DR News
Spanish telecommunications services provider Eurona has been awarded a license to provide a satellite-based voice and broadband service throughout the Dominican Republic. Eurona said the license awarded by Indotel allows it to install, operate and maintain fixed voice and internet services via satellite for 20 years. Under the terms of the concession, Eurona must launch services within 12 months and will also offer free access to its network via the country’s National Emergency and Security System 911 and backing the government’s “Digital Republic” Wi-Fi initiative.
Source: Telecompaper
Oct 3, 2018
A small businesswoman complained via her social media accounts that the judge at the Labor Court in La Vega handed down a sentence that would force her to pay RD$1,667,995.37 to an employee who earned RD$8,000 per month, and who had worked at the company for just three months and 25 days.
Yeidry Reyes Luciano says that judge Odri Reyes Nuñez disallowed the evidence deposited in the court, including bank deposits, Social Security pay stubs and proof that her employee, Salangy Gertrudis Cruz Gomez worked for her and received a salary of RD$8,000 per month and not the RD$40,000 contained in the complaint filed by lawyers José Miguel Tejada Almonte and Juan Tejada Almonte.
The employee’s defense claimed the firing was unjustified and that furthermore the employee was not paid the proper severance fees nor her vacations.
Nonpayment of this huge fine would imply judicial embargoes on her accounts and her company. Reyes Luciano, very indignant, called upon everyone who had a similar experience or had been sued by these lawyers to get into contact with her.
The case is important because it could set a legal precedent.
https://www.diariolibre.com/noticias…ble-HI10902764
Source: DR1, DiarioLibre
Oct 3, 2018
According to data included in an Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) report, on average, 72% of inmates in the Dominican Republic jails between 1999 and 2017 had not been tried and convicted but being held in custody on remand. This is significantly higher than the regional average of 44% for the same time period. Out of the 24 countries in the region, the Dominican Republic shared third place with Bolivia with the highest percentages being Paraguay with 78% and Haiti with 79%.
The report says that despite penal reform that is meant to speed up trials, the data suggests that the chronic delays in court proceedings are still increasing. According to the Attorney General’s office as of 31 August 2018, of the 26,286 persons in jail some 60.3% were in preventive custody and the rest had been convicted.
The IDB report, “Better Spending for Better Lives” (Mejor Gasto para Mejores Vidas) highlights three reasons for the overwhelming number of preventive custody decision: either there was sufficient evidence that the accused could cause harm or damage to the community, was a flight risk or would interfere with the investigation. However, the report suggests that many judges in Latin America apply more subjective reasons for remanding custody suspects, rather than using the clear criteria outlined above.
The report also examined the amount of money each country is spending on the police, prisons and he justice system and points out that while nations such as Argentina and Jamaica spend more on the police, Brazil and he Dominican Republic spend more on the Judicial system.
The report concludes that the region should prioritize limited jail space and the imposition of long sentences should be reserved for the serious criminals and that alternative sanctions for the non violent criminals should be considered. If the prison population continued to increase at the current rate of 8% a year, by 2030 there would be nearly 3.4 million in jail in the region, which would cost at least US$3.4 million more than in 2014.
Source: DR1, DiarioLibre
Oct 3, 2018
Following a series of reports published in the Diario Libre regarding human trafficking to and from Haiti, the Haitian government announced a commission would be sent to Santo Domingo to investigate the allegations of a mafia at the consulate. Likewise, the Haitian government announced a temporary suspension of the issuing of passports at the consulate.
Embassy personnel confirmed that an investigation is ongoing after Diario Libre published a four part series of irregularities in people and document flow and the existence of a mafia that trafficked Dominicans to Chile by passing these off as Haitians and for which fake birth certificates and passports were created. The Diario Libre report, “From Hispaniola to Chile: the Mafia of Another American Dream,” showed evidence that pointed to the possible involvement of Haitian diplomats and officials within this network.
The series on Unpunished Traffic also revealed how the trafficking of Haitians continues along the border, often times with the complicity of Dominican immigration and military officials. The series documented serious irregularities among these border agents, including collecting “tolls” to the immigrants. Neither the Ministry of Defense nor the Migration Agency in the Dominican Republic have been available to comment on the finding by the investigative reporters.
Source: DR1, DiarioLibre
Oct 3, 2018
The Dominican Army has begun Operation “Border Fence” as it seeks to reinforce certain critical areas considered vulnerable along the Dominican-Haitian border. The Defense Minister, Lieutenant General Ruben Dario Paulino Sem, said that some 360 soldiers, nearly a battalion, from the Dominican Air Force, Armada, and Army are taking part in the operation. He said the new force is complemented by additional agents sent by the Migration and Customs Agency, and the National Environmental Protection Agency (Senpa), among others.
Army commander, Major General Estanislao Gonell, currently on duty to supervise the border, vulnerable areas are being reinforced with new force.
Source: DR1, DiarioLibre
Oct 3, 2018
It is that time again, when the Tax Agency (DGII) begins the process of renewing the “marbete” otherwise known as the Tax for Vehicular Circulation Permit 2018 – 2019. Beginning on Monday, 1 October 2018, and lasting until 6 January 2019, the owners of motor vehicles in the Dominican Republic, some 1,814,324, will be responsible for renewing the stickers, either at commercial banks, savings and loan associations or the offices of the DGII. All payments at the banks and savings and loan associations and DGI I offices must be in cash.
The stickers can also be renewed online at www.dgii.gov.do. Those who do the online renewal will receive their new sticker at their office or place of residence according to their wishes. These online facilities are available through 7 December 2018.
The taxes this year will be the same as the taxes last year: RD $1,504 vehicles older than five years, and RD $3,000 for newer vehicles. After 7 January 2019, late-comers will be charged a special fee and this facility will only be available until Friday, 8 February, 2019. Generally speaking those who fail to obtain the new “marbete” and attempt to drive with an expired sticker are risking receiving a serious fine and the towing (at their cost) of their vehicle.
Source: DR1, DGII
Oct 3, 2018
The government continues with its plans to build a second tramway in Los Alcarrizos in Santo Domingo. RD$4 billion has been allotted in the 2019 National Budget. The 2019 National Budget has been set at RD$921.81 billion as submitted to the National Congress.
The RD$4 billion will cover the construction of the second cable car route. The route will start in Los Alcarrizos, to the West of Santo Domingo and cover 11 kms with six stations. The first station is at Puente Blanco in Los Alcarrizos; the second station is at the entrance to the municipality; and the others are on Monumental Avenue, the entry to Manoguayabo, the 27 February extension, the middle of Herrera and the last one at Kilometer 9 on the Duarte Highway at the Maria Montez station of Line 2 of the Santo Domingo Metro.
The first skylift, across Ozama River, reportedly cost US$42 million, or approximately RD$2 billion, and travels five kilometers.
Source: DR1, DiarioLibre
Oct 3, 2018
American Airlines is bulking up its service to Mexico and Central America from DFW International Airport, with new routes and additional daily frequencies to 10 international destinations starting next year.
The Fort Worth-based carrier will be adding new service to Durango, Mexico; Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, Honduras; and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in June 2019, the airport announced Tuesday.
Those flights will be supplemented with additional frequencies to six Mexican cities already served by American: Guadalajara, Leon, Queretaro, Chihuahua, San Luis Potosi and Puerto Vallarta.
“These new destinations demonstrate the strength of the North Texas market and the power of the American Airlines superhub at DFW,” John Ackerman, the airport’s executive vice president of global strategy and development, said in a statement.
The new flights bring the total number of international destinations served by the airport to 62. It also helps further cement DFW’s role as a link between Asia and Latin America, with the airport connecting more passengers between the two regions than any other in the U.S.
In addition to the international flying, American also is launching service from DFW Airport to eight new domestic markets, bringing its total served in the U.S. to 182 destinations.
The new domestic markets, which begin operating in March and April of next year, are: Harlingen; Augusta, Ga.; Gainesville, Fla.; Yuma and Flagstaff, Ariz.; and Bakersfield, Monterey and Burbank, Calif.
Source: dallasnews.com
Oct 2, 2018
Unibe University is developing the Green Roof Lab project that proposes the use of rooftops as an environmental sustainable adaptation mechanism for the mitigation of effects of climate change, flooding rains and prolonged drought in the Dominican Republic. The green roofs can replicate a natural environmental and increase water-holding capacity, stabilize micro environments that reduce temperatures. In an urban environment, green roofs have been known to be a sustainable solution to abate urban water runoff quantity, by essentially recycling rainwater, and reducing the heated island effect.
The local green roof initiative was begun in 2012, as part of the National Fund for Innovation and Scientific and Technological Development (Fondocyt) and the efforts of the Unibe University. The project has installed a series of slabs covered by crops that require minimum human intervention. The effects of the green roof technologies on temperature, runoff and other variables are being measured. Engineering and architecture students are participating in the program, as explained by environmental expert Ana Sofia Ovalle, professor at Unibe, who also works as technical advisor at the GIZ German Development Agency in Santo Domingo.
Source: DR1, Listindiario
Sep 28, 2018
Speaking during the hearing of then 16-year old teenager Emely Peguero murder case, the 20-year old admitted to his participation in an abortion that turned into involuntary homicide, but at the same time acquitted his mother. He said he and Emely were scared of how the father of Emely would take the pregnancy.
Prosecutors seek a 30-year sentence for Marlon, and a 20-year sentence for complicity for his mother, Marlin Martínez.
What is known is that Peguero went missing on 19 August 2017 in her hometown of Cenoví in Duarte province. Her body was found on 31 August in a suitcase alongside the La Guama road in Cayetano Germosén, Espaillat province. The abortion and murder from a blow, as ascertained in the autopsy, would be committed at the home of Marlon and his mother Marlin Martínez.
The next hearing is scheduled for 4 October 2018.
Source: DR1, DiarioLibre
Sep 28, 2018
