It took a little over an hour and a half for President Luis Abinader to officially present his first responsibility in the country, where he observed progress in more than 10 different issues, while taking the opportunity to announce new plans for the future.
In a ceremony that took place “in peace”, after defusing on Friday the bomb that seemed to be the “unprecedented” demonstration planned by the deputy Pedro Botello and the movement demanding the release of 30% of the pension funds for workers, Abinader gave a practical speech without errors in diction and with frequent applause from almost the entire audience present in the National Assembly.
This exception, which was limited to not applauding, was the members of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), led by its two legislative spokesmen, who minutes after the ceremony, uttered a fierce critique of what said Abinader, claiming it was “half a year of broken promises.”
Regardless, Abinader addressed a variety of points, five of which can be highlighted, which, while not the most abundant, were the most applauded and commented on.
Vaccination
Perhaps the topic of greatest interest to Dominicans today (and around the world) is advancing the vaccination of the population against COVID-19. However, given the demand for these health supplies, no country yet has the capacity to inoculate its entire population.
Given the delays of pharmaceutical companies AstraZeneca and Pfizer, which between the two are estimated to have 18 million vaccines contracted for the country, Abinader announced the purchase of another eight million from Sinovac.
This vaccine developed in China will arrive in two shipments, one of four million in April and another with the same amount in May, vaccines that would allow, according to Abinader, that by the end of June “we have 80 percent of the Dominican population vaccinated. “
The vaccination plan is ongoing and, according to the president, “is one of the most ambitious in Latin America.”
The country has already received 50,000 doses from India, the AstraZeneca formula, and another 90,000 will arrive in the next few days. On Tuesday, February 23, 768,000 vaccines arrived from Sinovac laboratories in China.
To date, these vaccines have been placed at the forefront of medical staff for COVID-19 and will continue to vaccinate the rest of the medical staff and, at the same time, will begin administering vaccines to primary and primary school teachers to make way for their return. in the students’ classrooms.
Education
The pandemic forced schools to close and redirect education in other ways. Between virtual courses and traditional means, such as television or radio, the Ministry of Education has educated thousands of children.
In his speech of responsibility, Abinader said that for this whole process, over 100,000 teachers at all levels have been trained in the use of technology applied to distance education.
In addition, he said that so far they have distributed over 64,055 devices to teachers and 118,992 computers for students, hoping that “in the next few days” more will arrive in the country to “end the unacceptable digital divide” between students.
Similarly, he announced that next week the Ministry of Education will present the program of gradual, voluntary return and with the consent of the family to attend school.
In this regard, he recalled that all teachers were included in one of the first phases of the vaccination protocol to encourage the beginning of class attendance.
Haiti
Beyond the fact that Abinader did not refer to the recent events that took place in the neighboring country, he recalled that in the first months of his government they signed an agreement to support the identification of Haitians with documents from their country that are on Dominican territory. . .
In addition to international collaboration to build maternity hospitals on the border with Haiti to serve women in dignified conditions, avoiding the saturation of Dominican services.
Regarding future plans, Abinader announced that he will strengthen border security by building the dividing line between the two countries. The National Defense and Security Council will address the implementation of global border protection.
This would have the construction of a double perimeter fence in more conflicting sections of the border, with motion sensors, facial recognition cameras, radars and infrared systems.
On social networks, various users celebrated the decision, including former candidate for national district senator Vinicio Castillo.
Shadow fee
A situation that “bleeds the coffers of the state” is the shadow toll of the northeast highway, to which Abinader made a brief but marked reference.
As he explained, the state has so far been obliged to pay 26,835 million pesos as part of the minimum income that the concessionaire must guarantee. This year they commented that they demand the payment of seven billion pesos for this concept.
“For reference only, this is almost double the initial cost and, if we followed this method, at the end, we would have paid almost six times its real value. This is simply unacceptable, “said Abinader.
And although he did not offer a precise solution, the president said they would “put a solution to this” and that he was studying the legal way to do it.
The number of shadows caused such agitation both inside and outside Congress, as it was a trend on the social network Twitter, above any other topic spoken by the president at the time.
fuel
Fuel prices rose in at least 16 weeks during the government, and Abinader justified this by rising oil prices.
“From August 16 until now, the price of oil has risen by more than 45%, because for our arrival in government it was quoted at $ 42.34 per barrel and in this month of February it reached $ 63 per barrel, “he said. Abinader.
According to the president, the government “to mitigate these increases” has assumed costs of RD $ 967 million pesos and announced a legislative initiative to review the structure of fuel costs.
“It is opportune to announce to the Dominican people that in the coming weeks we will introduce a bill to revise the 112 – 00 hydrocarbon law with the aim of reviewing the cost structure and what is related to the current setting of fuel prices. . “The president commented.
The announcement of the introduction of a bill to regulate fuel prices provoked the euphoria of those present, as well as hundreds of comments on social networks in its favor, after this Friday fuel prices rose on average by nine pesos.