In response, the state has set up 14 centers throughout the country to deal with familial violence. Yet the state also is taking an almost threatening approach to community movements inside DR who have taken their struggle to the streets in search of justice and a fundamental change in how women's lives are valued.

R

adamés Jiménez, Procurador General...advirtió que todo aquel que altere el orden público será sometido a la justicia.

In other words, we'll take care of the problem just don't disturb public order, as if violence against women and the threat that hangs too often over the lives of women isn't a disturbance enough.

Via / Panorama Diario, Remolacha

Ike already went through Haiti and the Dominican Republic as a category 3 hurricane, killing at least 58 people in Haiti alone and one reported death in the Dominican Republic. Ike has since been downgraded to a category 2 storm, with 105 mile-per-hour winds.

Haiti has been hit particularly hard, with a death toll of at least 319 people from an unrelenting four storms in a row.

''With the others we lost houses, we lost animals and we lost plantations. Never bodies,'' said Lisemene Ferry Raphael, 46, standing across from her dead 12-year-old god daughter.

There are bodies on almost every other corner inside the town, where two rivers and the torrential rain of Ike swallowed houses and swept children and old women downstream, according to The Miami Herald, which has the only international reporter at the town along Route 1 on the road to the city Gonaives.

Franzt Samedi's 5-year-old adopted daughter, Tamesha Jean, was among the dead.

''I'm the one who she calls Papa. I'm the one who is responsible for her. If she were with me she would not have died,'' Samedi said.

Via / Citizen Orange

For more on who tweets in D.R. check out the full post here.

Via / Global Voices, My 2 K-Cents

De La Vega said "[The Directive] has not been applied and will never be applied," and asked that Latinos looking to immigrate to Spain "remain calm", stating that Spain's national laws provide for a maximum of 40 days detention if immigrants are picked up by authorities. In a serious tone, De La Vega ended her statement by saying "Is that clear?" She also urged potential immigrants not to worry about the economic slowdown which has left many in the construction business -- a key sector for immigrants -- jobless because Spain is poised to "continue growing", insinuating that foreign labor will still be in demand.

Wow, sounds exactly like when our politicians talk about immigration, right?

Via / Público

Sweatshop workers stitch logos into caps for Major League Baseball, the NHL, the NBA and the NFL. Many college caps are made there, too. One company, BJ&B, for example, manufactures caps for the Universities of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Missouri, Connecticut, Arizona, Louisiana State, Cornell, Northwestern, Penn State, Tulane and Purdue...Here’s how it works: A university licenses its name and logo to American apparel distributors like Nike, Starter, Champion and Reebok, and earns about $1.50 per cap. BJ&B, for example, then pays the worker 8 cents per cap. At that pay rate, a worker takes home $40 for a typical 56-hour work week, as calculated by UNITE, an anti-sweatshop lobbying group. The total cost of making the cap comes out to about $6.08, but consumers pay about $19.95 for the cap.

The good news is that BJ&B workers, thanks in part to universities' pressuring, formed a union but they are only one sweatshop in a sea of free-trade areas that allow companies located there to be exempt from import fees and income taxes on the backs of workers.

Via / Republica Update

Special Thanks to Alex Damashek at S.O.B's for providing pics and info. Now someone quick : offer to watch my kids so I can go!

Dominican singer songwriter Juan Luis Guerra and Puerto Rican salsero Gilberto Santa Rosa will be, among other artists, protagonists of the serán, entre otros artistas, los protagonistas de la campaña "Pégale a la pared" campaign, an initiative against violence towards women in their respective countries, which was introduced today in Santo Domingo.

The first phase of the campaign will be made of up of two 30 second advertising spots starring Guerra and Santa Rosa, which will be shown on television and broadcast on the radio in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.

Other stars will also participate, among them Reyli himself, puertorriqueño Joseph Fonseca and dominicanos Andy Andy, Wason Brazobán and Raymond Pozo.

Via / El Universal (Venezuela)

As Olga began lashing the Dominican Republic with rain Tuesday, officials slowly released water from the Tavera Dam into the Yaque River, Octavio Rodriguez, a member of the committee that oversees dams during emergencies, told The Associated Press.
But fearing a dam failure that could kill thousands in Santiago, the country's second-largest city, the panel decided around 11 p.m. Tuesday to open all six floodgates an hour later, gushing 1.6 million gallons of water every second into the river.

According to El Nacional, the Cardinal, arguing that fidelity should be at the core of education efforts to stem pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases "explained that for those reasons the Catholic church was opposed to promiscuity between 'heterosexuals and maricones' because sex had to be of the moment and between a man and a woman."

Via / Blabbeando

The storm is not expected to turn into a hurricane but Florida residents are still keeping a close eye on Noel.

A tropical storm watch was issued today for the southeast Florida coast by the center. A watch means tropical storm conditions are expected within 36 hours.

In the Dominican Republic, there are at least 21 confirmed deaths and 16 people missing. 18 deaths were reported in Haiti and one in Jamaica.

In Cuba, about 1,000 homes were damaged, 2,000 people were evacuated from low-lying areas, and schools were closed for thousands of students, according to the government.

Via / Bloomberg

In my opinion there is only one word for this : disgraceful. Your husband goes to fight in the name of the United States and this is how the U.S. repays.

Via / ABC News

Via / CBS

Via / CBS

Dominican Republic is again under the international spotlight after a Latin Celebrities radio program reported yesterday that the singer Shakira and her fiancé Antonio de la Rúa are planning to wed in this country next September.

The newspaper El Dia, quoting the website Labotana, says that the famous singer’s wedding will be in her mansion located in the resort Punta Cana, in Dominican east coast. That same program didn’t reveal the date of the wedding, but several indications point to that month.

Via / Dominican Today and 20 Minutos