline for prolonged periods of time. Other generators are not working to full capacity, such as the Monte Rio which reduced its output to 60 MW down from the …

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Retired US Coast Guard commander Stephen Flynn warned that Caribbean countries, including the Dominican Republic, are currently hard pressed to come up with the resources to meet the enhanced security measures mandated by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in December 2001, as reported by Caribbean region journalist, John Collins. The US Maritime Transportation Security Act …

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Neither of the regular cartoon characters appears in today’s popular Diario Libre cartoon, which instead features a grotesque figure with signs all around it to explain its features. Titled “What We Dominicans Will Be In 40 Years,” the projection into the future envisions Dominicans with huge eyes to better see in the dark. Of course, …

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