Yesterday, Caribbean and European officials met at Santo Domingo's Intercontinental Hotel to discuss the recently signed Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between CARIFORUM (Caricom plus the DR) and the European Union. Present at the event was Federico Cuello Camilo, Dominican Ambassador in Brussels, Junior Lodge, Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) representative in Brussels and CRNM Senior Director Henry Gill, among others. In what has been a continuing effort by regional and European representatives to disseminate information about the accord, officials took the time out to discuss the innovative nature of the EPA and to dispel some of the concerns and rumors about the agreement. During his closing statement Cuello commented that, "when we have demonstrated we can do this, we have demonstrated to our developed counterparts in Europe that we can get it done. We have completely changed the structure in order to start making the most of the agreement. There is a consensus in the private sector and in the political forces of the Dominican Republic, because clearly the negotiations were positive, and as you have heard today the support is widespread in civil society and in the private sector." After the conference, dr1.com Trade Correspondent Lu Olivero was able to sit down with both Gill and Lodge to further discuss the benefits of the agreement. Lodge spoke of the difficulties of formulating one position within the region (there are 15 Caricom countries and the DR) and then presenting that position to the EU. Gill discussed the initial success of the negotiations reflecting on the fact that the DR and Caricom were able to agree on a uniform position that would then presented to the EU. "The DR and Caricom held it together smoothly. This was a big jump, psychologically, because of history, language and other reasons. This was first time the DR and Caricom have been able to do something like this since the DR-Caricom agreement, which was not concluded." In reference to the negative press the EPA has received, Gill says that this can be attributed to a couple of things, including the wish by some to have had a larger role in the negotiations and that some countries didn't receive all the concessions they wanted. Ever confident, the SD feels that with time a lot of the negativity is going to die down. As for the release of the EPA final document, officials say that it is almost ready to be published, once it has been translated into French, Dutch, Spanish and English.
The Dominican government has announced its decision to extend its diesel subsidy to both cargo and passenger transport. According to Listin Diario, this measure will be in place "only until we (the Ministry of Industry and Commerce) can complete all the procedures that will allow us to focus" the use of the subsidy. The ministry started to distribute subsidized diesel for use in trucks and buses yesterday following authorization from President Fernandez. The diesel fuel subsidy was originally decreed for three months ending in February, and provided a million gallons of untaxed diesel fuel for transport union members, but not the major bus lines or for truckers.
Because the government is releasing a million gallons of subsidized diesel fuel, the Association of Gasoline Retailers (Anadegas) called for a six-hour shutdown of their stations last Monday. The situation remains unclear. According to Anadegas spokespersons, including Arnurlo Rivas, the "dynamic actions" will include further shutdowns of gasoline stations throughout the country both today and tomorrow. The association says that it is waiting for a call from the Minister of Industry and Commerce, Melanio Paredes, so that they discuss some sort of satisfactory deal on the expenditure of subsidized diesel fuel, among other pressing issues facing the gasoline retailers.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) executive board has ended its review of Article IV of 2008 and recommended that the country maintain a watchful eye on the expansion of consumer credit and mortgage loans. They recommended that loans should be based on risk factors and with a view to strengthening institutional capacity. Such a process would require some modification to the existing Financial and Monetary Law. According to the statement that appears in today's newspapers, the IMF indicated that it is also important to ensure that the legal framework needed to create an international financial center in the Dominican Republic does not weaken the consolidated supervision. The IMF praised the work done so far in supervising the financial system. The main challenge for the DR is seen as the need to increase and to improve the focus of its social programs while at the same time generate the budget surplus needed to reduce the public debt to levels similar to those before the 2002-2004 crisis.
Monsignor Agripino Nunez Collado, the rector of the PUCMM University, met with the three main party leaders at his home in Santo Domingo yesterday in an attempt to reduce tensions in the current presidential campaign. Orlando Jorge Mera of the PRD, Francisco Javier Garcia, PLD campaign coordinator and Reinaldo Pared Perez, the PLD Senate leader as well as Victor Gomez Casanova of the PRSC all met with Monsignor Nunez for nearly three hours. According to the prelate, the theme of the meeting was to "prevent conflicts, confrontations and other incidents between supporters of rival parties." Generally speaking, when political activities are held in the same place, heated discussions between rival supporters can lead to clashes, often resulting in injuries and even deaths. According to Monsignor Nunez Collado, "basically we tried to establish some mechanisms to coordinate campaign activities to prevent planning activities for the same place in order to prevent such incidents."
The Central Electoral Board has sent the voting register for the 2008 elections to all the political parties. In all, 5,764,986 people are registered to vote. Listin Diario explains that 6,781 people were removed from the register because they joined the armed forces. This is up from 5,369,064 Dominicans eligble to vote as of the 2006 records (up 395,922 voters). The political parties have five days to make suggestions on the register. There are 153,499 registered voters outside the DR and there will be a total of 295 polling stations.
Supreme Court chief justice, Jorge Subero Isa, has rejected a call made by the Chief of Police for life sentences to be added to the list of sentencing guidelines available to magistrates under the Code of Penal Procedures now under review in the legislature. Subero Isa told reporters from Listin Diario that life sentences were not needed, and that, instead, judges needed to be stricter when issuing sentences, since life sentences would not reduce crime. Earlier this week the police chief, Major General Rafael Guillermo Guzman Fermin, argued for life sentences as a way of separating inveterate criminals and psychopaths from society. The Chief Justice said that in the Dominican Republic "we are very timid, first in complying with the law, and second, the judges in applying the law." The current legislative initiative contemplates life sentences for murder, parricide or rape. Maximum sentences for homicides would be increased up to 65 years from the current 30-year sentence.
While Dr. Bautista Rojas Gomez, Minister of Public Health, and Dr. Waldo Ariel Suero, the president of the Dominican Medical Association (CMD) agree that they should talk, and that they will meet wherever necessary, neither of the two has taken any steps to halt the strike called for tomorrow in public hospitals and Social Security Administration health centers. However, Dr. Suero called on his doctors not to heed pressures from the ministry, since, supposedly, according to Hoy newspaper, the minister himself will be summoning doctors to break the 24-hour work stoppage in more than 200 hospitals and care centers.
Meanwhile, Nicolas de Jesus Cardinal Lopez Rodriguez called on the doctors to go to work and to have a conscience. He told Diario Libre reporter Jesus Arias Parr that these strikes were now "parties" because of their frequency and lack of purpose. The leading Dominican prelate spoke at a meeting of the Catholic Church's health Ministry personnel. The church sponsors 60 parish clinics that provide first aid and other services for poor people. Lopez Rodriguez called upon the doctors to work, "and then we'll see how we can provide better care for these people who are really begging for health care services."
The Specialized Frontier Security Corps, Cesfront, was reinforced yesterday with units from the Hunter Battalion in Constanza, and from the Training School in San Isidro. These units will be used to strengthen patrols along the border where recent cattle rustling led to kidnappings and an increase in tension. The new units were posted to places like Canongo, Manzanillo, La Bomba and Vigia.
In related news, Diario Libre reports that two cows were returned across the border as part of coordinated efforts by the Dominican and Haitian authorities towards a peaceful settlement between the parties. The animals were handed over to the head of the Cattle-ranchers Association in Dajabon, Pedro Jose Rodriguez. It was also reported that at least one Haitian was arrested in connection with the theft of 21 head of cattle last week, the event that set off the cross-border incursion by armed Dominican cattle ranchers who, in retaliation, took more than a dozen head of Haitian cattle.
Agriculture Minister Salvador Jimenez is assuring the public that the authorities are handling the registered cases of bird flu correctly and that the DR is negotiating with Venezuela and other countries as possible new markets for Dominican chickens. Jimenez says that the DR has had an epidemiological monitoring system in place since 2005 in order to control any bird flu outbreak. He pointed out that the original bird flu cases were detected in Higuey in December 2007 thanks to this system. Angel Faxas, director of the Livestock Department, said that no new cases of bird flu have been detected in the last two weeks and that farms are being monitored daily in order to tackle any situation. He added that out of 13,000 tests carried out, only eight cases have been confirmed. Listin Diario writes that in order for the DR to be considered free of bird flu, the country needs to go through a two-month period without any new cases.
The Haitian ban on Dominican chicken imports and fears of bird flu has caused the price of chickens to plummet. Hoy writes that the price of a pound of chicken has dropped from RD$14.95 to RD$13.50 in the past week. Meanwhile, egg prices have gone from RD$2.50 to RD$1.50. Jose Lopez, president of the Chicken Breeders Association (ASOPOLLON) says that the sector is losing RD$6 million each day as a result.
Tourism Police (Politur) Officers did their jobs yesterday as they halted a robbery on a Vimenca currency exchange house in Bayahibe, near La Romana. Two robbers were caught in the act as they tried to haul away cash and other objects. The police found RD$66,820 EUR4,800 and US$160.00 on the robbers, plus a revolver and a long knife. According to Diario Libre, the thieves were caught as they left the exchange house located in front of the Gran Dominicus hotel in Bayahibe. Politur spokesperson Ramon Brito told reporters that the thieves had taken the guard's 12 ga. shotgun before entering the exchange house.
The streets and avenues of Santo Domingo are becoming parking lots with traffic tie-ups becoming the norm. According to El Caribe, the causes include street repairs, a lack of working traffic lights and an increase in political activities throughout the city. All the city's major thoroughfares are plagued with these inconveniences: Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, 27 de Febrero, Tiradentes, Nunez de Caceres and Maximo Gomez avenues to name but a few. Metropolitan Transport Authority (AMET) officers are frequently blamed by the public for poor traffic flow management. One of the complaints from many drivers is that if there is a working traffic light, there is no need for an AMET officer to direct traffic. AMET chief Latif Miguel Mahfoud responded by telling reporters that, "there are situations that you do not know about and that are communicated directly to the agents."
Dominicans spend about 1.2 billion minutes on the phone each year, and they spend RD$42 billion doing it. Of course, the government is happy, since they receive RD$3.866 billion in taxes from the phone companies. In total, there are three taxes on phone calls. There is the 16% VAT (ITBIS), the 10% Selective tax, and the 2% connection fee. The first two are collected by the Internal Tax office (DGII), while the third is taken by the Dominican Telecommunications Institute (INDOTEL). As a nation, the Dominican Republic has some pretty impressive statistics. There is a 66% density rate, nearly six million phones are in use in the country, more than five million of which are cell phones, and of these over 95% are digital units. New investments in networks, optical fiber and underwater cables will total more than two billion dollars this year, according to the Indotel spokesperson.
The Emergency Operations Center (COE) has issued a Green alert for small craft due to high winds and strong waves. These are being caused by two high-pressure ridges, one over the Atlantic and the other to the west of Cuba. Four to seven-foot waves and winds up to 22 knots are expected off the eastern and northern parts of the Dominican Republic, especially the Samana Peninsula, the Atlantic coastline and the Mona Passage.
Santo Domingo Mayor Roberto Salcedo and Sans Souci Touristic Ports president Lisandro Macarrulla were the key figures at a symbolic ground breaking ceremony at the Eugenio Maria de Hostos Park. The municipality is prioritizing the remodeling of the park and the Guibia and Juan Baron plazas along Santo Domingo's seafront boulevard, the Malecon. An investment of RD$125 million is being made. Mayor Salcedo says that the planned works have been harmonized with projects and plans of the Tourism Cluster of Santo Domingo. The remodeling of Plaza Juan Baron is funded by the Puertos Sans Souci company, which has the concession for developing the Santo Domingo port and environs. A second phase of the Malecon facelift will encompass Av. Maximo Gomez to km. 12 of the Autopista 30 de Mayo.
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