2006 – Page 319

A Roman chapel at the Basilica San Giovanni dei Fiorentini in Rome will be consecrated on Saturday, 21 January 2006, the day when Dominicans honor the Virgen de la Altagracia. It is the first chapel dedicated to the virgin in Europe. The Basilica is centrally located near the San Pedro Basilica and Castel Sant’Angelo, on …

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Without much fanfare, the rules instituted by the government to reduce fuel consumption in the Dominican Republic went back into effect yesterday. Gasoline and propane will be sold only between the hours of 6am and 8pm, Monday through Friday, and from 6am until 2pm on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. These measures were adopted in …

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Statements by Eduardo Selman, Rafael Nunez and Roberto Rodriguez indicate that the government is stepping back its support to the proposal to create an artificial island in the Caribbean Sea in front of the Santo Domingo waterfront. Selman, the government’s liaison between the President and the promoters of the project, told reporters last night that …

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The Escuela Nacional de Ministerio Publico graduated its first 20 future prosecutors yesterday. Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito told the press that progress in the judicial system will depend on professional prosecutors, and that they need to have job security. The present Penal Code places much of the burden of prosecution on the government prosecutors …

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Luis Shecker Ortiz, spokesman for civic group Participacion Ciudadana, is once more criticizing the way in which private interests are prevailing over the common good, as far as Congress is concerned. As reported in El Caribe, Shecker commented on the ‘spurious negotiations’ that have reportedly taken place whereby the deputies have decided to pass the …

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The Dominican Republic has to request an exemption from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) because it has not yet approved the 2006 budget. According to El Caribe, a government source said that there was a formal requirement to ask for the exemption. During the first and second reviews of the IMF agreement, the government was …

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Retail merchants, importers and wholesalers met with members of the government’s economic team to look at the reasons behind the unusual and very unpopular increase in many items at retail level. The meeting lasted for more than four hours and one of the results was that the government is going to print 150,000 leaflets explaining …

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Seven trade associations threatened to boycott the industries and distributors who sell goods for increased prices, taking advantage of the confusion surrounding the new tax reform. The traders associations told reporters from Hoy that none of their retailers were selling any products at inflated prices. The different associations presented more than 30 different articles that …

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The Chamber of Accounts has ordered the Ministry of Industry and Commerce to rescind the two contracts with a solar energy company that had been entrusted with providing energy to 12,000 rural dwellings. The government agency sent an audit to the Attorney General’s office about the contracts signed by former minister Sonia Guzman de Hernandez, …

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In two tragic cases, magistrates have jailed two mothers for mistreating their children. In one case, as reported in El Caribe, the magistrate of the Second Court of Instruction of Santiago ordered Arineli Castro Medrano to stand trial for burning her seven year old daughter by placing her hands on an electric stove, as punishment …

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