Archive for May, 2019
PUERTO PLATA.- Saltos de Damajagua Natural Monument (27 Waterfalls) received the Tripadvisor Certificate of Excellence, which maintains that protected area of the Puerto Plata destination in the Hall of Fame of this important website of tourist opinions.
The recognition obtained for the sixth consecutive year is the result of the favorable opinions of the thousands of foreign tourists who visit the Natural Monument that has an extension of 6 square kilometers, which have placed this attraction as number one within its category in all the northern area of the Dominican Republic.
“This award, more than an award, is a commitment of the project to continue with the continuous improvements and to make the experience always pleasant for the visitors,” said Roberto Luis Gómez Santana, who is the administrator of the Saltos de Damajagua Natural Monument.
The sight is located between the municipalities of Imbert and Altamira, destined for excursions in its 27 Charcos that allow the visitor to swim, slide down natural slides and jump from one to another, because it has three stretches between puddles, waterfalls, slides and varied ecosystems with native flora and fauna, as well as diverse natural landscapes.
It is highlighted that this tourist attraction is a protected area declared as such in 2004 through Law 202-04, since 2005 it is administered through the co-management modality between the Ministry of the Environment and the Rio Damajagua Guide Association. , forming part of the administration the Ministry of Tourism, Governorate of Puerto Plata, City Hall of Imbert and the Hotel Association of Playa Dorada.
Source: Puerto Plata Digital
May 26, 2019
The Dominican Republic’s senior volleyball team that is ranked 10th in the World by the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) defeated Brazil, ranked 4th in the world, during the Volleyball World Nations League championship taking place in Brasilia. On the previous day, the DR had defeated Russia, ranked 5th in the world. The scores were: 22-25, 20-25, 25-22 and 26-28.
Next, the Dominican Republic will play the reigning Olympic champions China and hosts Brazil will play Russia in 2019 FIVB Volleyball Nations League Pool 3 on Thursday, 23 May 2019. China has won 21 of 22 matches against the Dominican Republic at world level major competitions (Volleyball Nations League, Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World Grand Prix and Grand Champions Cup). China has won 10 major encounters in a row versus the Dominican Republic since their only defeat against the Dominican team at the 2010 World Grand Prix (3-2).
In week 1, in Pool 3, the Dominican Republic is playing against Brazil, Russia and China.
The championship gathers most of the top 16 teams in the world. These by ranking are: Serbia (1), China (2), USA (3), Brazil (4), Russia (5), Japan (6), Netherlands (7), Italy (8), South Korea (9), Dominican Republic (10), Turkey (12), Thailand (14), Germany (15), Bulgaria (16), Belgium (19) and Poland (26).
The final round of the championship begins with the participation of the six best teams.
Source: Volleyball.world
May 26, 2019
Beekeepers report large losses of beehives, especially in the northwestern provinces, one of the main honey-producing areas in the country. It is estimated there are 100,000 hives kept in the country.
The National Livestock Production Council and the Beekeeping Commission of the Animal Health Livestock Agency (Digega) has identified as reasons affecting the bee population the increases in tree felling, growing urbanization and indiscriminate use of chemical herbicides.
On occasion of World Bees Day on 20 May 2019, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) called on countries to redouble efforts to protect bees as key to the global fight against hunger. FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva says the absence of bees and other pollinators would eliminate coffee, apples, almonds, tomatoes and cocoa.
According to data from Digega, exports of pure honey, based on Certificates of No Objection, were 426,452.57 kilograms net (kg), for a value of US$1,102,982.04 in 2017. The destinations were Puerto Rico, USA. (Miami, New York), Curaçao and Martinique.
On the other hand, Digega reports that between 2018 and 2019 there was an export of 226,940.76 kg for a value of US$509,479.60, mixed honey 6,157 kg for a value of US$21,110, and wax, another byproduct of honey, 2,820 kg were exported for a value of US$25,991.49.
The main honey production areas are the northwestern provinces, and the central provinces (Peravia, Ocoa, Monte Plata). As of the 21st of this month, the beekeeping traceability system has registered 1,277 beekeepers, 1,509 apiaries and seven honey-processing plants.
Source: DR1, Listindiario
May 26, 2019
Although the Atlantic Hurricane Season begins on 1 June, it is not unusual for storms to form prior to the actual start of the season. On Monday, 20 May 2019, the first tropical storm of the 2019 hurricane season was formed. Named Andrea, the storm is well north of the Dominican Republic in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean some 540 kilometers from Bermuda.
The names that will be used this season are Andrea, Barry, Chantal, Dorian, Erin, Fernand, Gabrielle, Humberto, Imelda, Jerry, Karen, Lorenzo, Melissa, Nestor, Olga, Pablo, Rebekah, Sebastien, Tanya, Van and Wendy.
The National Meteorological Office (Onamet) is forecasting that the country will continue to be under the effects of a weather front that will bring rains and electric storms to several provinces in the north, northwest, northeast, central mountain range and the border zone.
The provinces most affected by the rains, which will occur primarily in the afternoons and evenings, are: Santiago, Puerto Plata, Valverde, Espaillat (Moca), Hermanas Mirabal (Salcedo), María Trinidad Sánchez (Cabrera), Santiago Rodríguez, Dajabón, Elías Piña, La Vega, Monseñor Nouel (Bonao) and San Juan de la Maguana.
Source; DR1, DiarioLibre
May 26, 2019
On Tuesday, 21 May 2019, two passengers died and the pilot was seriously injured when a helicopter crashed in Puerto Plata province. The pilot, Army Major Jesus Mendez Cuervo was taken to the Ney Arias Lora burn center in Santo Domingo, but died later at around 5am on Wednesday, 22 May, as reported in a Diario Libre update on the accident.
According to Colonel Enmanuel Souffront, director of investigations for the Civil Aviation Board, the helicopter crashed near Muñoz, at kilometer 7 on the Playa Dorada-Montellano road. The helicopter was five nautical miles west of landing at the Puerto Plata International Airport. The helicopter had taken off from La Isabela International Airport in Santo Domingo and then made a stop in La Vega to pick up passengers.
Souffront and technical specialists are working in the area to determine the cause of the crash. He said the pilot had reported a fire in the engine prior to the crash.
The other two victims are businessmen Juan Heriberto Medrano and Jesus Martin Vargas. Medrano was chief executive of Grupo Medrano in La Vega. The company operates the leading radio and cable TV company. The Medrano group is an important communication company, with operations especially in the Cibao area. Its main brands are Ritmo 96.5 FM, Estrella 90, Canal 105.1 FM, Turbo 98. It also owns Telecable Central based in La Vega. He was son of Cuqui Medrano, who was a senator for La Vega for the PRD. The other deceased is Jesús Martin Vargas, a cable TV businessman San Francisco de Macorís.
Source: DR1, DiarioLibre
May 26, 2019
UPDATE: Helicopter crashes on first flight by new owner
Executives of the Grupo Medrano say the crashed Bell helicopter was fully equipped and on its inaugural flight. The helicopter had been purchased for the personal use of Medrano. Company director Roberto Rodríguez and family lawyer José Miguel de la Cruz said the helicopter had been purchased from a Haitian businessman in Miami, Florida in March 2019 and since then had undergone customization. The fatal 21 May 2019 flight was the first the owner would take in the helicopter. Medrano would fly to Puerto Plata to close a Telecable Central business deal, as reported.
In the fatal crash, Medrano, Martin Vargas, operations manager of Telecable Central and Army mayor, pilot Jesus Salvador Mendez Cuervo died when it crashed in Muñoz, shortly before landing at the Puerto Plata International Airport. The pilot had reported a fire in the motor. Witnesses say they saw the helicopter in flames in the air.
Rodríguez says they are waiting for a report from the National Commission for Air Accidents.
Source: Listindiario
The Ground Transport and Transit Safety Agency (Digesett) has announced that it has retained around 4,000 vehicles nationwide for violation of the resolution that establishes minimum tire tread depths.
Digesett spokesman, Hilman Pimentel told Listin Diario newspaper that to date 4,163 vehicles have been ticketed and confiscated by agents as the tires on the vehicles were not in the condition required as laid down in Intrant Resolution 002-2019.
All types of vehicle have been confiscated including heavy goods vehicles, cars, public shared taxis, trucks and SUVs.
Pimentel said that the vehicles were being held in a variety of detention centers and in order for the owners to collect them the owners needed to bring adequate tires and change them within the compounds. Then, once they have paid their fines, the vehicles will be released.
Source: DR1, Listindiario
May 26, 2019
The National Police says that three members of a violent band of criminals, who carry firearms and carry out assaults in the National District, were arrested in the case of two 21-year old men that were abducted on the early morning of Sunday, 19 May 2019.
Those arrested are José Luis de la Cruz Rincón (El Negro), Wilfredo Alexander Valerio de los Santos (Beibi), and Alexander Ortiz Carmona (Escopeta), who live in Los Rieles, kilometer 20 of the Yamasá Highway in Santo Domingo North.
They were identified by the two young men who were assaulted and robbed and beaten after leaving a gathering with friends shortly before 3am at José A. Brea Peña Street in the Evaristo Morales neighborhood in Santo Domingo. The 21-year olds had their cell phones taken and RD$1,000 in cash they had on them.
The young men, who have preferred to remain anonymous, were then forced at gunpoint to get into the assailants’ vehicle, and taken to ATM machines to retrieve cash. When it was evident the young men did not meet their assailants’ expectations for cash, they were taken to the Caribbean Sea cliffs off the Malecon.
The Police says it has identified two other men, Juan Manuel Selmo Ortiz and Enmanuel Feliz (Bebo) that are also arrested after investigations advanced. As reported in Diario Libre, the Police says that the first three and the second two men were part of a criminal gang that had committed other express kidnappings. DJ Ray-R (Ray Ricardo) went public on social media saying he too had been a victim of a similar assault, involving a white Sonata and a rifle. On Monday, 20 May, he presented a formal complaint at the Police headquarters. The Police say a sixth man is fugitive. The Police suspect he has the rifle that was used in the crimes.
Source: DR1, Hoy
May 26, 2019
BlueMax film streaming facility through Amazon Fire Stick is no longer available in the Dominican Republic. Telecom companies Claro and Altice, that offer paid cable TV services, had complained to the Dominican Telecom Institute (Indotel) about the illegalities of the streaming service. The companies complained BlueMax was unfair competition because it did not have to pay distribution rights as they do.
Source: DR1, Listindiario
May 26, 2019
The damages caused by the current drought throughout much of the Cibao Valley, especially in northwestern provinces (La Línea Noroeste) that include Valverde, Santiago Rodriguez, Montecristi and Santiago provinces, is hurting not only agriculture and livestock but in many of the towns and villages people are struggling to obtain drinking water.
Sporadic showers have not made an impact on the situation and the rivers are drying up. The report that milk producers are going bankrupt is only part of the story. In the provincial capital of Sabaneta, in Santiago Rodriguez province, the local manager for the National Water Institute (INAPA) told reporters that the current situation is “critical.” Curiously, the official noted that a micro-generating facility installed by the Rural and Suburban Electrification Unit (URES), upstream from the local aqueduct is part of the problem since it reduces the flow of water to a very bare minimum.
The National Water Watch at the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (INDRHI) notes that since last May 2018, the country has been suffering from an extended reduction in rainfall.
Luis Cuevas, the head of the Operating Systems Division at INDRHI, said that they have been watching the development of the drought and currently the nation’s reservoirs are at a critical stage, with Sabaneta, Moncion, and Sabana Yegua the most serious cases. Levels are so low that the reservoirs will need at least two months of good rains in order to return to normal.
And according to the recent report by Luis Felipe Jerez, from the National Meteorological Office (Onamet), rains will be between 40% and 45% below normal for the coming months. He said that the recent rains, the product of a low-pressure trough passing over the island, will do little to mitigate the drought.
Source: DR1, Elcaribe
May 26, 2019
Brooklyn-born telecom entrepreneur Louis Arriola is building a state-of-the-art film-shooting facility in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. He says he will be adding to Pinewood Studios that has already established itself in the country and has international name recognition with its operation in Juan Dolio, a beach community about a 1:30 minutes drive west from Punta Cana.
“The more that Pinewood does and the more that we do, we bring attention [from] around the world,” he said of his intention to turn the Dominican Republic into a global film production hub, as reported by Hollywood Reporter.
Arriola made a name for himself with VoIP provider LDI Networks, and then in 2015 branched out into entertainment and is producing for Netflix through his NYLA Media Group. Now NYLA has begun construction of a US$100 million, state-of-the-art film studio and a 5G network in Punta Cana, along with housing and training for entertainment tradespeople. 56-year old Arriola is working to establish Punta Cana as a competitor for production, gaming and data operations for the Caribbean and all of Latin America.
Arriola explained to Hollywood Reporter that vertical integration is the name of the game for the company, which is designing its IP to exist across multiple platforms, from games to movies and series, and to stream at least in part through Arriola’s telecom venture and in-the-works 5G network.
Arriola’s telecom business is doing well in the Dominican Republic. He says he chose the Dominican Republic as homebase because of tax incentives and because of the homegrown talent.
The 26-acre film studio will be located on a 80-acre lot. The company is building a two-lane highway across the land to be able to have trucks go up and down the highway to Verón. As part of the complex is the construction of 2,100 homes to sell to workers of Verón at low cost. He says they expect to be up and running in the first quarter of 2020.
He explained the plans are for two types of projects: lower-budget, local-language films for the Latin American market and higher-budget features for the international market. He says there has been a shift in Spanish-language TV from soap operas to a different type of storytelling or Lifetime Channel-type movies. Higher budget productions would be US projects to be filmed in the DR for international release.
Source: HolywoodReporter
May 26, 2019
