Archive for April, 2019
A First Instance Santo Domingo Court has ruled that the different rules that apply to men and women in the Divorce Law violate the Constitution. The rules restrict those who can petition a fast-track divorce on grounds of mutual consent. As reported in Diario Libre, the ruling of the Cuarta Sala para Asuntos de Familia of the Cámara Civil y Comercial del Juzgado de Primera Instancia of the province of Santo Domingo East would be setting a positive precedent for family cases. Lawyers explain it will make it possible to save time and the cost of litigation.
Divorce Law 1306-Bis, in its Art. 27, does not allow for the fast-tracked mutual consent divorces in the cases when the marriage is less than two years, when the couple has been married for 30 years, or when the husband is 60 years old or more and the wife is 50 years old.
Judge Altagracia Mendoza made the ruling when hearing the case presented by an Italian man married to a Dominican where age would have been an impediment to the mutual consent divorce.
As reported in Diario Libre, in her ruling (903-2016), the judge said that the Dominican Constitution outlaws gender discrimination.
Source: DR1, DiarioLibre
Apr 13, 2019
Newlink: Medina 21.1%, Abinader 20.4%, Fernandez 19.9%, Collado 19.8%
Politicians could be at a record low in popularity in the Dominican Republic. The results of the Newlink Dominican Republic automated telephone poll on 3 April 2019 reveal that President Danilo Medina is the best-rated Dominican politician, but he only has the favor of 21.1% of Dominicans eligible to vote.
Of those at this time eligible to run in the 2020 general elections, the popularity ratings are also low: Luis Abinader of the PRM with 20.4%; former President Leonel Fernández 19.9%; Mayor of the National District David Collado 19.8%; and Vice President Margarita Cedeño (wife of Leonel Fernández), 10.4%. Former President Hipólito Mejía, who aspires to be on the PRM ticket, has a popularity rating of 5.8%.
In addition to Fernández and Cedeño, others who aspire to be the ruling PLD party presidential candidate rated: president of the Senate Reinaldo Pared Pérez 0.8%, and former Education Minister Andrés Navarro 1.1%.
The same poll indicated that Fernández would win the PLD primaries with 41.1%, up slightly from the 40.3% rating he received in the same poll carried out in December 2018. Fernández defeats other contenders for the PLD ticket that are his wife, Vice President Margarita Cedeño, 24.8%; former Education Minister, Andres Navarro, 14.5%; Tourism Minister Francisco Javier García, 5.7%; senator Reinaldo Pared Pérez 5.2%; Public Works Minister Gonzalo Castillo 4.8%; and former Interior & Police Minister Carlos Amarante Baret 3.8%.
The poll does not include President Danilo Medina because the 2015 Constitution bans him from running for President in 2020.
The same poll indicates that National District Mayor David Collado (41.7%) would win the PRM primary compared to PRM presidential candidate, Luís Abinader, 37.%, and former President Hipólito Mejía (2000-2004), 20.9%. In the December poll, Collado was rated 41.7%, compared to 38% of Abinader and 20.4% of Mejía.
The 3 April 2019 telephone poll used the Newbot system and reached out to 66,283 persons of a population of 6,042,471 persons of 18 years old or older.
Source: DR1, Listindiario
Apr 13, 2019
The Superintendence of the Securities Market announced Pasteurizadora Rica, the leading manufacturer of milk and juices in the Dominican Republic, becomes the first local company to sell stock in the Dominican Securities Market (BVRD). In the resolution dated 5 April 2019, the Superintendence approves the first issuing of equities in the Dominican Republic. A RD$8 billion trust fund for the public offering of stocks will be managed by Fiduciaria Universal, S.A. and sold by Inversiones Popular S.A. and CCI Puesto de Bolsa, S.A.
The company was authorized to sell up to 40% of the shares of the Pasteurizadora Rica, said Securities Superintendent Gabriel Castro.
Source: DR1, Simv.gob
Apr 13, 2019
The director of the Emergency Operations Center (COE), General Juan Manuel Méndez has announced that 45,521 people will be working to support COE’s Easter Week 2019 operation. Easter Week holiday is the equivalent to the US Spring Break, with schools called off the entire week. The aforementioned number will include Civil Defense volunteers, doctors, paramedics, and members of the military and police.
The operation will start on Easter Thursday, 18 April at 2 pm and finish on Easter Sunday, 21 April at 6 pm. The COE has said that the purpose of the operation is to try and prevent traffic accidents and drowning as well as intoxication.
In addition, there will be 3,101 assistance points in important places such as beaches, swimming spots, roads, highways and avenues throughout the country.
The director on the National Institute of Ground Transit and Transport (Intrant), Claudia Franchesca de los Santos, reminded everyone that heavy vehicles are not allowed on the roads from Easter Thursday at noon to midnight on Easter Sunday.
Source: DR1, Hoy
Apr 13, 2019
Wednesday afternoon, April 10, a whole school of dolphins was spotted by tourists on a boat in the bay of Sosúa. They swam and played in front of the boat for at least fifteen minutes and seemed to enjoy staying just a few meters ahead of the boat. After the playtime they stopped and swam into the wide ocean with great speed. The boat tried to follow them for a while, but the dolphins swam so fast that they had no chance of staying with the dolphins. Of cours, the tourists were very pleased with this unexpected encounter. When they anchored at Sosúa beach, they told everyone who wanted to hear about this special encounter with intelligent playful dolphins. This is the first time that dolphins have been spotted off the coast of Sosúa. Humpback whales have been seen in the bay of the seaside resort before. For example, last year around this time, humpback whales were spotted in this bay. That is also exceptional. The location where they can be seen in large numbers during this period, is in the National Park ‘Los Haitises’ near the peninsula of Samaná.
Source: Sosua News
Apr 13, 2019
In the week from April, 15th to 20th it is ‘Semana Santa’ or the Holy week to celebrate Easter. Sosúa again will be flooded by Dominican holidaymakers. Many hotel owners will increase the rental prices for their rooms this week. Extra mattresses and sun beds are often dragged in to accommodate for the families.
Representatives of the police, fire brigade, soldiers and civilian guard have already come together and talked about sharing the responsibilities during Semana Santa (Easter week) and maintaining order. No music shall be played on Friday and there will also be a curfew on alcohol sales. There will be a lot of extra police present to prevent disturbances. Volunteers from the voluntary civilian guard (Defensa Civil) and the Red Cross will also be ready to offer assistance in the event of accidents. At the beach entrance the bags are checked for forbidden glassware. Glass bottles with liquor are forbidden in these days and the bars will only serve liquor in plastic cups. This will be strictly monitored. On Sunday afternoon almost everyone goes home again and the peace returns to the seaside resort.
Source: Sosua News
Apr 13, 2019
Traditionally, a volleyball tournament is held on the beach of Cabarete during the Semana Santa week. It’s a tournament for men and women.
For the winners, cash prizes and gifts from the Cabarete business community are available. In addition to teams from Cabarete, teams from Santiago, San Francisco de Macoris, La Vega, Puerto Plata, Rio San Juan, Nagua and Sosúa have also registered for this tournament. But there are also teams composed of tourists who stay in Sosúa and Cabarete. This will again be a spectacular multi-day tournament to which many enthusiasts will come to encourage their sports heroes. Thanks to sponsors such as the National Brewery (Presidente Beer), Banco del Reservas, Molten, Norcerca, Ocean World, Miderec, Cemento Cibao, who make this event possible.
Source: Sosua News
Apr 13, 2019
Every year some 13,000,000 tons of plastics are dumped into the world’s oceans, according to a report by the UN Environment (UNEP). A large part of this amount is composed of plastic bags, just like the ones we see in supermarkets, the corner store, or any commercial entity.
Now a Dominican company that has been making plastic bags for some 6 years is implementing a process to make the bags biodegradable. Multigestiones Ayaz announced they are adding an ingredient that reduces the time it takes for plastic to break down in the environment.
According to the general manager of the factory that employs 192 persons, “a normal piece of plastic takes a very, very long time to break down, but with the additive we use, under the proper conditions, the bags break down in about two years”. The bags incorporate an oxy-bio-degradable agent (Reverte) that was developed by a British company, Wells Plastics Ltd. It is said to make less damaging packing materials as such as these that break down sooner.
Manuel Lorenzo Viyella, the manager, said that two major supermarket chains are using these bags at a rate of about 4,000,000 per month. Other clients include bakeries and coffee marketers.
Environmentalists criticize that while the bags degrade faster, this is not fast enough to be a major component of litter and marine litter. In the process, microplastics are produced, potentially a bigger environmental and health issue.
Source: DR1, DiarioLibre
Apr 8, 2019
Could the rural communities of Santiago province be the Dominican Blue Zone, or area where conditions lead the population to live long lives? Recently the community of Hato del Yaque in Santiago met to honor 118-year old Juana Francisca Fernández, considered the oldest living Dominican. They wanted to celebrate after losing another record-setting Dominican, Jaime Vicente, a farmer who recently died at age 117. The municipality said the gathering sought to recognize the importance of caring for the wellbeing of the aging in the community and to celebrate life.
Doña Juana Francisca has lived for decades in Villa Bay. She was born on 4 April 1901 in Meseta of the Municipio de Janico, Santiago province. She was 29 when would be Dictator Trujillo was first elected in 1930.
She said she has breakfast every morning with a cup of fresh milk from milked cows, Dominican cheese (queso de hoja), and farm-range chickens. One of her grandsons explained: “She is very picky about what she eats. She eats everything natural.”
She has 11 grandchildren and 26 great-grandchildren. She says she is constantly complaining because she is no longer allowed to participate in farm activities as she did all her life.
Source: DR1, Elcaribe
Apr 8, 2019
A court in Aix-en-Provence, France, sentenced two pilots that would have transported to France a shipment of 680kg of cocaine on board a Falcon private jet flight from Punta Cana International Airport to six years in jail. The case dates back to March 2013, when local narcotics officers detected the cocaine in 26 suitcases on board the plane that was to leave for St. Tropez in France with the two pilots and two passengers on board.
The pilots, Pascal Fauret and Bruno Odos, had been sentenced to 20 years of jail by a Dominican court that said the pilots were responsible for what was on board. While on domiciliary arrest, they fled the Dominican Republic. The pilots were rearrested in November 2015 upon their return to France.
In the same case, touted by the international press as the “Air Cocaine” case, others were handed sentences for their involvement. These were Ali Bouchareb, described as the ringleader, who was given 18 years in prison. Frank Colin was given 12 years in jail for being his accomplice. Others sentenced were members of the airplane rental company SNTHS, Fabrice Alcaud and Pierre-Marc Dreyfus, who were sentenced to six years each, and former customs agent François-Xavier Manchet, ordered to serve five years in jail.
Source: BBC news
Apr 8, 2019
