Archive for March, 2019
PUERTO PLATA. – Several Victorian homes have been destroyed by suspicious fires that have occurred in recent years in this town, which is causing concern among the people of Puerto Plata.
The most recent case occurred last Tuesday night, when voracious flames consumed the structure of the house of Momón Henríquez, which was located on Avenida Luis Ginebra, almost opposite the Cervecero Furgón.
This house that belonged to the Pérez-Bonilla family was built in 1935 and according to the inventory of the Office of Cultural Heritage of Puerto Plata, it was among the Victorian houses of the Bungalow type.
It is recalled that, in the house destroyed by the disaster, there for several years Salvatore and Alcira Bonilla spouses lived, who ruled the disappeared Sicilian disco, where a few months ago the music school Góspel was installed.
Also, another Victorian house built of wood, was reduced to ashes on Sunday morning, November 26, 2017 at the corner formed by Padre Castellanos and Professor Juan Bosch streets, property that was owned by a businessman Andrés Brugal Martínez.
On the night of April 4, 2015 (Good Friday) a fire destroyed another Victorian two-level house on Calle 12 de Julio near the corner of Emilio Prud’Homme that was more than 105 years old, which was owned by engineer Miguel Valerio Muñoz (Chachá Valerio).
At midday on Thursday, July 18, 2015, another incident of dubious origin, completely consumed an old Victorian wooden house and zinc roof located on Padre Castellanos street almost Duarte corner, where the merchandise warehouse of the store Distribuidora González .
The fire also caused the destruction of another adjoining Victorian house, where was the premises of the Francisco Alberto Caamaño Foundation that was attended by the defunct revolutionary fighter Idarnes (Idanito) Hernández Durán, next to Radio Puerto Plata, just meters from the City Hall and off the branch of Banco del Progreso.
These fires that have erased Victorian buildings in the Historic Center of Puerto Plata, supposedly have been caused intentionally by Haitian nationals, who fled after igniting the structure of which today there are only photos and memories.
Source: Puerto Plata Digital
Mar 20, 2019
A Dominican architect has been awarded the “Emerging Architect of 2018” given by the International Design Awards (IDA) of Los Angeles, California.
The winner is Eric Alexander Batista Pérez. He won the Gold Award in the category of Symbolic Monuments and Structures for his design of the Taino Interpretation Center in the southwestern city of San Juan de la Maguana. He was competing against around 4,000 other projects from 90 countries.
Architect Batista explained that when he was in his fourth year of studying architecture, he visited the original monument that was in disrepair and abandoned and hence he redesigned it as his graduate thesis from the PUCMM School of Architecture in Santiago.
Source: DR1, Listindiario
Mar 20, 2019
Forest fires are on the rise in the country that is now under a severe dry spell. There have been over 40 forest fires in the first 77 days of the year. Said to be the worst drought in 50 years, the forests are also suffering from an attack by plagues of beetles.
According to Gerónimo Abreu, head of the National Forest Fire Office at the Ministry of the Environment, the number of fires is higher than over the same period last year with the national parks being where the most fires have occurred.
In March alone, so far there have been more than 20 fires in the José Armando Bermúdez National Park, between Santiago Rodríguez and San José de las Matas, in Santiago province. Only last week there were six fires simultaneously in San José de las Matas, affecting around 16 hectares. Other areas affected by fires have been in Bahoruco and Los Haitises and the last forest fire was on Sunday 17 March in Guaigüí, La Vega.
The forest fire office works with two teams, one for actually fighting fires with 22 brigades across the country and the other with 300 brigades working to prevent fires and with reforestation.
Abreu said that usually the fires are caused deliberately by those who wish to plant crops or raise cattle. This year only four fires were caused by falling electric cables and the rest have all been caused by man.
Source: DR1, DiarioLibre
Mar 20, 2019
According to data from the Ministry of Education, school desertion is high. During the school year 2017 to 2018, a total of 40,206 students from the public, private and semi-official schools, were registered but dropped out during the school year. The largest number of dropouts were those registered in private schools, 31,314 students.
At least 19,627 deserted schools at the secondary level. Some 15,317 dropped out of elementary school. Some 5,242 started daycare, but stopped attending the classes.
The main reason for dropping out is the difficulty in getting to school and financial problems at home. In addition, many children, while still attending school, work after school in order to help the family finances.
Source: DR1, Listindiario
Mar 20, 2019
The Dominican Republic is losing territory to Haitian migration. As reported in the Listín Diario, a motion in the Senate presented by the senator Adriano Sánchez Roa for Elías Piña has called for an exhaustive review of the border markers to comply with the Dominican-Haitian Border Treaty of 1929 and its review dated 1936. There are reports the country has already lost around 6,200 square kilometers to migration. As reported, thousands of Haitians have occupied Dominican land illegally, where they have built homes, businesses and farms along the border.
As reported in El Caribe, the government of Haiti recently recognized that the area in Carrizal, Elías Piña where the government is building a gate is Dominican territory.
“An analysis of the geo-located cartographic surveys and the verification of the geographical references was carried out, in comparison with the border between the two countries. As a result, according to the results of these studies, the Dominican infrastructures that were being disputed, and that are located between terminals RH / RD 181 and RH 182, are on the east side of the border and are located in Dominican territory,” says the official statement issued by the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Haiti.
A clash between violent Haitians and Dominican soldiers resulted in the death of one Haitian and injury of another last week. The Haitian authorities say it makes the matter public to avoid future clashes as that which occurred on Friday, 15 March 2019.
Senator Adriano Sánchez Roa said that the announcement by the government of Haiti opens the way for a strengthening of the bi-national trade and to continue combatting contraband between the two nations. He said El Carrizal is a place from where more Dominican exports can be made and where Haitians can source low-cost imports of food, construction materials and other needed goods.
The senator for the border province of Elías Piña congratulated Defense Minister General Paulino Sem and the Dominican soldiers for the defense of Dominican territory.
Source: DR1, Elcaribe
Mar 20, 2019
Anthony Santos was honored during the 35th Soberano Awards for his contributions to positioning bachata as an international dance music. The Dominican Republic has requested that the Unesco list Dominican bachata as intangible cultural heritage. Santos received the honor from Emely Baldera, president of the Dominican Show Business Writers Association and Franklin León, president of Cervecería Nacional Dominicana, the sponsor of the event. On the same evening, Anthony Santos had been honored as the Best Bachata Performer and for the Best Bachata (Mal educado) for 2018.
Another big winner of the Soberano Awards was Alá Jazá (Emmanuel Jiménez), who won in the categories of Merengue of the Year (Nadie se ****), Best Collaboration (Mi forma de ser) and Street Merengue. Alá Jazá is credited for creating the 21st Century style of urban merengue known as MamWali, that merges merengue and trap music. He is also an acclaimed mambo, bachata, and ballad singer.
In the movie category, Tabaré Blanchard took to the stage of the National Theater on three occasions to receive awards for “Veneno,” the story of wrestler Jack Veneno. In the theater category, the big winner was Juancito Rodríguez for “Agosto.”
Another highlight of the evening was the performance by singer Juliana O’Neal, who is battling cancer. Merengue star Alex Bueno performed his long-time merengue hit “Colegiala” on the stage. Danny Rivera sang the music of the late Anthony Ríos. Others that were remembered that evening were radio innovator Teo Veras, singer Luchi ******* and movie-maker Fernando Báez in a segment with Lily Goodman.
There were many expressions of solidarity to Venezuelan artists who expressed their appreciation to Dominicans for local support.
See the list of the award winners:
https://www.cdn.com.do/2019/03/20/li…soberano-2019/
Source: DR1, CDN
Mar 20, 2019
On Monday, 18 March 2019, five people died and more than a dozen were injured in several traffic accidents in Puerto Plata.
Hotel employee Juan Eduardo Céspedes Henríquez, died of head injuries when his motorcycle was hit by a vehicle on the Gran Parada-Montellano road.
The second victim has not yet been identified but was killed during an accident in front of Playa Dorada hotel and residential complex.
In Villa Isabela, 37-year old Williams César Peña from Mao and 17-year old Daniel Tineo Ramos from Luperón, died when two motorcycles collided on the road linking the two communities of La Sabana de Los Mieses and Los Arquíes.
Francisco Núñez died when his vehicle caught fire on the La Catalina-Pata de Gallina road in Sabaneta de Yásica, but the driver of the car managed to save himself.
Five young men were seriously injured when their Ford SUV left the road near the gas station in La Ciénaga in Cabarete. Those injured, who were all from Cabarete, were Robinson Cuello Hilario, Roberto Mejía, Rómulo De la Cruz, Andrés Jiménez and Wilfredo De la Cruz.
Another accident happened to 19-year old Asi Starlin Geraldino Peralta who fell from his motorcycle on the Puerto Plata-Cofresí road. A collision between two motorcycles on the Malecon in Puerto Plata caused serious injuries to 21-year old Yanibel Salvador and 2-year old Alan Dariel Bonilla.
Also with serious injuries are Fiordaliza Camacho, Miguel Caonabo Vargas and Osiris Bonilla, again when two motorcycles collided in Sosua. Two unidentified men were injured as the result of a crash between a car and a motorcycle in front of the Jose Briseño baseball stadium in Puerto Plata city.
Source: DR1, Eldia
Mar 20, 2019
The Inclusive Internet Ranking produced by The Economist Intelligence Unit has ranked the Dominican Republic 61st out of 100 countries globally evaluated and 12th out of 15 Latin American countries. The ranking is based on the categories of availability, affordability, readiness and relevance.
The Economist Intelligence Unit ranking assesses the quality and coverage of the available infrastructure for access to the Internet and the levels of use and its affordability.
The DR is ranked 52nd in availability, 77th in affordability, 58th in relevance and 10th in readiness. In availability, the DR is ranked 22nd in infrastructure, but gets low scores in usage, quality and electricity. In affordability, the DR is ranked 52nd in price, but 87th in competitive environment. In relevance, the score is 44th in local content and 78th in relevant content. In readiness, the DR was ranked 21st in trust and safety and 43rd in literacy and 1st in policy.
In Latin America, Brazil (31st) is the highest ranked country, followed by Argentina (33rd), Colombia (35th), Mexico (45th), Costa Rica (46th), Uruguay (48th), Ecuador (54th), Panama (55th), Peru (56th), El Salvador (59th). In the region, below the Dominican Republic are only Guatemala (67th), Jamaica (68th) and Venezuela (78th).
Source: DR1, DiarioLibre
Mar 20, 2019
During the last five years, there have been 500 people who have died due to burns in the Dominican Republic. This is an average of 100 a year.
The death toll is from reports by the Pearl F Ort burn center in Santo Domingo that handles adult burn cases. Also from the pediatric hospitals Arturo Grullón in Santiago and Robert Reid in Santo Domingo where burn centers care for burned children. Other deaths are reported from those who died at the scene due to a fire, electrocution, scalding, chemical, acid and contact with something hot.
The figures mean that the Dominican Republic is among countries with the highest level of burn-related deaths. Burns from fire and electrocution are the most common. Of the electrocution cases, 95% is due to people touching live wires. According to Eddy Bruno, head of the adult burns’ unit, among the most dramatic are the deaths of persons when trying to set up irregular connections to steal electricity.
Source: DR1, Listindiario
Mar 20, 2019
One hooded Haitian was killed and another was injured after they crossed the border to throw rocks and bottles full of gasoline at members of the Armed Forces. The Haitians protested that the government was building a gate around a Customs Agency building in Carrizal, Elías Piña on the border with Haiti, as reported by the Ministry of Defense. The Dominican military fired in self-defense and to defend Dominican territory.
As reported, on the Haitian side of the border, Haitians were burning tires and affecting the Friday market day as part of protests demanding that Haitian President Jovenel Moise resign. But then the protestors crossed the border. Dominican soldiers fired in self-defense after two of the Haitians crossed to Dominican territory and threw rocks and a bottle of gasoline at Colonel José Manuel Durán Infante, director general of the Cuerpo Especializado de Seguridad Fronteriza Terrestre (Cesfront).
In a press release, Defense Minister Rubén Darío Paulino Sem lamented what had happened and said a special commission head by Ministry of Defense inspector general Edmundo Félix Pimentel, and general commander of the Army Estanislao Gonell Regalado, would investigate and present a detailed report. The army says that the Haitians had been congregating at the site with a hostile attitude, but then they crossed the border and began to shoot and throw stones at the Dominican soldiers.
Last week, Enrique Ramírez, director of the Customs Agency, announced the DGA is building multi-agencies at several points of the border to ensure greater control and security in commercial transactions at the border. He says the DGA checkpoints are coordinated with the Haitian authorities.
Elías Piña senator Adriano Sánchez Roa said that the hostility of the Haitians is because they oppose the construction of the gate around the Customs Agency. The gate seeks to better organize trade on the border.
Source: DR1, Listindiario
Mar 20, 2019
