2005 – Page 132

Prominent economist Bernardo Vega, also known as a writer and diplomat as well as a savvy businessman, writes today about taxes and the free trade agreement between the United States, the Dominican Republic and the Central American nations. Vega states that the Dominican Congress should not pass the needed approval of DR-CAFTA until it has …

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Franco Uccelli of Bear Stearns reports today that the Dominican government announced over the weekend the results of the reopening of its early May exchange offer. The reopening was intended to retire a greater percentage of the old 2006 and 2013 bonds and, as a result, ease the country’s short-term debt service burden and further …

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The Dominican Army has begun to transfer helicopters from its air cavalry units to the new airport at El Higuero/La Isabela. This is the initial stage of the phasing in of the Dr. Joaquin Balaguer International Airport. The army hangar is located about 250 meters before the airport’s main entrance. A series of containers arrived …

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The Ministry of Public Works is planning to pass legislation that will allow it to control the use of speed bumps by anyone, any place at any time. The proposal would also allow the ministry to regulate the opening of trenches for different utilities. Mayobanex Escoto, the Vice Minister for Roadways told Hoy newspaper that …

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The Association of Hotels and Tourism Projects of the East complained that the Tourism Cabinet, created by President Leonel Fernandez at the start of his government to promote consensus and define government policies, is inactive and has only met once since the start of the new government. He criticized that the US$10 new charge on …

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One of the lesser-known areas of the Dominican Republic, San Jose de Ocoa, nestled in the heart of the Central Mountains, provides more than a third of the vegetables that arrive on the family table. As well as vegetables, the region also makes up a significant proportion of the national production of coffee and avocados. …

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Dozens of women have been swindled out of their purses by Haitian “witch-doctors” who promise to bless the bags and change the owner’s luck from rags to riches. This has happened all over Santo Domingo, according to the Listin Diario. Most of the complaints were filed at the Department of Monetary Crimes at the Prosecutors …

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Sociologists, lawmakers, and political analysts are supporting President Leonel Fernandez’s position rejecting the classification of the DR as a “failed state” as defined by US magazine Foreign Policy some 17 days ago. Sociologist Wilfredo Lozano, and lawmakers German Castro Garcia, Ramiro Espino and Pelegrin Castillo have expressed their support for the President’s stance. Pelegrin Castillo …

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Hoy newspaper’s “Que se dice” page two column speculates that there are only two explanations for the President’s recent speech about Haiti and the Dominican Republic during the opening of the International Forum on Ethics, Prevention and Penalizing of Corruption. The column says that one of the possibilities, is that the statesman, who could be …

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Hoy newspaper’s Coctelera column comments on a past exchange of French President Jacques Chirac with President Fernandez. At the time, the French President commented he does not understand how there could be two very different nations on “an island of blacks and mulattoes”, and asked if it was true that Dominicans and Haitians constantly have …

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