2006 – Page 56

A Spanish woman en route to Madrid has been found with 18 art figurines filled with cocaine. The woman was stopped at the Las Americas International Airport (AILA) by Department for Drug Control (DNCD) agents. There is no word on whether Soledad Martinez Maria was working alone or with accomplices when she tried to board …

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Forty-seven Dominicans who served time in US jails for various offenses have been repatriated to the DR, according to Listin Diario. Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) supervised the repatriation of the 47 convicts. To this date 2,745 people have been brought back to the DR. Most of the crimes were murder and drug-related.

Dominican music legend Johnny Ventura was honored by the Latin Recording Academy in New York for his “Excellence in Music” yesterday. Ventura thanked his friend Sergio Jimenez, who got him into singing, and also thanked his family for his support. Ventura is the second Dominican musician to receive the honor, the first being Johnny Pacheco. …

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As from February 2007 the government plans to stop subsidizing propane gas used by drivers as a cheaper alternative to gasoline. The government has contracted a company to come up with a plan that would allow the subsidy on domestic usage of lower-costing propane to continue, according to a report in Diario Libre. The proposed …

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Technical Minister to the Presidency Temistocles Montas said yesterday that there would be increased government austerity in 2007, with “drastic reductions in costs,” of up to 15% in all government institutions, including the judiciary, Central Electoral Board (JCE) and Congress, compared to 2006. Montas is quoted in Hoy as saying that if the government doesn’t …

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The International Monetary Fund and the government’s economic team will be meeting today to reaffirm the Dominican government’s commitment to follow the letter of intent already worked out. The meeting will take place at the Presidential Palace. A source told Diario Libre that there is agreement on just about all the points and that the …

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In spite of a solid-front defense of the new tax proposals announced last week in Washington, DC, opposition to the so-called “fiscal correction” is growing every day. Yesterday, the spokeswoman who represents most of the Dominican industrial and commercial sector, Elena Viyella de Paliza, spoke out against the proposal. She suggested that if the authorities …

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German group Siemens and French group Thals announced the signing of a US$125 million contract for the new Santo Domingo Metro yesterday. The contract was signed by the Office for Transit Reorganization and will be to cover costs of electro-mechanical equipment. In the last weeks there has been a delay in construction of the Metro, …

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In a lightening-fast move, the Dominican Senate has approved the legislation paving the way for the implementation of the DR-CAFTA agreement latter this month or in December. Just moments before the measure went up for a vote, two of the President’s closest advisors, Danilo Medina and Temistocles Montas were seen speaking to various senators and …

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The Canadian organization Export Development Canada (EDC) is offering financing to small and medium-sized producers in the Dominican Republic and other Latin American nations. David Goldfield, in charge of EDC affairs for Latin America and the Caribbean, is quoted in Hoy newspaper as saying that to this date EDC has invested more than CAD$1 billion …

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