2009 – Page 189

The presidential helicopter that took President Leonel Fernandez to his meetings in the eastern town of El Seibo last weekend suffered an electrical failure and had to be repaired by Dominican Air Force (FAD) mechanics. According to FAD spokesperson Colonel Freddy de Jesus Torres Polanco, quoted in Diario Libre, the Belga 430 that the President …

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Residents of neighborhoods covered by the Democratic Safety Program, better known as the Barrio Seguro Program, are complaining that people cannot go out to work because criminals come from other areas and steal their cell phones, wallets, motorcycles and even their cars. Nonetheless, they accept that drug sales that used to take place on every …

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The Mango Cluster, with the support of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Dominican Agricultural Research Institute (IDAF) will be hosting Expo Mango 2009 from 18-21 June in the southwestern province of Bani. Participants will have the chance to taste, buy and get to know all the varieties of mango produced in the DR. The …

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Summer is special in the Colonial City as Casa de Teatro welcomes leading jazz performers for its Annual Summer Jazz Festival. On Thursdays in June and July, local and international jazz performers will be appearing on stage. This year the festival is dedicated to Guillo Carias, who is considered a living legend of jazz in …

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During a meeting with local officials at the Gianadiana neighborhood in El Seibo, an eastern province, President Leonel Fernandez seemed to promise everything short of the skies to residents of this eastern Dominican town. Fernandez promised new roads, a water treatment plant, aqueducts, bridges and a sports complex. The President commented that in order to …

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President Leonel Fernandez closed the Blackout Reduction Program (PRA), which sought to reduce non-paying consumption of power, and has ordered its assets to be transferred to the State-Run Electricity Companies (CDEEE). This move was authorized in Decree 421-09. The move comes two months after TV journalist Nuria Piera exposed the way in which a large …

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Hacienda Minister Vicente Bengoa was defiant in his rejection of a potential agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). “Why should we sign with the IMF?” Bengoa said that unfortunately there has been a re-emergence of the Guacanagarix complex (the belief that all things foreign are superior), “because some people think that we need foreigners …

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The president of the Young Entrepreneurs Association (ANJE), Ricardo Bonetti speculates that the reason the government is resisting calls to sign an agreement with the International Monetary Fund is because it wants to have a free hand for spending into the 2010 congressional and municipal elections. Legislators and city government officials who are elected in …

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The Tax Department (DGII) says that collections are down RD$7.6 billion for the first five months of the year, compared to the first five months in 2008. The government was able to compensate the decline in income and show a 1.2% growth in revenues only due to the taxes on the sale of the Brugal …

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The Ministry of Environment continues to defend the proposed construction of a cement factory outside the Los Haitises National Park. Deputy Environment Minister Eleuterio Martinez says that the permits for building a factory were granted only after the proper studies were completed. The contract to build the factory was awarded to the Estrella Group’s Dominican …

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