2010 – Page 300

As reported, President Leonel Fernandez was in Tegucigalpa, Honduras yesterday to attend the inaugural of President Porifirio Lobo, before returning to the DR with former President Manuel Zelaya. Zelaya was denominated a “distinguished guest” in the DR. After being sworn in as the 30th constitutional President of Honduras in a ceremony at the national stadium, …

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According to the new Dominican Constitution proclaimed on Tuesday, if at least 2% of Dominicans with the right to vote get together, they have the right to present a bill to Congress. The new Constitution also establishes that citizens can demand compensation if injured or affected by bad quality of goods and services. Another new …

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As per the 2010 Constitution, five judges of the Supreme Court of Justice will need to retire. The new Constitution sets a retirement age of 75. The judges will remain in their posts until they are replaced. The judges who are due for replacement are Margarita A. Tavares, 85; Hugo F. Alvarez Valencia, 86; Julio …

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Celso Marranzini, head of the state electricity corporation (CDEEE), has announced that the government has rehabilitated the Lopez Angostura Dam, which was out of service for 6 months. This will enable the dam to provide 12 megawatts initially and 18 megawatts eventually to the national electricity grid. Marranzini said that the dam was repaired at …

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Education Minister Melanio Paredes told the audience at the monthly American Chamber of Commerce luncheon meeting that US$905 million is needed to build 6,000 new classrooms and repair another 8,000 that are in poor condition. American Chamber of Commerce president Alejandro Pena Prieto said that the country urgently needed to make qualitative and quantitative improvements …

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Public Health Minister Bautista Rojas Gomez says that the government has spent RD$428 million and provided medical care for 19,641 Haitian patients, of whom 6,029 were treated in Dominican hospitals and a further 13,612 as outpatients since the 13 January earthquake that devastated the capital Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas. Furthermore, he said the Dominican government …

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Customs director Rafael Camilo forecasts that the reconstruction work in Haiti will represent a boom for the DR construction sector. He said that there could be a decline in food exports because of the massive volume of humanitarian aid that Haiti is receiving. “Trade in eggs, chicken and other products will be affected, but once …

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Structural engineers and seismologists are warning that 1,500 government buildings nationwide are at risk of collapse or serious damage in a major earthquake. As reported in El Dia, members of the Dominican Society of Seismology and Seismic Engineering (Sodosismica) warned that the DR could be affected by a disaster worse than Haiti if a fixed …

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Dated Paris, 27 January 2010, a diplomatic note from the French Ministry of Foreign Relations praises Dominican assistance in Haiti. “The French government fully mobilized to assist Haiti wants to pay particular tribute to the Dominican Republic for its great generosity,” says the diplomatic note sent by the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Relations …

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Former Dominican ambassador to the Organization of American States and the United States, lawyer Flavio Dario Espinal calls today for a plan for international guardianship for Haiti in view of the “atomic bomb” that he says the 13 January earthquake has represented for the nation. Mentioning the entrance of international aid and the humanitarian military …

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