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The president of ONEC, the association of shopping malls and large department stores in the DR, says they are already feeling the economic pinch in the shape of a lull in sales. Pedro Perez says that sales in January were lower than was expected and that the government would begin to feel the pinch when it collects less tax money in February. He said it is time to revise the 2009 National Budget with a focus on restructuring government spending. He also called for more capital spending to encourage job creation. Speaking on Telematutino 11 by Telesistema, he said that the investment in infrastructure would help reactivate the economy and create jobs. He also said that high interest rates have penalized the middle class, and called on banks to increase efficiency and to reduce the spread between loans and savings.

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With only hours before Dominican players are required to deposit their passports at the Mexican Embassy in the DR, the Tigres del Licey, which will be representing the DR at the Serie del Caribe in Mexico, has yet to complete its roster. Four of its pitchers Ervin Santana, Ubaldo Jimenez, Daniel Cabrera and Carlos Marmol have still not decided whether they will play and a fifth pitcher, Jorge Sosa’s passport is at the US Embassy. Closer Julio Manon has the added problem of an expired passport. General manager Fernando Jose Ravelo says part of the problem is that every year the period between the end of the winter baseball championship, the beginning of the Serie del Caribe and the date when players have to report for Major League Baseball spring training is getting shorter and shorter.

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Senator Wilton Guerrero is in the news again, this time for reiterating his claim that a small airplane dropped a shipment of drugs close to the Las Calderas Naval Base in Peravia province, as reported in Hoy. Both chiefs of the Army and the Navy had promptly responded to Guerrero’s original accusation by saying that he had confused a scheduled Air Force patrol flight with a drug operation. Guerrero, who has become an outspoken voice in the war on drugs, insists that on 13 January a shipment of drugs was in fact dropped from the small plane that landed near the naval base. The Senator quoted from an intelligence report he had in hand, saying that the National Drug Control Department (DNCD) had been alerted that a suspicious plane would be flying over the military base. In a press conference, Guerrero said that the DNCD had done its job and [...]

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The government will begin prosecuting people who are caught stealing power in February. Energy Superintendent Francisco Mendez says that the government plans to implement Law 186-07 in a bid to reduce losses in the electricity sector. The law against electricity theft, which was passed in late 2007, has never been implemented. Mendez was speaking at the 9th Annual Platts Caribbean Energy conference that focused on mitigating prices, fuel options, renewable alternatives, hedging, finance and policies. The event is taking place on 29-30 January at the InterContinental V Centenario Hotel in Santo Domingo.

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Director of Communications for the Transport Police (AMET), Miguel Medina, claims that a man shot by AMET officers on Thursday was neither a driver nor a fare collector and that the bullet that hit him, resulting in his death, had been aimed at the floor and not at the man. There have been conflicting reports from various witnesses as to what happened. What is known is that Jose Aridson Rodriguez was stopped by AMET officers Juan Francisco Fabian and Gustavo Garcia Estrella for a minor traffic violation on Maximo Gomez and Los Martires avenues. After discovering that Rodriguez did not have a driving license they proceeded to seize the vehicle. While this was happening, a man identified as Santo Henriquez Abad stabbed one of the officers in the left arm. As a result a gun was produced by one of the officers and Henriquez was shot dead. AMET says that [...]

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Andres Perez Heredia, an advisor at the Dominican Embassy in Haiti, has reported that two armed men stole his 2005 Toyota Prado SUV, a gun and a cell phone. Perez said the theft took place in the Eugenio Maria de Hostos neighborhood in Santo Domingo East, where he resides. Perez says that the incident happened while he was talking to friends, who were also robbed. Perez says that his vehicle should be easy to find since it has Haitian license plates.

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Legislators have rejected a bill that sought to increase taxes on Liquid Propane Gas sales or luxury cars as a way of paying for a planned wage increase for public sector doctors. A commission headed by Senate president Reinaldo Pared Perez has been trying to find funding sources to cover the increase in wages promised to public hospital physicians since the end of 2008. So far, the only proposed source of funding that has not met with strong opposition is a new tax on sports betting shops.

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Close to 400,000 people in the Dominican Republic do not have identity documents. A new World Bank and Central Electoral Board (JCE) program seeks to document these individuals over a four-year period. The World Bank will be providing US$19.2 million in funds for this purpose. The program involves US$2.6 million in co-funding from the Dominican government.
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The plan is to reduce the number of heads of household who do not have ID cards and thus cannot benefit from the governmental welfare programs targeted at the poorest from 28% to 10%. In the DR, an ID card is essential to for entering secondary education, obtaining access to health services, property, banking and legal services.
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There has been progress, since a study showed that in 2005 there were 600,000 people without identification.
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Speaking at an event announcing the program, JCE president Julio Cesar Castanos Guzman said that the program [...]

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During a special ceremony celebrating the careers of long-standing military officers, President Leonel Fernandez used the occasion to comment on the increased involvement of Dominican military and police officials in the DR’s growing drug trafficking network. Fernandez’s comments came as a surprise, especially as he has never addressed the August 2008 drug massacre at Paya, Bani where seven alleged drug dealers were murdered, unleashing a series of revelations of official complicity.
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Speaking at the Presidential Palace, Fernandez said that officials could not be allowed to take part in drug trafficking. Fernandez warned members of the Armed Forces and Police not to succumb to the temptations of drugs and called on the security forces to continue their struggle to rid the country of the crime. At this moment our country is threatened, not by a conflict with another state, but by the threats and challenges of the 21st century… the [...]

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In an event worthy of Hollywood, the Santo Domingo Metro, built at an official price tag of US$700 million, was inaugurated yesterday. During a ceremony at the southernmost station at Centro De Los Heroes, south of Jimenez Moya Avenue, Metro office (OPRET) director Diandino Pena spoke about the controversial public works project. New York Mets pitcher Pedro Martinez, Boston slugger David Ortiz, long distance swimmer Marcos Diaz and first Dominican Olympic gold medal winner Felix Sanchez were on the stage. During his speech Pena declared that the Metro marks the birth of a new culture in the area of public transport. The Metro will travel a 14.5-kilometer route, stopping at 16 stations along the way, linking the Villa Mella section of the city with the Centro de los Heroes. Rides will cost RD$20.

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