2008 – Page 113

President Leonel Fernandez appointed former New York consul Bienvenido Perez, general director of the Hotel Corporation of the Ministry of Tourism that manages government hotel property. The President confirmed Aristides Fernandez Zucco at the head of the National Energy Commission and Victor Manuel Crispin Zorilla, as deputy director of the National Department of Investigations. Also …

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President Fernandez reinstated Major General Manuel Florentino Florentino, this time as military advisor to the Executive Branch. In 2005, Florentino had been replaced by Major General Luis Damian Castro Cruz in midst of rumors of the alleged ties to Quirino Ernesto Paulino Castillo, who was expected to stand trial for cocaine smuggling yesterday in a …

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News reports indicate that Quirino Ernesto Paulino Castillo did not go before Judge Kimba Woods yesterday as expected. El Caribe reports that Quirino could have joined the group that has negotiated lesser sentences in exchange for cooperating with the judicial authorities. Press reports speculate that Quirino could have accepted a guilty plea to avoid a …

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Peravia senator Wilton Guerrero (PLD-Peravia) raised the level of his accusations of complicity with drug dealing and accused the governor of Peravia, Bienvenido Montero of being the godfather of crime in the province and of protecting former police commander in Bani, General Hilario Gonzalez, former prosecutor Victor Cordero and the chief of the Drug Enforcement …

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Peravia Senator Wilton Guerrero Dume complained that the commission appointed by the President to investigate the suspected drug-related murder of six in Bani did not consult with organizations that he deems are truly representative of Bani, nor did it go about the investigation in a scientific way. The Presidential commission, that former district attorney Guillermo …

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Vice President Rafael Alburquerque announced that beginning Monday 800,000 citizens will have been issued Bonogas cards for charging the purchase of up to six gallons of propane gas per month, a RD$228 credit that is part of the RD$182 million per month Bonogas program. Alburquerque added that half of the families that have received Bonogas …

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The Ministry of Public Works has received 40,000 gallons of AC-30, the main component of asphalt, and within the next 15 days 30,000 more gallons will arrive. The shipment of AC-30 is part of the National Asphalt Plan, which looks to restore many of the nation’s badly damaged roads. In recent weeks, the media and …

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The National Business Council (CONEP) urged the government to put away the traditional policy of laissez faire regarding Haitian issues. It writes that hoping that time will resolve the issues has only lead to the escalating of the seriousness of the issues and the intensification of the negative international campaigns that affect the good image …

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Vice President Rafael Alburquerque feels that government employees need to be affiliated to the AFS Senasa, and not to private health purveyors. “The Social Security Law is clear and establishes that government employees fall under Senasa,” he said. A local court ruled that government employees could affiliate also with private providers. Alburqueque says that they …

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The Dominican government, despite having a monopoly on most of the services it offers, is by far the leading advertiser in the Dominican Republic. A report in the Listin Diario indicates that from 2003-2007 the Dominican government spent RD$900 million in advertising in newspapers alone. The Centro Cuesta Nacional (RD$500 million), Plaza Lama (RD$400 million) …

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