2007 – Page 311

After being discharged from the CEDIMAT medical center at Plaza de la Salud last week, Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez is reported to be doing well. The Cardinal is slowly recovering from triple bypass surgery performed at the CEDIMAT center on 13 January.

Representatives of a number of social sectors are calling for an end to the violence that is shaking Dominican society. Legislators, legal officials and housewives have joined the call to end the current epidemic of violence affecting the entire nation. Senate leader Reinaldo Pared Perez said that the authorities would review the government’s National Security …

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Manufacturing at free zones continues to diversify as the country moves away from traditional apparel operations due to competition from Chinese factories. Listin Diario reports that the new contracts coming into the DR include the construction of airplane turbine parts, computerized architectural design for New York City Hall, patterns for clothing, test drive car dummies, …

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Texaco-Chevron is insisting on the right to transport its own fuels to its filling stations around the country. However, the Industry and Commerce Ministry has been adamant in ratifying its position as the sole arbiter in transport issues. The multi-national company has appealed to the ministry as well as the US Trade Representative for a …

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All today’s newspapers carry a two-page advertisement announcing the official changing of the guard at Verizon, the nation’s largest telecommunications company. The announcement by American Movil, the largest telecommunications business in Latin America, says that the mobile communications segment will be known as CLARO, and CODETEL, the previous brand name for the telephone company, would …

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The New Britain Rock Cats announced a partnership with Roberto’s Kids to form “Batter Up!,” a season long initiative that collects baseball equipment and cash donations for children in the DR. The Foundation is working on helping children in areas near Boca Chica, where the Rock Cats parent organization, the Minnesota Twins operates a baseball …

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JCE president Julio Cesar Castanos Guzman has announced the imposition of fixed service fees at the JCE. This is being introduced alongside the implementation of fixed wages for JCE officials. Wages for civil registry officers are RD$50,000, RD$40,000 or RD$25,000 depending on rank. On making the announcement, Castanos said that he had just implemented what …

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The Central Electoral Board (JCE) reported that investigations by the National Intelligence Department (DNI) reveal that over a million Haitians and other foreigners have secured Dominican “cedula” ID cards by fraudulently obtaining Dominican birth certificates. These fake documents have primarily benefited drug traffickers, dancers, baseball players and Haitians. The investigations show that there is an …

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In an opinion piece in the Listin Diario on Monday, the government’s chief trade negotiator Julio Ortega Tous wrote to differ with the criteria of the president of the Santo Domingo Chamber of Commerce who last week called for a halt to free trade agreement negotiations in order to give time for DR-CAFTA to set …

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The Tax Department (DGII) reports that it has been able to lower ITBIS (VAT) evasion by 10 points since the new government took power in August 2004. As reported in Diario Libre, this means that the government received RD$29.5 billion in ITBIS in 2006, 15% more than the previous year. The DGII reports that while …

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