Increase in Violence in DR

In the past five months, 47 persons have been killed due to increased violence in neighborhoods throughout the Dominican Republic. The national police force of the DR has 27,800 officers throughout the country and is working with the National Human Rights Committee to put a stop to the violence.

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Columbus Remains

The Giralda tower overlooks the Seville cathedral where many believe Columbus to be internedBBC reports that the Dominican government is now willing to open up the Christopher Columbus tomb to determine whether the bones there are the real ones. A church in Vallodolid and the cathedral in Sevilla also claim to have the remains, but tests there have been inconclusive.

giralda
Originally uploaded by dfletcher.

Images of the Dominican

ElBohio.com shares some stunning images of scenery and architecture in the Dominican Republic.

Some time ago, dbrian posted these interesting comments about the "Faro a Colón", a spectactular monument to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Columbus discovery of America back in 1492.

Violence on the Border

When I was in Honduras, in the vally of Comayagua, there was an ongoing problem that the locals had with their neighbors in El Salvador. During the night, the Salvadorans would come across the border with trucks and load up burros that were owned by Hondurans. The problem would occasionally result in serious violence.

Now we have a report from AP about three Dominicans that crossed the border to steal 10 cows. After killing the owner, the Dominicans returned across the border. They were later tracked down by relatives of the dead owner who killed and mutilated the thieves with machetes.

It appears that violence in Haiti continues to express itself in many forms. The other day, Brazilian peacekeepers were fired on while trying to clear debris from the streets of Port-au-Prince.

A film entitled A Bridge over the River Massacre documents the situation which is perpetuated while Haiti appears to be mired in poverty and the DR is experience something of an economic boom.

The Council on Foreign Relations is trying to answer the question, "What's Next for Haiti?"

More Bloggers visit the Dominican Republic

Andrea posts some nice shots of her visit to the DR on her photoblog.

Steven Ketchpel shares details of his trip to the DR while on assignment with the Grameen Foundation Technology Center. Grameen promotes technology to help out in poor areas of the world and Steven's group has developed an open-source loan portfolio management system.

Speaking of open source, which I would normally discuss in one of my other weblogs, Paul Taylor is blogging again after a long layoff. It must have been a New Year's resolution. Paul is discussing the open source in government initiative being led by the State of Massachussetts. We (State of Utah) may have something to contribute. I know several states are interested in a new first-of-its-kind online service that we created recently.

Bird Watching in Punta Cana

Nick K, who is on a quest to photograph 1000 bird species, is on his way to Punta Cana. It will be interesting to see what he finds. I have a timeshare membership with RCI and they have some beautiful resorts in Punta Cana. I'll have to find a way to get down there.

Learn Thai if you want a real challenge

Blogger Graham Glass, who recently visited the Dominican Republic, lists some of his New Year's resolutions which include visiting China, Russia, Thailand, Japan, Spain, and Indonesia. That's a very interesting list, particularly for me. I spent a great deal of time in southern Spain and speak Chinese and Russian. I attempted to learn Thai while I was at the University of Washington and found it to be the most difficult language that I have studied. Halfway through the semester, I was the only student (of eight who started) remaining in my Thai class responding to vigorous drills from the professor and a Thai graduate student. It just about wore me out. With its numerous tones, it can be very challenging for an English speaker.

Regional Economic Comparison

John Bowler, Regional Director for the Economist, put together this brief comparative study of several Latin American countries, including the Dominican Republic, that gives you a good perspective of how things have been progressing in the region over the last 5-7 years. As I mentioned yesterday, things are looking up economically for the DR with per capita income climbing faster than any of the comparison group, including Mexico, Brazil, and Chile. On the other hand, it appears that inflation which was somewhat level in the DR has seen dramatic climbs over the past two years, more than any other country in the group.

Real Post Reports

Personnel from the US Embassy in Santo Domingo contribute to Real Post Reports. These are unofficial reports about the country, living conditions, services, etc.

El Caribe, a local paper, posted an article a couple of days ago about weblogs. Here are a few that reference or originate from the DR:

• Life in Santo Domingo
• Blogspot by Eveliina
• Bracuta

Dominican Economy 2004

El Caribe summarizes the performance of the DR economy in 2004. Overall, for the year, the economy grew by 2% with decreases in both the inflation and key interest rates. Although inflation for the year last summer had been projected at 45%, it ended the year at 28.74%. Interest rates charged by the Central Bank dropped from 59.6% to 25.3%, certainly a significant reduction, while the exchange rate against the dollar lowered from 42 to 31 pesos. The communications sector grew by over 19%, a great sign that technology is beginning to impact the country. All this was achieved in spite of the impact on tourism caused by some major hurricanes.

The Consumer Price Index report released by the Central Bank in November is also full of good news. Prices are finally declining on just about everything which shows up on the year end inflation rate reduction. Even prices on things like health care and transportation dropped in November.