Canada Day at Velero Beach Resort - Sunday 1st July 2007

If you are on the north coast of the Dominican Republic this weekend, make a stop on Sunday to Velero Beach Resort in Cabarete and join in the fun of Canada Day.

Entrance is free and there is lots going on in and around the resort and also on the beach especially for the kids.

Bring a few pesos as there will be refreshments available.

Games and Competitions, fun and a great way to meet fellow Canadians on the island..

NON Canadians are also Welcome!

Meet the staff from the Canadian Embassy and the Ambassador will be making an appearance too!

If you need transport to get up to Cabarete, there will be a bus outside Cafe Cito in Puerto Plata (just outside Playa Dorada) at 12.00 in the carpark.  The bus will then go up to Sosua to pick up at 12.30 from outside The Britannia Pub on Pedro Clisante.

National District Prosecutor Mr. Jose Manuel Hernandez has spent the last couple of days reviewing the very generous proposal sent to him by drug trafficking suspect Quirino Paulino and after due consideration has turned around and said “NO”. 

Trafficking suspect Paulino offered the State of the Dominican Republic RD$100 million pesos in exchange for dropping the charges against him and his relatives, however the District Prosecutor has replied that the request is inadmissible as it does not meet the main condition, as the crimes committed seriously affect the public interest. 

District Prosecutor Hernandez will continue to prosecute the case within this county’s court system. Both media and legal experts have been sending Hernandez warnings against negotiating with the suspected drug trafficker’s case, whereas Justice Minister Radhames Jimenez had said the Justice Ministry’s institutional position regarding the proposal would be stated in the next few coming days. 

A lot of people have had a lot to say about this interesting and controversial offer made by Paulino, jurist Jottin Curry Junior said “though the new Penal Procedural Code allows such negotiation, from a moral standpoint it sends a negative message to the population, because it’s a drug trafficking case, it would be necessary to see on what phase will it be negotiated and on what point in specific, because on the contrary the case can generate must mistrust in the citizenship.” 

Also another jurist Domingo Rojas Nina had this to say on the matter and reminded Hernandez that those millions of pesos offered by Paulino were not legally acquired in the first place and should not negotiate the case. 

The Food Fair hosted by the Dominican Agribusiness Board (JAD) was inaugurated yesterday in Santo Domingo at the Dominican Hotel by the Dominican Export and Investment Center (CEI-RD) with over one hundred international industrialists taking part. 

People have traveled from the US, Central America and other Caribbean Islands. 

Mr. Eddy Martinez who is the director of the CEI-RD said that the event seeks to attract buyers from markets in New York, California, Florida, Puerto Rico, St.Martin and other Caribbean Islands as ell as Central American countries. 

The Fair is being held to raise networking and business possibilities among local and foreign industrialists.  Already organizers have over 300 appointments through which Dominican Agribusiness’s will offer their products to an international market and buyers. 

Agro Food Fair President Mr. Mario Velazquez said that the event is a great platform in which the buyers are going to see and be able to verify the quality of a wide range of Dominican products. 

He said “This activity is defined as a fair of canned foods, tobaccos and beverages, and in those lines, frozen products, organic fruits, vegetables, cacao and coffee, as well as services will figure.” CEI-RD Mr. Eddy Martinez said that the fair is part of a strategy to position the country as a global supplier of world quality. 

He said “We are leaders in the region in many lines, as we are the main exporter of cigars and organic products, and for that reason we must give the private sector the opportunity to lateralize business with important market niches in the area.” 

The fair is to run until Sunday.

Interior and Police Minister Franklin Almeyda has now got over his mid life crisis, but with egg on his face. 

After ordering 52 Harley-Davidson motorcycles for the police who patrol the barrios of Santo Domingo,  he was heavily criticized by the tax paying public and newspapers at the extravagance and expense of this highly questioned shopping expedition. 

The Harleys were all bought without tenders at a cost of US$17,000 each, the whole fleet costing RD$28.7 million pesos at the RD$32.5 per dollar rate.  

Not only was the purchase harshly criticized but the local cops couldn’t even ride them and needed a special training session from New Jersey Police! 

The purpose of buying the Harley-Davidsons was to initially patrol the many small barrios in and around Santo Domingo however once the Harley’s arrived there seemed to be a slight problem in that the glamorous and powerful machines couldn’t fit in the narrow roads, alleyways and streets that the barrios are made up of! 

Ever resourceful, the Harley Davidsons were handed over much to the glee of the Metropolitan Transit Authority (AMET) whose traffic cops now use them to patrol the highways from Santo Domingo and Santiago in an attempt to keep normal folk from "hogging" the traffic lanes....  

Meanwhile the regular police are back to riding their old dirt bikes in their quest of law and order in the barrios of Santo Domingo once again.