2004 – Page 80

As the process of identifying recovered stolen vehicles begins, several owners are denouncing the fact that their cars have been altered to conceal their true proprietorship. In some cases, the chassis numbers were changed to prevent the vehicles being identified, while others were painted different colors, bore new license plates or were disguised with accessories. …

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Listin Diario political analyst Orlando Gil today speculates how far back the complicity of police officers in the mafia of stolen vehicles can be traced. “If there are so many vehicles being returned now, it means there were many recovered without their owners finding out, and still more whose vehicles were misappropriated. It is known …

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In view of a legal impediment placed on his travel, government security units are looking into how retired Colonel Pedro Julio (Pepe) Goico was allowed to board an Air France plane that would take him to France last Sunday. Vinicio Castillo Seman, a member of the defense team of Ramon Baez Figueroa (former president of …

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The new police authorities’ initiative to confront crime has added a new tragedy to the list of recent violent deaths in the DR. Yesterday police killed four members of the Blas and El Gringo gangs in Azua, 120kms west of Santo Domingo, and Listin Diario journalist Juan Andujar was murdered. In a rampage of surprising …

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As of the 11am advisory from the US National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, a hurricane watch and tropical storm warnings have been extended westward along the northern coast of the Dominican Republic, stretching west of Cabrera to Puerto Plata. A hurricane watch and tropical storm warning is also in effect for the southern coast …

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Presidential Administrative Secretary Luis Manuel Bonetti revealed that the government has renegotiated the RD$1.1-billion debt owed to the propane import companies so as to resume the purchase of liquid propane gas (LPG) supplies. The financial debt is the main reason behind the acute scarcity of propane gas that began following the 16 May election in …

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Following meetings last week between a top-level Dominican delegation and the Paris Club, the DR’s Presidential Technical Secretary Temistocles Montas announced the conditions necessary to maintain the agreement with the Paris Club and reschedule some US$193 million in bilateral debt (US$155 million in 2004 maturities + US$38 million in arrears). Compliance with these terms will …

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The head of President Leonel Fernandez’s economic advisors, Julio Ortega Tous, announced yesterday that the government will seek to extend the expiration term of the first US$500 million of sovereign bonds issued for at least another three years. Making his announcement from the Presidential Palace pressroom, he said that interest rate payments would not be …

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According to Hoy newspaper, the Central Bank’s half-year report indicates that unemployment in the Dominican Republic is at 17% — one of the highest rates in Latin America. Unemployment is particularly high in the south-western region of the country (24.4%), the municipality of Santo Domingo North, which is north of the capital city (21.5%), and …

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Unionized taxi drivers are refusing to lower the fares on city transport that is overseen by the governmental OTTT, the transport regulatory organization. CONATRA drivers rejected the reduction that would have seen fares of RD$8 instead of the current RD$10. CONATRA vehicle owners were strong supporters of the previous administration, which equipped them with a …

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