2007 – Page 339

Looks like the round robin is shaping up to be a two team race. Last night the Aguilas rallied to beat Licey 8-6. Aguilas are 2-1 against Licey in the round robin series and were 8-2 in the regular season series. The Aguilas stay in second place with a 5-2 record, while Licey now have …

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President Leonel Fernandez stood in a New Year’s reception line for over four and a half hours, and was greeted by a huge number of people. The yearly procession was headed by the Papal Nuncio, Monsignor Timothy Broglio, and Dominican Cardinal Lopez Rodriguez and other religious leaders, followed by the diplomatic corps and the military. …

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The weekend news was devoted mostly to reports about budget items and the political maneuvering surrounding the party conventions. Listin Diario reported that the Santo Domingo Metro would receive RD$7.18 billion in loans (EUR163.4 million) from France, Spain and Germany. According to the paper, the money will go to the Siemens-Thales Consortium for the different …

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The last months of the PRD-led Congress approved nearly one thousand pension packages for former politicians, legislators, siblings of legislators and relatives. The pensions vary in size from RD$3,000 to RD$60,000 per month. According to Listin Diario, several former Senate and Congress employees were also blessed with generous pension plans, despite not having retired. While …

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The President’s office sent the budget to Congress, where the ruling party has the majority, on 27 December for approval before the end of the year. Legislators, nevertheless, postponed its approval for the start of the year and sent it to a joint congressional commission. The commission that is studying the RD$258 billion 2007 Budget …

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A reading of the proposed budget, seems to confirm that President Leonel Fernandez is assigning priority to push forward construction of the first line of the Santo Domingo metro. In 2006, the government consistently allocated more funds to the metro than to the environment, education and public health ministries. The trend for this coming year …

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Diario Libre editor Adriano Miguel Tejada complained in a year’s end editorial about the way in which the Fernandez government priorities are reflected in the budget allocations. He said that budgets should be national development instruments, but the Dominican budget reflects the fact that the government will spend more on paying the public debt and …

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Speaking last Thursday, CDEEE administrator Radhames Segura announced the undoing of the 297-megawatt combined-cycle, oil-fired electric generating Cogentrix facility deal that was signed when he was in the same position with the CDE during Leonel Fernandez’s first presidential term (1996-2000). Basic Energy, which operates Punta Cana-Macao and Bayahibe power plants, has agreed to convert the …

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The First Penal Chamber of Appeals has revoked a decision by Judge Jose Mejia Duverge that authorized RD$100,000 bail for four people accused of cocaine trafficking. The group of four, that includes a Puerto Rican, was arrested when 388 kilos of cocaine were discovered in an operation at a cockfighting club at Km. 32 of …

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To end the year, Adriano Miguel Tejada of Diario Libre wrote about the “politicocracy” that prevails in the DR today. He writes on the predominance of politicians: “Any economic model that is based on a government as the engine of the economy and all national activities, can only lead to an endless series of fiscal …

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