Archive for May, 2018
The Dominican airline PAWA was suspended from operations on 30 December, 2017. It has several creditors, for around US$38,131,848 both in the Dominican Republic and overseas including airport offices, hotels, insurers, telephone companies, taxis, electricity and even a clinical laboratory. It is thought the amount might be even more. Details of the debt are contained in a resolution issued on 12 March 2018 by the Restructuring and Liquidation Court in the National District.
The highest amounts owed are US$2,431,864 to insurers, Seguros Sura, US$1,994,358 to IATA Geneva (in Switzerland), US$1,264,358 to Aeropuertos Dominicanos Siglo XXI and US$1,110,628 to World Fuel Services (Miami).
There is a complaint pending issued against PAWA Dominicana and the president of its Administration Board, Simeón Rafael García Rodríguez, by the Dominican Civil Aviation Institute (IDAC) and the Civil Aviation Board (JAC), asking for an investigation into alleged abuse of trust and supposed money laundering.
García Rodríguez is Venezuelan but obtained Dominican nationality in 2016 awarded by President Danilo Medina under the privileged category. He is currently abroad.
Source: Dr1, DiarioLibre
May 5, 2018
The government is planning to inaugurate the Santo Domingo cable car during this month of May. Domingo Contreras of the Special Projects of the Presidency Office announced a 15 May 2018 inauguration date. The cable car crosses the Ozama River, linking east and west Santo Domingo.
At present final adjustments and tests are being carried out on the RD$3 billion transport. Pending still is the relocation of families affected by the work in Gualey.
Locals think that this new form of transport will make their lives a lot easier as previously they had to take several transport modes to reach the center of Santo Domingo. Many now will be able to take the cable car and then the Metro to get around with significant cost, time and comfort gains.
According to published studies, the cable car will benefit around 300,000 people in 30 neighborhoods in the National District, Santo Domingo East and Santo Domingo North. It will connect with the Metro from Charles de Gaulle Avenue to the Eduardo Brito station, located in Gualey at the head of the Francisco del Rosario Sánchez Bridge.
Source: DR1, DiarioLibre
May 5, 2018
The Ministry of Public Health and the National Health Service (SNS) will take immediate corrective action at the Jaime Mota Hospital in Barahona as a result of the deaths of seven newborns at the hospital last week. Health Minister Altagracia Guzmán Marcelino and the director of the National Health Service (SNS), Chanel Rosa Chupany, made the announcement following an investigation to determine if newborn care protocols were being fully applied at the hospital.
The investigation also identified problems in the clinical laboratory and the imaging department and that on the day the babies died there were no specialist doctors at the hospital. As a result, the death reports were prepared by nurses and not by doctors. It was also found that the hospital did not comply with the bio-security norms and that the clinical files did not use the basic tools for neonatal care.
The Ministry of Public Health investigation also identified the deaths occurred because medical neonatal protocols were not applied, the lack of specialists on call at the hospital 24 hours a day, absence of adequate equipment in the neonatal care areas. The Ministry announced the hospital was being intervened and new specialists would be appointed and training provided to staff, and equipping of the laboratory and neonatal area would be carried out.
The Ministry of Public Health also called attention to the high number of C-section births. These are 46% of all births in public hospitals and 87% in private hospitals. The World Health Organization standard is 10%.
Source: DR1, Almomento
May 5, 2018
The establishment of formal diplomatic relations between China and the Dominican Republic has been a hot news topic throughout the world.
Officials from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Dominican government signed a joint agreement at an event in Beijing, China on 30 April 2018 announcing the establishment of formal diplomatic ties. According to Foreign Minister Miguel Vargas, the Dominican Republic “breaks diplomatic relations with Taiwan (known as the Republic of China – ROC) which is an inalienable part of China, and will not maintain any kind of official relations or contacts [with ROC].”
The Dominican Republic is not the first country in the Central American and Caribbean to sever ties with Taiwan. Panama dropped its longtime ties with Taiwan in 2017. Costa Rica was first in the region to do so in 2007.
The People’s Republic of China insists that Taiwan is part of PRC territory. With the announcement of the Dominican Republic’s breaking of diplomatic relations with Taiwan, the island nation is now recognized as a sovereign country by only 19 nations: 10 in Latin America and the Caribbean, two in Africa, six small island states in the Pacific and the Vatican.
Taiwan government officials, expressing their deep dismay of the Dominican Republic’s decision, criticized what it called China’s “dollar diplomacy” and announced that Taiwan would immediately terminate ties with the Dominican Republic. As a result of the break in diplomatic ties between Taiwan and the Dominican Republic, the Taiwanese government has suspended all projects and assistance it provides to the country.
It has been reported that China has offered US$3 billion in assistance to the Dominican Republic. Of this money, it is speculated that US$220 million will be to build affordable housing; US$400 million to build roads; US$1.6 to build railroads and US$50 million to set up an IT system for the Civil Aviation Institute. Another US$300 million will be used to build a natural gas electrical plant. US$350 million will be invested in a hydroelectric plant and US$174 million for an incineration plant.
However, Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu warned that Beijing has failed to deliver on hundreds of millions of dollars in pledges to some of Taiwan’s former diplomatic allies and said that the Taiwanese government was “deeply upset by China’s actions.”
He said that China did not comply with its promises of US$1 billion for a refinery and US$400 million for roads in Costa Rica.
Flavio Dario Espinal, legal advisor to the Executive Branch, said at a news conference on Monday, 30 April 2018, that the change in foreign policy was based on the “needs, potential and future prospects” of the country and that the decision had been made due to history and socioeconomics and that it would be extremely positive for the future of the Dominican Republic. He went on to say that even without formal diplomatic relations with China, trade between the two countries “has grown year after year to the point that today China is the second biggest supplier of our imports.”
Espinal said the government informed Taiwan of its move earlier Monday and thanked the Taiwanese for their cooperation including the development of very important programs. Over the last few weeks Taiwan has given assistance to the Dominican Republic to the tune of US$35 million and two helicopters, 90 military trucks and 100 motorcycles.
Beijing announced yesterday, Tuesday that it would exchange ambassadors with the Dominican Republic “as soon as practicable”.
Source: DR1, Washington Post
May 5, 2018
Around 90 Dominicans are carrying out studies in Taiwan. Of these, around 20 have scholarships funded by the Taiwan government. The government of Taiwan has announced that all cooperation programs would end after the Dominican government announced it had signed for diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China on 30 April 2018.
There may be hope for the Dominican students in Taiwan. Taiwan News reported that the Ministry of Education of Taiwan was open to help the Dominican students to continue their studies, but each case would be treated differently by each university.
President Danilo Medina said on 1 May 2018 when in Puerto Plata for the inauguration of the remodeling of the Puerto Plata public hospital that the only request his government had made to China when signing for diplomatic relations was that it assist Dominicans studying in Taiwan to transfer their credits and continue their studies in continental China.
Nevertheless, the helping hand announced by the Ministry of Education in Taiwan may be a godsend to many. Education Minister of Taiwan Yang Shu-ya reportedly says it would help Dominicans to continue their studies, but these must talk to the universities. Diario Libre reports that when Panama switched from Taiwan to China, students who transferred to China found themselves with innumerous problems, many having to start their careers from zero.
The Administrative Minister of the Presidency José Ramón Peralta, and the director of communications of the Presidency Roberto Rodríguez Marchena, had announced by way of their respective Twitter accounts that China has promised that all of those Dominican students studying on scholarships at universities in Taiwan can transfer to universities in China to continue their studies. This will include studying on the same terms and their previous studies will be recognized. China says that they will also provide whatever assistance is necessary to the students and their families, currently in Taiwan.
Source: DR1, DiarioLibre
May 5, 2018
Green micro-algae, known as Sargassum, has returned to Dominican beaches, causing concern among beach hotels. Hotel employees and fisherman have confirmed that over the weekend the seaweed arrived in large quantities in the beaches on the east and south of the country.
In 2015, Sargassum first arrived en masse to the Dominican Republic, Mexico and almost all of the Caribbean countries and then miraculously disappeared in the September, after tropical storm Erika that brought heavy rains across the country.
Other countries in the Caribbean have been suffering from the algae bloom since February this year.
According to the Center for Marine Studies in Galveston, Texas, the reason for the arrival of the seaweed in 2015 was due to a change in the sea currents attributable to climate change.
While the reality is that the Sargassum seaweed a natural part of marine and coastal processes and provides habitat for over 250 animal species, the large amount floating to eastern shores detracts from the customary sandy appearance that tourists come for. Moreso, while the seaweed is biodegradable and harmless, it gives off a strong odor when it begins to decompose. Scientists say the Caribbean had not been affected until 2011, when climate change and shifting ocean currents made blooms of the seaweed more common.
Hotels in the country are concerned as tourists mainly come for the beaches and so they have invested in floating barriers to keep the Sargassum from reaching the beaches.
Source: DR1, Almomento
May 1, 2018
The Customs Agency (DGA) has announced that from Monday, 1 May 2018 they will require the identity card (cedula) number of those who are receiving packages that should be on the invoice. The shippers will also have to provide a detailed list of what is being shipped. These actions have followed the discovery of US$1,456,570 that was inside a metal tube inside a barrel being sent to the Dominican Republic via Salcedo Cargo Express.
The freight shippers have agreed with the measure, to improve security so that the identification and location of the receivers of goods can be identified.
Secretary General of the Association of Cargo Providers in the Dominican Republic (ACOREDOM) Wilson Perez, has said that everyone from the United States who ships to the Dominican Republic has to provide the cedula number of the recipient in order that there can be more control over shipments. There is no need for an actual copy of the identification card (cedula), just the number and they hope that the number will be correct.
Source: DR1, Diario Libre
May 1, 2018
Three million people are looking for work in the Dominican Republic, according to Fulgencio Severino, president of the Movimiento Patria para Todos (MPT). He called the productive sectors and the general population to foster a national strategy for job creation and improvement of wages, as reported in Listin Diario on occasion of International Labor Day on 1 May 2018.
42% of the seven million of working age have not found jobs, says Severino. He said the Dominican economic model has collapsed because it is based on tax incentives to large companies, taxation on consumption that increases the prices of basic products, and excessive taxation to small and medium enterprises. He says there is a lack of initiatives for the implementation of new technologies, manufacturing and excessive international borrowing by the government.
He called for new strategies so that university graduates can find dignified jobs. He said the Superintendence of Pensions published in March 2018 that 68% of those who have jobs in the formal sector make less than RD$15,000 a month, this including government employees.
Source: DR1, Listindiario
May 1, 2018
By EMILY WANG and JOHNSON LAI
Associated Press
BEIJING (AP) – The Dominican Republic established diplomatic relations with China on Tuesday, breaking ties with Beijing’s rival Taiwan in the latest blow to the self-ruled island democracy China has been trying to isolate on the global stage. Taiwan said it was “deeply upset” by the move.
Officials from China and the Dominican government signed a joint communique at an event in Beijing announcing the establishment of ties. The Dominican Republic “breaks diplomatic relations with Taiwan, which is an inalienable part of China, and will not maintain any kind of official relations or contacts,” said foreign minister Miguel Vargas, who sat alongside Chinese State Councilor Wang Yi.
The decision was the latest setback for Taiwan in the Caribbean and Latin America. Panama dropped its longtime ties with Taiwan last year and established relations with China, which considers Taiwan to be Chinese territory. The island is recognized as a sovereign nation by only 19 mainly small, developing countries.
Taiwan criticized what it called China’s “dollar diplomacy” and announced it would terminate ties with the Dominican Republic immediately, including all projects and assistance it provides to the Caribbean nation.
“This is an unfriendly and destructive approach to cross-strait relations,” Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen told reporters at an event in Taipei, referring to China’s action. “These actions will make the people in Taiwan feel disappointed and increase the variables in cross-strait relations.”
The announcement came just a day after Tsai had met with the foreign minister of Haiti, one of Taiwan’s allies, in Taipei.
Beijing has been seeking to increase pressure on Tsai, whose independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party says it wants stable relations with China, but refuses to endorse the “one China” principle.
Some analysts say Chinese President Xi Jinping, one of the most powerful Chinese leaders in decades, seems determined to bring Taiwan under Beijing’s control during his time in office, something that would place him in the history books alongside Mao Zedong.
The island’s 23 million residents are strongly in favor of maintaining their de facto independent status, but Xi has previously warned a Taiwanese envoy that the issue of unification cannot be put off indefinitely.
Wang, China’s foreign minister, hailed “a new page in the history of bilateral ties” between Beijing and the Dominican Republic. “From now on, China has one more good friend in Latin America with whom we could help each other,” Wang said.
Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said Beijing had offered “vast financial incentives” to the Dominican Republic to get it to end 77 years of diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Wu warned that Beijing has failed to deliver on hundreds of millions of dollars in pledges to some of Taiwan’s former diplomatic allies. He said the Taiwanese government was “deeply upset by China’s actions.”
Source: http://www.wnem.com
May 1, 2018
Mayor Ilana Neumann of Sosúa and the Director of Transit and Transportation Luz Tejeda announced that from Monday, May 7th to Friday, May 11th, 2018 you can get your driver’s license at the City Hall of Sosúa. This requires a certificate of good behavior for 500 pesos. A theoretical test of 1,380 peso and the practical test which costs you 980 peso. You have to pay it at Banco Reserva. There is an office equipped trailer at the City Hall during the week where you can arrange everything.
Source: Sosua News
April 1, 2018
