DR1 Daily News - Dominican Republic
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DR1 News will not be updated on Wednesday, 24 December 2025 on occasion of the Christmas Eve celebrations. The news will be compiled for the Monday, 29 December edition.
The local tradition is that Christmas is a time for meetings of family and friends.
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During a Sunday Mass at the Santa María De La Anunciación University Parish, Monsignor Carlos Tomás Morel Diplán, called on Dominicans to reclaim the spiritual essence of Christmas, urging a shift away from materialism toward family unity and social integrity.
Morel Diplan was named Santo Domingo coadjutor bishop in November 2025. The role gives Morel Diplan control of the Santo Domingo Diocese and places him in the capacity to replace current Archbishop of Santo Domingo Francisco Ozoria. The latter is expected to resign when reaching 75 years next year.
In advance, Pope Leo passed on to Monsignor Morel administrative and financial capacities for the Archbishop Office of the capital city and Santo Domingo municipalities. The Pope also designated Father Manuel Ruiz to a new diocese created in Santo Domingo East with autonomy over this new area...
The Punta Catalina Thermal Power Plant (EGEPC) has concluded its 2025 fiscal year with record-breaking transfers to the Dominican state totaling US$258.4 million as of 3 December 2025. The figures solidify the facility’s position as one of the nation’s most potent public assets for cash generation.
With this latest performance, the cumulative contribution of the Punta Catalina Electric Generation Company between 2023 and 2025 has reached US$562.9 million. These funds were funneled into the national economy through a combination of public debt amortization, dividends, and tax payments.
According to a statement released by EGEPC, the 2025 results represent the highest annual contribution since the plant began operations. Management described the year as a “turning point” for the facility’s role in national public finance.
Despite a year defined by fiscal restrictions...
The Ministry of Public Works, acting through the RD Vial Trust, has officially launched the bidding process for the design and construction of a new overpass at Kilometer 28 of the Duarte Highway.
The project is designed to eliminate one of the most notorious traffic bottlenecks at the entrance to Santo Domingo, providing a long-awaited solution for thousands of commuters and commercial drivers traveling to and from the municipality of Pedro Brand.
The initiative is more than just a bridge; it is a comprehensive structural intervention. According to the MOPC, the project will integrate several key features to streamline movement:• Removal of traffic lights: The plan includes the elimination of two major traffic signals currently causing significant delays in Pedro Brand.• Traffic segregation: New side roads (marginales) and expanded lanes will separate local...
Minister Faride Raful / Listín Diario
Interior and Police Minister Faride Raful issued a stern warning on Monday, 22 December 2025 against an entertainment industry she claims “thrives on disorder,” following a violent weekend that left two young men dead during holiday festivities.
Speaking after a weekly citizen security meeting led by President Luis Abinader, Raful addressed the ongoing struggle to curb noise pollution. She noted that government efforts to enforce tranquility have met significant pushback from commercial interests that disregard the rights of local residents.
“There has been considerable resistance from the start because this belongs to an industry that generates disorder and does not care about the rights of the citizens in the surrounding area,” Raful told reporters.
The Minister emphasized that the state is “obligated to guarantee peaceful...
Nelson Arroyo / Noticias SIN
Nelson Arroyo, executive vice president of Seguros Reservas, the insurance division of the state Banco de Reservas, issued a firm rebuttal on Monday, 22 December 2025 against warnings from economist Juan Ariel Jiménez regarding the state-owned insurer’s financial stability. Jimenez was Minister of Economy during the government of Danilo Medina and today is a professor at the University of Harvard in Boston. Arroyo dismissed the claims as “unfounded” and lacking “technical rigor.”
The exchange marks a sharp escalation in tensions within the financial sector. Arroyo expressed regret that Jiménez, whom he described as a typically prudent voice within the political opposition, would issue judgments he believes are designed to capitalize on the public sensitivity following recent controversies surrounding Senasa.
“There is an attempt to seek political...
Authorities at the Ministry of Agriculture authorized the import of 4.7 million quintals in 2024, a move local producers claim destabilized the market.
Rice is more than just a staple in the Dominican Republic; it is the cornerstone of the national diet and a symbol of agricultural pride. For nearly two decades, the country has boasted a self-sufficiency rate of 106%, keeping annual imports to a minimum, usually hovering around half a million quintals.
However, 2024 emerged as a statistical anomaly that disrupted years of market stability, Diario Libre reports.
According to data from the General Customs Agency (DGA) and the Ministry of Industry, Commerce (MICM), the government in 2024 authorized the highest volume of foreign rice purchases in decades. Over 4.7 million quintals entered the country last year, carrying a price tag of US$152.6 million.
To put that figure...
Metropolitan Archbishop of Santiago, Héctor Rafael Rodríguez / Diario Libre
The Metropolitan Archbishop of Santiago, Héctor Rafael Rodríguez, has issued a sharp critique of the state’s regulatory frameworks following the recent scandal involving the National Health Insurance (Senasa).
The prelate questioned the apparent lack of effective oversight mechanisms designed to prevent financial insolvency, operational failure, and potential acts of corruption within public institutions.
Speaking to members of the press, Archbishop Rodríguez expressed concern that the crisis at Senasa suggests a systemic failure in governance. He argued that the situation likely escalated because the entity was operating without sufficient checks and balances.
“It gives the impression that no one was controlling it, no one was supervising it, and that is...
Christmas is the time to enjoy traditional tropical music. Several well-known performers prepare Christmas extravaganzas to delight their fans.
Performances scheduled for this year in the capital city are:26 December. D’Parranda Navideña. Mily Quezada, Fernando Villalona, Conjunto Quisqueya 9pm. Hotel La Fiesta, Jaragua Renaissance, Santo Domingo.
26 December. El Super Can Navideno. Jossie Esteban, Miriam Cruz, Pochy Familia, Los Villalona. 10pm. Hard Rock at Blue Mall, Santo Domingo.
27 December. Navidad en Salsa. Yiyo Sarante. 9pm. Hard Rock.
See more shows at: Uepa Tickets
23 December 2025
Dominican fans had high hopes of watching New York Mets Juan Soto play for the Tigres del Licey. He had announced the Mets had cleared him so he could play. But this will not happen. The Gigantes del Cibao on 22 December 2025 did the unexpected and defeated the Tigres del Licey to clinch the fourth slot to make it to the playoffs of the Dominican Winter Professional Baseball Championship. A triple by Marcos Hernandez made the difference. Ironically, Hernandez had previously played for the Licey.
The Leones del Escogido saved face for the capital city by defeating the Estrellas Orientales to qualify for the playoffs, too. Hector Rodriguez, who has just been recruited to play for the Cincinnatti Reds, decided the game for the Escogido. He had been cleared by the Reds to play that one game.
The regular season has practically ended with the Aguilas Cibaeñas, Toros del Este...
Air Caraïbes launched seasonal, direct flights from Paris-Orly (ORY) to Samaná (AZS). This is the only European airline to offer direct service to Samana. The triangular route (Paris-Samana-Santo Domingo-Paris) enables combined trips. Tourists can combine Samana with Santo Domingo.
The inaugural flight was on 15 December 2025. The airline is offering one flight initially, increasing the schedule to two weekly (Mondays and Saturdays) starting from 12 January 2026 through the winter season.
Air Caraïbes is a French West Indian airline that has its headquarters in Les Abymes, Guadeloupe. The airline’s main base of operations is at Pointe-à-Pitre International Airport in Guadeloupe, with a focus city at Martinique Aimé Césaire International Airport, near Fort-de-France in Martinique. Air Caraibe flies Airbus A350s.
The Air Caraibe flights to Samana seek to bring more French...
Tourism Minister David Collado officially inaugurated a reorganization project in Bayahíbe on Wednesday, 17 December 2025, with works starting with a new parking and pedestrian complex. The new parking area was designed to end years of traffic gridlock in one of the country’s busiest coastal hubs.
The parking project is a RD$213,467,118 development that spans 26,000 square meters. The development was made possible largely through land donations from Central Romana, signaling a significant public-private partnership for the region.
The parking facility has spaces for 58 buses, 157 light vehicles and 58 motorcycles. The pedestrian infrastructure includes 2,364 square meters of new sidewalks, a pedestrian bridge and specialized trails. Storm drainage systems, cobblestone paving on the North Street and modern lighting were installed. A dedicated Tourism Police (Politur) station, public...
Legendary composer and singer Juan Luis Guerra has announced ticket sales for two concerts in Santiago this 2026. A first concert was scheduled for Saturday, 21 February 2026, but after it promptly sold out a second concert was staged. This will be at the same Estadio Cibao but a day earlier, on Friday, 20 February.
The concerts are coordinated by SD Concerts.
Read more in Spanish:
President Luis Abinader officially opened the first phase of the revitalized La Caleta Underwater National Park on Monday, 15 December 2025, marking the completion of a RD$420 million (approximately US$7 million) project designed to rescue a site of immense historical and environmental value and the swimmable public beach closest to the capital city.
The park area is 120,000 square meters and 2.74 linear kilometers. The park has new pedestrian paths, parking, viewpoints and children’s play areas. There is an area for the Tourism Police (Politur), bathrooms and vendor modules.
A Ministry of Tourism press release explains that the renovation ends more than 40 years of neglect, transforming a once-deteriorating coastal area into a modern hub for sustainable tourism and marine conservation.
Located adjacent to the road stretch leading to Las Américas...
The Dominican Republic is a prime Caribbean destination for major live music in 2026. Following a wave of announcements starting in late 2025, several global icons and Latin music legends have already locked in their dates for the upcoming year, Listin Diario reports.
From pop and electronic to urban and rock, here are several of the international stars and festivals booked for the Dominican Republic in 2026:
Global superstars & pop icons• Morrissey: The legendary English singer is scheduled for a historic performance at the Altos de Chavón Amphitheater on 25 January 2026.• David Guetta: One of the world’s most famous DJs will bring his “Monolith Tour” to Santo Domingo at the Estadio Quisqueya on 26 March 2026.• Chayanne: The Puerto Rican “King of Latin Pop” returns with his “Bailemos Otra Vez Tour” on 11 April 2026, at Estadio Quisqueya in Santo Domingo• Ed Sheeran: The...
President Luis Abinader and Minister of Public Works Eduardo Estrella were present for the official opening of the third phase of the Av. Ecologica, an alternate east-west route connecting the capital city with the Multimodal Caucedo, Las Americas International Airport and eastern destinations (Juan Dolio, La Romana, Punta Cana).
The Av. Ecologica has connections with the bypass routes so that traffic from the east can head directly to the north without having to enter the usually heavily congested capital city nor contribute to traffic congestion on the Las Americas Expressway. The Av. Ecologica route enables freight container traffic from the Multimodal Port off Las Americas Expressway to take the Juan Pablo II Highway (the toll road to Samana) and later connect to the Santo Domingo Bypass then continuing on to the northern Cibao region or the southern provinces.
Read more in...
The Central Electoral Board, in charge of the civil registry in the Dominican Republic, announced that the new state-of-the-art ID (cedula) cards for legal residents of the Dominican Republic will begin in early 2026. The head of the JCE, Roman Andres Jaquez Liranzo, told reporters that the issuance of the new document to the general public would begin on 8 April 2026. Reportedly, this would be by birthdates. The entire process is scheduled to end on 31 March 2027.
The process will begin on 26 January 2026, when the JCE issues the first of the new IDs to President Luis Abinader.
During February and March, the JCE will begin issuing the new cedulas to members of the government ministries and other dependencies.
The timeline for covering the entire population is set to begin on 8 April, when the cards will be given to the Overseas Deputies, as well as the political...
Yorlin Vasquez Castro / Hoy
Legal advisor to President Luis Abinader, lawyer Antoliano Guzman Peralta announced the names of the five new judges of the Supreme Court of Justice after the National Council of the Magistracy (CNM) met on Friday, 19 December 2025.
The newly selected judges are Edyson Alarcón Polanco, Miguelina Ureña Núñez, Manuel Hernández Victoria, Yorlin Vásquez Castro and Namphi Rodríguez.
The career judges chosen are Alarcón Polanco and Ureña Núñez, who both have served in the Civil and Commercial Chamber of the National District Court of Appeals. Hernández Victoria joins from the Penal Chamber of the same court.
The judges from the external sector are Yorlin Vásquez Castro, who is a specialist in economic and tax law; and Namphi Rodríguez, who is a well-known expert in public law and a practicing newspaper contributor. The selection adheres to the...
Somewhere along the years, loud music became synonymous with the way to listen to music in the Dominican Republic. Ironically, while Dominicans like their music loud, 95% of noise complaints to the 911 Alert System in Greater Santo Domingo are for loud music.
A report in Listin Diario says that complaints for loud music led in reports to the 911 Service in Greater Santo Domingo. There were 1,126,582 reports on loud music to 911 from 2015 to 2025. The municipality of Santo Domingo East led in complaints. It also has the largest population.
The Listin Diario report says the situation has improved after Faride Raful was appointed Minister of Interior and Police, but the loud music complaints continue to be made. There are reports that the authorities seem too complacent and the situation continues.
Read more in...
Nelson Batista of the Santiago ecological society, Soeci, warns that senator Antonio Marte of the Santiago Rodriguez province is promoting the construction of a road to connect Santiago Rodriguez, with access to the new Manzanillo Port to San Juan de la Maguana.
Nelson Batista explains the road would go from Loma de Copey to Sabaneta de San Juan de la Maguana and is promoted by senator Antonio Marte. It would pass through protected areas. Batista says that persons in the know have been purchasing the lands adjacent to where the road would go.
San Juan de la Maguana is a traditional food-producing province where the Ministry of Mining and Ministry of Environment have been authorizing exploration permits. Exploitation permits for mining operations are pending.
The communities in the area alert of the major damages to their livelihoods the mining...
In a move described by the Attorney General Office as one to bolster regional security, Attorney General Yeni Berenice Reynoso met with US Ambassador Leah Francis Campos for talks on ways to reinforce the strategic partnership between the Dominican Republic and the United States in the fight against drug trafficking and transnational crime.
The high-level meeting, held at the Attorney General’s Office, focused on ongoing bilateral initiatives designed to dismantle criminal networks and secure the borders of both nations, a press release dated 21 December 2025 from the Attorney General Office highlights.
Attorney General Reynoso emphasized that the collaboration is essential for hemispheric security. She said they discussed:• Narcotics Interdiction: Streamlining efforts to disrupt drug routes.• Anti-Money Laundering: Targeting the financial lifelines of...
In an update on the November 2025 feature on the TVB Port in Port-au-Prince, The Miami Herald highlights how the Haitian government delays in authorizing specialized customs agents for the port is a roadblock for more European investment. The TVB Port received major investment from the French Development Agency.
The feature by Jacqueline Charles looks into how the seaport dispute is testing Europe’s ties to Haiti. The new port would incorporate modern inspection technologies to combat smuggling of illicit goods and the expedited flow of regular cargo.
Read more at: The Miami Herald DR1 News
22 December 2025
A US federal court in the Southern District of Florida has sentenced a second key member of a Dominican drug trafficking organization led by National District Councilman Edickson Herrera Silvestre, Listin Diario reports.
José Eduviges Aponte Torres, known by the aliases “Buby” or “Meano,” was sentenced to 87 months (7 years and 3 months) in prison for his role in trafficking approximately 376 kilograms of cocaine from the northern coast of the Dominican Republic to the United States.
Following his prison term, US District Judge Beth Bloom ordered Aponte Torres to serve two years of supervised release. The sentencing, finalized on 15 December 2025, marks the latest blow to a criminal structure that bridged Dominican politics, high-ranking military officials, and international narcotics trade.
The sentencing of Aponte Torres follows that...
Pope Leo XIV has appointed Father Manuel de Jesús Rodríguez as the sixth Bishop of Palm Beach, succeeding Bishop Gerald M. Barbarito who has led the diocese since 2003 and submitted his resignation upon reaching the 75 year old cut off age early in 2025. Rodriguez was born in Moca, Dominican Republic.
When commenting on the appointment, Rodriguez said he first wondered out loud if it was an AI prank. CBS News New York describes his new district of assignment as “ritzy.” CBS reported he would spend Christmas in Queens, New York and then head to Florida at the start of the new year.
The National Catholic Reporter explains that Rodríguez was ordained to the priesthood on 3 July 2004, in Santo Domingo, and became affiliated with the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York on 29 June 2012. He is a canon lawyer with extensive experience in penal canon law and pastoral...
The Dominican Republic observed the shortest day of 2025 on Sunday, 21 December 2025, as the winter solstice officially ushered in a transition in the northern hemisphere’s astronomical calendar.
The solstice occurs when the Earth’s axis reaches its maximum tilt away from the sun. For those in the Caribbean, this shift results in a noticeable reduction in daylight hours and the arrival of the longest night of the year.
While the solstice is often associated with the onset of winter, it is primarily a geometric event. Because the North Pole is tilted at its furthest point from the sun, the tropical latitude of the Dominican Republic sees its minimum solar exposure.
According to prominent local meteorological analyst Jean Suriel, the solstice delivered an unusually long night on Sunday, with 13 hours of darkness.
Residents can expect shorter afternoons...
The organizers of the benefit for the La Merced children’s foundation in northern Santo Domingo announced the postponmetn of the event for March 2026. The new date and details will be announced.
The several course dinner would have been prepared by Dominican two Michelin star chef Maria Marte.
Read More:
Late last week, the Dominican Football League celebrated the last round of matches to decide the playoff picture. In the current format there are 10 teams playing for six positions in the final phase called the “liguilla” or “little league playoffs”.
The situation was tense as Moca received O&M FC. The O&M team had lost the previous week to Atlantico FC from Puerto Plata, and if both teams won their final games, Atlantico would enter the liguilla, and O&M, for the first time in years would be resting for several weeks.
Atlantico was playing Jarabacoa FC, already eliminated from the playoffs but playing for pride more than anything. In Moca, the home team struck first in the first half of the match with a goal by Parra, possibly sealing the fate of O&M. In the last seconds of the first half, Moca missed a penalty kick, giving O&M some hope.
Meanwhile, in...
The Caribbean Series is scheduled to be played 1-7 February 2026 and now is moving to Mexico. The games will be played in Zapopan, a suburb of Guadalajara, after the Mexican Pacific League offered the country as an alternate host. The 2025 series was held in Mexicali, Mexico. The 2027 Caribbean Series is scheduled for Mexico, too.
The Dominican Republic (Leones del Escogido) is the defending champion into the Caribbean Series 2026.
The championship series that matches the best of the Caribbean League would have been held in Caracas, Venezuela. The international airline shutdown restricts all international events in Venezuela. The leagues from Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Mexico announced they would not participate in the Caracas edition because of the political tensions.
The political crisis in that country has worsened after Maduro rejected the outcome of...
Nothing is settled yet in the Dominican Professional Winter Baseball League’s 2025-2026 Championship. Only the Aguilas Cibaeñas and the Toros del Este have secured slots. The Estrellas Orientales, Leones del Escogido, Tigres del Licey and Gigantes del Cibao hope to win the two missing playoff slots.
The Aguilas and Toros are the only teams comfortably above .500 in the standings as of Sunday, 22 December 2025. The Aguilas lead the pack with a dominant 32-16 record, yet the Toros defeated them on Sunday at their La Romana stadium to post a standing of 26 wins and 22 losses.
The Gigantes del Cibao follow with 22 wins and 26 losses. Next on the standing are the Leones del Escogido (21-25), Estrellas Orientales (22-27), and Tigres del Licey (21-27), all three locked in a battle that could go down to the final pitch.
Sunday’s results shook up the standings significantly. In...
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