NewsWhore
03-21-2012, 01:00 PM
The presidential candidate of the Partido Alianza por la Democracia (APD), Max Puig, a former minister of Environment and minister of Labor in the past eight years of Fernandez administration, says that he decided to launch his own candidacy into the 20 May 2012 election instead of allying with the PLD as in the past, because "the PLD is not interested in changing the economic growth model, that in my opinion is exclusive, and because of that party's vocation for feeding the political patronage that is so damaging to local politics," he said in an interview with El Caribe.
Puig said that while PLD candidate Danilo Medina sells himself as having an innovative discourse, he said he does not perceive any intention to change the old practice of offering handouts in exchange for patronage.
Puig said his candidacy conceives a solidarity-based and equitable development model, which seeks to depart from the kind of government that has ruled the country in the past decades. He said the model is unsustainable. "The best example is of young people entering the labor market every year. Every year 89,000 young people come of working age," he said. He said that Central Bank statistics show that the capacity for Dominican economy to create jobs for these young people is significantly declining. He said when he was minister of Labor he asked President Fernandez to change to a development model to benefit the greater majority of Dominicans. He said the main focus of the Ministry of Labor is to create jobs, and criticized the burgeoning growth of welfare cards distributed by the government. "The objective of a society that is cohesive from a social point of view is that no one have the need for a welfare card because everyone may find work in adequate conditions," he said, stressing that if there are jobs then there would be no need to depend on government aid.
Puig said he would give priority to creating jobs in his government. Puig said this means there is a need to stimulate farming, tourism, and small and medium-sized industry. He said that local industry needed to be more competitive and resistant to imports and capable of exporting.
"What we have is a policy that discourages farm production. We need policies to stimulate farming range from credits, to technical assistance, applied research, and avoiding unfair competition, as is the case of imports of farm products," said Puig.
For the tourism sector, he said he would democratize the tourism dollar so that it reaches more people in the communities, creating more community linkages and less traditional tourism enclaves.
As reported in El Caribe, Puig criticized Fernandez for his permissiveness of corruption in government.
He also said a priority of his government would be to resolve the electricity problem.
During the interview with El Caribe and CDN, he was accompanied by Abigail Mejia Ricart, Clelia Da Silva, Luz Maria Abreu, Guadalupe Valdez, Onofre Rojas, Andy Mieses and Julio Sanz.
http://www.elcaribe.com.do/2012/03/21/puig-dice-que-pacto-con-pld-por-excluyente
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#7)
Puig said that while PLD candidate Danilo Medina sells himself as having an innovative discourse, he said he does not perceive any intention to change the old practice of offering handouts in exchange for patronage.
Puig said his candidacy conceives a solidarity-based and equitable development model, which seeks to depart from the kind of government that has ruled the country in the past decades. He said the model is unsustainable. "The best example is of young people entering the labor market every year. Every year 89,000 young people come of working age," he said. He said that Central Bank statistics show that the capacity for Dominican economy to create jobs for these young people is significantly declining. He said when he was minister of Labor he asked President Fernandez to change to a development model to benefit the greater majority of Dominicans. He said the main focus of the Ministry of Labor is to create jobs, and criticized the burgeoning growth of welfare cards distributed by the government. "The objective of a society that is cohesive from a social point of view is that no one have the need for a welfare card because everyone may find work in adequate conditions," he said, stressing that if there are jobs then there would be no need to depend on government aid.
Puig said he would give priority to creating jobs in his government. Puig said this means there is a need to stimulate farming, tourism, and small and medium-sized industry. He said that local industry needed to be more competitive and resistant to imports and capable of exporting.
"What we have is a policy that discourages farm production. We need policies to stimulate farming range from credits, to technical assistance, applied research, and avoiding unfair competition, as is the case of imports of farm products," said Puig.
For the tourism sector, he said he would democratize the tourism dollar so that it reaches more people in the communities, creating more community linkages and less traditional tourism enclaves.
As reported in El Caribe, Puig criticized Fernandez for his permissiveness of corruption in government.
He also said a priority of his government would be to resolve the electricity problem.
During the interview with El Caribe and CDN, he was accompanied by Abigail Mejia Ricart, Clelia Da Silva, Luz Maria Abreu, Guadalupe Valdez, Onofre Rojas, Andy Mieses and Julio Sanz.
http://www.elcaribe.com.do/2012/03/21/puig-dice-que-pacto-con-pld-por-excluyente
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#7)