2009 – Page 310

Close to 400,000 people in the Dominican Republic do not have identity documents. A new World Bank and Central Electoral Board (JCE) program seeks to document these individuals over a four-year period. The World Bank will be providing US$19.2 million in funds for this purpose. The program involves US$2.6 million in co-funding from the Dominican …

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During a special ceremony celebrating the careers of long-standing military officers, President Leonel Fernandez used the occasion to comment on the increased involvement of Dominican military and police officials in the DR’s growing drug trafficking network. Fernandez’s comments came as a surprise, especially as he has never addressed the August 2008 drug massacre at Paya, …

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Senator Wilton Guerrero is in the news again, this time for reiterating his claim that a small airplane dropped a shipment of drugs close to the Las Calderas Naval Base in Peravia province, as reported in Hoy. Both chiefs of the Army and the Navy had promptly responded to Guerrero’s original accusation by saying that …

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The government will begin prosecuting people who are caught stealing power in February. Energy Superintendent Francisco Mendez says that the government plans to implement Law 186-07 in a bid to reduce losses in the electricity sector. The law against electricity theft, which was passed in late 2007, has never been implemented. Mendez was speaking at …

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Director of Communications for the Transport Police (AMET), Miguel Medina, claims that a man shot by AMET officers on Thursday was neither a driver nor a fare collector and that the bullet that hit him, resulting in his death, had been aimed at the floor and not at the man. There have been conflicting reports …

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Andres Perez Heredia, an advisor at the Dominican Embassy in Haiti, has reported that two armed men stole his 2005 Toyota Prado SUV, a gun and a cell phone. Perez said the theft took place in the Eugenio Maria de Hostos neighborhood in Santo Domingo East, where he resides. Perez says that the incident happened …

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“Cama Larga,” an alleged thief from San Cristobal, died in the early hours of Friday at the Juan Pablo Pina Hospital in San Cristobal. The thief was hospitalized with serious injuries after a mob caught him trying to steal thousands of pesos worth of household appliances. Cama Larga suffered burns, bullet wounds, knife wounds, blunt …

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EdeEste is announcing scheduled power outages for tomorrow, 31 January, due to required maintenance operations in the Santo Domingo area. EdeEste says the outages will begin at 8am and extend until at least 2pm. The affected areas are Villa Francisca, Borojol, San Carlos, Villa Consuelo, Ensanche Isabelita, Los Mameyes, La Francia, Maquiteria, Villa Duarte, Avenida …

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Freddy Ortiz, president of the Dominican Association of Remittances Companies (ADEREDI) said yesterday that 2009 could see a steep decline in remittance levels as a result of the recession that hit the US in late 2008, as reported in El Caribe. It has been expected that the DR would follow the present regional trend of …

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The president of ONEC, the association of shopping malls and large department stores in the DR, says they are already feeling the economic pinch in the shape of a lull in sales. Pedro Perez says that sales in January were lower than was expected and that the government would begin to feel the pinch when …

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