From what I have been told, you just plug the magic jack in your USB port, plug your phone into the jack, and off you go!
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - The Dominican Republic has expanded subsidies on basic food staples to maintain calm after deadly food riots recently struck neighboring Haiti. Trucks loaded with milk, chicken, eggs and other food staples have been rumbling across the Caribbean nation, where almost half of 9.5 million residents live in poverty. The subsidized food is on average 30 percent below supermarket prices. The government recently expanded the effort by selling a US$3 (euro2) package that includes a frozen chicken and 4 pounds (1.8 kilograms) each of potatoes and onions. An estimated 20,000 of the packets are being sold daily, according to a Saturday news release. Food riots in Haiti, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic, killed seven people in April and cost the prime minister his job. Dominican President Leonel Fernandez implemented the subsidies as he seeks re-election this month. The food packages are a welcome reprieve to 34-year-old handyman Vidal Rosario, who said people in his working-class neighborhood in northern Santo Domingo have been rationing their food. “It makes life easier on poor people,” he said of the deliveries by government trucks at a basketball court near his house.
From DR1.com
Dominicans really not happy
According to a Gallup-Hoy poll, 57% of Dominicans would leave the country to live and work elsewhere if they had the chance. This percentage increases to 60% in the southern and eastern parts of the DR.
Only 45% of Dominicans feel they are better off than their parents, 23% feel they live in the same conditions and 27% feel they are worse off than their parents.
The poll also showed that 55% of Dominicans feel they are poor while 27% feel they are middle-poor class and 15.5% feel they are middle class. Only 2% considered themselves middle high class and less than 1% considered themselves high class.
Racially speaking, 55% Dominicans considered themselves to be “Indio” while 16% considered themselves to be mulatto and 12% considered themselves white. And only about 12.5% of the population considered themselves black except for those located in the eastern part of the country where 37.5% of those polled viewed themselves as black.
The Dominican ID card no longer specifies the holder’s race, and ethnicity is not a requirement on most official documents.
Today is a DR holiday which will be observed on Monday, the 20th. I have a group going to Dajabon Monday to do some shopping. The Haitian border is open on Mondays and Fridays and it is wild- a lot of bargains can be found. Victor, Felix, Milagros, Carolina, Pilar, Mecho and some others will all be a part of the adventure. Here is a little history about August 16th:
From DR1.com
Restoration Day
President Leonel Fernandez will be in Santiago to celebrate today’s national holiday, Restoration Day. Although the DR gained its independence from Haiti in 1844, by 1861 it had reverted back to being a colony of Spain. With the help of Haitian revolutionaries who feared the presence of Spain on the island, the war against Spain broke out. Restoration Day celebrates the day, August 16 1863, on which the national war of “restoration” began. By 1865, Ulises Heureaux and Gregorio Luperon had restored the Republic. Fernandez will be present at the unveiling of the remodeled Heroes Monument in Santiago. The Monument, which is 55 years old, has undergone a five-month restoration project led by the Ministry of Culture. Dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo built the Monument in his own honor in 1944, but after his regime was ousted the imposing structure was renamed in memory of the Heroes of the 1863 Restoration War against Spain.
This was reported yesterday in the DR news. Imagine how these expenditures affect the poor…
Six billion spent on “macuteo”
In 2006 Dominicans spent RD$6 billion in “macuteos” or small bribes, according to findings in the National Study on the Cost of Corruption for Dominican Households carried out by Gallup and financed by USAID. The services that required the most “grease” was to assist those seeking documentation to travel abroad, for which Dominicans paid RD$2 billion. Getting someone out of jail or avoiding jail time cost Dominicans RD$842 million and obtaining birth and death certificates cost RD$341 million in small bribes. The study also highlighted payments that were made to obtain drinking water, check the electricity meter, get a cedula, a good conduct certificate, acquire a passport or get a loan at the bank. The study also indicated that 2.1% of a household’s monthly salary is allotted to those macuteos, or RD$2,856 per month for services that are supposedly free. The poll was taken from 1 March 2007 and 28 March 2007 and the study has a 2.37% margin of error. The study was conducted nationwide.
Today at least, we haven’t had rain in Santiago. But as you can see from the DR1.com news, it has been a difficult weather week here in the DR.
Mother Nature beats down on the DR
The rains continue pouring down over the DR and the damage and death toll keeps rising. Diario Libre is reporting that the number of people dead as a result of the heavy rains has risen to eight while 16,604 people have had to be evacuated, 4,151 homes have been damaged and 14 bridges have collapsed. In all, the rains have affected 21 of the country’s provinces in some way. The Center for Emergency Operations (COE) says that the worst affected zones are in the Cibao region, especially La Vega, Espaillat, Sanchez Ramirez and Duarte provinces, but Santo Domingo was also heavily hit. Transport was a nightmare for most yesterday and the front pages of today’s newspapers show pictures of vehicles at intersection of Gustavo Mejia Ricart and Nunez Avenues flooded by the rainwater. According to reports, the new RD$300 million “environmental park” built under responsibility of the Santo Domingo aqueduct department (CAASD) to channel away the sewage water that used to gravitate to the low-lying area has created another drainage problem.
The rains are forecast to continue throughout the day, forcing the government to come up with a contingency plan with an initial budget of RD$25 million.
This is from DR1.com news…
Provinces on high alert
Four provinces in the country’s Cibao region have been put on high alert due to the continuous rains over the last few days. Flooding is already affecting several areas and mudslides have become a serious threat. Diario Libre reports another person has been killed as a result of the heavy rains. A man lost his life trying to cross the Moca River. There have been a total of five deaths since the rains began last week. Diario Libre writes that 5,264 people have been evacuated from their homes while 1,316 houses have been affected by the rains. La Vega, Espaillat, Sanchez Ramirez and Duarte have all been put on high alert while Maria Trinidad Sanchez, Puerto Plata, Santiago, Salcedo, Monte Cristi and Santo Domingo continue with yellow alerts. Green warnings have been given to Monte Plata, Hato Mayor, Monsenor Nouel, Dajabon, Independencia, Samana, San Cristobal, Ocoa and Elias Pina.
Milagros called me late last night to share this news with me. We go up to the border (Dajabon) once in a while and she has family living there who suffered quite a loss with this storm.
Powerful storm hits Dajabon
What some papers are calling a “tornado” struck downtown Dajabon, on the border with Haiti, and some of the surrounding area yesterday afternoon and injured more than a dozen people. According to El Caribe newspaper, most of the city’s electricity lines were knocked down as dozens of light poles and trees pulled the power lines down. Palm trees near the bridge over the Masacre River were uprooted and block after block of the town’s roads were littered with debris, mostly electricity poles and tin roofing material. President Fernandez sent personnel from Public Works, the Presidential Social Office, the National Institute for Potable Water (INAPA), and the CDEEE as well as Civil Defense workers. A curfew was in place due to the devastation in the area. The nearby hamlet of Juana Mendez (Oanaminthe) in Haiti was also affected by the violent thunderstorm. No funnel clouds were reported, but the violent winds certainly led people to report a “tornado.” An Air Force helicopter that was part of the San Isidro training battalion was damaged, and the training camp itself was severely damaged. Most of the injured were army officers on duty at the frontier that slept in tents. The men had been sent in to reinforce security at the border.
news from DR1.com…
Cibao Valley flooded by more rains
At least two persons perished in new flood waters and more than 1,200 persons had to be evacuated from their homes as waters rose and the rains kept coming. In Santiago, seven more houses fell in to the arroyos and the stonewall shoring up the back side of the Fortaleza San Luis collapsed, forcing the municipality to declare it a public danger. One drowning death occurred at the intersection of two of the major avenues of the city, 27 de Febrero and Estrella Sadhala, when a man tried to keep his motorcycle from being swept away by the current and drowned in the attempt. Because of the flooding, the COE was forced to close 14 swimming holes in the area.
28 dead and 460 injured
The Holy Week long weekend ended with at least 28 persons reported dead in tragic accidents, according to the Emergency Operations Center (COE). Holy Week is the peak domestic vacation time in the DR. This is a significant decrease in holiday fatalities over previous years. Last year there were 37 reported deaths. According to reports in all of the newspapers, about 80% of the injuries were alcohol-related. There were 13 reported traffic deaths, six drownings and four persons hit by vehicles. Between Thursday and Sunday, 220 traffic accidents were reported, according to Luis Luna Paulino, the director for the National Emergency Commission (CNE). These accidents involved 148 motorcycles and 72 cars and trucks. In only one accident, which occurred in Samana, 23 were injured, although there were no fatalities. Major urban hospitals such as the Dario Contreras in Santo Domingo reported that most of their emergency work was alcohol-related with many cases of young persons being intoxicated.
As the hundreds of thousands of persons returned to the deserted streets of the big cities, the Civil Defense and AMET forces imposed strict behavior on the highways. The Duarte, Sanchez and Las Americas highways were heavily patrolled and AMET and Police units enforced strict 80 kilometer per hour speed limits by having two and three patrol cars blocking the highway, forming kilometer long blocks of vehicles and leading the way into the capital at reduced speeds.
