2005 – Page 185

Elena Fernandez, director of Promese, the governmental generic medicine program, told Hoy newspaper yesterday that medicines in the Dominican Republic are the second most expensive in the world. She said the medicine market in the DR is rife with fraud, contraband and illegal trade, in addition to high profitability. She explained that only pharmacies apply …

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President Leonel Fernandez has appointed Filomena Navarro to be the Dominican ambassador to Jamaica. Navarro told Listin Diario that she would work to strengthen trade and cultural ties between both countries. Navarro is an education graduate, and has worked as a university professor for many years. Navarro was Consul General in Jamaica during the first …

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The World Bank has issued preliminary conclusions on an imminent report on the opportunities and challenges presented by DR-CAFTA for boosting long-term growth and reduce poverty. The World Bank is positive about the agreement, explaining that it would lock in benefits offered today under the Caribbean Basin Initiative. But on the other hand, it comments …

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The Customs department has announced that it will not authorize a reduction in import taxes on the 1,000 Vietnamese-made buses the transport union Conatra is in the process of importing. As reported in Diario Libre, Customs deputy director of operations, Luis Sanchez said that the International Monetary Fund sets limits on the tax concessions the …

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Diario Libre, in its page two editorial commentary by Ines Aizpun, has suggestions on how the government can make savings instead of increasing taxes. She says that just recently a governmental mission traveled to Chile to study how the Chilean government uses the Internet to make government purchases. Aizpun comments that the mission consisted of: …

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The Ministry of Industry and Commerce has announced a tender aimed at contracting the companies that will install the first 1,500 ethanol-powered stoves. The plan is to gradually replace the use of liquid propane gas with ethanol, which is locally produced and more economical. For the pilot program, the government will import ethanol, before phasing …

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Former President Hipolito Mejia chose to not comply with the request by Judge Esther Agelan Casasnovas that he appear in court for questioning in the Hernani Salazar vs. Marino Vinicio (Vincho) Castillo libel suit. He turned down the appointment on grounds that his presence would be “fruitless and useless,” as reported in El Caribe. He …

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This morning’s Listin Diario publishes a front page photograph of Bladimir Garcia Jimenez, recently jailed in New York for drug smuggling links to the Quirino Paulino Castillo case (arrested for the possession of 1,387 kilos of cocaine in the DR), apparently making a toast while sitting at a table next to former President Hipolito Mejia. …

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President Leonel Fernandez admitted in reply to a journalist’s question in New York City that he was the one who overturned the district attorney’s summons to former President Hipolito Mejia. President Fernandez said that the prosecutor had not notified him of the decision. President Fernandez said that now that the case against former army captain …

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PLD activist Felix Bautista, accused by the former government of overvaluing of the San Juan-Vallejuelo highway by RD$50 million, was released of all criminal responsibility by state prosecutors, as reported in the Listin Diario. The court based its decision on the fact that that the case against him had been made outside of the legal …

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