Archive for February, 2018
Haiti has ranked better than the Dominican Republic in the recent Reporters without Borders Index published by Reuters. Haiti is ranked 53rd, and the Dominican Republic 59th in the 2017 World Press Freedom Index. The DR improved three positions after being ranked 62nd in 2016. The index says that self-censorship is widely practiced by the Dominican media.
In its observation on the Dominican Republic, the ranking states: “The concentration of media ownership in very few hands and a high level of impunity undermines freedom of information and encourage self-censorship in the Dominican Republic. Journalists who dare to tackle sensitive subjects such as corruption and drug trafficking are exposed to the possibility of threats and violent reprisals, or even murder by government officials or criminal cartel members. The repeal in 2016 of legislation under which journalists could be imprisoned for defamation was a major step forward for the media and democracy.”
Despite the better ranking, the Reuters observations on neighboring Haiti are also grim. Says Reporters without Borders: “Despite recent changes in Haiti’s media freedom laws, journalists suffer from a cruel lack of financial resources, an absence of institutional support, and difficulty in accessing information. Journalists continue to be the victims of intimidation or physical violence. A devastating earthquake in 2010 and, more recently, Hurricane Matthew in 2016 inflicted a great deal of damage on Haiti’s already limited infrastructure. The privately-owned media, which are heavily influenced by the interests of their shareholders, tend to censor themselves. Journalists will be exposed to heavy sanctions under a proposed defamation law that was approved by the senate in 2017.”
Source: DR1, haitilibre
Feb 25, 2018
The Dominican Republic is on the bottom ranking of the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index. The index is developed by the global coalition against corruption, Transparency International. The DR scored 135th of 180 countries. In the Americas, only Honduras (135), Mexico (135), Paraguay (135), Guatemala (143), Nicaragua (151), Haiti (157), Venezuela (169) were perceived to be equally or more corrupt than the Dominican Republic.
The even worse news is that the Dominican Republic is not alone in its acquiescence in corruption. The index establishes that overall the 2017 Corruption Perceptions Index highlights that the majority of countries are making little or no progress in ending corruption, while further analysis shows journalists and activists in corrupt countries risking their lives every day in an effort to speak out.
The index ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and businesspeople, uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean. This year, the index found that more than two-thirds of countries score below 50, with an average score of 43. Unfortunately, compared to recent years, this poor performance is nothing new.
Source: Dr1, Transperancy
Feb 25, 2018
According to a new report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) the death rate of newborns is increasing at an alarming pace in poorer nations across the world. Of the 184 countries featured in the report, the Dominican Republic is in 51st position with a newborn death rate of 20.8 for each thousand live births. The means than one in every 48 children born will die in the first month of life.
The report highlights that access to quantity and quality of well trained nurses, complying with prenatal rules and protocols, maternal lactation in the first hour after birth, skin to skin contact and good nutrition all make a difference.
Across the world, in low-income countries the average is 27 deaths for each 1,000 live births, and in high-income countries it is three deaths per thousand. The report goes on to say that more than 80% of the deaths happen in cases of premature births, or are caused by complications during the birth or infections such as pneumonia and sepsis.
Source: DR1, Listindiario
Feb 25, 2018
On Tuesday 20, February 2018, the General Department of Security of Terrestrial Transit and Transport (Digesett), was formally launched as the replacement for the Metropolitan Transport Authority. The new entity was created by the Law No.63-17, in article 357.
In addition to the name change, new logo, colors and new uniforms, the 2017 Transit and Transport Law created an administrative board, new colors for Digesett buildings, institutional song, clipboard for use with details of infractions and new designs for the Digisett vehicles.
Now Digisett director, General Frener Bello Arias, explained that they would look to connect directly with the public and he guaranteed a good quality of work and safety for all. During the presentation of the new look of the institution, Bello said that traffic accidents are down 20% under his administration.
Source: Dr1, Elnuevodiario
Feb 25, 2018
The Santiago City Government opened the Santiago Central Park (Parque Central de Santiago) to the general park on Sunday, 18 February 2018. The Ministry of Public Works announced the official inauguration on Tuesday, 20 February. The park has an area of around 350,000 square meters. Some 80,000 trees were planted to contribute to the biodiversity of the new ecosystem that is now the main green space of the country’s second largest city. The trees serve as an important habitat of bird species in the area.
The park includes play areas and a botanical gardens section that later was relocated to Licey on the outskirts of Santiago. As part of the construction, the Ministry of Public Works contracts took advantage of the runway to build sports courts for basketball, tennis, bicycling and other sports.
The park is centrally located at Av. Bartolome Colon. An outside gate was built to control the admission to the park and its security.
The construction start was announced in 2006 after the park site had first been set aside for construction by Decree 383-00 dated 8 August 2000.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpQyvi_7sew
Source: DR1, Eldia
Feb 25, 2018
The appointments announced on Monday, 19 February 2018, by President Danilo Medina have prompted news commentators to use Google search program to learn more of the background of the appointees.
The one appointment that has generated the most press is that of Andrés Boció Fortuna, who was transferred to the position of consul in Anse-á-Pitre, Haiti (Decree 79-18) from his position at the consulate in Belladere, Haiti.
In the past, Andrés Boció Fortuna has made press headlines for accusations of human trafficking and selling fake visas.
At the time of his appointment by Decree 79-18, Bocio Fortuna was counselor minister at the Dominican consulate in Belladere, also in Haiti, where he has been since 2014. In 2014 he was arrested by G2 forces of the Army when driving a SUV transporting 15 undocumented Haitians from Comendador to Santo Domingo. The case did not move through the court system. Bocio Fortuna has always insisted that he has done nothing wrong. The government has never pressed charges.
Previously, in January 2007, the then government of President Leonel Fernandez, following an investigation of the Ministry of Foreign Relations, had relieved Bocio Fortuna of his duties as the Haitian consul in Ouanaminthe for allegedly operating two clandestine consulates and for issuing Dominican visas without authorization of the Ministry of Foreign Relations.
Bocio Fortuna aspired to be the PLD candidate to senator for Elias Piña, his hometown on the border with Haiti.
The new appointment included in Decree 79-18 published on 19 February 2018 is his fourth consular appointment by PLD administrations.
In the past, he was accused of fraud in securing visas to Europe for Dominican residents in Elías Piña, of running a parallel consulate to secure visas for Haitians, in addition to personally trafficking in Haitians.
In addition to consular appointment in Belladere and Anse-a-Pitre, Bocio has been appointed to the Dominican consulate in Ouanaminthe under a Leonel Fernandez PLD administration.
Source: DR1, Listindiario
Feb 25, 2018
The president of the Dominican Society of Seismic Engineering and Seismology, Leonardo Reyes Madera, recently warned of the vulnerability of the country in the face of an eventual earthquake. He based his statements on the apparent “fragility” of the overall preparedness of schools and hospitals.
Engineer Reyes noted that the island of Hispaniola that is shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic could suffer at any time a magnitude 7.0 or greater earthquake possibly followed by a tsunami with waves between seven and nine meters high.
Reyes Madera made the remarks to the international press here on a visit sponsored by the European Commission on Humanitarian Assistance (Echo). The visitors were shown diverse disaster risk reduction projects underway and different aspects of assistance and prevention programs.
Reyes highlighted the 14 geological fault lines that are currently active on the island and surrounding seabed. He said the two main faults that could cause a major earthquake are: Enriquillo that extends across the southern part of the island and into the Caribbean and the Septentrional del Este that extends from East to West across the northern part of the country.
The geological expert said that a sample taken from the Index of Hospital Safety shows that 84 of the 184 public hospitals of the country do not comply with the requisites required to obtain the certificate of “Safe Hospital.” He noted that the problems are not necessarily structural but rather deficiencies that would appear in the basic services required to attend patients, for example, water, electricity and logistics.
Source: DR1, 7dias
Feb 20, 2018
The Ministry of Environment has sent out a press release reporting that it has seized several trucks that were transporting illegally sourced sand and gravel for construction. The Ministry says that the confiscations were carried out to put a stop to the illegal exploitation of natural resources that is causing the degradation, alteration and destruction of riverbeds. Most of the trucks were detained in San Cristóbal in operations carried out by members of the Servicios Nacional de Protección Ambiental (SENPA).
Resolution No.0015-2017 issued last year suspended the extraction, transport and sale of loose or unconsolidated materials or sediments on beaches, rivers, lakes, wetlands, springs or deposit areas of the Dominican Republic, until the Ministry determined the feasibility of the sustainable use of these materials and established the corresponding authorization procedures for their extraction.
The Ministry said the confiscations were made after the truck operators ignored the resolution.
Source: DR1, Eldia
Feb 20, 2018
Four Puerto Plata institutions have signed an agreement to back the campaign “Save the Parrotfish” as an innovative initiative to preserve the fish that is in danger of extinction and also is essential for the conservation of coral reefs.
The agreement is a continuation of the project “Understanding the ecology and social perceptions of fisheries that are commercially important for the development of education strategies and fulfillment of long term laws to back sustainable fishing between Bahamas and the Dominican Republic.
The institutions that signed the agreement are: Instituto Oceanográfico James H. Ross, the Association of Hotels, Restaurants and Tourism Companies of the North (Ashonorte), the Institute for Social Ecological Research (ISER) and the Ministry of Environment office in Puerto Plata. The agreement was signed by Juan Francisco Payero Brisso, Tatty La Hoz, Allen Campos and the Ministry of Environment representative and will last through September 2018.
The entities will conduct a joint “Save the Parrotfish” campaign to discourage the consumption of this ecologically important fish. The campaign will first target students in the Puerto Plata area. Workshops will offer information about the link between parrotfish, lionfish and the health of coral reefs. A second phase of the campaign will focus on encouraging Puerto Plata restaurants to obey the law and not serve parrot fish for the next two years. The ban began in June 2017. Instead of parrotfish, the restaurants commit to promote dishes served with lion fish, an invasive species.
Source: DR1, Eldia
Feb 20, 2018
Already for the 15th time, the Master of the Ocean water sport competition will be held in the Dominican Republic.
This important event will take place from February 24 – 28 on ‘Playa Encuentro’ beach of Cabarete. More than 200 athletes from around the world will participate in the festival. There are competitions in four categories in which the competitors battle for the prizes. (Surfing, windsurfing, kite surfing and stand up paddle board). This year they added a new category specifically for young talent. The event is made possible thanks to the support of the Ministry of Tourism and the entrepreneurs of Cabarete.
Source: Sosua News
