2008 – Page 91

President Leonel Fernandez will travel to Qatar and probably to Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates in November, according to a report in Listin Diario. Foreign Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso highlighted the importance that the DR is placing on diplomatic relations, exchanges and cooperation agreements with the Rio Group and the Council of Gulf States, …

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Senator Wilton Guerrero has appealed to the nation not to be left alone to fight against drug trafficking in the country. Speaking on Tuesday, he called for the support of honest citizens, political parties, the church, community organizations and civil society and said he has not found the authorities receptive to the fight against crime. …

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Take all the derelict buses discarded by the government’s OMSA bus company, refit them and turn them into libraries. The Aulas Bibliotecas (Classroom Libraries) are now being sent to small towns nationwide and are known as “teaching buses.” The program was developed by Teresa Peralta Checo and Ana Valdes Sanchez from the First Lady’s Office. …

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Government officials have recently been trying to allay fears that the Dominican economy is not well prepared to handle any trickle-down effect from the financial crisis affecting the US economy. Nonetheless, economists Arturo Martinez Moya and Guillermo Caram don’t agree with the assurances provided by government officials. Both economists are urging the government to take …

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While the frequency of remittances is stable, the amounts being sent back home by Dominicans living abroad is declining, says Freddy Ortiz, president of the Dominican Association of Remittance Companies. He said that unemployment is up 7% in the US and this is having an impact on Dominicans. He estimated that about 1,050,000 Dominicans live …

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The Dominican Republic remains below the Latin American average and its citizens continue to perceive widespread corruption in government. Transparency International’s 2008 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) launched on 23 September highlights the fatal link between poverty, failed institutions and graft in 180 countries. The DR declined from 99th place to 102nd place. In the region, …

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Writing in today’s El Caribe, lawyer Leila Mejia comments that the government’s constitutional reform proposal for the judiciary will worsen the present situation of judicial inefficiency. She says the 1994 constitutional reform made the mistake of granting the Supreme Court of Justice, more power than it has in any other country in the world, aside …

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Lawyer Marisol Vicens Bello writes today that the selection of new judges for the Chamber of Accounts, the body in charge of auditing the government, is evidence of the lack of political will to integrate a body that would truly hold the government accountable. Vicens says that the selection of members for the chamber sent …

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According to a study, “Parenthood in Adolescents”, 11.8% of young girls who leave school do so because they’ve become pregnant. The study was conducted with the support of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the National Population and Family Council. The report found that poorer mothers who are transferred to night classes find it …

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On this day in 1963, Professor Juan Bosch was ousted from government in a coup d’etat that exiled the DR’s first freely elected leader since the death of dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. Bosch vehemently opposed the Trujillo regime, and had been exiled for 20 years in Cuba, where he founded the PRD. Bosch was elected …

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