2010 – Page 79

The Punta Cana-Macao Energy Consortium (CEPM), the private energy company that supplies electricity to the Punta Cana, Macao, Bavaro and Bayahibe tourist resort areas, has announced it is making a US$50 million placement of corporate bonds on the local market. The placement was approved by the Superintendence of Stocks and the Dominican Republic Stock Exchange. …

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The latest arrest of the chief of the Police anti-drug unit in Santiago, in an undercover operation by the DNCD headquarters in Santo Domingo, is new strong evidence of the way in which drug traffickers have a grip on local law enforcement agencies. As reported in Diario Libre, the secretary general of the Volunteers for …

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Taking care to protect the rights of Jose David Figueroa Agosto, who the US Marshals Service called the Pablo Escobar of the Caribbean, and his lover Sobeida Felix Morel, the judge of the Second Court of Instruction of the National District, Claribel Nivar Arias ordered that the presentation of accusations against her and others for …

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Hope, a musical based on the songs of contemporary Dominican composer Juan Luis Guerra, is being performed at the National Theater. Production is by Isadora Bruno, co-directed with Laura Garcia-Godoy. Thursday, 7 October, Friday, 8 October at 8:30pm, Saturday, 9 Oct and Sun 10 Oct at 7:30pm. Tickets are RD$1,500, RD$1,000 and RD$800. On Friday …

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On the last leg of his 13-day US tour, President Leonel Fernandez visited Chicago and threw out the first pitch at the Cell Stadium on Saturday. Before the game started, Fernandez met with Dominican players Rafael Perez, Fausto Carmona, Andy Martes, Alejandro de Aza, Tony Pena Jr and Cleveland Indians manager Manny Acta and signed …

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Eleven international organizations, the business sector, civil society and government officials have delivered a project to the Presidency titled “Anti-Corruption Participatory Initiative” (IPAC). The plan seeks to increase the levels of institutional integrity and reduce government corruption in the country. According to the World Economic Forum, the DR is ranked among the most corrupt countries …

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Is the Fernandez administration sending a message to La Altagracia strongman Amable Aristy Castro? Shortly after the PLD majority Senate voted to elect PRSC Senate spokesman Felix Vasquez (Sanchez Ramirez-PRSC) to the National Magistracy Council instead of Amable Aristy Castro, a 2008 audit of the Dominican Municipal League (LMD) has been leaked to the press. …

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The Executive Branch has included a US$160 million (nearly RD$6 billion) US Eximbank seven-year loan for equipping the Police in the 2011 National Budget bill sent to Congress. The funds are a main component of the Democratic Security Plan submitted by the Ministry of Interior & Police. Minister Franklin Almeyda said he would go to …

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The Dominican Republic has a growing trade deficit with Central America and the United States, with which it signed the DR-CAFTA agreement. The Ministry of Foreign Relations recently announced that the statistics were now available online. Last year the DR exported US$4,693,200,000 to DR CAFTA countries and imported well over US$12 billion. Diario Libre reports …

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According to statistics from the National Council of Population and Family (Conapofa), there are 844,996 people over the age of 65 in the DR, or 9% of the population. Of these, 233,195 are over 75, and half, or 484,145 live in the National District and the Province of Santo Domingo. Geriatrician Maria Luisa Hernandez Cruz …

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