2008 – Page 155

President Leonel Fernandez has signed a series of decrees that will officially proclaim 2009 as the “Centennial Year of the Birth of Juan Bosch.” The decrees also elevated “La Casona” in Sabana de la Mar, Hato Mayor Province, and the Monument to the Heroes of the Restoration in Santiago to the status of a National …

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The Ministry of Public Works has announced the hiring of 10,000 part-time workers to complete a series of street, highway and rural road construction projects under the re-launching of the National Asphalt Plan. The Minister, Victor Diaz Rua, told Listin Diario reporters that he has been planning the re-launch of the program for some time. …

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The Superintendent of Health Care for Workers (Sisalril) has ordered all Health Care Managers (ARS or HMOs) to guarantee Health Care Providers that are under contract to their plans to prohibit any pre-payment for services under the Family Health Program (SFS). The new disposition is part of Resolution 156-08 which also requires the HMOs to …

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The head of the Dominican Association of Free Zones (Adozona), Fernando Capellan, has asked the government to continue its compensation program that gives the free zones incentives for hiring new workers. Capellan called for the government to continue the program until December, as originally called for. He said that it was possible to recover 30 …

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The new president of the Herrera Association of Industries, Manuel Cabrera, described President Leonel Fernandez’s announcements made last week in reaction to the rising prices of fuel and food on international markets as “timid” and called for more austerity. Cabrera welcomed the focusing of subsidies on GLP through the use of the Solidarity Card and …

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The Central Electoral Board (JCE), which is responsible for issuing all personal documents in the Dominican Republic, has called a halt to what it describes as “simulated weddings” in the major tourist resorts in the Punta Cana and Bavaro area on the east coast. The JCE decision was taken to prevent confusion for couples that …

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The Women’s Jail in Bani will become a Correctional and Rehabilitation Center, along the new lines currently in use in ten other centers around the country. These facilities are used by inmates who are nearing the end of their terms of incarceration and have displayed good behavior. According to Attorney General Radhames Jimenez Pena, these …

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Investigative reporters Minerva Isa and Eladio Pichardo have taken a long hard look at drug dealing in the poorest areas of Santo Domingo and their report makes grim reading. As reported in Hoy newspaper, Isa and Pichardo describe how a drug sales point could be a fried meat stand, a tiny vegetable stand, under a …

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In his long-awaited address to the nation last night, President Leonel Fernandez presented the Integrated Action Plan, which consists mainly of a collection of cost-cutting measures aimed at compensating lower-income sectors of the population for rising fuel and food costs. Fernandez repeated the intention to cut government spending by 20%, or RD$20 billion this year. …

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Opposition and business leaders have responded to the President’s 2008 proposal with skepticism and criticism. As reported in El Caribe, opposition party leaders, PRD secretary general Orlando Jorge Mera and PRSC president and secretary general Quique Antun Batlle and Victor Gomez Casanova Jr., respectively, complained that President Leonel Fernandez’s “Integrated Action Plan” was insufficient. Jorge …

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