News World

Rescuers aren’t telling the 33 Chilean miners straight out just how long they may be trapped. Authorities think it might be too much of a psychological blow.

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Caribbean Cinemas is inaugurating its new movie theater at Novocentro on Lope de Vega Avenue in Santo Domingo with an International Fine Arts Film Festival. The festival will last from 26 August to 1 September. Films are: Dos hermanos (comedy), Musica en espera (romance), Agora (drama), Abel (drama), Contracorriente (drama), My Name is Khan (drama), Cyrus (comedy), Celda 211 (thriller), Pandora’s Box (drama), La Fille de Monaco (comedy), Le Petit Nicolas (drama), El mal ajeno (drama), A ojos cerrados (drama) and Del amor y otros demonios (drama), among others.

www.caribbeancinemasrd.com/festival

For more on upcoming activities, see www.dr1.com/calendar

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Herald Estevez Pena, Miguel Angel Lazala and Adalberto Rosa, employees of the Department of Customs in Santiago, have been released on RD$2 million bail each after a month in jail. The Customs Department had accused them of fraud worth more than RD$100 million at the Cibao regional customs offices. The Penal Chamber of Appeals in Santiago authorized their release on bail. Earlier they had been ordered to jail for eight months while their case was heard. The accused now need to report to the authorities on the 30th of each month and cannot leave the country.

As reported in Diario Libre, on 27 July the Department of Customs (DGA) sent the three men to justice accused of dispatching containers filled with items that had not been verified nor subject to customs controls.

Santiago prosecutor Yenny Berenice Reynoso said that tax evasion in the regional offices was estimated at [...]

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Police officers working for the Central Department of Criminal Investigations have dismantled a ring of forgers in Santo Domingo. They confiscated state-of-the-art equipment used to clone credit cards for fraudulent use. The criminals operated out of an abandoned house at Nicolas de Ovando on the corner of Calle 10 in Las Canitas. Abraham Antonio de Lara Candelario was arrested in the operation. The agents recovered 18 cloned credit cards issued by several banks, as reported in Listin Diario.

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Upon arriving home in Las Charcas, Santiago at around 2am, 34-year old Edwin Armando Victoria Nunez fired shots that killed 90-year old Octavia Maria Reyes Martinez who had raised him. She died in her sleep. But he also injured his 34-year old wife Islandia Vargas Diaz and his own children 13-year old Herileidi and 7-year old Edwin. His wife was hospitalized at the Jose Maria Cabral y Baez public hospital and the children are at the Arturo Grullon Public Children’s Hospital where they are being treated for their injuries.

Victoria Nunez is suspect of having been under the influence of drugs. The police recovered seven bullets from the scene. The reason for his wrath is unknown, but neighbors told the press that he was known to turn violent when under the influence of drugs.

Reportedly, he used a Smith and Wesson, caliber 9 milimeters, #TBE7761 that was registered [...]

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With the collapse of the already precarious Haitian medical system after the 12 January earthquake, Dominican public hospitals have been overburdened by Haitian migrants who are rapidly depleting hospital budgets. El Caribe reports that the Dario Contreras trauma hospital and the San Lorenzo de los Mina and La Altagracia maternity hospitals are treating an increasing number of Haitians who receive the same services as Dominicans. The directors say that Haitian patients receive the same care as Dominicans for humanitarian reasons.

The centers were already under pressure of demand for services by Haitians living in the DR.

Los Mina maternity hospital director Gregorio Rivas said that according to hospital statistics, 35% of women who give birth there are Haitians. He says that they make up 80% of cases with high morbidity and complications. “We’re talking about mothers with severe anemia, convulsions and serious infections,” he told El Caribe. He [...]

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Barrick Pueblo Viejo gold mining company representatives have denied responsibility for the deaths of large numbers of fish reported in the Hatillo Dam in Sanchez Ramirez province. They said their operation is at a stage whereby it could not possibly be polluting. Company spokesman Jorge Esteva said that once in operation they will use modern technology and comply with international environmental standards to carry out environmental friendly mining.

Hoy reports that dead fish appeared in the dam over a period of two weeks and the authorities have not explained the causes of the deaths. Three mining companies operate in the surrounding area: Cerro Maimon, Barrick and Falconbridge. All three say they are not to blame.

Esteva said that the company has been working to clean up the environmental problems left by former mining operations in the area. He said in areas where they will not be mining the [...]

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Puerto Rican Secretary of State Kenneth McClintock highlighted the potential of the strategic alliance between Puerto Rico and the DR re-launched during President Leonel Fernandez’s visit to Puerto Rico, during his talk at the American Chamber of Commerce. He stressed that Puerto Rico has the advantage of being part of the US Customs Zone, which gives it access to markets of countries with which the US has free trade agreements. He said that Puerto Rico is the DR’s second largest trading partner with the DR after the US.

He feels that by working together, the countries can successfully compete against Asia for US apparel contract work. He favors retaking the twin plant concept that was successful under the Caribbean Basin Initiative one step forward. He said that geography was the essence of the agreement. He says that in today’s world products are produced in different countries and geography makes [...]

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Apparel manufacturing plants resulting from strategic alliances between manufacturing sectors in Puerto Rico, Haiti and the DR are on the drawing board. Foreign Relations Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso said that regional business leaders are discussing this innovative system, as reported in Hoy.

He said the option would be discussed during the visit by Puerto Rican governor Luis Fortuno and Puerto Rican business leaders in October. Morales commented that the idea is to make the most of the Hope II and Hope III acts that include special trade rules that give preferential access to US imports of Haitian and Dominican apparel, and to develop a system of triple plants using the model started in the Codevi Free Zone by Grupo M on the border with Haiti. He said these US acts enable the DR to supply textiles to Haiti for manufacturing for duty free export to the US.

Morales [...]

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Foreign Relations Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso confirmed yesterday that Puerto Rican governor Luis Fortuno would be visiting the DR on 13 and 14 October. He will be accompanied by Puerto Rican Secretary of State Kenneth McClintock and business leaders. The purpose of the visit is to study joint ventures for increasing trade and investment. McClintock confirmed the visit when meeting with Morales at his office at the Ministry of Foreign Relations, as reported in Listin Diario.

Prior to the visit the American Chamber of Commerce and the US Commercial Service have organized trade mission to Puerto Rico for 17-21 October.

See http://amcham.org.do/anm/templates/noticias.asp?articleid=368&zoneid=4

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