Dominican Watchdog

TRAVEL WARNING: Dom Rep to take prevention measures on frequent tremors

2012-01-26T02:36:00.000-08:00

Now Dom Rep prepare itself for MEGA QUAKE! The widespread jitters caused by the now frequent tremors in the country since January five have prompted the public safety agencies, coordinated by the Emergency Operations Center (COE), to issue prevention measures on Tuesday....... TRAVEL WARNING - A devastating earthquake is expected...... Read more - TRAVEL WARNING: Dom Rep to take prevention measures on frequent tremors

Exploding black market for HIV medicin btw New York and Dom Rep

2012-01-20T03:01:00.000-08:00

Law enforcement experts report that Washington Heights has become the heart of the illegal HIV drug traffic. Mowatt-Wynn says that five or six years ago he first started noticing the unusual business inside the 157th Street subway station on the number 1 train. According to a 2011 report from the World Health Organization at least 45 percent of the HIV/AIDS population in the Dominican Republic had no access to appropriate treatment...... read more / click on link: Exploding black market for HIV medicine btw New York and Dom Rep

Earthquake 5.3 rattled the entire Dominican Republic

2012-01-05T04:29:00.000-08:00

A moderate tremor of 5.3 magnitude has rattled the entire Dominican Republic, at around 5:32am local time, whose epicenter was located 17 kilometers south-southeast of the city of San Jose de Ocoa, at a depth of 10 kilometers. The tremor shook doors and windows for around 30 seconds, startling people to scurry out of bed....... TRAVEL WARNING: Much larger earthquake expected.....!!! read more

Wikileaks: Fanjuls 'muscled' lawmakers to kill free trade deal

2012-01-02T02:58:00.000-08:00

The cables read like a political thriller: In the Dominican Republic, a "small, powerful coterie of infuriated sugar barons" was trying to sabotage a top American priority, a free trade agreement. The Senate president "does not control the Senate on this issue," PRESIDENT Fernandez said. "Central Romana" - the Fanjuls' company - "has it blocked." The sugar lobby, Fernandez added, was rich and powerful, and it employed "the man with the suitcase" full of money to bribe congressmen...... read more

Felipe Vicini, Vicini Group lying about the Price of Sugar

2011-12-19T06:27:00.000-08:00

In the lawsuit and newspapers Felipe Vicini, CEO of Vicini Group stated that the film was defamatory and indentified 53 statements. They later cut that down to ONLY 7. The Vicini Group has intimidated TV stations not to show the movie. Vicini paid USD 1,2 Mill to a Miami PR agency to clean up their image and block negative articles, to keep the sugar quota and support from the U.S. government...... Vicini lost the lawsuit, now they appeal..... read the appeal here

The Dominican Republic Hates Black People

2011-12-19T06:24:00.000-08:00

“The Dominican elite sees their Black selves in the faces and bodies of the Haitians, are embarrassed by it, and have been trying for more than two hundred years to kill it.” - “A deep-seated racism in Dominican society which affects dark-skinned people in general and Haitians and Dominico-Haitians in particular.” ...... read more

President Leonel Fernandez received half a million from drug lord

2011-12-19T06:21:00.000-08:00

"BANANA REPUBLIC by LEONEL FERNANDEZ" - President Leonel Fernandez invited the drug lord Oscar Ezequiel Rodriguez to the President Palace. The drug lord gave personally Leonel a check of half a million. Oscar Ezequiel Rodriguez was jailed but quickly released and has been able to stay out of jail and avoid extradition for more than two years due to his connections....... read more

Gadhafi's son helped out of the Domincian Republic?

2011-11-19T00:20:00.001-08:00

BREAKING NEWS !! New video claims that the "Frank Rainieri's Stolen Plane Story" in reality was a secret operation flying Gadhafi's son out of the Dominican Republic after his 5 days stay in Punta Cana..... Watch Video

Medina presents Margarita as his running mate, is she corrupt?

2011-11-04T05:11:00.001-07:00

WE WILL WATCH YOU MARGARITA!! - Being the wife of the current President running one of the most corrupt governments in the history of the Dominican Republic, we have only ONE question for Margarita - Can you keep your fingers out of the cookie jar? Dominican Watchdog has set up a special website to track possible corruption of Margarita Cedeno Fernandez.........

Dengue, cholera, leptospirosis and malaria highest in two years

2011-11-02T07:01:00.000-07:00

Dengue 1,587 cases - 43 deaths, Cholera 19,116 cases - 142 deaths, Rabies 19,559 cases - 3 deaths, Leptospirosisa, disease caused by rat urine in food ingested by humans, 638 cases - 14 deaths.....read more

Presidential helicopter used for drug transports in Dom Rep

2011-10-12T06:21:00.000-07:00

The truth will prevail, even for a President - What exactly does Leonel Fernandez know about the government agencies behind the drug trade in his country? 3 years ago the former chopper pilot for the Fanjul sugar barons went on to work for the President. Former U.S. Marine, Lieutenant colonel Harold Manzano transported drugs in the Presidential helicopter and was forced into retirement - No jail time at all!! The other parties got 10 years but last week the judge tried to alter the sentence to 10 months and hell broke lose...... read more

Rifle find revives mysterious murder cases

2011-10-06T05:14:00.000-07:00

Government killings? The finding of a rifle and several bullets in the community Sabana Cruz, near the town of Guayubín and which is believed belongs to the kidnappers of Eduardo Antonio Baldera two this years ago, has revived one of the most unclear murder cases in recent history. The weapon was taken to the military post four days ago, the case is handled mysteriously........ read more

Ocean World Puerto Plata in US$ 30 Million lawsuit over dolphins

2011-09-22T05:51:00.000-07:00

Stop visiting Ocean World and free the saddest dolphins in the world! The Solomon Islands is ripped off by foreign dolphin traffickers. Dominican government helped blocking the import of 12 dolphins to Ocean World, but now Ocean World Puerto Plata is suing the NGO organization EARTH ISLANDS for US$ 30,000,000 for protecting the dolphins...... read full article

Little Mexico, formerly known as The Dominican Republic

2011-09-14T04:07:00.000-07:00

Welcome to "Little Mexico" as Dominican Watchdog started to rename the DR one month ago after a serie of brutal murders and wiki leaks showing generals connected to the drug trade. Finally the failed Dominican leader admits fears of Mexican drug cartels and the citizens are scared. This is all due to the extreme corruption of police, military and judges during the last 7 years with Leonel as President....... Follow the money and jail the corrupt! Read full story

Leaked WIKI cable: Leonel Fernandez feared the generals, many involved in drugs!

2011-09-03T03:02:00.000-07:00

The truth is out, now we know why Leonel keeps promoting these morons to generals despite public outcry!! Leonel Fernandez told the U.S. Ambassador "the well-known practice of the military keeping 10% or more of the contracts," that it was a situation "beyond my (Fernandez) capacity to intervene" and "I fear for an attack on my life"...... read full story

Cholera Epidemic Rising Higher in Dominican Republic

2011-07-27T12:05:00.000-07:00

European Union (EU) health officials today warned travelers about a risk of contracting cholera in the Dominican Republic, a magnet for tourists...... Russia was the first to warn their citizens about traveling to DR....... read more

U.S. agents find pests in Dominican farm goods

2011-07-27T12:02:00.000-07:00

This week US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Agriculture Specialists in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands found various actionable pests within commercial consignments of cut flowers, sweet potatoes, chayote, coconuts, celery and Persian limes, imported from Colombia, Costa Rica and Dominican Republic....... read more

American couple brutally murdered in Punta Cana, FBI now involved at the crime scene

2011-07-12T13:20:00.000-07:00

The Cuban-American couple, Milagros Caridad and her husband Augustine Novoa, were shot and killed point blank by two men who entered their vacation home in the tourihttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifst area of Punta Cana. The assailants left alive at the couple's son, 17, and a Haitian security guard. Both were at gunpoint locked into a bathroom........ FBI is now at the scene to do a joint investigation........ read full article

Felipe Vicini, Vicini Group lost legal attack on Dominican Watchdog

2011-06-29T14:54:00.001-07:00

Felipe Vicini owner of Vicini Group, one of the biggest industrial groups in the Dominican Republic, lost their legal attack on Dominican Watchdog. Felipe Vicini and Vicini Group claimed at WIPO the right to domains controlled by Dominican Watchdog in order to prevent negative information about the miserable Dominican sugar operations reach American consumers...... read more

Dominican Republic general linked to underworld case, but not alone!

2011-05-25T08:53:00.000-07:00

An interrogation of the details behind an ID of the National Investigations (DNI) issued to the Puerto Rican drug baron Jose Figueroa Agosto has finally led to what was widely suspected, the involvement of senior military officers and government officials in the money laundering, drug trafficking, and murder-for-hire case.
The Dominican general allegedly linked to the drug scandal, albeit retired, was identified as Fernando Cruz Mendez..... read more

Black In Latin America: Dominicans Are "In Denial" Of Their Color

2011-04-22T12:16:00.000-07:00

Part one of PBS' four-part series Black in Latin America premiered last night beginning with the Dominican Republic. Host Henry Louis Gates talked to Dominican Director of Cultural Diversity Juan Rodriguez who says that when it comes to facts "Dominicans are in complete denial of who they are."

"Between the 17th & 19th centuries more than 11-million Africans were taken to Latin America as slaves — 25-times the number sent to the United States."

Those are the opening lines of PBS' new documentary Black In Latin America which premiers tomorrow at 8 p.m. (ET). You should watch it. Why? Because black Latinos have always been misrepresented in American and Latino media. And PBS is as credible as these things get, right? Plus you'll probably realize there's way more African influence in your Latino-whatever ass than you know...... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Big Sugar: Sweet, White And Deadly

2011-04-18T03:33:00.000-07:00

- ‘Big Sugar: Sweet, White And Deadly’ Big Sugar explores the evil history and modern power of the world's reigning sugar cartels. Using dramatic re-enactments it reveals how sugar was at the heart of enslavement in the West Indies in the 18th, while showing how present-day consumers are slaves to a sugar-based diet. Going undercover, Big Sugar witnesses the appalling working conditions on plantations in the Dominican Republic, where Haitian cane cutters live like slaves. Workers who live on Central Romano, a Fanjul-owned plantation, go hungry while working 12-hour days to earn $2 (US)..... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Vicini Group trying to hide problems realted to their operations ?

2011-03-31T08:47:00.000-07:00

It looks like the Vicini Group is desperate to hide the "dark side" of their Dominican operations. They initiated several law suits in the United States. They have also flexed their muscles against TV stations not to show the horrifying movie "The Price of Sugar" narrated by Paul Newmam about the poor sugar cane workers slavery conditions in the Dominican Republic.

As of March 20th they are also attacking Dominican Watchdog with lawyers and trying to take over domains used or controlled by Dominican Watchdog to educate and inform the world about what really happens in the Dominican Republic

Dominican Watchdog has started investigations into other problems related to the Vicini Group or Grupo Vicini as they are operating as in the Dominican Republic. In reality Grupo Vicini LTD is a BVI company and probably tax exempt!

Vicini Group is a major shareholder in Progreso Bank, who is currently involved in a mega law suit from foreign investors and real estate agents in the Punta Cana region of the Dominican Republic. The reason for this 1 Billion Pesos(USD 20 Million) law suit is that people have lost their homes in Punta Cana due to the very unfortunate actions by Banco del Progreso.

Grupo Vicini is also deeply involved in the failed real estate development RocoKi in Punta Cana. Dominican Watchdog is currently collecting complaints to understand exactly whats going on in RocoKi, but it looks like more than USD 200 million is lost of investor funds and nothing is being build there for a long time.... read more

You should also read more about the Head of Vicini Group, Felipe Vicini and the law suit against the production company who did the movie "The Price of Sugar" and exposed the slavery conditions of sugar cane workers in the Dominican Republic!

Dominican Watchdog is the most trusted media about the Dominican Republic. We have readers from 150 countries and more than 20,000 page views per month. All our articles are written by local or international media. However local newspapers are in many cases afraid of uncovering the truth related to rich local families. The Fanjul's is another rich family which has had some attention in their US operations, but none to their activities in the DR. In the recent case of Cholera in their Casa de Campo luxury residential resort. It took days before the press found out through Venezuelan people who got sick from the luxury wedding in the Dominican Republic. Some says that the corrupt Dominican government tried to cover up the facts not to hurt their tourist industry.

Dominican Watchdog host more than 600 articles about fraud, corruption and murders of tourists in the Dominican Republic. If you have any questions Dominican Watchdog offer free advice!

Ex Dominican Justice chief vows to jail corrupt officials, even his own party’s

2011-03-22T11:05:00.000-07:00

“If I am President of the Republic, and I regret to say it and do so with pain, there’ll be people in the PLD who will have to go to prison. Be them of the PLD or anyone, the one who makes a mistake, the one who violates the law, must assume their responsibility,"...... Is this the joke of the week? That man can't be serious! When he was justice minister nobody was jailed for extensive corruption, so why should that change if he became President?..... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Prince Albert Never Endorsed Punta Perla

2011-03-06T13:15:00.000-08:00

Here is a letter from Thierry LACOSTE to a Spanish lawyer who represents investors that were duped out of their savings in a property scam endorsed by Prince Albert II of Monaco.

On top is the original text from DominicanToday that Prince Albert was investor in Punta Perla. The information was later altered after pressure from highest level, however the Prince never issued an official statement that he didn't endorse Punta Perla and therefore he is partly responsible for the millions of dollars lost by investors as the official Punta Perla website kept his photo for promotion on their website for one year. Also the private forum run by Ben Potter has several times informed investors that the Prince is a sure thing for Punta Perla.

Read much more about the Punta Perla Dominican real estate scam here

German tourist killed in Puerto Plata airport

2011-02-03T08:02:00.000-08:00

Erich Zipfel (46 years old man) from Germany was found Yesterday in a small room behind the ticket counter of MartinAir in Puerto Plata Airport. He was laying in a pool of blood with the knife still sitting in his heart. Zipfel spend less than a month in the Dominican Republic..... read full story and see the all the pictures

Cholera in Casa de Campo, Can we trust Dominican government data?

2011-02-02T08:27:00.000-08:00

More than 144 connected with/or of the 500 VIP guests invited to Victor Vargas wedding party in Casa de Campo got cholera. Among the famous infected with cholera was Ricardo Harzoury(owner of Cap Cana). According to local media the government tried to hide this serious cholera outbreak from the public, and now the transparency with which the authorities are handling the cholera cases is put in doubt...... read more Dominican Watchdog

Venezuelan Vacationers Contract Cholera In Dominican Republic

2011-01-27T05:54:00.001-08:00

Venezuela's health minister confirmed Wednesday 21 cases of cholera brought back to the country from a family gathering in the Dominican Republic, according to state run media.... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Dominican Republic faces new crime – Minors from Haiti becoming prostitutes to make living

2011-01-21T09:55:00.000-08:00

As reported, the Haitian prostitutes have displaced their Dominican counterparts. As reported in Hoy, services range from RD$1,000 to RD$3,000 and some Haitian minors accept to have sex with up to three men at once for RD$2,000...... read more Dominican Watchdog

American defense lawyer dies suddenly in Dom Rep - Yet another murder? (Update 2)

2011-01-16T05:35:00.000-08:00

Perman Glenn III, a local criminal defense lawyer best known for leading the charge in alleged police brutality cases, died suddenly while vacationing in the Dominican Republic. Local sources who spoke on condition of anonymity said they believed Glenn may have been injured in an accident at his hotel in the Sosua region. Update 2 - For those who believe the hotel manager's update then he cut himself on the glass door and died..... read more Dominican Watchdog

US lawyer considering representing several tourists injured on a bus excursion in Dom Rep

2011-01-15T10:37:00.000-08:00

Since the Dominican Republic has its own set of protections for the local tourism industry, the statute barring claims of injury in that jurisdiction is just six months. After careful analysis, we determined that Pennsylvania state court was the best forum for the instant cases..... read more Dominican Watchdog

Taiwan unruffled by Chinese funding of investment in Punta Perla Dominican Republic

2010-10-20T05:04:00.001-07:00

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Monday that Taiwan-Dominican Republic relations remain firm despite growing financial ties between Taiwan's Caribbean ally and China and hints of a possible interest in changing allegiance. Bank of China and China's Foreign Trade Bank were reported on Oct. 15 to have agreed to extend US$462 million in financing of the controversial Punta Perla development....... read more Dominican Watchdog

Possibly 100s of officials involved with biggest drug lord in Dominican Republic

2010-10-12T02:24:00.000-07:00

A detective well-versed in drug trafficking and federal crimes, presents the following numbers: 277 military and police personnel, including Navy, National Police, DNCD and DNI; 93 businesspeople, 7 bank managers, 15 bank employees, 10 car dealers, 8 construction companies, 5 supermarket owners, 19 money exchange houses; and finally, 22 politicians "of high and medium rank" and 8 deputies...... READ MORE - DOMINICAN WATCHDOG

Dominican Republic should investigate abduction allegations against anti-kidnap police

2010-09-29T06:16:00.000-07:00

Amnesty International is today urging the authorities in the Dominican Republic to investigate the whereabouts of Juan Almonte, a member of the Dominican Committee of Human Rights, who was on his way to the Santo Domingo office when a group of armed men forced him into a car and drove away. He has not been seen since then....... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Dominican and Haitian Killed In Race-fueled Dispute in Bavaro(Punta Cana)

2010-09-27T05:20:00.000-07:00

Haitians working on the residential project were demanding unpaid wages Saturday when the foreman, whose identity was not released, drew a pistol and fired, killing 32-year-old Issac Louis. The next day, Haitian workers attacked their Dominican supervisors with rocks and wooden poles, beating 34-year-old Maximiliano Hierro to death....... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Top Dominican anticorruption official paints a somber picture

2010-09-04T04:43:00.000-07:00

From 2000 to 2010 more than 95% of the corruption cases have gone unpunished, because those who’ve been condemned "are the little ones." The DA states that "when they are powerful there’s no way to condemn them"......... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Malaria rises again in Dominican Republic, 41 dead of dengue

2010-09-04T04:40:00.000-07:00

Deputy Health Minister Jose Rodriguez Aybar said Friday there have been 1,644 cases so far this year. That's about 200 more than the average for an entire year. The story goes on to say 8,839 persons in the Dominican Republic have been diagnosed with dengue, with 41 deaths....... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Dominican in New York accused of gun-dealing wants confession tossed

2010-09-04T04:38:00.000-07:00

Victor Peralta said he was sick when he allegedly bought 15 guns and smuggled them to the Dominican Republic. Peralta also said he obtained his Pennsylvania identification from a Dominican Republic government official...... read more - Dominican Watchdog

US DA's Office: Beware of the Dominican Grandmother Scam

2010-09-04T04:33:00.000-07:00

A scammer called a local woman, pretending to be her granddaughter. She said she was in a Dominican Republic jail and needed money. The concerned grandmother wired the requested $5,000. But the scammers then said the money was received, but too late, and they’d need more to get her out of jail...... read more - Dominican Watchdog

U.S. citizen’s harrowing encounter with Dominican “justice”

2010-08-24T04:45:00.000-07:00

The message from his story is that foreigners, especially US citizens, should be wary of doing any business in the Dominican Republic, where the legal rights of residents and citizens alike, have no value, and are not protected by laws........ read more - Dominican Watchdog

Dominican newspaper closed, in hope they can protect the editor from being killed

2010-08-06T02:57:00.000-07:00

Police general's actions over the last 12 months can easily be compared to those of the worst African nations. Now Clave Digital has closed trying to protect their editor. Recently Dominican's formed a facebook community against the police under the name "No Me Mate, Yo Me Paro".... don't kill me, I will stop........ read more Dominican Watchdog

Flooded Dominican towns fight disease outbreaks and deaths

2010-07-28T23:58:00.000-07:00

Officials in the Dominican Republic are warning people living near low-lying areas flooded by recent rainstorms to be on alert for two diseases that have already killed 53 people and sickened thousands including Lucía Olivero Montero, who has won modelling competitions and was a candidate last year for Miss Dominican Republic........ read more - Dominican Watchdog

USAtoday, Challenges of Tourism in the Dominican Republic

2010-07-26T05:03:00.000-07:00

The Dominican Republic and Haiti carry a risk of mosquito-borne malaria, and travelers should take oral anti-malaria medication and use insect repellent for these destinations. The Dominican Republic and Haiti's gnats, lice, sand flies and mosquitoes carry diseases like leishmaniasis -- the so-called "flesh-eating disease" -- as well as filariasis, oropouche virus and typhus........ read more - Dominican Watchdog

All of Samaná’s antinarcotics agents arrested in sting

2010-07-18T23:16:00.001-07:00

The entire contingent of the Drugs Control Agency (DNCD) in Samaná is under arrest, accused of charging money from pushers. The senator of Peravia province yesterday revealed that on instructions from president Leonel Fernandez, the country’s antinarcotics agency (DNCD) will recruit civilians, to not have to rely on military or National Police agents....... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Dominicans charged with conspiring to mutilate fingerprints of illegal aliens in the US

2010-07-09T03:25:00.000-07:00

Dominicans coordinated patients to receive the fingerprint removal procedure performed by Zaiter-Pou, a physician with a clinic in the Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Zaiter-Pou comes to the United States to perform the procedure for $4,500, prosecutors said....... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Dominican Republic worst in Latin America in real estate transparency

2010-06-29T04:04:00.000-07:00

Latin America scores low on the Global Real Estate Transparency Index 2010 from Jones real estate company Lang LaSalle. The Dominican Republic has the lowest transparency score in the region and is ranked 77th out of 81 markets globally..... read more Dominican Watchdog

Dominican Republic is back on US people-trafficking black list

2010-06-15T02:04:00.000-07:00

Cuba and Dominican Republic are members of the group of 13 mostly Asian and African, countries that don’t fight people trafficking, according to the report. For Washington Dominican Republic is "a source country, for the transit and destination of men, women and children victims of people traffic, especially for prostitution and forced labor."....... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Caribbean Pleasure Industry: Tourism, Sexuality, and AIDS in the Dominican Republic

2010-06-15T02:01:00.000-07:00

Drawing on his groundbreaking ethnographic research in the Dominican Republic, Mark Padilla discovers a complex world where the global political and economic impact of tourism has led to shifting sexual identities, growing economic pressures, and new challenges for HIV prevention....... read more - Dominican Watchdog

An American attorney and businessman was shot to death at his residence in Dominican Republic

2010-06-15T01:58:00.000-07:00

The body of Tarlow, 65, was found in his bedroom with four bullet wounds. Police arrested two suspects in the Friday night murder of US lawyer and businessman Arthur Lee Tarlow, in his villa in the resort town Sosúa....... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Problems in every corner of the Domincian Republic according to UNDP, UNHRC, Amnesty International and The World Bank

2010-06-09T05:37:00.000-07:00

The Dominican Republic received a downward trend arrow due to the revelation through several major scandals of the level of drug traffickers' penetration of Dominican police and legal institutions, as well as new constitutional bans on abortion and gay marriage. Amnesty International - Unlawfull killings of hundreds of people. World Bank - most corrupt government. UNDP - lack of health and education. Killing of journalists - the list just goes on and on and on....... read more Dominican Watchdog

Dominican Former Bronx Senator Gets 7 Years for Corruption

2010-05-29T07:52:00.000-07:00

Efrain González Jr., a once-powerful Bronx politician convicted of corruption, was sentenced to seven years in prison on Tuesday by a federal judge who called his story “an American tragedy.”......... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Mobile services in decline in the Dominican Republic

2010-05-29T07:48:00.000-07:00

The Dominican Telecommunications Institute (Indotel) warns that the quality of cell phone services in the Dominican Republic is declining....... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Dominican army warns of public unrest after elections

2010-05-29T07:45:00.000-07:00

Armed Forces Minister Lieutenant General Pedro Rafael Peña Antonio confirmed yesterday that there was a plan to disrupt public order, and informed that troops had been deployed to strategic points across the country........ read more - Dominican Watchdog

Dominican Republic media clampdown as opposition cries vote fraud

2010-05-29T07:41:00.000-07:00

The Central Electoral Board (JCE) banned the political parties’ delegates from issuing statements to the press and to receive reporters in the Political Parties Salon. It became a custom for reporters to interview the parties’ representatives in that Salon during the electoral process, but today’s measure surprised the media, when plainclothes security personnel blocked the journalists’ access...... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Senior antinarcotics officials arrested on missing drugs, getting cozy with trafficker

2010-05-22T12:27:00.000-07:00

Two senior Drugs Control Agency (DNCD) officials and three agents, all of whom hold key positions in the entity, are investigated for the disappearance of 10 kilos of cocaine seized during a search in the Capital....... read more Dominican Watchdog

Warning of diphtheria along frontier to Haiti

2010-05-22T12:18:00.000-07:00

The president of the Dominican Pediatric Society called on the health authorities yesterday to be vigilant along the frontier in the face of the alarming increase in diphtheria cases in Haiti reported by the United States Center for Disease Control (CDC)....... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Mexican style kidnapping - Girl and her two kidnappers die in auto accident

2010-05-22T12:14:00.000-07:00

A little girl affected by Down Syndrome and two men who had just kidnapped her in the central town Bonao died today Friday when the SUV in which they fled flipped on the highway to the nearby city La Vega........ read more - Dominican Watchdog

Mayor of Dominican Republic’s 2nd City to Face Corruption Charges

2010-05-22T12:11:00.000-07:00

The Dominican Alliance against Corruption, or Adocco, said it will ask government prosecutors to charge Sued with misuse of public money. Jose Enrique Sued, a political ally of the ruling PLD party, has been mayor of Santiago for 12 of the past 16 years...... read more - Dominican Watchdog

More criminals join Dominican Republic’s Congress

2010-05-22T12:08:00.000-07:00

Juan Hubieres, the head of a nationwide association of bus owners whose constant strikes have claimed the lives of innocent people, and whose mere threats of stoppages strike fear in Government officials, will be the Deputy of the town Bayaguana. He was convicted of smuggling 14 Chinese citizens into the country in 2002, when he was consul in Cape Haitian...... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Angus Reid Global Monitor - a summery of the Dominican election

2010-05-22T12:06:00.000-07:00

On May 5, PRD representatives officially accused the PLD of planning "a massive purchase of votes" in the municipality of Samaná before the Central Electoral Board (JCE).On May 9, Fernández was criticized for actively campaigning for his party’s candidates. The president is not supposed to take part in political rallies......... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Top Dominican journalist slams “bums” in government payroll

2010-05-22T12:00:00.000-07:00

Newspaper El Nacional editor in chief of Radhamés Gomez Pepín affirmed Tuesday that if he were President his first decree would be to order a firing squad against “two or three bandits whom still subsist” and to clean the Government payroll “of so many bums” who get paid without working...... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Last minute elections violence a “stain for democracy”

2010-05-18T00:27:00.000-07:00

The Electoral Board’s (JCE) Administrative Chamber president Roberto Rosario reported 12 incidents with several people injured and more than 10 arrests in different parts of the country. At least two was killed during the election...... read more Dominican Watchdog

Drug ring made up of doctors and pharmacists dismantled in the DR

2010-05-18T00:05:00.000-07:00

National Drug Control Department (DNCD) officers have dismantled an international ring made up of doctors and pharmacists who engaged in selling controlled substances to clients in the United States through a Call Center. The group gave its clients the impression that it was US-based....... read more Dominican Watchdog

U.S. federal agency offers advice on deceptive ads

2010-05-13T07:04:00.000-07:00

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is advising the Consumer Rights Protection Institute (Proconsumidor) in the legal aspect for inspection, market watch and in deceptive advertising in the media because Dominican Republic lacks a regulatory law........ read more Dominican Watchdog

National Lottery scandal, Dominican Government gunmen fire on reporters

2010-05-13T06:59:00.000-07:00

A team of television reporters was chased and fired on Friday night by a group of armed men who guarded a truck of the National Lottery loaded with merchandise at its headquarters in Santo Domingo. When the report was broadcast one cable company tried to prevent the viewers from seeing it. “The funds of the National Lottery are being used by its administrator Enrique Martinez to finance the candidates of the ruling party’s different posts,”........ read more Dominican Watchdog

Selective amnesia towards the Cocaine Tower(Torre Atiemar)

2010-05-06T15:12:00.000-07:00

In an op-ed piece in El Caribe, lawyer Leila Mejia wonders why, when there were "evident connections" between Spaniard Arturo del Tiempo Marques and cocaine trafficking prior to the inaugural of the Atiemar highrise, Del Tiempo was not arrested by the Police. She says the point is made in a news story published online in Spain........ read more - www.DominicanWatchdog.org

Dominicans don’t tackle major problems, Business Council warns

2010-05-06T15:10:00.000-07:00

National Business Council president Lisandro Macarrulla warned today that if Dominican society doesn’t deal with the problems of money laundering, education, jobs and the social exclusion in depth the social, political and economic stability will become untenable...... read more - Dominican Watchdog

“Shameful” Police ruse shows need for deep reform, prestigious entity says

2010-05-06T15:07:00.000-07:00

The journalist Nuria Piera unleashed the scandal, on which Finjus president Servio Tulio Castaños Guzmán said a police reform is now more urgent than ever. In a statement Finjus said the situation should serve to evaluate the National Police’s constant appearances in the press and the credibility of its information which cannot validly sustain before a court..... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Officials admit ethics vacuum demoralizes Dominican society

2010-05-06T15:04:00.000-07:00

The Government’s Ethics Commission president today affirmed that Dominican society is currently demoralized and loses values which increasingly weakens it, and asked adherence to the conduct of Ulises Francisco Espaillat, who in 1857 led a rebellion against the reigning administrative chaos and government corruption....... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Freedom of the press: the DR Government must still do more

2010-05-03T20:07:00.000-07:00

UN calls for worldwide press freedom. The investigative reporter Nuria Piera rebukes that many Government structures allegedly harass journalists to prevent a free press, and affirmed that a journalistic structure contracted by the Government is among its main threats........ read more - Dominican Watchdog

A Prescription For Failure: Health And IP In The Dominican Republic

2010-05-03T20:04:00.000-07:00

In the United States, trade policy is generally considered an economic issue. But for developing countries like the Dominican Republic, it can be a matter of life and death........ read more - Dominican Watchdog

Dominican lawmakers get slammed for tax free autos

2010-05-02T18:27:00.001-07:00

Dominican coffers lost RD$1.0 billion on tax exempt vehicles for legislators in the last eight years. A report which affirms lawmakers imported 678 from 2002 to 2009 without paying the high tax....... read more - Dominican Watchdog

American non-profit org threatened with lawsuit over sugar documentary

2010-05-02T18:24:00.000-07:00

Matheny is on the board for the non-profit store. She says as soon as Ten Thousand Villages advertised that the documentary The Price of Sugar, based in the Dominican Republic, was set to be shown at the first Fair Trade Film Festival, they got a letter. The letter was from a law firm representing the family criticized in the documentary. It threatened to sue for defamation if they showed the film. She says they're not the first...... read more - Dominican Watchdog

25 senators to face charges on use of RD$600M slush fund

2010-05-02T18:20:00.000-07:00

The Dominican Alliance Against Corruption (ADOCCO) filed charges against 25 senators for refusing to divulge information on the use of more than RD$600 million, through the slush fund known as Barrilito (little barrel). De la Rosa said in the little barrel figure people as employees who say they haven’t been paid one cent........ read more - Dominican Watchdog

At least 300 schoolchildren poisoned after drinking milk in Dominican Republic

2010-05-02T18:17:00.000-07:00

The children at the Gregorio Luperon de Rio San Juan elementary school in Maria Trinidad Sanchez province developed symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea and were taken to the health center Desiderio Acosta. It was the third time that a group poisoning related with school breakfast had been reported this year....... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Dominican parties can’t point to each other’s corruption, Vega says

2010-05-02T18:14:00.000-07:00

"The economic dependency of many voters, the opposition’s weakness and an improved economy are among the factors which would lead citizens to vote for the ruling PLD party in the next elections, despite the Government’s complicity in corruption, the rise in crime and drug trafficking."...... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Dominican Republic Airports Get Counterfeit Documents Technology

2010-05-02T18:09:00.000-07:00

All the main airports in Dominican Republic now have the latest technology installed to help identify counterfeit documents. Foster + Freeman spent two weeks installing the VSC4Plus equipment to six airports in the country. They also trained staff how to use the equipment...... read more Dominican Watchdog

Holidaymakers settle Dominican Republic illness claims

2010-04-27T09:34:00.000-07:00

BBC NEWS - A group of almost 300 holidaymakers has settled damages claims over bouts of gastric illness suffered on holiday in the Dominican Republic....... read more about this and other food poisoning cases at Dominican Watchdog

Dominicans reel by alleged serial killer’s release

2010-04-27T08:48:00.000-07:00

SANTO DOMINGO.- Santo Domingo Province Judge Jose Rosario Hernandez granted bail for Raul Serumberto Reynoso Mota (Vantroi), accused by Police of 51 felonies, including 36 murders.

Local media and analysts have reacted with surprise in the case of Reynoso’s vast underworld murder network.

The Permanent Attention Judge set bond at RD$2.5 million, exit impediment and periodic visit to the Office of the Prosecutor.

The judge’s ruling stems from an alleged lack of hard evidence filed by the prosecutors of the Justice Ministry against the accused.

The prosecutor Omar Adames had requested the incarceration of Reynoso, arrested on April 23, who returned to the country deported from Mexico that same day, together with Joel Bautista Vázquez (Pilito) or Tony Fernandez Trinidad, who is accused of directly heading a murder for hire “business."..... read more Dominican Watchdog

Fernandez heads political rally with “pathologically corrupt” official

2010-04-26T10:10:00.000-07:00

President Leonel Fernandez on Sunday headed a political rally with Héctor Rodriguez Pimentel, recently called “pathologically corrupt” by the Justice Ministry’s Anticorruption Department (DPCA) director Hotoniel Bonilla, for his numerous scandals in two government agencies....... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Athletes get food poisoning in Dominican Republic

2010-04-26T10:06:00.000-07:00

More than 1,200 young athletes participating in an event in the Dominican Republic fell sick and 22 of them were hospitalised due to food poisoning...... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Dominican baseball “a wasteland of crime and drugs,” Yahoo reports

2010-04-26T10:02:00.000-07:00

Last year, a 16-year-old pitcher named Rafael DePaula was red-flagged by the MLB Department of Investigations as an identity-fraud case. The FBI investigated claims of team employees skimming money from signing bonuses paid to 16-year-olds. Hundreds of kids sign contracts every year, and each is prey for a Dominican baseball behemoth built on lies...... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Judge refutes claim by Prisons Agency on release of hired killer

2010-04-26T10:00:00.001-07:00

The National Police yesterday said the deportee, together with Joel Bautista Vásquez (Pilito) have murdered 36 people. He was in a a group of convicts who were promised a Presidential Pardon by then Prisons official Oneida Acevedo, after attending a mass in the church La Paz on the Malecon on August 15, 2004, just one day before Hipolito Mejia left office, and during the scandalous tenure of the former Justice Minister Victor Cespedes...... read more - Dominican Watchdog

12-year-old adopted in Russia and abandoned in Dominican Republic caught in long legal limbo

2010-04-26T09:55:00.000-07:00

The boy wants to return to Russia but he has almost completely forgotten his native language. He has had no formal education since the suspected drug traffickers left him with a taxi driver in 2005. The case was not widely known until Russia's children's rights ombudsman, Pavel Astakhov, mentioned the boy last week...... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Pitbulls Kill Man in Dominican Republic

2010-04-26T09:49:00.000-07:00

A 53-year-old farmworker was killed by two pitbulls that escaped from their enclosure in Villa Mella, a community in Santo Domingo Norte, Dominican police said, adding that the dogs’ owner and handler were arrested...... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Antinarcotics Agency fires 7 colonels in purge with polygraph tests

2010-04-19T08:55:00.000-07:00

The head of the DNCD said the cleanup will continue until all rotten apples have been removed. “More than DNCD 50 members have been expelled in the last in seven months, for taking part in to activities contrary to the regulations.”........ read more - Dominican Watchdog

Magnitude 5.2 termor shakes Dominican Republic´s east coast

2010-04-19T08:53:00.000-07:00

Earthquake shake the Punta Cana region, three dies other resqued by Navy craft........ read more - Dominican Watchdog

Punta Perla is fraud according to national TV broadcast

2010-04-19T08:51:00.000-07:00

Woman of the year and investigative journalist Nuria Piera from Diario Libre have uncovered hundreds of corrupt stories in the Dominican Republic. On April 10, 2010 she released a cover story on national TV about the fraud behind Punta Perla and the fact that nobody believes it will ever get build....... read more - Dominican Watchdog

2 pilots jailed in DomRep on trafficking charges

2010-04-19T08:44:00.000-07:00

They were arrested last week and accused of trying to fly five people out of the DR with false documentation. The migrants were carrying fake visas and passports and each paid roughly $20,000...... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Two get 10 years in prison for 3 murders in Loft disco

2010-04-19T08:40:00.000-07:00

The victims, Yasser Alberto Nader, Ignacio Mañón and Fidel Ernesto Estévez were killed in a shootout at 11:30 p.m. on May 23, 2007, in the parking lot of the Loft discotheque..... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Oxfam slams Dominican Government’s "lack of resolve" against disasters

2010-04-19T08:38:00.000-07:00

The organization said given the Caribbean nation’s geographic location it’s "highly exposed to natural threats, mainly tropical storms, tornados, floods, landslides, wild fires and earthquakes." The Dominican population is "badly misinformed” on the threats natural phenomena pose...... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Indotel closes telco following alleged illegal activity in Dominican Republic

2010-04-19T08:36:00.000-07:00

The Dominican Republic's telecoms watchdog Indotel has suspended the activities of a company called Majestic Marketing and seized equipment...... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Airport mafia and disappearing airplanes in the Dominican Republic

2010-04-19T08:35:00.000-07:00

The investigations regarding the disappearance of an airplane that left the Joaquin Balaguer International Airport at El Higuero destined for Port-au-Prince, but which turned towards Colombia, have let to the discovery of a mafia that handled clandestine flights and which used local airports. According to the investigators, these flights handled people and money....... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Macabre killings by minors rock Dominican society

2010-04-13T10:09:00.000-07:00

The Santo Domingo Province Juvenile Court sent five minors, three boys and two girls, to jail on charges of killing seven taxi drivers in different parts of the municipality Santo Domingo East, where the Police revealed that the group, which included two adults, had sex while they murdered their victims........ read more Dominican Watchdog

Dominican Police Chief’s house guards arrest TV crew

2010-04-09T09:45:00.000-07:00

Reporters of the program of the investigative journalist Nuria Piera were arrested Friday afternoon by security guards of National Police chief Rafael Guzmán, as they were filming near his the residence..... read more about problems of press freedom on the Dominican Republic here

Real estate boom or money laundering in Dominican Republic?(UPDATE 10)

2010-04-09T09:43:00.001-07:00

Senator Wilton Guerrero yesterday demanded a full investigation into who in the National Police provided the honorary member card which allowed the Spaniard drug trafficking suspect to remain in organized crime’s networks undetected.

The legislator said he sees "ominous signals” on the country’s future since organized crime’s ramifications have set deep roots in Dominican Republic...... read more Dominican Watchdog

14 people die of dengue fever in Dominican Republic

2010-04-08T14:47:00.000-07:00

Given the situation, the Health Ministry has expanded the prevention plan and raised the epidemic alert........ read more Dominican Watchdog

PeTA Urge Dominican Republic Officials to Stop Poisoning Dogs

2010-04-03T05:01:00.000-07:00

National Anti-Rabies Center has authorized public officials to set out poison to kill homeless animals....... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Canadian woman stabbed to death in North Coast town of Dominican Republic

2010-04-03T04:59:00.001-07:00

Unidentified attackers stabbed to death a Canadian national who for more than five years had been living in the community Alto Grande......... read more - Dominican Watchdog

Canadian Skyservice announced that it has gone into receivership

2010-04-03T04:56:00.000-07:00

In fact, a flight leaving Canada for the Dominican Republic was already canceled and passengers are advised to contact their travel agent....... read more - Dominican Watchdog