2008 – Page 21

In an interview with Listin Diario, the President’s industrial advisor Antonio Isa Conde said that competitiveness in the country is affected because there is a sector in government that pushes for development, and another whose priority is clientelism, or political patronage. “We’re trapped,” he said. Isa Conde says that it is shameful that the energy …

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The Ministry of Public Works has announced that Santo Domingo’s Mexico Avenue will be closed this Saturday from 10pm through Sunday at 12pm. Both traffic lanes will be closed. The road is being closed for the installation of a pedestrian bridge in front of Club San Carlos on the corner of Emilio Prud’homme Street.

According to regional health director Dr. Bolivar Matos, the Dominican government spends an estimated RD$55 million on providing health services for illegal Haitian immigrants in border Elias Pina and San Juan de la Maguana provinces alone. According to Matos, 7,800 illegal residents have received medical treatment in those provinces since January, including surgery, physical examinations, …

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After weeks of uncertainty the Falconbridge mining company has announced that it will lay off 900 of its 1,640 employees, most of whom live in Bonao. Falconbridge temporarily closed its doors in August and the closure was declared indefinite in November. The announcement has plunged company employees into uncertainty. Although some were still receiving wages, …

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Claro and Orange telecom companies are announcing plans for the launch of the Apple I-Phone 3G cell phone. Codetel reports that by midnight last night a large number of people had already lined up outside their Santo Domingo and Santiago headquarters to wait for midnight tonight (Friday), when sales are due to start.

The police report that 22-year old Wilmari Madelin Rosso was responsible for kidnapping her own daughter, 2-year old Johanna Monegro Rosso. A woman had returned the child to the MacDonald’s playground in San Francisco de Macoris before a ransom could be paid. The police says that the mother confessed that it was a plan to …

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The Alliance for Democracy (APD) is claiming that the 80% allocation of public funds for the DR’s two largest political parties, the PLD and PRD, is undemocratic. The APD, a PLD affiliate, is calling for a re-modification of the Electoral Law and asking for a fairer distribution of funds. The allocation of funds depends on …

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Jefferson Marin Lopez (Chivirico) has been arrested and extradited to the US. According to press reports, he headed a Colombian network that exported large amounts of heroin and cocaine to the US using the DR as a transshipment point. He faces criminal charges in New York, according to National Drug Control Department (DNCD) chief, Major …

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The Ministry of Industry and Commerce (SEIC) is spending RD$286,956,686 on a pilot plan for electricity to be pre-paid by consumers, in the framework of the Blackouts Reduction Plan (PRA). The project is funded by the European Union through the National Office for European Development Funds (ONFED), and will be implemented by the SEIC’s Non-Conventional …

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The Administrative Contentious Tribunal for the National District has ruled against any disposition that limits free competition in the selection of a Health Service Provider (ARS) within the Dominican Social Security System. The decision is contained in a decree issued by the First Chamber of the court yesterday that accepts a complaint from three ARS …

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