2017 – Page 301

President Raúl Castro of Cuba will be attending the Fifth Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) Summit of Heads of Government and State being held in Punta Cana on 25 January 2017. This will be his first official visit to the Dominican Republic. This also the first trip abroad he will make since …

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The Samaná Bay whale-watching season in the Dominican Republic formally opened on Wednesday, 11 January 2017 with the signing of the 2017 Memorandum of Understanding for Whale Watching by government and NGO entities, namely the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Tourism, together with organizations that work and support the preservation the marine bio-diversity. …

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The chairman of the new commission created by Presidential Decree 6-17 to investigate the bidding and decision process for the Punta Catalina coal-fired power plant contracted by the Medina administration to Odebrecht is being called into question by civil society, as reported in Diario Libre. The commission was created in parallel to the Attorney General …

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Businessman Angel Rondón, who visited the Attorney General Office on Wednesday, 11 January 2017 to respond to questions in a session lasting from 11am until after midnight, denies receiving any bribe money from Brazilian construction company Odebrecht for distribution to Dominican government officials. Attorney General Jean Alain Rodríguez said that when questioned on 6 January …

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The Senate has created a commission to review the Penal Code bill, which was returned to Congress after it was vetoed by the Presidency due to its blanket ban on abortion in all circumstances. This was the second time President Danilo Medina had vetoed the bill for the same reason. The special commission, chaired by …

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The city government of Moca, capital of Espaillat province, has announced a program to refurbish the municipal zoological and botanical gardens with the infrastructure required for correct management of the animals. Mayor Angel Lopez toured the area with the members of his team in order to personally launch the program. The zoo in Moca is …

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The Dams Operations Committee (COPRE) has announced that it is continuing to release water from the Tavera reservoir because of rising water levels resulting from the rains that fell in the watersheds of the Yaque and Bao rivers. The rains have decreased in the Central Mountains, and Onamet has lifted its meteorological alerts for the …

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The Dominican Medical Association (CMD), represented by its president, Dr. Waldo Ariel Suero, president of the Dominican Medical Association, has spoken out against the inefficiency of the so-called self-managed public hospitals. He described them as a complete failure and said that they have accumulated debts that exceed RD$1.4 billion. According to Suero, “the self-managed hospitals …

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A large number of migrants from Venezuela have settled in the Dominican Republic since 2016, working in stores, gyms, restaurants and other businesses or even performing circus acts at city street intersections. El Caribe newspaper looks into Venezuelan migration in an attempt to explain the recent phenomenon. The newspaper points out that no clear statistics …

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Members of the Ministry of Defense intelligence unit (J2) have seized six guns of several varieties that were being smuggled in through the port of Puerto Plata. The guns were concealed in a paint bucket that had arrived together with personal items transported by door-to-door shippers Carmen Cargo Express. Read more in Spanish: Listin Diario …

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