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Fernandez inaugurates Manoguayabo overpass

President Leonel Fernandez and Minister of Public Works Victor Diaz Rua inaugurated the last part of the Duarte highway project (Corredor Duarte), the elevated section above the intersection of Manoguayabo road, yesterday, Tuesday, 15 May.

The east-west Duarte corridor starts in los Alcarrizos and runs to the tunnel under Ortega and Gasset Avenue that connects the Correa and Cidron road outside the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD).

Public Works Minister Victor Diaz Rua said that the highway project, which includes a series of overpasses and underpasses to ease traffic flow, would pay for itself in less than five years. It enables commuters to cross the city in 10 minutes without having to stop at traffic lights.

The Manoguayabo overpass is 530 meters long, has six lanes, three in each direction and a 24-meter central reservation. Traffic to the north of Santo Domingo will now be faster. Businesses like Carrefour that were adversely affected by traffic delays during the construction, now expect to benefit from the improved traffic flow.

The project, which began in July 2009, was constructed by Odebrecht and Estrella and will now help traffic coming into the capital from the north of the country. Marcos Cruz, president of Odebrecht, and his Dominican counterpart, engineer Manuel Estrella also attended the ceremony.

During the inauguration, Diaz Rua announced plans to continue works aimed now at providing north-south road solutions. The first would be at 27 de Febrero with Maximo Gomez and Winston Churchill avenues, as reported in El Dia.

Government increases its payroll this year

In an election year, the Central Government increased its already bloated payroll by RD$272 million. The latter went from RD$6.14 billion as of 31 December 2011 to RD$6.41 billion in April of this year, according to the Controller General office. The Fernandez administration, with a term expiring on 16 August 2012, created 7,420 more government posts. As reported in El Dia, the number of posts in government departments went up from 503,777 to 511,197, of which 460,209 are full time employees. El Dia also reports that the employees of the decentralized government organizations add another 142,937 to the government payroll as of 31 December, for which the payroll is RD$2.56 billion. The government payroll costs taxpayers RD$8.98 billion each month.

El Dia points out that this does not include the payroll of the National Congress, General Attorney Office, Judicial Branch, Central Electoral Board, Chamber of Accounts, Department of Customs, Department of Taxes because these entities have administrative and budgetary autonomy.

As reported, in relative terms the payroll of the Central Government increased by 4% compared to December 2011, and 12% in comparison to the same period in 2010 and 22% more than as of May 2009.

The government added 38,377 employees across several institutions between 2009 and 2012.

PLD presidential candidate Danilo Medina admitted in an interview this week that government could operate with 125,000 employees.

Dominicans paying more taxes

The Department of Taxes reports that Dominicans paid 23.3% more in ITBIS, the value-added tax on sales. The government reaped RD$810.2 million more in March 2012, than in March 2011. The ITBIS reported to the government totaled RD$4 billion.

Plenty of money available for Election Day

According to a study by the Foundation for Justice and Transparency (FJT), the political parties incurred costs of around RD$4.5 billion during the last four months.

FJT president Trajano Vidal Potentini said that 74.7% of this sum had been spent by the ruling PLD and allies, 25% by the PRD and its allies and the rest by the independent candidates.

He added that on election day itself, the PRSC would have RD$140 million of almost RD$400 million that was given to them by the Central Electoral Board (JCE) to finance the party. The PLD, according to the analysis, would have more than RD$700 million at its disposal and the PRD would have RD$400 million. The minority parties would have between RD$100 million and RD$200 million apiece to spend on election day, Sunday 20 May.

As reported in El Dia, the FJT said that the unprecedented level of spending on the electoral process had paralyzed the economy and was one of the biggest setbacks to democracy, encouraging a variety of forms of patronage like food handouts and the odious practice of buying national identity cards (cedulas) of known supporters of opponents to prevent them from voting, or for fraudulent use by other people.

Centro Economico Cibao poll gives Mejia the lead

According to a poll carried out by the Cibao Economic Center between 11 and 13 May, Hipolito Mejia of the PRD will win with 50.4% of the votes and Danilo Medina of the PLD will obtain 47.0%.

The results were revealed at a press conference by Cibao Economic Center president Leonardo Aguilera. The poll was carried out amongst a sample of 1,600 voters with a margin of error of 2.45%.

The research showed that in the capital Hipolito would have 47.4%, in the north 58.8%, in the south 47.2% and in the east 49.4%.

Danilo on the other hand would win in the capital with 48.8%, and the south 54.7% but lose in the north 42.9%, and east 48.3%.

As far as the other candidates were concerned, Guillermo Moreno would have 1.9%, Eduardo Estrella 0.4%, Julian Serulle 0.2% and Max Puig 0.1%.

He pointed out that this survey only included voters who knew who they would vote for, so there were no figures for undecided or those who would not vote, as reported in El Dia.

Sigma Dos poll gives Danilo the lead

According to Leonard Kemp, director of the research company Sigma Dos, the results of a poll carried out from 6-12 amongst 1,500 people with a margin of error of 2.5%, showed Danilo Medina of the PLD in the lead with 53.7% of the votes against 43.6% for Hipolito Mejia of the PRD. 2.7% of those surveyed would vote for the smaller parties.

The international president of the company, Carlos Malo de Molina said that the 10 points of difference between the candidates was a sufficient margin for Medina to win in the first round,

He said that 55.2% of those surveyed believed that Danilo would handle the economy better and create more jobs, compared to 42.6% for Hipolito. The leader they valued the most was Margarita Cedeno de Fernandez who scored 6.57, followed by Danilo with 6.06, Leonel Fernandez with 5.67 and Hipolito Mejia with 5.5.

www.listindiario.com/la-republica/2012/5/16/232610/Encuesta-Sigma-Dos-concede-un-537-a-Danilo-y-436-a-Hipolito

Midnight Friday is deadline for replacement cedula

Santiago Sosa, president of the Central Electoral Board (JCE) in the National District announced that from today, Wednesday 16 May until 22 May the office would not be carrying out its usual work due to the elections, and would only be legalizing the election results, and would not be processing other documents like birth or marriage certificates.

He said that as far as cedulas (national identity cards) were concerned, they would be issuing duplicates from 8am until 4pm apart from on Friday 18, which was the last day for obtaining a replacement cedula when the deadline had been extended to midnight, as reported in Listin Diario.

JCE awaits proof from Hipolito

Yesterday afternoon, Tuesday 15 May, Central Electoral Board (JCE) president Roberto Rosario said that he still had nothing to enable him to carry out any type of investigation about a complaint by presidential candidate Hipolito Mejia concerning the behavior of the police and military, accused of threatening members of the PRD.

Rosario was meeting with representatives of the electoral observers from the Organization of American States (OAS) and said he had received written communication about Mejia's complaint signed by delegates Salvador Ramos, Enmanuel Esquea and Cesar Cedeno, but there was no proof.

He said that even though they had invited candidate Mejia or a representative, no one had come to the JCE in person. He added, however, that the subject was not closed as the JCE was always ready to investigate and take whatever measures were necessary.

Rosario said that he had invited the observers, David Alvarez and Raul Arconada, together with judges Cesar Felix Felix, Rosario Graciano and Jose Angel Aquino in order to study the supposed proof. He reiterated that the JCE was ready to guarantee the electoral process but that the politicians should also play their part.

Participacion Ciudadana says campaign has been unfair

Nothing seems to have changed since the days when the late President Joaquin Balaguer used his position in power to promote his intention to remain in power.

Yesterday, civic group Citizen Participation (PC), which will be observing the elections, condemned the amount of government money being spent on the campaign. Spokesman Francisco Alvarez criticized President Leonel Fernandez's prominent role in the campaign with high levels of spending at all of the inaugurations, with people and fuel all paid for by the state.

PC described the campaign as not equitable and barely democratic, and characterized by unfair competition.

Francisco Alvarez criticized the fact that Congress has not passed the fundamental law for the electoral system, and that the JCE did not make the least effort to use the faculty of Art. 212 to regulate the campaign. He criticized the President's participation in the campaign, accompanied by cabinet officials, with personnel, vehicles, fuel and per diems paid for by government entities, which he said is a clear competitive advantage.

The first 100 days of President Danilo?

At a meeting with Listin Diario, Danilo Medina has laid out his plans for his first 100 days in office should he win the election.

He said that he would ensure that education received 4% of GDP and would increase the school day to eight hours including breakfast, lunch and afternoon snack. He also said during a four-year term he would build 24,000 classrooms, half of which are needed to extend the school day. He also said that should this project need more than 4% of GDP then it would receive it as he considered it vital to change the education model to one of quality and inclusivity.

He acknowledged that at present only 42% of poorer people finish their primary education and only 12% achieve 12 years of schooling, and less than 1% go on to finish at university.

Medina also went on the record as saying that there is a need to expand sports programs in public schools. He said sports programs would be part of the proposed extension of school hours to eight hours a day. He announced that his government would create programs to take sports to the masses. He promised to save existing sports installations. "I don't think the country needs much investment because the infrastructure is there. What we have to do is fix what we have," he said.

"When I talk about extending, I mean to add art, sports and culture to school programs," he said, as reported in El Caribe.

Another of his first measures will be to implement social and economic policies to take 1,600,000 Dominicans out of poverty, and increasing the size of the middle class so that it consists of 60% of the population. He said that he was convinced that a country that did not strengthen and increase its middle class had no future

He added that he wished to establish a University of Academic Excellence where the best brains in the country could go, and it would specialize in mathematics, physics and chemistry. He deplored the face that the country was in 115th place out of 115 countries when it came to mathematics and 113th in science.

Danilo Medina is also profiled in Diario Libre today.

www.listindiario.com/la-republica/2012/5/16/232580/Danilo-detalla-su-plan-de-100-dias

www.diariolibre.com/movil/noticias_det.php?id=336276

Former President Zelaya sent home

After almost two weeks in the hospital after suffering a fall on 4 May at the home of his daughter Ziomara, who is studying in Santo Domingo, during a visit to Santo Domingo, former President of Honduras Manuel Zelaya checked out of Cedimat, advanced medicine center, yesterday morning, Tuesday 16 May. The 59-year old politician had travelled to Santo Domingo in his role as Central American parliament member for a panel discussion that was being held in Santo Domingo.

Anesthetists to raise their rates

During a press conference, the president of the Dominican Anesthesiology Society, Dr. Dalma de la Rosa together with Dr. Carlos Marmolejos and members of the executive committee warned yesterday, Tuesday 15 May, that from 14 June they will require a minimum of 2,500 pesos for each surgery they attend and will not carry out any procedure for less.

They said that they were working on a new list of charges which will be presented to the Administrators of Heath Risks (ARS) who will then establish the charges for different procedures.

Marmolejos said that the anesthetist was the first in the operating theatre and the last to leave and that their charges should not depend on those of the surgeon but should be independent.

De la Rosa said that there were around 400 anesthetists and condemned the fact that there were still clinics and hospitals in the country that worked with anesthetic technicians and not with specialists. She said there was no need to use technicians as there were sufficient qualified anesthetists including those who did not have a job.

New software for Viva

ForgetMeNot Software has launched an internet-free mobile Facebook, e-mail and online chat service in the Caribbean. Dubbed 'vSocial', the service is designed to enable customers of Dominican Republic mobile operator Viva to send and receive internet messaging on any SMS-enabled mobile phone internet free. Viva currently serves around 700,000 mobile subscribers in the Dominican Republic. vSocial provides internet-free apps that convert Facebook actions and updates, emails and messages from chat services like Windows Live Messenger and GTalk into SMS and USSD format, and vice-versa. It bypasses the need for Internet connections and does not require contracts, high-end smartphones, software downloads or data connections.

www.telecompaper.com/news/viva-launches-forgetmenot-internet-free-mobile-social-app

Why it makes sense to be an informal business

Francisco Capellan, president of the Confederation of Small and Medium-sized Companies (Codopyme) says that government regulations discourage small business from entering the formal business sector. He said that around 600,000 micro, small and medium-sized businesses are in operation, of which less than 50,000 are registered with social security.

In an interview, he agreed with comments by Mario Davalos and Marina Ortiz of Fondo Micro about the lack of incentives for formalizing small companies. He said that once a small business becomes a formal company, it will needs to make payments to the Department of Taxes, Social Security Treasury and the National Institute for Professional Training (Infotep), new costs it did not have to undergo when operating informally.

Capellan said that is why few businesses have preferred to stay operating informally, and as a result many workers do not have medical insurance, for one.

"A way for small companies to go formal needs to be found, because there are thousands of shops and workshops that are not," he said. Likewise, he said in farm areas there are many medium-sized businesses that fear going formal due to the high government costs. He said that if the government would offer advantages to small and micro-business owners, many would go formal. He proposed the establishment of a single-stop-shop for this category of business.

Government business regulations have frequently been criticized for being established for large businesses, when in reality most businesses in the Dominican Republic are small.

In an interview with Hoy, Mario Davalos criticized the fact that rather than stimulating small business to go formal, the government does the contrary. He mentioned that the government issues the Senasa medical cards under the subsidized regime for people on a low income, making it unnecessary for companies to go formal in order to provide medical insurance for their workers. Davalos said that the government has not designed public policies that are suitable for small business.

Davalos said that while Law 479-08 on company formation has improved the situation, becoming a formal company is still complicated and costly for micro-businesses.

www.hoy.com.do/economia/2012/5/13/427377/Ven-Estado-no-incentiva-a-las-microempresas-a-formalizarse

www.hoy.com.do/economia/2012/5/15/427707/Cree-Estado-no-estimula-a-microempresas-a-formalizarse

Colombian woman is missing in Punta Cana

The Police have not yet been able to solve the case of missing 34-year old Maribel Buritica. She was in charge of groups at Manati Park, a theme park in Punta Cana, and lived with her two children in Punta Cana Village. As reported, the last that was heard of her was when she called home in the late afternoon to ask the maid to stay until she got home. She was known to have gone to the San Juan Shopping Center, but surveillance videos show she did not carry any bags.

A nephew of hers, Jimmy Perez Buritica who lives in Punta Cana says that her relatives will travel to the DR to motivate the search.

Her brother, Elias Buritica, urged both the Colombian and the Dominican authorities to continue the search.

www.elcaribe.com.do/2012/05/16/colombiana-maribel-buritica-lleva-14-dias-desaparecida

Dominicans arrested in Rhode Island

Eleven arrests were made in nine raids on nine Rhode Island addresses by a state, local and federal Rhode Island task force, breaking up a major heroin ring of Dominican Republic natives with links to Mexican cartels.

Combined with raids in Providence, Pawtucket and North Providence, the task force seized more than three kilos of heroin, approximately US$450,000 in cash and a substantial amount of high-end jewelry believed to be part of a money-laundering process, as well as five firearms and several vehicles.

The US attorney says the suspects are all now in jail, charged with multiple drug offenses.

www.necn.com/05/14/12/Major-heroin-ring-with-ties-to-Mexican-c/landing_newengland.html?blockID=707696&feedID=4206

Drugs taken on ferry to Puerto Rico

Yesterday, Tuesday 15 May, customs officers with sniffer dogs in Puerto Rico confiscated 6.42 kilos of cocaine found inside a car on the ferry from the Dominican Republic.

The owner of the vehicle, Jose Eduardo Rodriguez Gomez, 25, from Puerto Rico was arrested, together with two others also involved and also from Puerto Rico, as reported in El Nuevo Diario.

What Dominicans do when there is a blackout

"Que se yo cuanto" will open at Teatro Guloya on Saturday, 26 May at 8:30pm and at 6:30pm on Sunday, 27 May. The play comes to Santo Domingo after being staged at the Boston Center for the Arts in Boston, Massachusetts.

It tells a story about blackouts and what Dominicans do to combat boredom when the lights go out. In Boston the play was performed by the actors of the TC2 Squared Theater Company, said producer Ivan Mejia. It stars Ivan Aybar, Cinthia Almonte, Camilo Santana, Paloma Cristina and Jeuri Iruej, with Ivan Mejia as producer and Paloma Valenzuela who wrote and directed the play.

Maria Montez at the National Theater

The life story of Dominican actress Maria Montez is being brought to the stage by the Alta Escena theater group at the Sala Ravelo of the National Theater on 31 May 2012 through Thursday, 7 June.

Evening shows are at 8:30 from Monday to Saturday and at 6:30pm on Sunday. Irmgard Karoline Becker will star as Maria Montez, the Dominican Republic's first actress to gain fame as a Hollywood motion picture star.

The production is part of the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of her birth.

Amarilis Rodriguez will play the role of Maria's mother, Olga Valdez, and Judith Rodriguez will portray her cousins. Actor Luis Dantes will also play several male roles. The play is directed by Bienvenido Miranda and the script and direction of the production are by Luis Dantes.

In the 1940s, the Barahona-born Montez starred as an exotic beauty in some of the first Technicolor adventure films attired in fanciful costumes and sparkling jewels, and was known as "The Queen of Technicolor." Throughout her career, she starred in 26 films, most made in the United States.

Her most famous were Arabian Nights (1942), White Savage (1943), Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1944), Cobra Woman (1944), Gypsy Wildcat (1944), Sudan (1945), Pirates of Monterey (1947) and The Exile (1948).

She died at the age of 39 in Paris, drowning in her bath after suffering a suspected heart attack.

The Barahona airport was named in her honor.

For more on upcoming events, see http://www.dr1.com/calendar

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Gildan participates in Plan Lea’s Geography Fair	5/16/2012 10:26 AM
SD. More than 3,700 people among students and teachers visited the Geography Fair Week organized by Plan LEA with the topic: “Exploring the communities, initiatives and innovations for their development,” in which Gildan hosed a massive participation.
CEMEX hosts workshop on journalistic writing techniques	5/15/2012 1:50 PM
San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic.- An innovative course-workshop on the “Latest Journalistic Writing Techniques” for writers in San Pedro de Macorís was jointly organized by CEMEX and the Dominican Journalists Guild (CDP) in that city, with aimed at contributing with their development and helping them widen their knowledge.
American Airlines to refresh its International Widebody Fleet	5/15/2012 1:23 PM
FORT WORTH, Texas, May 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- American Airlines today took the next step in its fleet modernization plan – to ensure that its customers are flying onboard one of the most modern fleets in the industry. Today's progress includes the redesign and refresh of the airline's international widebody aircraft – a demonstration of the forward movement of the company's business plan, which includes the investment of several hundred million dollars per year in enhancements to the customer experience. As part of this redesign, American's entire fleet of 777-200ERs will have fully lie-flat Business Class seats with aisle access for every seat, international Wi-Fi, in-seat entertainment throughout all cabins, and Main Cabin Extra seating offering more legroom. The 767-300ERs will have fully lie-flat Business Class seats with aisle access for every seat, and Main Cabin Extra seating.
Austerity and Democracy	5/11/2012 6:53 AM
Last week the people of Greece and France voted against austerity.
OAS, Catholic Church slam ex Police Chief’s “cockiness” on vote threat	5/17/2012 12:09 PM
SANTO DOMINGO.- Organization of American States (OAS) Observers Delegation chief rebuked as intolerable for any democracy that a retired general challenges or threatens to use any mechanism to intimidate or defend the vote of any candidate.
Some scattered showers, high temperatures	5/16/2012 7:35 AM
Santo Domingo. - The National Meteorology Office (ONAMET) forecasts scattered showers and thunderstorms mostly for the southeast, southwest, Central Mountains and border zone.
Tour retraces dictator Trujillo’s last hours prior to execution	5/16/2012 7:18 AM
Santo Domingo. - The tour “Ruta del Chivo” (Route of the Goat) was inaugurated Monday, which retraces the places visited by the dictator Rafael Trujillo during the hours prior to his execution the night of May 30, 1961.
1Q revenue gets a RD$9.B boost to RD$57.0 B	5/16/2012 6:43 AM
SANTO DOMINGO.- Revenue from the Industrialized Goods and Services Transference Tax (ITBIS) jumped 22.3 percent to more than RD$4.0 billion in March, for an additional income of RD$810.2 million.
Electoral Board delivers all voting materials locally, abroad	5/16/2012 6:19 AM
Santo Domingo. – The Central Electoral Board (JCE) concluded the delivery of valises to 155 electoral boards in as many municipalities across the country, as well as to several cities abroad.
An “unequal and little democratic” campaign, citizen movement complains	5/16/2012 5:56 AM
Santo Domingo.- The civic movement Citizen Participation on Tuesday called the electoral campaign “unequal and little democratic” which pushed four of the six presidential tickets out of the contest, which in its view competed at a disadvantage with the two main political forces.
Traditional saber-rattling surfaces in these elections	5/16/2012 5:38 AM
Santo Domingo.- Yesterday’s order for the military and police to report to their commanders reveals a latent fear from Dominican Republic’s past regimes during elections.
No-show candidate fizzles opposition party’s harassment claims	5/15/2012 2:28 PM
Santo Domingo.- Central Electoral Board president Roberto Rosario Tuesday said “he has nothing at hand to let him conduct any type of investigation” into opposition PRD party presidential candidate Hipólito Mejia’s allegation that the police and the military threaten and persecute his organization’s leaders.
Puerto Rico agents seize 6 Ks of cocaine aboard ferry from Dom. Rep.	5/15/2012 1:18 PM
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico- U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers seized Monday 6.42 kilos (14 pounds) of cocaine found inside a Mazda pickup vehicle arriving on board the Puerto Rico–Dominican Republic ferry in San Juan.
A happy President cuts ribbon on another overpass	5/15/2012 11:42 AM
Santo Domingo.- A visibly happy president Leonel Fernandez cut the ribbon Tuesday noon for the overpasses at the sector Manoguayabo, one of several built on the Duarte highway, the last structure of the roadway project called Corridor Duarte.
Pollster Sigma Dos: Medina 53.7%, Mejia 43.6%	5/15/2012 9:59 AM
SANTO DOMINGO.- The Spanish pollster Sigma Dos said ruling PLD party candidate Danilo Medina will win in the first balloting with 53.7% of the votes over his opposition PRD party rival Hipólito Mejia’s 43.6%.

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