President Leonel Fernandez is going on a weeklong re-election tour of Puerto Rico and the United States starting on 1 April. He will visit Puerto Rico, Miami, Boston and New York, home to large numbers of Dominican expatriate voters. His tour starts in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Fernandez is the favorite to win the 16 May election.
The DR will be hosting several First Ladies from Latin America who will be taking part in the IV Meeting of the Coalition of First Ladies and Women Leaders from Latin America on Women and AIDS. The conference will take place in Boca Chica on 27 and 28 March. First Ladies who have confirmed their attendance are: Margarita Zavala de Calderon (Mexico), Xiomara Castro de Zelaya (Honduras), Sandra Torres de Colom (Guatemala), Liesbeth Anita Maria Venetiaan-Vanenberg (Suriname), Vivian Fernandez de Torrijos (Panama) and Pierina Correa (sister of the President of Ecuador). Also attending is Maryse Penette Kedar (Haiti), Zoila Innocenti (executive director of the El Salvador Women's Development Institute) and Maria Eugenia Hirmas (representing the President of Chile). Deborah Landey, deputy executive director of the United Nations AIDS Program will also take part.
The traditional Sermon of the Seven Words was the basis for very sharp criticism of government spending, election expenses and general waste of money during Leonel Fernandez's re-election campaign. It was certainly the strongest protest in recent weeks. Led by Fray Aristides Jimenez Richardson, the seven priests lashed out at the huge amounts of money that the ruling PLD party is spending on the campaign. One priest compared the election process to the battles in Homer's the Iliad and the Odyssey. Jimenez Richardson was joined by other priests, each of whom pointed out failings in the government's policies. For example, Cecilio de los Santos, the director of the Fernando Arturo de Merino Center, criticized some government appointees' exorbitant salaries, while office workers receive very low pay for their work.
Most of the weekend newspapers printed statements from the leading opposition parties echoing the strong declarations made by the priests.
The Central Electoral Board (JCE) has announced that it will look into the case of the payrolls created to help unemployed PLD party members. The so-called "Comite de Base" payroll scandal (CB) revealed by investigative journalist Nuria Piera has given the government a major headache over these last two weeks. Although the full board will look at the case next Friday, it was reported that the JCE Administrative Chamber would have its recommendations ready by Thursday, and that these will include the seizure of the payrolls attributed to several government dependencies for monthly payments of RD$3,000 or RD$4,000 checks to the party faithful. The JCE also faces the challenge of going through the 3,000 pages of "proof" submitted by the PRD party to back up its claim that the government is using vast amounts of public funds to finance Leonel Fernandez's re-election campaign.
Depending on just which newspaper you read, the toll for Easter Week is being reported as anything between 25 or 40 deaths and over 300 injuries. The annual trip to the country's beaches and rivers, accompanied by large amounts of alcohol, excitement and frivolity has, according to Diario Libre, claimed 40 lives this year. The official report will be released later today. Most Easter Week casualties were victims of traffic accidents, and to a lesser extent, drowning. According to the Emergency Operations Center (COE), these figures are similar to last year's, although the number of accidents has been reduced. If this is indeed the case, much of the praise should go to the 30,000+ volunteers wearing orange T-shirts who patrolled the roads, beaches and highways over the holiday weekend. Juan Mendez, the head of the COE told reporters that most of the accidents involved motorcycles.
A young missionary who defied the ban on swimming in the heavy surf last Thursday is listed as missing. The Civil Defense corps was not able to launch a search and rescue mission due to the strong wave activity in the Playa Grande area on the north coast. Shane Ruiz, a Freed-Hardeman University of Henderson, Tennessee who had traveled to the DR to participate in a Spring Break evangelical mission, drowned in the waters of Playa Grande beach on the North Coast when along with classmates he was relaxing at the beach after their final day of work. The authorities had banned swimming in North Coast beaches and had posted a red flag at the beach in caution of dangerous waves and currents and advised against bathing. Ruiz was from Olive Branch, Miss. And was a freshman mass media major.
The Dominican Republic is returning to normal after the long Easter recess, and thousands of people are flooding the highways and bus terminals. Only students, most of whom have Monday off, can relax for one more day. There are several clouds on the horizon, one of which is a purported call for a national strike. Dominican Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez spoke out against such a move at this time, and, according to El Nuevo Diario, Fidel Santana, the leader of the Alternative Social Forum and Juan Hubieres of the FENATRANO transport union, have denied that any such is plan under way. Nonetheless, the fear of such an action, combined with the call for an opposition party summit to analyze the use of government funds in the current campaign has moved the Armed Forces to call in their troops. There were also rumors that the opposition parties were so offended by the use of government financial resources in the campaign that they were considering withdrawing from the May elections. When told of this possible scenario, Central Electoral Board (JCE) chief magistrate Julio Cesar Castanos Guzman told reporters that there would be an election on 16 May whether or not the opposition showed up. He further advised the reporters that if the parties did not go to the polls, they would have to reimburse nearly US$50 million in government-sponsored campaign funding.
Emergency rooms at many hospitals were not all that crowded as the Easter Week holiday entered its final days, with plenty of free beds. Most ER beds at the Dario Contreras Hospital were empty, and several areas of the Robert Reid Cabral Children's Hospital were closed and only children with breathing problems were in the ER. The Francisco Moscoso Puello Hospital in Santo Domingo treated a number of injuries but the number of deaths was within the normal range for a Saturday. Since the Dario Contreras Hospital is Santo Domingo's major trauma center, doctors there could not believe that so many beds were empty. On Saturday, only 127 people were treated for injuries, which was said to be normal for any given day of the week. According to Hoy newspaper, most of the injuries were the result of stabbings.
News reports also focused on Easter in the City, whereby city dwellers stayed home by purchasing plastic swimming pools and setting these up on city streets in the barrios for the enjoyment of young children.
Over nine thousand people were tested for HIV over the Easter holiday. Teams of doctors, lab technicians and specialists attached to 25 Presidential AIDS Council (Copresida) mobile units carried out the tests. According to Listin Diario, most of the positive results were found in Barahona and Puerto Plata, and Peravia had the least number. Testing in the "bateyes", worker housing attached to sugar mills, showed a 3% to 3.5% incidence among people tested. Overall, the results matched the findings of the Demographic and Health Survey taken in 2007 (ENDESA 2007), which showed a 0.8% incidence in the general population. Copresida director Humberto Salazar told Listin Diario reporters that the tests were conducted in tourist areas, mainly Boca Chica and Puerto Plata, and added that the final report would be released today.
The Minister of the Armed forces has issued an order for all troops to be called into their forts or bases as part of preparations for possible civil disturbances. Several organizations have announced strikes for the coming days, including the medical association (CMD) and the Alternative Social Forum. The memo from the minister was addressed to all the brigade commanders, chiefs of staff and vice-ministers. This preventive measure is normal in the face of possible public protests.
The country's truck drivers are now paying twice the amount they used to pay for diesel fuel just a few years ago. The new reality is not lost on truckers who transport produce from places like Constanza and Mao. Fuel bills that were once RD$1,500 per trip are now over RD$3,000, leaving limited scope for profit. One trucker told Hoy reporter Franklin Avila that he just about breaks even with a load of onions from Constanza, whereas before, say two years ago, a profit of RD$20,000 was not out of the question. According to the truckers consulted for the article, the downturn in the economy is another factor that is lowering their profit margins. Pedro Guzman, a plantain trucker from Moca, said that there are times when profits are limited to one or two hundred pesos.
The Dominican Medical Association (CMD) is calling for a 72-hour work stoppage for the 26, 27 and 28 March. CMD president Waldo Ariel Suero reaffirmed the call for the strike at public hospitals and clinics. Doctors will only treat emergency cases during the strike. Suero went on to accuse the government of forming a PLD Medical Association in an attempt to divide the CMD and head off a strike. Public Health Minister Dr. Bautista Rojas Gomez denied any such move on the part of the government, but pointed out that the Union Dignity Movement did meet last week to discuss the strike. Suero told reporters from Diario Libre that the money that the government spends on television spots could be better spent on hospital supplies. Both sides have announced their willingness to enter a dialogue, but neither are likely to do so until a series of pre-conditions have been met
The African palm plantation in Hato Mayor is on fire, and, apparently, out of control. According to an urgent note in El Nuevo Diario, fire fighters in the eastern province are asking for help from Santo Domingo and the rest of the region. At the time of writing, the fire had covered one square kilometer and was threatening more than 60,000 tareas (about 4,000 hectares) of palm oil trees. Some two thousand jobs are at stake, and fire fighters from Hato Mayor, El Valle and Sabana de la Mar are trying to contain the blaze. However, the extreme heat has burned tires and causes water tanks to burst, according to the report.
Donald Trump flew into Punta Cana last week and said that the United States financial crisis generated by the sub-prime mortgage collapse and the sale of Bear Stearns will not significantly affect the progress of his project at Cap Cana. He based his statements on the fact that investors in his and other projects at Cap Cana are not just from the United States but from all over the world. Trump also announced the hiring of Hanse Golf Course Design, Inc. to build two 18-hole layouts for his project. In statements made to several reporters Trump praised Ricardo Hazoury for his far-sightedness in opening Cap Cana to development.
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