2006 – Page 79

The Sub Director of the Office for the Reorganization of Transit (OPRET) Leonel Carrasco has replied to a report in yesterday’s edition of Hoy newspaper which highlighted the Puerto Rican metro’s US$95 million annual losses. Carrasco assured that the Santo Domingo Metro will not produce losses. He contrasted how only 32,000 Puerto Ricans ride the …

Read more…

In a decision that is sure to create a stir, interim judge Rosanna Vasquez, the head of Santo Domingo’s First Penal Court, has dismissed the charges against 37 high-ranking police officials, both active and retired, who had over 100 recovered vehicles in their possession. These vehicles had been reported stolen by their owners, recovered by …

Read more…

Secretary of the Interior Franklyn Almeyda Rancier has acknowledged to Hoy newspaper that his office is under tremendous pressure from the private sector, which ironically enough is the sector that according to him is responsible for the highest concentration of corruption towards the public sector. Almeyda made his comments at the presentation of 36 Harley …

Read more…

Vehicle-owners who waited until the last minute to get their marbete stickers yesterday were not surprised to be greeted with long lines, but by the end of the day 140,000 citizens still hadn’t obtained their sticker. According to Alfredo Mirabal, the director of the Internal Revenue Office’s Motor Vehicle Department, this represents 25% of the …

Read more…

The Banco de Reservas reports that it has ended the third quarter of this year with a 6% increase in total assets, for a total of RD$108,500 billion, and a 9.6% increase in their dollar assets. The information was disclosed by the bank’s administrator, Daniel Toribio. BanReservas accumulated RD$1,930.2 billion in assets before taxes. With …

Read more…

The recent violent removal of 12 families from their homes is being described as illegal and inhumane, and a defense for the rights of those removed is being mounted. Last week police began evicting families who lived in Santo Domingo’s San Rafael neighborhood, and this week went on to burn down the houses in question, …

Read more…

People have been stealing electric wires for decades, and the recent boom in scrap steel and other metals is creating an even larger market for the stolen items. According to El Caribe, the nation does not have the legislation to put a stop to this type of crime. The paper says that low tension and …

Read more…

The Confederation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (CODOPYME) has launched the XI Expo Pymes 2006 at the Dominican Fiesta Hotel. There will be 66 PYMES (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) exhibiting at the Fair, and they offer a wide range of goods and services. Metalwork, graphic arts, textiles, shoes and baking goods all feature in the …

Read more…

Junior welterweight champion Joan Guzman met with President Leonel Fernandez where he was congratulated for winning the world champion title. Fernandez announced that he has instructed Sports Minister Jay Payano to begin preparations for Guzman’s title defense, which will be held in the DR in December. Fernandez told Guzman that he would be there on …

Read more…

Today’s political cartoon in Diario Libre is a short dialogue between its main character Diogenes and US President George W. Bush. Bush is standing in the United States and Diogenes in the Dominican Republic. Bush says in very stilted Tex-Mex Spanish: “You be on list 20 drug trafficking countries!” Diogenes responds in also stilted Spanish: …

Read more…