DR1 Daily News - Dominican Republic

By electoral law, the JCE has until 21 May to complete the counting of the votes resulting from the 19 May 2024 presidential and congressional elections. The 18 February 2024 municipal election proved the vote counting system in place is effective and a vote count can be expected much before the deadline.

Central Electoral Board (JCE) Resolution No. 40-2024 establishes that the Electoral Boards and the Coordination Offices for Electoral Logistics Abroad (OCLEE) will issue their first bulletins once 20% of the results received have been processed or at 8:30pm, either of the two comes first.

From then on, the electoral boards will issue partial bulletins as the results are transmitted from the polling stations. The results tally will be updated every 15 minutes, max.

Once the electoral stations electronically transmit the voting reports (including both...

Classes at most public and some private schools are ordered closed on Friday, 17 May 2024 and on Monday, 20 May 2024 to give room for setting up the voting stations and restoring the classrooms. The public schools are regularly used as voting stations nationwide. The order from the Ministry of Education is for classes to continue online and students to be assigned homework to prepare for when classes reopen on Tuesday.

The presidential and congressional elections are scheduled to take place on Sunday, 19 May 2024. There are around 4,418 voting stations nationwide, most in public schools.

Read more in Spanish:

• Ministry of Education

President Luis Abinader proudly awarded winners of the First Lego League 2024 Robotics Competition and recognized 88 students from nine educational centers.

The contest took place 4 and 5 May 2024 at the Carol Morgan School in the capital city.

This year, 34 public educational centers participated in the eighth First Lego League International Robotics Championship, which belong to 10 of the 18 Regional Education Centers. A total of 9 teams from these centers stood out as winners. The winning educational centers competed against a total of 54 private and public educational entities, in the categories of Excellence in Engineering; Project and innovation; Robot design; Robot performance; Core values and Entrepreneurial spirit and enthusiasm.

Minister of Education Angel Hernandez celebrated the win with trophies for the winners from among 640...

Architect Amin Abel Santos, the coordinator of the InterAmerican Development Bank-funded Colonial City renovations program, denies changes to the rainwater drainage system would have caused the 7 May 2024 flooding in the Colonial City and Calle El Conde.

City expert Waldys Jaquez had concluded when interviewed by Mariasela Alvarez for Esta Noche con Mariasela for the 13 May 2024 TV program that the IDB contractors had replaced sections of the 500 year old drainage system with modern pipes and paving drainage that are not adequate for the amount of garbage that comes with the rainwaters.

Jaquez had highlighted during the interview that the problems were being caused by clogging of drainage due to the excess garbage flowing south from Little Haiti, in the Mercado Modelo area of Av. Mella.

Comprehensive Tourism and Urban Development...

President Luis Abinader confirmed during the 13 May 2024 press conference (La Semanal) that his government will only provide humanitarian assistance in health services as part of the multinational effort to restore peace in Haiti. The United States, Caricom and Kenya are leading the process to restore order to Haiti.

President Abinader clarified that the Dominican Republic in no way would provide any military support, in answering to the question of the Washington Post correspondent in Colombia.

With the collapse of the health system in Haiti given the many assaults by the gangs on hospitals in Haiti, the DR has taken on the burden of offering increased free medical services to the Haitian population in the Dominican Republic. Upwards of 35% of births in Dominican public hospitals are to Haitian women. Several hospitals (Los Minas and La Altagracia in Santo...

During his introduction to the 13 May 2024 weekly press conference, President Luis Abinader focused on the sport of baseball and the millions Major League Baseball teams have invested to build and operate baseball academies in the Dominican Republic.

The most recent baseball academies are those of the Baltimore Orioles, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers and soon the Arizona Diamondbacks. All 35 MLB teams have academies here.

President Abinader spoke of three modern independent academies also to prepare emerging baseball players – Edwin Encarnacion, Top Ten, International Prospect League.

The President also spoke of the importance of his government creating the National Baseball Commission, the economic support to the Dominican Baseball League that organizes the annual winter professional baseball tournament. He also spoke of government facilities offered for the...

Call motorcyclists the plague or just people commuting and earning a living. Whatever, the unchecked proliferation of motorcyclists on the road violating traffic laws has reached epidemic proportions.

The motorists again made frontpage headlines and became the trending topic when an answer by President Luis Abinader to the question as to when the government would begin to regulate motorcyclists led to fake news being disseminated in these days of the final stretch of the presidential elections. Abinader spoke of his government issuing new license plates (placas) to the motorcyclists because the previous ones were not readable. But this was disseminated in the fake news that said the President had called the motorcyclists “the plague” (plaga). The motorists took offense; politicians took their side.

In an editorial in Diario Libre, managing editor Benjamin Morales makes the...

It appears that there will be sunny skies for election day. This is encouraging for people who plan to vote on Sunday, 19 May 2024.

The National Weather Office (Onamet) is forecasting only a few short-lasting rains nationwide due to the impact of an air mass with low moisture content.

For Wednesday, 15 May 2024, Onamet says the weather conditions will remain dominated by the anticyclonic circulation at different levels of the troposphere and the incidence of Saharan dust particles. It explains that for much of the Dominican Republic, a sunny sky with a grayish appearance will be observed with isolated cloudiness and little rainfall. However, Onamet says the effects of diurnal warming, plus the orography, will cause some showers with isolated thunderstorms in towns in the southeast and the Central Mountain Range.

Onamet says the hot weather is here and recommends drinking lots of...

Once the 19 May 2024 presidential election is over, the country will most likely witness the signing of a free skies agreement with the United States. The present agreement limits the airports Dominican airlines can fly into.

When in Washington, D.C. on 8 May 2024 to receive the Americas Society/Council of the Americas Leadership Award, President Luis Abinader announced the completion of negotiations with the United States for the signing of the Open Skies Agreement. The main objective of the agreement is to generate a greater climate of competition in commercial aviation.

As reported in El Dia, President Abinader said the agreement would be signed in the coming days now that the negotiation process that has lasted years due to its multiple implications is finalized. He said the agreement clauses had to be reconciled with the players in the aviation sector in both the DR and the United States...

The Civil Aviation Board (JAC) says that Southwest Airlines has requested permission to fly from Baltimore, Orlando, Chicago, Houston and St. Louis to Punta Cana soon. The flights would start in time for summer vacations in June with a daily frequency. Punta Cana is a leading family vacation destination.

Frontier Airlines received permission to operate a seasonal flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Santiago starting June 2024. The flights will be on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 2 June to 31 December 2024.

Read more in Spanish:

• Civil Aviation Board (JAC)

The Canadian airline Air Transat announces new flights from Montreal and Quebec City to Punta Cana. The airline already keeps several frequencies to beach destinations of Puerto Plata, Samana, La Romana and Punta Cana from the two Canadian cities.

Air Transat is flying from Montreal to La Romana. The airline also offers six flights to Puerto Plata from Montreal and two from Quebec City. The airline offers 14 (+1) flights to Punta Cana and six from Quebec City. The airline also keeps its four flights to Samana and one to Quebec City.

Air Transat is a Canadian airline based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1986, it operates scheduled and charter flights serving 60 destinations in 25 countries. Air Transat is owned and operated by Transat A.T. Inc., with 37 aircraft registered with Transport Canada as of September 2023. Air Transat is a leading travel brand voted by customers...

The small eastern town of El Seibo, one of the oldest and most historic (and least known) places in the Dominican Republic, held its traditional religious feast days on the past weekend. Bullfights are included and are described as the most iconic features of the tradition. The bullfights are a scene out of Old Spain but intended to be without the bloodshed.

Actually, it is the only place in the Dominican Republic where something like this takes place. A bullring is set up in the middle of the town. There is seating available that ranges in price from RD$100 to RD$1,000. There are food vendors, and refreshments to be enjoyed as every day six bulls are released and brave toreadors, with no medical insurance, taunt and scamper around the bulls in the very muddy arena.

Despite the rains, the brave men go out with their capes, but no swords and provide a spectacle...

The Dominican Constitution establishes that voting is a civic right and duty. It is also a privilege of citizens living in a democratic society. “The hard work is now over, almost all the electoral boards have in their possession the material that will be used in Sunday’s elections,” says JCE Director of Elections, Mario Núñez, in an interview in Listin Diario.

The Central Electoral Board (JCE), in charge of organizing the elections in the Dominican Republic, says all is ready for the election and called for mass attendance to the polls. JCE member judge, Dolores Fernandez said that the JCE guarantees transparent, equitable and free electoral process for the 8,145,548 Dominicans registered to vote. Fernández, a career officer at the JCE before being named a plenary member, explained that the setup of the elections is very good, with the electoral logistics complete, as...

With the presidential and congressional elections of the Dominican Republic happening on Sunday, 19 May 2024, the Central Electoral Board (JCE) announced it has completed the printing of something like 24,000,000 ballots that will be used to elect 264 persons for the positions of president, vice president, and members of the National Congress. The elections are organized under rulings contained in Political Parties Law 33-18, Electoral Law 15-19, and the amendments and ConstitutionalCourt rulings on clauses in these laws.

The Central Electoral Board (JCE) has finished printing something like 24,000,000 ballots that will be used on Sunday, 19 May 2024, to elect 264 persons for the positions of President, Vice President, and members of the National Congress.

For the 19 May 2024 election, there are 7,281,763 registered voters eligible to vote in the Dominican...

For more than 500 years, there has never been flooding in the Colonial City. The reason, the first governor of the first city of the Americas, Santo Domingo, Nicolas de Ovando, at the time commanded that underground drainage so large a person could walk inside the drainage be built to ensure the waters of hurricanes would flow south to the Caribbean Sea. Ovando would be in Santo Domingo when a hurricane hit and knew first hand the importance of adequate drainage.

For the TV program “Esta Noche con Mariasela,” on Monday, 13 May 2024, Alvarez interviewed Waldys Taveras, a leading city expert, who explained the problem was created by the contractors of the renovations in the Colonial City who installed drainage piping that did not have the same capacity of the 500-year old system.

Taveras explained that the contractors did not take into consideration the...

Commercial flights are returning to Port-au-Prince International Airport. Reports are that Sunrise Airways, a Haitian airline, has resumed flights to the Toussaint Louverture International Airport. Two flights landed at the airport on Saturday, 11 May 2024, as reported in Haiti Libre.

Haiti Libre reports that American Airlines and JetBlue are expected to resume flights on 16 May 2024. Haiti Libre reports that the resumption of flights is possible thanks to enhanced security measures, with cooperation of the combined efforts of the Haitian Police (PNH), soldiers of the Armed Forces of Haiti (Fad’H) and US military cooperation.

The Presidential Transitional Council of Haiti has decided to choose another prime minister after objections within the temporary governing body were made to the first choice, Fritz Bélizaire. A previous solution to the impasse within the council that had recommended a rotating prime minister was put aside.

Haiti Libre reports that the Communications Office of the Presidency informs the general public and the sectors forming the Presidential Transitional Council (CPT), political parties as well as other organizations adhering to the Political Agreement for a peaceful and orderly transition of April 3rd, 2024, in particular, that the CPT has again opened applications for the post of Prime Minister, as part of the establishment of transition governance.

The candidates’ documents will be received from 13 to 17 May 2024 at...

The Permanent Attention Office of the National District ordered Francelys Maria Furcal Rodriguez to await her trial for the murder of Chinese merchant Zongxin Chen in Najayo Jail. She was served a three-month preventive custody order by the National District court.

The Public Ministry accuses Furcal Rodriguez of voluntary manslaughter and use of a false passport – crimes covered in articles 295, 304, 153 and 154 of the Dominican Penal Code.

She is also accused of violating articles 83 and 86 of Law 631-16 on the Control and Regulation of Weapons, Ammunition and Related Materials.

She is known to have killed her boss, the Chinese national, of a knife stab in the abdomen. A surveillance video shows she immediately sought help for the victim and then fled.

The judiciary established that the next day, trying to evade Dominican justice and using fraudulent maneuvers, the accused...

Colombia took on the temporary presidency of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) that gathers 25 member states in the Caribbean and seven associates. Colombia Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo announced during the ACS meeting in Paramaribo, Suriname that in his presidency he would seek to implement new policies in the region and foster integration with the English-speaking Caricom membership. Murillo also announced Colombia will seek to become an associate member with Caricom. Colombia has a Caribbean coast.

The announcements may bring increased exchanges among the multi-language and cultural region.The ACS represents the Greater Caribbean and currently has 25 member states, 10 associate members, 28 observer countries as well as observer organizations, founding observers, social actors and other collaborative organizations. Caricom is mainly the English-speaking...

It was the last weekend before the presidential and congressional election on Sunday, 19 May 2024.

President Luis Abinader, running for reelection for the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM), stayed in Greater Santo Domingo for his campaign close. Diario Libre reports the President campaigned accompanied by Santo Domingo province senator Antonio Taveras Guzmán, who seeks to be reelected, Tourism Minister David Collado, Industry & Commerce Minister Víctor Bisonó and Gloria Reyes, the director of Superate, the Presidency welfare program, and Roberto Angel Salcedo, of the Presidency strategic programs (Propeep).

Vice President Raquel Peña campaigned in Dajabon, on the border with Haiti.

Former three-term President Leonel Fernandez chose La Vega for the last weekend campaign parade to close his campaign. He paraded accompanied by Euclides Sanchez, senator for La Vega who seeks...

The Central Electoral Board (JCE) has issued 75,475 duplicate identity cards (cedulas) from 1 May to 11 May 2024, Listin Diario reported in its coverage of the most recent JCE plenary session. There is no charge for the duplicates that the JCE will continue to issue until 4pm on 17 May, two days before the presidential and legislative election.

The former ruling party, the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) was among the parties that requested the JCE extend the deadline for the delivery of free duplicate ID cards to just two days before the voting. 8,145,548 Dominicans are registered, to vote, including 863,785 who are registered to vote abroad.

Of the total 75,475 duplicates, 64,325 were issued in the Dominican Republic. Another 976 ID cards were issued in voting offices abroad.

For Greater Santo Domingo, where most of the country’s voters are...

Former executive vice president of the National Business Council (Conep) Rafael Paz had sought to be chosen the Fuerza del Pueblo (People’s Force) candidate to mayor for the National District. An alliance between the Dominican Liberation Party and the People’s Force party would instead back Domingo Contreras instead.

Then, Rafael Paz sought to get on the party list for deputy. But the People’s Force had already chosen the method of polls and Paz did not make it in this method. Nevertheless, the party sought to override the results of the survey, to which the Superior Electoral Board (TSE) ruled a big “no.” The party sought Andy Morales, the winner of the seat in the party poll, to step aside. He didn’t. Eventually, the JCE would deem valid the TSE decision and not accept the candidacy of Rafael Paz, despite the support of former President Leonel Fernandez to his candidacy.

Finally...

The Dominican Teachers Association (APD) managed to get a substantial 8% pay increase from the Ministry of Education, which President Luis Abinader later raised to 10%, just last week. This new pay hike has been well criticized by several entities, in particular the Business Action for Education, Educa, which is a business entity that oversees education in the Dominican Republic.

Maria Waleska Alvarez, the current president of the group, told reporters that any pay increase for teachers should be tied to the results of their work, that is to say, that the children can read, write and do arithmetic. Alvarez noted that the 10% pay increase means an additional RD$11 billion to the national budget, costing each household about RD$2,500 more in taxes paid.

Alvarez said that the increase does not contemplate any additional commitment for academic excellence on the part of...

The Chamber of Deputies approved the bill that creates the Dominican Institute of Meteorology (Indomet) to replace the National Weather Office (Onamet). The bill orders that the new entity operate under the Ministry of Environment. At present Onamet is under the umbrella of the Ministry of Agriculture.

The new entity will be in charge of the design and execution of the meteorological and climate policy. The Dominican Institute of Meteorology will be attached to the Ministry of Environment, which exercises the power of guardianship over it, to verify that its operation complies with the established provisions.

The bill has been making the rounds of Congress since 2019.

The bill calls for the new institute to have autonomous and decentralized character, mostly likely allowing for better wages for those employed there. The new entity is also expected to require more...

The National Police held a ceremony to officially announce Belgian Shepard Camilo Beker is retiring. He has served as a special agent in the National Police K-9 unit for 12 years, Listin Diario reports.

The National Police said the funds are there to ensure that Beker continues to be well cared for. The police says that Beker had an outstanding career in the K-9 unit of the Police finding many drug caches.

The announcement comes at a time when the Listin Diario has fostered a national pact to care for pets.

Police director, Major General Ramón Antonio Guzmán Peralta, celebrated the honors to the Belgian Shepard during the closing activities of the El Seibo Patron Saint Festivities held at the eastern city’s Manuela Diez Jimenez Cultural Plaza.

The activity also included a demonstration led by the K-9 unit dogs, who carried out tasks such as...

Very large cargo planes from the United States Air Force continue to fly in and out of the Toussaint L’Overture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. They bring in supplies and civilian contractors that are constructing a base of operations for the United Nations force that is expected to arrive on 26 May 2024.

This force is tasked with restoring some semblance of order in the poorest nation in the Americas which has been wracked by the gang-domination of its capital and the loss of a functioning government. Just recently, the prime minister, Ariel Henry, was forced to resign, and a multi-member Presidential Council was selected to hold the reins of government until the United Nations can get to the task of restoring order.

Spokesmen for the gangs have rejected any foreign intervention. However, in the face of a powerful UN task force, this might...

Eaton, a leading US intelligent power management company, inaugurated its fifth manufacturing plant in Santiago to meet demand for fuses, the company announced on 9 May 2024. The US$10 million project encompassed the construction of a new 65,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art assembly plant in Santiago de los Caballeros.

The project increases supplies of Eaton’s Bussman series fuses, which provide critical safety functionality in electric vehicles (EVs), renewable and energy storage projects, data center as well as other industrial application. 300 skilled manufacturing jobs were created in Santiago, the Dominican Republic’s second-largest city.

“The latest expansion of Eaton’s manufacturing capacity in Santiago was completed in record time [construction was announced in February 2024] to meet the unprecedented demand for our solutions that are at the center of the world’s...

Legendary contemporary musician and composer, Juan Luis Guerra, was in Boston for the graduation of his 24-year old daughter, Paulina Guerra Vega from Berklee College of Music. Guerra is the Dominican Republic’s first graduate from Berklee.

Paulina has kept a low profile. She becomes the first Dominican graduate in the business of music from the prestigious university. She graduated as a bachelor of music in Music Business/Management..On the occasion of her graduation, Listin Diario reports on the proud father.

Read more in Spanish:

• Listin Diario

This is the time of the year when the dust from the Sahara Desert in Africa blows east all the way to the Caribbean. The skies become a hazy blueish gray and people are reminded hot summer days are coming.

This 2024, the Sahara Dust is making its way to the Caribbean despite the unusually wet April and May. The dust usually blows during the first two and a half months of the hurricane season that officially begins in June. Reports are that the Sahara Dust is early this year.

On the positive, the dust cloud known officially as the Saharan Air Layer brings nutrients for soils and is generally good for agriculture.

On the negative side, those who suffer from respiratory problems and allergies may need to stay indoors where air conditioning can filter the air and keep a stash of meds, just in case of a flare-up of their condition.

The Ministry of...

While the recent spat of rains has certainly caused its share of damages around the country, there has been at least one very positive aspect. The rains have helped fill some of the most important reservoirs in the country. This means more potable water for the population, and more water for irrigation and electricity generation.

According to the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (Indrhi), for the past 25 days, hundreds of millions of cubic meters of water have flowed into some of the most important reservoirs, especially in the southern part of the country.

The high watershed of the Nizao River which drains parts of San Jose de Ocoa, Peravia, and San Cristobal provinces, brought good news to the Jigüey, Aguacate and Valdesia-Las Barias reservoirs. This is major good news for the people of Santo Domingo since Valdesia is the main supplier of water for the nation’s capital...

Al Horford is a star

The Boston Celtics with Dominican Al Horford has the lead of the NBA Eastern Division playoffs after winning game 3 – 106 to 93. The series is now 2-1 in favor of Boston versus the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference semifinals matchup.

The other playoff that involves a Dominican player is that of the Minnesota Timberwolves versus the Denver Nuggets. The Timberwolves won the first two games in Denver, but then the Nuggets landed the next two games in Minneapolis, including the Sunday, 115-107 win. Karl Anthony Towns, a key Timberwolves player, is a member of the Dominican national basketball team.

The series continues with these games:Monday, May 13Game 4: Cavaliers vs. Celtics, 7 p.m., TNT

Tuesday, May 14Game 5: Nuggets vs. Timberwolves, 10:30 p.m., TNT

Wednesday, May 15Game 5: Celtics vs. Cavaliers, 7 p.m., TNT

Thursday, May 16Game 6...

27-year old Marileidy Paulino, already an Olympic silver medal winner (4 x 400m mixed relay and 400m in Tokyo 2020), has announced that she will not participate in the Mixed 4 x 400 m relay in the Paris Olympics this summer.

The Dominican Republic mixed relay team during The Bahamas relays qualifier this May achieved a slot in the Paris Olympics. But the qualification came only after a heroic feat by Paulino in the last leg of the race. Paulino ran a 48:93 leg, the best of all the women in the event, to move the team’s positioning in the heat from fifth place to second. Paulino’s best time is 48:77 made in the World Athletics Championships held in Budapest where she won gold in the 400m.

The problem is the Dominican athletics team lacks strong male runners, and this diminishes the chances of the DR even making the finals during the Paris Olympics.

In Tokyo 2020 (2021) the...

2025 Summit of the Americas / Americas Business Dialogue

President Luis Abinader announced the Dominican Republic will host the 10th Summit of the Americas. The event will be held in October 2025 at a day to be announced. The chair of the Summits of the Americas Process is the host country of the next Summit.

President Luis Abinader was in Washington, DC on Wednesday, 8 May 2024 to participate in the 54th Americas Society/Council of the Americas conference. He attended with several government ministers — Minister of Economy Pavel Isa Contreras, Minister of Hacienda Jochi Vicente, Minister of Foreign Relations Roberto Alvarez, among others.

The last Summit of the Americas to take place was the 9th Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, California from 8 to 10 June 2022.

The Summit of the Americas is organized by a secretariat funded by the US government...

President Luis Abinader received the Chairman’s Award for Leadership in the Americas during the 54th Americas Society/Council of the Americas meeting on 8 May 2024 in Washington, DC.

President Abinader received the award from Andres Gluski, president and CEO of the AES Corporation and Chairman AS/COA. Gluski highlighted that the prize was created in 2004 to recognize democratically-elected leaders who have made a strong positive impact on regional democracy and governance. He spoke of how the DR is open for business and the private sector is responding attracting new business and foreign investment, while the country has a strong regional voice, evidence of which is that the DR will host the 10th Summit of the Americas in 2025.

In 2021, President Abinader started the Alliance for Development in Democracy (ADD) working with Costa Rica and Panama. It was...

María Salazar and Adriano Espaillat / DR1

Republican Florida representative Maria Salazar and Democratic New York representative Adriano Espaillat expressed optimism the US Congress will pass the Americas Act that ensures funding and actions to step up US participation in development strategies in that country’s back door, Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Americas Act introduced in March 2024 is a follow-up to the Dignity Act, submitted to the US Congress in May 2023. Both bills seek bipartisan support to revert the migration processes underway in the region after years of the United States investing in Asia rather than in “their back yard”. The legislators say the US government and opposition see in the Americas Act a “game changer” for robust development in the Americas.

Salazar and Espaillat championed the bill when presenting at the 54th Americas...

Román Jáquez / Junta Central Electoral

The president of the Central Electoral Board (JCE) Román Jáquez used the forum of the May business lunch of the American Chamber of Commerce to sum up the preparations for the 19 May 2024 presidential and congressional elections and to urge political parties to rise to the democratic challenge ahead, as reported in El Caribe.

The presentation by the president of the JCE was attended by the main executives of the Amchamdr, led by its president, Edwin de los Santos and executive vice president, William Malamud who hosted the plenary of the JCE. In addition to Román Jaquez, other JCE members in attendance were Dolores Fernández, Samir Chami Isa, Rafael Vallejos and Patricia Lorenzo. Representatives of the political parties also attended.

Polls show President Luis Abinader will sweep the election with a comfortable lead and...

The Ministry of Education and the president of the Dominican Association of Public School Teachers (ADP) reached a consensus during ther talks on Wednesday, 8 May 2024.

The Ministry of Education is willing to raise wages to 10%, up from 8% first offered, to reach an agreement with the public school teachers’ union.

Former president of the ADP, Enrique de Leon, and the National Ombudsman Pablo Ulloa mediated for the agreement with the current president of the ADP, Eduardo Hidalgo.

After the meeting on Wednesday, Ulloa said another meeting would be held this week. He expects more meetings to follow once the presidential and congressional elections are over on 19 May 2024.“We have a schedule with all the points we are talking about and it will not only cover this space but vacations among other things,” he said.

Among the points that to be worked on are the...

The 2024 first time experience with the national debates makes unsubstantiated that the fear past presidential candidates had that held up their participation in presidential debates. In past elections, neither former President Leonel Fernandez nor former President Danilo Medina had accepted to participate in the National Association of Young Entrepreneurs (Anje) organized debates. This changed in 2024, when incumbent President Luis Abinader said “yes.”

Bernardo Vega explains that questions to the effect included in the 24-28 Penn Stagwell poll made the point, as reported in Hoy. He said that 30% of those polled did not even tune in to watch the widely publicized debate. The 30% of those who did not watch included 38% of those who described themselves as independents, that is not partisan of any party.

36% of those interviewed during the debate considered that Luis Abinader...

The people and companies that created financial schemes and led the operations that would have resulted in more than RD$19 billion in fraud against the Dominican state have been removed from the charges, El Dia reports. The charge presented by the Administrative Corruption Prosecution (Pepca) says that a large portion of the funds secured through the financial schemes were then used for the presidential campaign of former Minister of Public Works Gonzalo Castillo in 2020.

El Dia reports that the prosecutors are not placing charges against Ramon Emilio Jimenez Collie, Bolivar Ventura, Fernando Crisostomo, Jose Arturo Ureña nor companies they may have used to commit the fraud against the Dominican state.

The state prosecutors preferred to release these from responsibility once they shared details on the operations so their bosses and contractors could be incriminated. The...

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams and the Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Ivan J. Arvelo announced on 8 May 2024 the arrest of several flight attendants for money smuggling on flights from New York to the Dominican Republic.

In total, the defendants are estimated to have smuggled US$8 million in bulk cash from the United States to the Dominican Republic.

US Attorney Damian Williams said: “As alleged, these flight attendants smuggled millions of dollars of drug money and law enforcement funds that they thought was drug money from the United States to the Dominican Republic over many years by abusing their privileges as airline employees. Today’s charges should serve as a reminder to those who break the law by helping drug traffickers move their...

President Luis Abinader returned promptly from his trip to Washington D.C. to receive a leadership award and participate in the 54th Meeting of the Americas Society and Council of the Americas to go direct to the Presidential Palace for a meeting on government actions now that the country has been under intense rains for weeks. There has been major flooding in cities and damages to farms and road infrastructure. Several troughs have brought intense rains in April and May.

Diario Libre reported that the meeting convened at the Presidential Palace gathered Defense Minister Carlos Diaz Morfa; Civil Defense director Juan Sala; ministers of the Presidency, Joel Santos; Public Works, Deligne Ascención; Public Health Víctor Atallah; Energy and Mines, Antonio Almonte; the directors of the Santo Domingo Water Corporation (Caasd), Fellito Suberví; the director of the National Institute of...

Canada, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the USA are scheduled to participate in the NORCECA Pan American Cup Final Six 2024 in the Dominican Republic. The event is scheduled to be held from 23 June to 1 July 2024 and is a preparatory event for teams that will be competing in the Paris Olympics.

Read More:

• Volleybox