The Central Electoral Board (JCE) has announced the official, yes, official, opening of this year's presidential electoral campaign. There will be a formal ceremony at the JCE next Wednesday.
Reality is that all the candidates have been on the campaign trail more or less non-stop for the last few months, and some political analysts say the DR is immersed in a non-stop political campaign given that the congressional and presidential electoral periods, while separate by two years, seem to merge.
The chief magistrate of the electoral body, Julio Cesar Castanos Guzman told reporters that after the nine-hour meeting, the members decided to take a long look at the budget that has been assigned to the JCE in order to decide just what to do with the money. The 2008 budget assigns RD$985 million for the staging of the May 2008 presidential election. In 2006, when congressional and municipal elections were held, the budget assigned to the JCE was RD$981 million, of which RD$824 million were disbursed. The total 2008 budget allotment the Executive Branch proposed for the JCE is $3,55 billion.
Castanos Guzman told reporters that the JCE has to plan for a possible second round of voting, whether or not it is held. The second round of voting is required if no candidate receives 50% +1 of the votes. Because of the importance of this issue, the JCE leader expressed his belief that the deputies would revise the line items of the budget that will be needed for the elections.
The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Julio Cesar Valentin told reporters that the Chamber would look at the 2008 budget that came down from the Senate early this week. The Executive Branch has sent some minor modifications to the Senate and these changes need to be studied and confirmed by the Deputies before the budget can become law. Official PLD spokesperson Alejandro Montas told El Caribe reporters that all the political parties were in agreement on passing the budget after taking a look at the suggestions from the President.
The ruling party is majority in the Chamber. When it was first sent to the Chamber of Deputies two days before Christmas, the deputies expeditely passed it sending it to the Senate.
For the second straight month, the report from the Director of the Budget (DIGEPRES) shows that no money was assigned to the Metro project. Last November's report, just like October's, showed that the Metro did not get any money. From January to September the Metro averaged a disbursement of RD$400 million per month. With the first three subway cars arriving last week, it is expected that President Fernandez will at least take a short ride next 27 February, thereby honoring a promise he made to Congress last year. According to reports from the Budget Office, the Metro project has been assigned RD$11.97 billion this year.
News reports indicate that the President and guests will ride a symbolic stretch of the first line of the Santo Domingo metro on occasion of the 27 February holiday. Metro director has indicated the 14 km line could be open to the public by August of this year.
The State Sugar Council (CEA) has not been able to harvest for 14 months due to a dispute with the former leaseholders of several mills in San Pedro de Macoris province, Consuelo and Porvenir. Meanwhile the cane and mill workers are getting desperate. The Consuelo, Porvenir, Quesqueya and Santa Fe sugar mills were leased by the CEA to a consortium called Ethanol Dominicana that was going to produce sugar and ethanol for national consumption. However, the deal was suspended and the CEA director, Enrique Martinez, began other negotiations to lease the mills to the Vicini and Central Romana groups. The agreement to cancel the first lease involved the reimbursement of US$10 million to the initial leaseholders, but the CEA has not paid this fee and this has halted the new lease from being initiated.
A bit of history on Dominican sugar mills gives an interesting picture of neglect and decay in what was once the strongest part the national economy. According to Listin Diario, the sugar mills were leased to the private sector in 1999. Four consortiums took control of 10 sugar mills. At that time three mills were out of service: Ozama, Quisqueya and Santa Fe. The Cana Brava consortium took control of Amistad and Montellano and promptly closed the former and operated the second for a while before being forced to close it down. The group that leased Porvenir, Boca Chica, and Santa Fe was able to work the first two for a couple of years but was eventually forced to close shop. A Mexican group leased Rio Haina, Consuelo, Quisqueya and Ozama. The latter two were dismantled, the first (Rio Haina) was closed and Consuelo was worked for a few years. Then another private group took over, and it, too, went broke, and returned the mills to the CEA. Lastly, there is the Consorcio Azucarero Central that is operating the mill in Barahona with some success.
The multi-billion dollar business of sending remittances to the DR is better than ever. According to El Caribe, over the last ten years, the amount sent to the country has increased by UD$2 billion. In 2007 alone, Dominicans living overseas sent home a total of US$2.98 billion. With a population of about nine million and with 14% of Dominican living overseas, the Immigration Department estimates that 1.5 million Dominicans live outside the country. According to Freddy Ortiz, the president of the Remittance Association, almost 40% of the money received goes to rural areas, and 60% goes to poor people or families. Over the last few years, the Dominican Republic has become the fourth largest recipient of remittances in Latin America, with only Mexico, Brazil and Colombia getting more money, according to the Inter-American Development Bank.
The National Council of Urban Affairs (CONAU) reported that because of the dispersed nature of the required data and the lack of property titles, the council cannot resolve the problems associated with people living in dangerous areas. An addition problem is the inability to carry out urban planning and environmental management within the structure of municipal governments. According to the report in today's Hoy newspaper, "few municipalities have planning offices, and those that do lack the needed personnel trained in the use of modern urban planning methods" The council report addresses the situation in the Dominican Republic in the context of the United Nations Millennium Goals, and Objective 11 of Goal 7, which refers to improving the lives of people living in dangerous locations and reaching sustainable environmental conditions by 2015.
The PRD has filed a formal complaint against the director of the Office of Supervising Engineers for State Public Works, Felix Bautista. The complaint presented to the District Attorney of the National District, accused Bautista of abuse of confidence and violation of the Constitution and Law 6-06 on Public Credit. All this revolves around the US$130 million in IOUs signed by Bautista for the Sun Land Corporation for ten public works projects that were not completed. PRD officials Orlando Jorge Mera and Ramon Alburquerque took the case to court. The accusation also requests that the authorities question President Leonel Fernandez about the case. While there are definite political aspects to the case, the fact that the entire US$130 million process has never been cleared up in a transparent fashion will undoubtedly attract a lot of attention if the case comes to trial.
Bautista is a prominent director of the Leonel Fernandez presidential campaign.
Former President Salvador Jorge Blanco's health continues to improve after being put into the Plaza de la Salud Cedimat intensive care unit due to an infection in his left leg and an imbalance in his electrolytes. Dr. Ingrid Valdez, a cardiologist, told Hoy newspaper reporters that the imbalance appears to have been corrected and that the patient is now stable. The former President is now in a regular room at the Cedimat center. His son, PRD party general secretary Orlando Jorge Mera, told reporters that his father was responding well to the treatment, and this allowed him to be taken out of the ICU.
The "Angelita", the four-mast tall ship bought by Rafael Trujillo in 1955, returned to Santo Domingo yesterday for a brief visit. It caused quite a stir. The ship, perhaps the largest private sailing yacht ever built, is now the Sea Cloud, and provides luxury sailing cruises around the world.
For the incredible history of this fine ship please see: www.seacloud.com/html_en/dieschiffe/seacloud/...
The ship arrived in Santo Domingo harbor in the morning and left at six o'clock in the afternoon. At first Captain Richard Shannon did not want any visitors but eventually allowed a few lucky people to take a look at a piece of Dominican history. Former dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina bought the ship from Marjorie Merriweather Post, whom he had known for some time.
Wednesday is 35% off on fruits and Vegetables at Super Pola.
La Cadena Supermarket has sales on cherry tomatos, ginger, red grapes, cauliflower, garlic, pears, name and avocados.
Plaza Lama at their 27 de Febrero, Duarte, Isabel Aguiar, and Carr. Mella locations has sales in the meats department.
El Nacional Supermarket is advertising 40% off lettuce, and 20% off other vegetables and fruits at their locations.
Bravo is advertising sales on meat, fish and seafood.
Jumbo is offering 25% less on several cleaning brands and their Lider juice brands.
Carrefour is advertising sales on fruits and vegetables, including $24.50 on tomatoes.
Clothing:
Stiletto is advertising 20-75% off on Ferragamo, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana brands at Acropolis Mall.
Benetton is advertising 50% off at their Acropolis, Plaza Central, Diamond Mall and Hache (Santiago) stores.
Planeta Fashion has 50% sales on clothing and 25% on bags and shoes at their Naco, Piantini, Venezuela, Carr. Mella locations.
The Weather Office (ONAMET) has reported that light rains will continue across most of the country today. According to their report there will be some stiff breezes throughout the day as well as the rains. A "Green Alert" is still in place for people living in low-lying areas, especially, according to the Emergency Operations Center (COE), Puerto Plata, Montecristi, Sanchez Ramirez, Duarte, Espaillat, Hermanas Mirabal (Salcedo) and Santiago. For El Seibo (Miches in particular), La Altagracia, Hato Mayor (Sabana de la Mar), Samana and Maria Trinidad Sanzhez, the alert is Yellow. The COE also reported that the latest rains have caused damage to more than 140 houses and forced 735 people to be evacuated.
Outstanding pitching by major league right-hander Ervin Santana shackled the Gigantes del Cibao and gave the Tigres del Licey a 4-0 victory. The win puts Licey into second place of the round robin section of the 2007-2008 Dominican Winter League Tournament. The Aguilas Cibaenas fell to tournament leaders the Estrellas Orientales 8-2 in a game held in the Tetelo Vargas Stadium in San Pedro de Macoris. The Aguilas fall to 5-6 and the Estrellas go to 7-3. The Aguilas need desperately to win more games, albeit they not grab a spot to battle visiting Venezuelan or Mexican teams during the early February Caribbean Series held in their own home cities.
Standings:
| Team | Win | Lost | Percent | Games Behind |
| Estrellas Orientales | 7 | 3 | .700 | -- |
| Tigres del Licey | 6 | 5 | .545 | 1.5 |
| Aguilas Cibaenas | 5 | 6 | .455 | 2.5 |
| Gigantes del Cibao | 3 | 7 | .300 | 4.0 |
* Tigres del Licey vs. Aguilas Cibaenas
Estadio Cibao, Santiago
8pm
Television: CDN 37; CERTV
* Gigantes del Cibao vd. Estrellas Orientales
Estadio Tetelo Vargas
San Pedro de Macoris
8pm
Television: Antena 21
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