MARCH 2009

Carnival a hit

Samana was the special guest

BREAKING NEWS: SANTO DOMINGO.-Santo Domingo’s George Washington Avenue (Malecon) was turned into a rolling party yesterday with the arrival of the 2009 National Carnival.

The colors were abundant and the energy palpable as more that 180 « comparsas » (troupes) paraded down the Malecon displaying a tremendous amount of creativity with their floats and costumes.

Music blared throughout the hot Sunday afternoon, but it wasn’t enough to prevent thousands of onlookers from taking in the magic of Carnival.

One of the most popular comparsas at yesterday’s Carnival was from Samana, which was the special guest while a collective from Curacao was the special international guest at Carnival.

Sunday’s celebration was a fitting end to the DR’s Carnival season.

According to news correspondent Lu Olivero, it was absolutely incredible. I’d never seen anything like that. There were thousands of people having a great time and literally dancing in the streets.

DR1, 02.03.09

Viva announces an investment in Dominican Republic

Of 250 millions dollars

BREAKING NEWS: SANTO DOMINGO. The telecommunication company Viva announced yesterday the investment of 250 millions dollars during this year, in order to expand and modernize its range of services in Dominican Republic.

Jean Carlos Sandy, president of Viva, gave the information during a meeting organized by the enterprise in the El Embajador Hotel.

José Rafael Vargas, president of the Dominican Institute of Telecommunications (Indotel) was present.

Sandy emphasized the fact that Viva will continue to strengthen its services, its products and the technological innovation, as it did since its arrival on the Dominican market.

Dominican Republic Live, 04.03.09

Recovering the Dominican capital’s riverbanks

Trees will be planted

BREAKING NEWS: Santo Domingo.- The National District City Council prepares a large strip of land in the impoverished sector La Cienega, where it has removed more than 100 tons of trash, to plant hundreds of trees and turn it into a properly lit recreational area including park benches and a playground, as part of the Ozama and Isabela rivers’ recovery and cleanup.

Dominican Today, 05.03.09

Women conquering the urban traffic

They love their functions

BREAKING NEWS: In the streets, we can see every day more and more women who are breaking the male stereotypes and monopolies in the transport sector and who, without losing their femininity, fights with the congested traffic of the city with the passion of those who like what they make.

They changed the face of the world of public transport, putting a feminine touch in a universe which was reserved to the men. The woman makes also incursions into the traffic control and distributes fines to the contraveners.

In the Subway of Santo Domingo, recently inaugurated, there are now women drivers like at the Metropolitan Office of the Bus Services - OMSA-.

Sarihels is 19 years old and she is one of the 13 women who are driving the subway. She begins her work every day at six o’clock in the morning and her biggest challenge on the rails is to do better than the previous day. In spite of her young age, it is clear for her that nowadays, the women are working side by side with the men.

It is not similar to drive on the subway rails than to defy the congestions and the hitches so common in the streets of Santo Domingo on board of a OMSA bus, but for six Dominican women, this is their daily bread.

Among them, Juana Bautista who transport every day since more than one year hundreds of people from the 27 de Febrero Avenue to the Hippodrome; her schedule starts at five o’clock in the morning till three o’clock in the afternoon.

Bautista is conscious that she has between her hands a great commitment with the life of the passengers; however, she finds her work full of emotions.

Just like the AMET agent Isori Arocha Veras, who spends hours enduring bad weather conditions in the middle of the streets while keeping her femininity whereas she takes up her duties.

Santo Domingo Live, 09.03.09

The second phase of the Summit to start this Wednesday

National Strategy of Development

BREAKING NEWS: SANTO DOMINGO.- The Organizing Commission of the Summit for the National Union to face the World Economic Crisis will meet this Wednesday with the representatives of the Economic, Social and Institutional Council (CESI) to examine the formal beginning of the second phase of the event.

The participants will examine the methodology that they will use in this second phase, which includes the conclusion of several regional meetings and the participation of representatives of international agencies.

On this occasion, they will seek to adopt a National Strategy of Development (NSD) to be able to incorporate the proposals examined in the first phase of the Summit, which will not be implemented this year.

The Summit, convened by President Leonel Fernández, is coordinated by the secretary of the Economy, Temistocles Montás and by the vice-chancellor of the PUCMM, Monsignor Agripino Núñez Collado, Antonio Isa Conde and José del Castillo.

The organizers of the conclave hope that in May of this year, they will have with the representatives of the political, employers’, trade-union, professional, social and cultural organizations, set up a national strategy of development, with an aim to introduce it to the National Congress in June.

Santo Domingo Live, 11.03.09

Cultural Capital of the Americas

International Bureau of Cultural Capitals

BREAKING NEWS: Santo Domingo has been chosen as the Cultural Capital of the Americas 2010.

This is a prestigious nomination, comparable with being selected to host the world expo or the Olympic Games.

Xavier Tudela, president of the International Bureau of Cultural Capitals made the announcement at the organization’s headquarters in Barcelona today. Tudela highlights that the appointment will provide a boost for the wealth of Dominican culture and serve to promote the city.

The initiative, which was launched by the Center of European Studies at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra, has received support from the Presidency, the ministries of Culture and Tourism, the City of Santo Domingo and tourism organizations under the Tourism Cluster of Santo Domingo.

The city will benefit from extensive promotion by the Cultural Capitals of the Americas organization on leading media around the world, including Antena 3 Internacional, the official TV channel of the movement, and Discovery Channel.

The Cultural Capitals of the Americas program evolved from an original initiative that started in 1985, designating European Culture Capitals and going on to become one of the European Union’s most popular and unifying initiatives.

As of 2000, it moved on to the Americas.

The American Capital of Culture (CAC) promotes cultural integration in the Americas, improving awareness of cultural heritage among its peoples, while respecting national and regional diversity, and focusing on shared cultural heritage.

To date, the cultural capitals of the Americas in Latin America and the Caribbean have been:
Merida (Mexico) 2000, Iquique (Chile) 2001, Maceio (Brazil) 2002, Panama City (Panama), Curitiba (Brazil) 2003, Santiago (Chile) 2004, Guadalajara (Mexico) 2005, Cordoba (Argentina) 2006, Cuzco (Peru) 2007, Brasilia (Brazil) 2008, Asuncion (Paraguay) 2009 and Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) 2010.

DR1, 12.03.09

Holiday’s over, no more smoking in Dominican businesses

Office of the Prosecutor’s

BREAKING NEWS: SANTO DOMINGO. - The National District Office of the Prosecutor Friday warned that bars, restaurants, discotheques and casinos that break the Law 48-00, which bans smoking in closed places, could face closing, a measure whose enforcement officials discarded during the holidays.

Violators will be fined a sum equal to six minimum wages for each infraction, ranging from RD $26,790 to RD $44,160, depending on the type of business, aside from the penalties stipulated in the Penal Procedural Code, that establishes the closing of locales , it said.

The warning came yesterday Thursday while inspectors of the Office of the Prosecutor’s continue visiting those businesses to verify compliance with the Law.

It also asks citizens to denounce any business that violates the norm.

Dominican Today, 16.03.09

Doctors strike again

Only emergency patients would be treated

BREAKING NEWS:Public sector doctors have announced another work stoppage, this time lasting 48 hours.

The announcement was made by Dominican Medical Association (CMD) president Waldo Ariel Suero who said that the strike would start at 6am on Wednesday.

Suero declared that only emergency patients would be treated.

This is the latest strike in the CMD’s campaign for a wage raise for its members, but the strikes have had little success.

While Congress has discussed a potential pay increase, legislators have balked at increasing taxes.

DR1, 17.03.09

Puerto Rico-Dominican ferry’s new terminal

To cost US $10M

BREAKING NEWS: SANTO DOMINGO. - The company Ferries del Caribe will build its own terminal in Santo Domingo’s Sans Souci Port, on an area of 29,000 square meters provided by the Dominican Government.

Puerto Rico Secretary of State Kenneth McClintock made the announcement in press conference held in the National Palace, after meeting with president Leonel Fernandez, together with a a commission of officials and investors from that island-nation, including Ferries del Caribe’s owner.

The facility for the operations of the Ferry, which transports freight and passengers to and from Puerto Rico, will be built at a cost of 10 million dollars and will generate 60 million dollars in annual revenue for the Dominican State.

The new terminal will have a pier capable of docking ships of up to 600 feet in length. The Ferry began operations on July 1, 1998.

Dominican Today, 18.03.09

Representatives of Environment of the Caribbean countries meet in Santo Domingo

Forest and Water World Day

BREAKING NEWS: SANTO DOMINGO. - Ministers and representatives of Environment of the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, Jamaica and of Puerto Rico will meet this Friday in Santo Domingo within the framework of the third ministerial meeting of the Biological Corridor of the Caribbean, setting-up with an aim of preserving the biodiversity of the area.

The civil servants will evaluate the advances of the project which joins together ecosystems of great ecological value of Dominican Republic, Haiti and of Cuba, informed this Thursday the Dominican Minister of environment.

For the first time, representatives of Jamaica and Puerto Rico will attend this meeting, and its organizers hope that new proposals will appear to extend the cover of the Corridor.

The Environment recalled that the appointment coincides with the celebrations of the Forest and Water World Day, which this year is devoted to trans border water, like it is the case for the basin of the Artibonito river, at the border between the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

The biological Corridor is a linear geographical space which connects landscapes, ecosystems, habitats and cultures and which has the support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

The project confers a special category on 61 protected sectors from the three countries which form it and facilitates the investments focused on the human development in the communities included in the Corridor, according to the Dominican ministry.

The Corridor will include the Jaragua-Bahoruco-Enriquillo Biosphere and the Cordillera Central, in Dominican Republic, and the Massif de la Selle, and the Azuei lake, La Visite, Fort and Pins and the Northern Central Massif in Haïti.

On its side, Cuba will bring a vast sector of the Orographical Group which includes the Sierra Maestra, Baracoa, Nipe and Saguá.

Spaces of the Corridor were selected on bases and criteria required by the Convention of Biological Diversity, according to official sources.

Santo Domingo Live, 20.03.09

« El Día » will be distributed in the Subway from today with a complete regular edition

The newspaper informed that it will incorporate 10 thousand additional copies

BREAKING NEWS: The newspaper El Día will circulate as for today in the Subway of Santo Domingo, with its complete and free regular edition.

The administration of the newspaper informed that the distribution in the stations of the Subway coincided with the increase in its circulation with 130 thousand specimens.

From today, the distribution of the newspaper El Día will increase up to 90 thousand copies per home, 15 thousand on strategic points and roads of Santo Domingo; 15 thousand for the other provinces and 10 thousand which will be delivered to the users of the Subway.

Gema Miranda, director of the Sales of Publicity for the HOY, El Día and El Nacional newspapers and Luis Ciprián, sales manager of El Día ensured that the newspaper was mainly read by the classified A, B and C demographic sectors. They moreover supported that the incursion into the Subway would guarantee a greater effectiveness of the publicity of its customers.

Santo Domingo, 23.03.09

Salsaman Pacheco wins the Dominican Sovereign

Casandra awards

BREAKING NEWS: SANTO DOMINGO.- With teary eyes and recalling family stories, Johnny Pacheco, credited with creating the genre Salsa, received the El Soberano (sovereign), top prize of the Casandra awards, from Rafael Menicucci, president of the brewers of Presidente beer.

This is a very great moment in my life. I would give anything for my father to be here, he gave me a harmonica when I was six years old, because he knew that I had an ear for music, for me to become a musician. My other brothers were ‘deaf’ and very out of tune, Pacheco said, and thanked the social journalists grouped in Acroarte, all the Dominican people and Dominican National Brewery.

Dominican Today, 25.03.09

Development of East Santo Domingo

Strategic plan

BREAKING NEWS: SANTO DOMINGO. - The Town hall of East Santo Domingo (ASDE) announced that the development of a « Strategic plan for the Development » of this zone had started.

The announcement was made by the mayor Juan de los Santos during a meeting with representatives of various sectors, at the Sans Souci terminal in España Avenue.

The civil servant said that this plan will determine the development and the progress which deserves and which is needed by East Santo Domingo and it will transform the sector into a model of city with the participation of the various social, economical and political actors of this demarcation.

De los Santos stressed that this Strategic plan will be a valid and useful tool to transform East Santo Domingo in the cleanest, more organized and more progressive commune of the country. The Strategic plan was approved by the Municipal council through the resolution No 03-09.

The ASDE in its capacity as Municipal Government assumed the responsibility to convene the forces of the commune for the development of the mentioned program, so that they bring other elements to the project.

The next meeting will take place on next Saturday at the Aurora del Sol hotel.

Santo Domingo Live, 26.03.09

Collect of solid waste

They ask the Senate to take note of the project

BREAKING NEWS: The mayor and the president of the Municipal Town council of Western Santo Domingo asked the president of the Senate, Reinaldo Pared Pérez, to take note of the project handed over to the Congress relating to the collect of solid waste in the mentioned delimitation at a cost of 2 million 800 thousand euros.

Engineer Francisco Peña and Felipe Santiago Brito indicate that these resources will contribute significantly to the improvement of the hygiene, of the health and the wellbeing of the community.

The contract is with the Oficien Mecanichl Brescia Caribe S.A. and/or OMB Caribe S.A. Company.

They explain, in a communication addressed to the Senate, that for the starting of the project the town council will have to request the financing of organizations of the financial system of the Dominican Republic.

Peña and Brito detailed that the legislative part is at the Commission of Finances of the Upper House, for five months.

They added that on July 25, 2008, one solicited to the Secretary of Finances, the canalization of the bill by the intermediary of the Executive Power to comply with the regulations of the Law on Public Credit.

The initiative was given by the Executive Power to the Senate of the Republic on October 15, 2008 under the number 13589, indicate the syndic and the president of the commune of Western Santo Domingo.

Santo Domingo Live, 27.03.09

National Assembly to receive suggestions

They will work on a Constitution that will only benefit the Fatherland

BREAKING NEWS: SANTO DOMINGO.-The Congress will open a table on the first floor for receiving proposals for constitutional reforms from citizens. They will also open a webpage to receive similar proposals, as was agreed upon in the regulations that will control the work of the National Assembly functioning as a Revisory Assembly to modify the Constitution.

All of this in addition to the process that not only the Senate but the Chamber of Deputies have approved, which is to receive suggestions from diverse sectors of society ever since the project to reform the Constitution got under way when it was submitted by President Fernandez last September.

The vice-president of the Assembly, Julio Cesar Valentin, reassured reporters that all of the proposals will be looked at and the National Congress will continue to be open to listen attentively to the calls and appeals from the citizens, because this is how democracy is strengthened.

He said he understood that with this attitude, the Congress and its members are stronger, as long as legitimate entities that respect the law show confidence in the fact that in the Parliament there are members with storm values that will take into account their ideas and opinions.

He reiterated that they will work on a Constitution that will only benefit the Fatherland, above any private interests or party interests.

According to the regulations, the voting of all of the issues, including those that have nothing to do with the reform, will be done with the special condition that a two-thirds vote will be needed, according to what was approved, and all of the results can be disseminated in order that there will be nothing confidential, as originally proposed, and therefore abiding by the law on Free Access to Information.

The rules, which are being corrected for publication, will be given to each member of the Assembly when the discussions on the constitutional reform begin on 14 April.

They will require persons to be punctual in their attendance at the sessions of the Assembly and to remain in the session until it ends. Also required is the respect of the opinions of others during the debate and maintaining a seriousness and dignified behavior with the best manners in all of the areas of the Congress and in those places where a representative might be carrying out his duties.

The regulations prohibit the access of non-authorized personnel, the use of cell phones, the exhibition, carrying or flashing all types of weapons, of upsetting the established order, the rules of courtesy and parliamentary ethics and any poor conduct, leaving the assembly room at the beginning of voting or once it is concluded, voting more than once on a proposal and giving statements to the media inside the room.

Diario Libre, 30.03.09

The provincial Emergency Operations Center presents « Operation Holy Week 2009 »

The operation will begin on next Thursday

BREAKING NEWS: SANTO DOMINGO. - The Government of the Province of Santo Domingo activated the Provincial Emergency Operations Committee (COEP), and presented the plan Operativo Semana Santa Reivindicativa 2009, with an aim of saving lives and goods during the break of the Holy Week.

This operation was presented by the governor Idelfonso Vásquez and the director of the provincial COE, Luis Reyes, during a work meeting with civil servants and police officers of each commune, as well as with representatives of aid organizations like the Civil defense, the Red Cross, the Firemen and of the Secretariat of Public Health.

The COEP will begin its operation on next Thursday at midday and it will conclude on Monday at 6 a.m.

41 rescue stations will be installed and 20 beaches and « balnearios » in the perimeter of the province of Santo Domingo will be closed.

Moreover, firearms, knives and glass bottles containing alcoholic drinks will be prohibited on all the public beaches remained open.

As for the previous years, from Good Friday to Easter Sunday, all tolls will be free in order to facilitate the traffic.

The town halls will collaborate in this great operation as well as the economical « Comedores » which will provide food to the first-aid workers.

The director of the COEP, Luis Reyes, is optimistic as for the fact that this year, it does not have any victim at the end of the Holy Week, while recalling that in 2008, eight people died, among them three on the road.

We hope that this year the assessment of death will be of zero.

Santo Domingo Live, 31.03.09