2008 – Page 259

During a speech at the monthly American Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Central Electoral Board (JCE) president Julio Cesar Castanos Guzman said that the real challenge facing the DR is not the 16 May presidential election, but the eradication of the dangers involved with political parties, the political system and democracy, clientelism and the unequal distribution …

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Ignacio Mendez, president of the Federation of Industrialist Associations, says that all the free trade agreements (FTAs) the DR has signed have been detrimental to the country. Mendez argued that when the DR and similar countries opened their doors to the FTAs, they were already in a position to succeed in a globalized international economy, …

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According to UASD University dean Franklin Garcia Fermin, the state university runs on an average deficit of RD$30 million per month. According to vice dean Maritza Camacho, the UASD has monthly revenues of RD$14 million. Camacho says that no government has ever fulfilled the law that designates 5% of the national budget to the UASD. …

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Time has run out for Education Minister Alejandrina German to file defamation charges she threatened TV journalist Nuria Piera with. German had a two-month window to file charges against Piera for a report in which the journalist reported on a lavish weekend home built by the minister in Jarabacoa. Piera showed vehicles registered to the …

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Minister of Industry and Commerce Melanio Paredes says he doesn’t attribute the increase in basic food prices to national and international factors, but to the vivid imagination of the press, which he classified as “speculation.” Quoted in Hoy, Paredes said that the price increases are only “speculation by the press.” He added that in a …

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Santo Domingo, together with many other parts of the country, is littered with unfinished construction projects. According to Jaime Gonzalez, president of the Housing Constructors and Promoters Association (ACOPROVI), this is due to the increase in the prices of basic building materials like cement and metal bars. He added that even projects with large budgets …

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Need food and have no cash? No need to worry because more and more colmados are accepting credit and debit cards. The National Traders and Businesses Federation (FENACERD) registered at least 3,500 colmados that accept plastic payment, and according to federation president Antonio Cruz Rojas, this represents at least 5% of colmados. According to FENACRED, …

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Thanks to the free program “Operation Walk”, 37 patients have had knee and hip replacement surgeries, giving them a new lease on life. The program was carried out at the Plaza de la Salud. When presenting the patients who had the surgery, Dr. Luis Alcantara lamented the lack of quality in the Dominican medical system …

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The Chamber of Deputies ha voted in favor of a change to the General Education Law, which reduces teachers’ retirement limit, increases pensions to RD$10,000 in the case of teachers who receive less, and that after a teacher has worked for 30 years they will receive the equivalent of 25 of their salaries. Teachers must …

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The DR is asking for 20 development indicators to be revised in order for the country to become eligible for money from the Millennium Account. On Monday it was announced that the DR and Guatemala were the only CAFTA countries that didn’t qualify for the funds that would help the countries meet the Millennium Development …

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