2007 – Page 279

The Central Electoral Board (JCE) has announced that foreign and Dominican experts are working on a new design for the personal identity card known as the “cedula” in order to prevent forgeries. The ID card is used as a voter registration card and the redesigned version will include 21 different security features, along with stricter …

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The Central Electoral Board, (JCE) has announced that it has decided to face up to the fact that at least 480,000 people in the Dominican Republic do not officially “exist”. These are people without birth certificates or the personal identity card known as the ‘cedula’. Their efforts will be supported by five mobile offices that …

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AES Corporation has agreed to pay the Dominican government a settlement worth US$6 million (RD$200 million), thus ending the court case heard in a Virginia Federal District Court. The settlement covers compensation for both the Samana and Manzanillo dumps of what is really called “fly ash” in the environmental community. The substance is the deposit …

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A former high-ranking official in several administrations, Arturo Martinez Moya takes a sharp look at the impact of the recently implemented DR-CAFTA agreement in an article in Hoy. The free trade agreement between the five Central American states, the Dominican Republic and the United States is now fully under way, but, in Martinez Moya’s opinion …

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The Ministry of Public Health and health workers unions have reached an agreement to halt a strike that would have paralyzed hospitals for 72 hours. The agreement will rescind the assignment of thousands of health workers to the National Children’s Council (CONANI) and recover RD$49 million that had been transferred to cover their expenses. A …

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The fight against drug trafficking has led to a remarkable contrast between the arrest statistics for 2005 and 2006. Drug-related arrests during 2006 were just 30% of the total for 2005. According to Diario Libre, despite the protests about the proliferation of drugs entering the country by air, sea and land, statistics from the National …

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El Caribe newspaper has found out that a surprisingly large number of people, including public figures, are on the National Police file system. According to the paper, the police have 635,000 names on its files. The list is said to include students, merengue musicians, humorists, journalists and politicians. In general, the public is reacting very …

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Two tourists were slightly injured when the fluke of a humpback whale struck them as they were diving near the large mammal. The tourists had sailed from Puerto Plata aboard the Turks & Caicos Aggressor II, a 90-foot yacht that takes tourists on dive tours to the Silver Banks, just north of Puerto Plata. According …

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Sunday’s Grand Carnival Parade was a great success despite a number of incidents. The arrival of 500 “devils” from La Vega, 185 different troupes cavorting along the parade route and the amazing costumes thrilled tens of thousands of people along Santo Domingo’s George Washington Avenue (the Malecon). According to Listin Diario and Hoy, the national …

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President Leonel Fernandez considers the start of the DR-CAFTA free trade agreement as a historic opportunity for the DR to transform its economic structure and face the increasing social challenges that have built up over the years. Fernandez in the Presidency web site saying that “Today the foundations of a prosperous Dominican Republic are being …

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