2008 – Page 135

Each Solidarity welfare card costs taxpayers RD$21 per month, or RD$16.8 million to back the 800,000 beneficiaries. The card is used to distribute propane gas subsidies, and public school subsidies to encourage keeping children in school. The Diario Libre reports that Van Elder Espinal, the director general of the Administration of Social Subsidies (ADSS) says …

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A Bani court has ordered three to the jail at Km. 15 in Azua for 18 months as investigations into the murder of seven persons in Ojo de Agua, Bani take place. There is speculation the seven were killed over a missing 1,200 kilograms of pure cocaine shipment. The three are Augusto Alberto Daneris Andujar, …

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Tourism Minister Felix (Felucho) Jimenez says that effective 15 August he will submit his resignation from the post. Jimenez has served as Minister of Tourism in Fernandez’s first and second administration. He is a strong supporter of the proposed Tourism Development Institute (INDETUR), an autonomous government body that met with controversy when several other government …

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Recently, sectors in the eastern region have criticized Tourism Minister Felix Jimenez for ignoring maintenance and infrastructure urgently needed on the east coast. East coast tourism spokespersons criticize the fact that most of the money the Ministry’s CEIZTUR fund is using comes from arrivals through the Punta Cana airport, but very little is invested in …

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A helicopter, Army, Border Security Forces (CESFRONT) and SWAT team members from the Police are escorting the Caribe Tours bus on its daily Santo Domingo-Cap-Haitien route. The route was approved by the OTTT transport authority, but is strongly opposed by Dajabon mini-bus operators that do not want competition. It is unusual for the government to …

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President Leonel Fernandez has ordered the creation of a new commission that will investigate claims made by Peravia Senator Wilton Guerrero that drug and law enforcement officials in the southwestern province of Peravia (Bani) are involved in protecting the trafficking of illegal drugs. The commission studying the claims will include the Minister of the Armed …

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Officials are continuing their investigation into the murder of seven men in Bani earlier this week. So far police have identified Colombians Jesus David del Rio Hans, Eduardo de Leon and Antonio Zuluagas as well as Venezuelan Dario Jose Atencio Vargas as victims of the murders. Police have also taken Atencio Vargas’ wife and Venezuelan …

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Dominican Air Force Major General Pedro Rafael Pena Antonio has told Senate members that drug flights have increased by 38% in recent months. During the meeting at the Senate, drug czar Marino Vinicio Castillo asked the US government for increased cooperation with the Dominican authorities in the fight against drugs. Castillo criticized the fact that …

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Spanish Vice President Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega encourages the DR to take advantage of its natural resources and become the breadbasket of the Caribbean. “The Dominican Republic is a country of abundance, abundance of natural resources, abundance of good weather, and of its people’s human quality. It has major farming potential, and is …

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The citizen activism group Participacion Ciudadana has submitted a series of documents to the Department for the Prevention of Administrative Corruption so they can study claims of nutritional deficiencies in the school breakfast program. Participacion Ciudadana wants answers to the investigation by journalists Nuria Piera and Huchi Lora, who showed that milk produced by Ladom …

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