Archive for July, 2018
The best Dominican tennis player of all times, Víctor Estrella won the gold medal in the 23rd Central American and Caribbean Sports Games taking place in Barranquilla, Colombia on Sunday, 29 July 2018. Estrella defeated his teammate, Roberto Cid 6-4, 6-3 to win the gold and Cid the silver in the singles event. Estrella was the defending champion from the Mayaguez 2010 and Veracruz 2014 games.
The match was closely contested to the end, and sports reporters say that Estrella had to rely on his experience as a professional tennis player to win the match. In the 2014 Games, Estrella had battled another Dominican, José (Bebo) Hernández. Estrella is the only Dominican tennis player to have won three consecutive gold tennis singles at the regional games.
Then on Monday, 30 July 2018, Victor Estrella teamed with Roberto Cid to take the gold medal in the men’s doubles by defeating Christopher Diaz and Wilfredo Gonzalez of Gautemala 6-3, 7-5.
Also competing in the Central American & Caribbean Games, Estefania Soriano gave the country another gold in the 44 kilogram division in judo.
As of Monday, 30 July, the Dominican Republic had won 21 gold medals of 79 medals total. The DR is in fifth place behind Mexico, Colombia, Cuba, and Venezuela.
Source: DR1, Listindiario
July 31, 2018
Altice Europe has agreed to sell its Dominican Republic telecoms towers business, Teletorres del Caribe, to Phoenix Tower International in a deal valuing the business at US$170 million, as the telecoms and cable group continues to shed assets to cut debt.
Altice said the sale to Phoenix Tower, owned by private equity firm Blackstone, was expected to be completed during the third quarter of 2018. The sale of the assets was driven by Altice’s desire to cut debts and improve the company’s business performance.
Altice will continue its telecom services in the Dominican Republic but says the sale of the towers will enable it to improve its current level service.
Source: DR1, Listindiario
July 31, 2018
Puerto Plata.- Thousands of fish were found dead in the lagoon of the Golf Course of the Playa Dorada Tourist Project, which has immediately brought CODOPESCA Director to the site.
Román Tolentino Acosta, Director of CODOPESCA of this province indicated that they received complaints that since this morning the fish were dying in the lagoon of the tourist project, in the afternoon he came to the place to verify the death of thousands of species, and they immediately took samples of the water and sent them to Santo Domingo to carry out a Microbiological study to determine the causes.
Tolentino Acosta warned that once the results are obtained, the responsible will be found. They will not allow different species, such as turtles, crabs and fish etc. to be damaged.
It is presumed that the death of marine species is due to chemicals poured into the lagoon, so now it’s being investigated whether any hotel or private facility may be pouring its wastewaters into the lagoon.
Source: Puerto Plata Digital
July 21, 2018
Sosúa.- On Friday (July 20th), an intense operation led by Attorney General Lic. Osvaldo Bonilla, carried out the closing of several businesses and arrest of their representatives.
Among the closed businesses is Bar Restaurant “Picaflor”, located on the main street of Playa Laguna, the business supposedly has been running sex trade services including rental villas. Elvis Beatón, alias El Peje, owner of Picaflor was immediately arrested.
While in the El Batey sector, the Blue Piano Bar was closed and a woman identified only as Rosalba was arrested.
On Saturday morning, several armed soldiers were seen at the premises, guarding the place.
According to the report, Judge Bonilla, prosecutors Pascual, Warlin, and Maciel Peña participated in the rade, as well as prosecutors from Santo Domingo, and members of the Dominican Army and the Air Force.
Source: Detras del Rumor
July 21, 2018
The Ministry of Health reported that it has received information from the International Network of Food Authorities that imported vegetables could contain bacteria that produces a reaction named Listeriosis.
The USA Center for Disease Control alerts of the possibility of severe illness, including sepsis, meningitis, or encephalitis with the possibility of death or life long harm. The international agency said that lots of frozen corn, carrots and broccoli of the Vima Foods brand coming from Belgium and Hungary and manufactured between 13 August 2016 and 20 June 2018, have been found to be contaminated by the Listeria bacteria.
The Dominican health agency carried out an inspection of VIMA Dominicana, SLR, which markets these products in the Dominican Republic, and ordered the withdrawal of all the affected lots since they represent a very high risk for consumers. The agency also instructs the consumers who have purchased these products to discard or return them to the shop where they were purchased.
The epidemiological section of the Ministry has been placed on alert for the study and evaluation of possible victims.
Source: DR1, DiarioLibre
July 21, 2018
Despite the prompt denial by executive vice president Rubén Jiménez Bichara, it is now confirmed that a representative of the Dominican government did sign a memorandum of understanding with the China Huayang Economic and Trade Group Co., Ltd, a Chinese state-owned company under the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.
Acento published on 18 July 2018, that indeed the agreement was witnessed by over 40 persons that participated in a major event at The Great Hall of the People in Beijing on 8 July 2018, two months after the establishing of diplomatic relations.
Signing the agreement was José Rafael Santana Santana, who is the president of the board of the Public Electricity Corporation (CDEEE). Present was acting Dominican ambassador Rosa Ng Wu, who has served as the Dominican commercial representative in China. Cheng Qingtao, president of Huayang Group, signed for China.
The agreement does not specify details of the energy central and just refers to the intention of the state Chinese company in participating in the construction of a project in Manzanillo, Montecristi after a tender is held.
The information that the talks were regarding a power plant to be built in Manzanillo, Montecristi was known by the general public in the Dominican Republic after El Nacional and El Dia reported that Inframation News had released the news on its online platform that covers major infrastructure construction deals around the world.
Inframation News reported that the Manzanillo central would be built at the site of the Manzanillo port, for which a concession would be part of the deal. The agreement calls for a BOO or BOT project, with sovereign guarantees and the China Development Bank would lend the money. BOO means Build, Own, Operate; and BOT means Build, Operate, Transfer.
The proposal is for a 1,200 MW power plant that would be fueled by natural gas and included in the project is the construction of natural gas terminals as well as transmission and distribution systems from the power plant to the national power grid.
In the memorandum of understanding signed on 5 July, reportedly José Rafael Santana for the board of the CDEEE accepts that the Chinese government entity would use the port of Manzanillo for the construction and setting into operation of the power generating facility. This would be the first major project announced between the two countries since China replaced Taiwan three months ago.
Inframation News had reported that the Dominican Public Electricity Corporation (CDEEE) had signed a memorandum of understanding with China Huayang for the installation of a natural gas power generation plant in Manzanillo Bay. This was covered by El Dia. This would be a public-private concession for 30 years.
China Huayang Economic and Trade Group Co. is a Chinese state-owned company under the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.
But after the news was published, CDEEE executive vice president Ruben Jimenez Bichara had promptly denied the signing of an agreement. He claimed the government had not reached any agreement of intent on future power generation plants with a Chinese corporation.
When the news was published two weeks after the meeting, executive vice president of the CDEEE once again denied the signing of any intent. On Wednesday, Jiménez Bichara clarified that the president of the board of the CDEEE was authorized to sign in China a memorandum of understanding for the companies that were interested in carrying out projects in the Dominican Republic. He downplayed the importance of the memorandum of understanding (MOU-HOA) and said this did not imply any concession on behalf of the Dominican state. “It is a document where the CDEEE shows that we are willing to listen to them, to do their studies and everything they require, because that is the freedom of the company,” Jiménez Bichara said in a document sent to El Nacional newspaper.
In a press conference on Wednesday in the presence of Santana and Jiménez Bichara, these clarified that the document offered general statements such as the government openness to facilitate feasibility studies, and that Huayang’s participation in the Dominican market was subject to complying with Dominican laws and procedures.
El Dia observed that the CDEEE has signed 27 memorandums of understanding in the past three months with potential energy investors, but for the only one that government officers traveled abroad to sign was that with the People’s Republic of China state company.
Acento published a copy of the memorandum of understanding that includes a clause of confidentiality. The MOU is limited 60 days, while the confidentiality restriction is two years.
The Manzanillo project requires congressional approval and a tender would need to be carried out to comply with the procurement law.
The Movimiento Conciencia Nacional, in a document sent to the media and reported by Hoy, speculated that the reason why the government officers have hidden the agreement is that the lower costs of the project would evidence the overvaluation that has occurred at the Punta Catalina coal-fired power plant under construction by the government with Odebrecht in Peravia province.
Source: DR1, Acento
July 21, 2018
According to figures from the Center for Export and Import (CEI-RD) and the Customs Agency (DGA) exports from the Dominican Republic to Haiti have dropped US$216 million. These have declined from US$1.07 billion in 2013 to US$854 million in 2017. Imports have also reduced by almost half, and are down from US$69 million to US$36 million.
For this year it appears that the pattern will continue the same as in the first five months of 2018, exports from the Dominican Republic to Haiti have declined by US$17 million compared to the same time period last year going from US$366 million in the first five months of 2017 down to US$349 million this year.
Commercial relationships between the two countries have been stressed in recent years. Haiti, on several occasions, has banned the import of a number of Dominican products while increasing taxes on others.
Source: DR1, Listindiario
July 17, 2018
Brigades from Civil Defense recovered the corpses of three brothers, 12-year old Jose Enrique, 8-year old Ricardito and 6-year old Richard Mota de León who were last seen when they playfully jumped into a lagoon for cooling off in summer in the community of Cayacoita in Cayacoa de San José de los Llanos, in San Pedro de Macoris province. The alert was given by a fourth brother, 5-year old Pedrito, who did not follow his brothers into the lagoon and instead returned home to tell his parents his brothers did not return to land.
The brothers were the sons of Maura de León and Antolín Mota Nieves.
The tragedy occurred on Sunday, 15 July 2018, and the search began the same day and then resumed at 6 am on the next day, Monday, 16 July. A backhoe was used to try to reduce the water level of lake. The bodies were found on Monday.
The Guayacanes Fire Brigade, National Police and volunteers joined the Civil Defense in the search.
Source: DR1, Listindiario
July 17, 2018
The Dominican Medical Guild (Colegio Médico Dominicano) is accusing the health risk administrators (ARS) of monopolizing private health services in the country, and of lack of compliance of an agreement to assign a single code to physicians. The ARS are mainly owned by big banks.
Now the medics are giving the ARS 30 days to comply or they will go on strike. This time around, the CMD is siding with the National Association of Private Clinics (Andeclip) and the National Council of Specialized Medical Societies that are battling the health providers on grounds of these exercising what they consider are unfair and greedy business practices.
The medics call for the amendment of Dominican Social Security System Law 87-01 so that the veto passes to the state, that the ARS apply and update the Basic Health Plan (PBS), update the fees medics receive. They criticized the ARS for impeding the takeoff of primary care in the country, because these want to direct it.
The medics claim that the ARS has blocked the modification of the expansion of the basic plan, to continue to monopolize services to the population and deny coverage and free choice to patients for medications, procedures and diagnostic tests.
Doctors and owners of private clinics also criticized the Superintendence of Health and Occupational Risks (Sisalril) and the National Social Security Council (CNSS), for failing to comply with their responsibility as the regulators of the health system.
Source: DR1, DiarioLibre
July 17, 2018
