“There is a country in the world
placed
in the same path as the sun.
Native of the night.
Placed
in an improbable archipelago
of sugar and alcohol. (Pedro Mir)
I was in the Dominican Republic, and have returned to the United States unable to understand how Dominicans are surviving with the precarious situation the country is going through, long before the current health crisis the world is experiencing.
To find the nation literally bankrupted by the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) officials who governed it for 24 years, 16 of which were consecutive. Experiencing first hand the inflation that drives up the cost of living is discouraging.
In view of these factors, the Dominican political class must strengthen its commitment to create jobs, encourage the tourism industry, which has been hard hit by the current situation, continue with the vaccination program to restore the confidence of foreigners who wish to visit the country, reactivate the economy and fight against poverty.
Also strengthen the fight against corruption, direct government investment in important works such as the digitization of the country, strengthening of institutions, commitment to the environment.
In the presidential elections there was a change of government and political orientation; but not of mentality of the ruling class and this is what manifests the high level of social discontent associated with the problems that the nation has already dragged for years.
In my short stay I saw first hand that optimism has been lost, people are tense, impatient and anxious. But what is disconcerting is that there are still sectors that pretend to continue highlighting the “achievements” reached under the PLD administration, when not even “Operation Octopus” or “Coral” can unveil all the looting that the nation suffered, due to the actions of a group of political miscreants whose only objective was and is to destroy the nation.
I believe that the Dominican political class has no intention of encouraging real changes in the administrative machinery, despite the promises of change, it simply continues to be more of the same.
But, despite the bad taste, I received a dose of energy from a blessed nation of good and hard working people. As our great national poet Don Pedro Mir said… “there is a country in the world”….
