The Best of Mariah Carey: TRIBUTE TO THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC TRIBUTE

The Dominican Republic is a country that I have visited often and even owned an apartment there where my mother lived for a few years while she took care of her ailing younger sister. It is a country and its people that I know well and I think that I have made some valid observations through the years. I just returned this morning from a ten day stay there.

Here is a poor third world country with immigration problems far worse than those in the U.S. Yet, this wonderful Caribbean country has managed to handle it with dexterity and fairly, absorbing more than one million Haitian refugees, most of which came after the devastating earthquake of 2010. Haitians had traditionally been the backbone of Dominican labor, particular in those sectors that the Dominican themselves were not willing to do. Even thought the high rate of unemployment in the country, the resentment towards immigrant workers remains relatively low if compared to that of the U.S. (in percentages it would be the equivalent to adding 30 million people to the US almost overnight.)

There exists a minimum wage requirement in this poor country and most everyone adheres to it in a more or less voluntary basis, regardless of the abundance of labor. It is by no means a high standard of living, but somehow, everyone receiving these low wages manages to “get by”. It is perhaps a sad commentary that those receiving these low wages are still ten times better off than their countrymen who have chosen to stay behind in Haiti.

Unemployment rate:
15.1% (2009 EST.)

14.1% (2008 EST.)
[See also: Unemployment rate country ranks ]

Population below poverty line:
42.2% (2004)
[see also: Population below poverty line country ranks ]

"It's been said for some time that Haitians put pressure on social services and, were there to be a proper regulation where the rule and procedure were drawn up, it would be much easier to make them pay taxes," said Bridget Wooding, a researcher who studies immigration at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences in Santo Domingo. (Kind of the same argument that we often hear in the U.S. about immigrants taking advantage of health care)

But fears that Haitians are "stealing Dominican jobs" don't make sense, she said. "Dominicans out-migrate to lower jobs in Spain and Puerto Rico, leaving considerable space for migrants to come in and take those jobs," Wooding said. In fact, she added, there's been a demographic crisis in rural areas, where the average age of Dominican cocoa farmers is now 62.

For a century, Haitians have been taking low-wage jobs such as cutting sugar cane. In the mid-1980s, the Dominican government even contracted tens of thousands of Haitian migrant workers for the annual harvesting of sugar cane, rice, coffee and cocoa.

But Haitians also have crossed the border illegally and end up selling cheap items like sunglasses or candy on urban streets.

The net result: Some estimates are that more than a million Haitians -- roughly one-ninth of the total population -- live illegally in the Dominican Republic.

As it is an expected trait in human behavior, those who resent anything that is different than them represents a threat; in this case it is more like scapegoat and pressure has mounted on the Dominican government to crack down on illegal immigration, Haitians face "a sort of de facto discrimination," Wooding said. In some cases, she said, government officials refuse to give children of Haitian-born immigrants identity cards or full abstracts of their birth certificates, so "they can't engage in normal civil transactions [like] getting married, getting a passport or opening a bank account."

Dominican President Leonel Fernandez recently signed into law an exclusionary clause in the country's new constitution, which took effect. Jan. 26. The law says that any child born to illegal migrants is not able to become a citizen of the Dominican Republic.

"The hospitals are totally full with Haitians with amputations and arms in casts. They don't have a future and they don't have a home to return to in their country," said Dominican hairstylist Anetty El Cantara, 32. She said the many Haitians who crowd the streets selling cheap goods are driving Dominican stores out of business. (Yet I see a burgeoning business activity in all the malls and stores throughout the country)

The Dominican people have great hearts and are generous to a fault. They take pride in the fact that they were among the first to help out Haiti in the aftermath of the earthquake and have been willing to accept the onslaught of immigration into the Dominican Republic, most of it illegal.

But you don’t see a horrible fence in the border of the two countries; you don’t see outrageously racist laws that target and make racial profiling the norm. What you don’t see are policemen in the Dominican Republic saying: “show me your papers”

Although the major exports for the Dominican Republic have been sugar, coffee, tobacco, garments and rum, the tourism industry has now taken a more prominent role and is the number one source of income for the island. As a result, the Dominican labor force employs a very large number of people in the service industry and it is my opinion that rightfully so, these hotel and restaurant employees are the happiest and friendliest in the world. It is not uncommon to hear them singing or humming while working and a smile; a genuine, friendly smile is always present on their faces.

SOME HISTORY: In 1930, Rafael L. Trujillo, a prominent army commander, established absolute political control. Trujillo promoted economic development--from which he and his supporters benefited--and severe repression of domestic human rights. Mismanagement and corruption resulted in major economic problems. In August 1960, the Organization of American States (OAS) imposed diplomatic sanctions against the Dominican Republic as a result of Trujillo's complicity in an attempt to assassinate President Romulo Betancourt of Venezuela. These sanctions remained in force after Trujillo's death by assassination in May 1961. In November 1961, the Trujillo family was forced into exile.

In January 1962, a council of state that included moderate opposition elements with legislative and executive powers was formed. OAS sanctions were lifted January 4, and, after the resignation of President Joaquin Balaguer on January 16, the council under President Rafael E. Bonnelly headed the Dominican Government.

In 1963, Juan Bosch was inaugurated president. Bosch was overthrown in a military coup in September 1963. Another military coup, on April 24, 1965, led to violence between military elements favoring the return to government by Bosch and those who proposed a military junta committed to early general elections. On April 28, U.S. military forces landed to protect U.S. citizens and to evacuate U.S. and other foreign nationals.

Additional U.S. forces subsequently established order. In June 1966, President Balaguer, leader of the Reformist Party (now called the Social Christian Reformist Party--PRSC), was elected and then re-elected to office in May 1970 and May 1974, both times after the major opposition parties withdrew late in the campaign. In the May 1978 election, Balaguer was defeated in his bid for a fourth successive term by Antonio Guzman of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD). Guzman's inauguration on August 16 marked the country's first peaceful transfer of power from one freely elected president to another.

The PRD's presidential candidate, Salvador Jorge Blanco, won the 1982 elections, and the PRD gained a majority in both houses of Congress. In an attempt to cure the ailing economy, the Jorge administration began to implement economic adjustment and recovery policies, including an austerity program in cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In April 1984, rising prices of basic foodstuffs and uncertainty about austerity measures led to riots.

Trujillo was assasinated in his Chevy

Balaguer was returned to the presidency with electoral victories in 1986 and 1990. Upon taking office in 1986, Balaguer tried to reactivate the economy through a public works construction program. Nonetheless, by 1988 the country had slid into a 2-year economic depression, characterized by high inflation and currency devaluation. Economic difficulties, coupled with problems in the delivery of basic services--e.g., electricity, water, transportation--generated popular discontent that resulted in frequent protests, occasionally violent, including a paralyzing nationwide strike in June 1989.

In 1990, Balaguer instituted a second set of economic reforms. After concluding an IMF agreement, balancing the budget, and curtailing inflation, the Dominican Republic experienced a period of economic growth marked by moderate inflation, a balance in external accounts, and a steadily increasing GDP that lasted through 2000.

The voting process in 1986 and 1990 was generally seen as fair, but allegations of electoral board fraud tainted both victories. The elections of 1994 were again marred by charges of fraud. Following a compromise calling for constitutional and electoral reform, President Balaguer assumed office for an abbreviated term and Congress amended the constitution to bar presidential succession.

Since 1996, the Dominican electoral process has been seen as generally free and fair. In June 1996, Leonel Fernández Reyna of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) was elected to a 4-year term as president. Fernández's political agenda was one of economic and judicial reform. He helped enhance Dominican participation in hemispheric affairs, such as the OAS and the follow up to the Miami Summit. On May 16, 2000, Hipólito Mejía, the PRD candidate, was elected president in another free and fair election, soundly defeating PLD candidate Danilo Medina and former president Balaguer. Mejía championed the cause of free trade and Central American and Caribbean economic integration. The Dominican Republic signed a free trade agreement (CAFTA-DR) with the United States and five Central American countries in August 2004, in the last weeks of the Mejía administration. During the Mejía administration, the government sponsored and obtained anti-trafficking and anti-money-laundering legislation, sent troops to Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom, and ratified the Article 98 agreement it had signed in 2002. Mejía faced mounting domestic problems as a deteriorating economy--caused in large part by the government's measures to deal with massive bank fraud--and constant power shortages plagued the latter part of his administration.

During the Mejía administration, the constitution was amended to permit an incumbent president to seek a second successive term, and Mejía ran for re-election. On May 16, 2004, Leonel Fernández was elected president, defeating Mejía 57.11% to 33.65%. Eduardo Estrella of the PRSC received 8.65% of the vote. Fernández took office on August 16, 2004, promising in his inaugural speech to promote fiscal austerity, to fight corruption and to support social concerns. Fernández said the Dominican Republic would support policies favoring international peace and security through multilateral mechanisms in conformity with the United Nations and the OAS. The Fernández administration works closely with the United States on law enforcement and immigration and counter-terrorism matters. In 2006 elections, Fernández' PLD won 60% of seats in the House of Representatives and 22 of 32 Senate seats, as well as a plurality of mayoral seats. On May 16, 2008, President Fernández was reelected president with 53.8% of the vote. His new term runs until 2012. Congressional and municipal elections were held in May 2010.

There might be some who disagree with me on this; but there are reasons to believe that as horrible as Trujillo was, the one good thing to come out of his dictatorship was the person of Joaquin Balaguer. A dedicated public servant who entered the Presidency multiple times and each time he left as poor as he had come in. The one and only vestige of his wealth upon his death was the residence he lived in unassumingly for most of his life and it went to the Cancer Society as a gift from him.

The President of the Dominican Republic Leonel Fernandez

Joaquin Antonio Balaguer Ricardo (September 1, 1906 - July 14, 2002) was the President of the Dominican Republic from 1966 to 1978, and again from 1986 to 1996. He had been a protégé of Rafael Trujillo, and was accused of election fraud and of intimidating would-be opponents.

Balaguer studied law at the Sorbonne, then returned to the Dominican Republic and started working for Trujillo in 1930. After Trujillo was assassinated in 1961, he fled to the United States. In 1963, a military coup overthrew the leftist government of Juan Bosch. In 1965 military officers revolted against the junta to restore Bosch, whereupon U.S. President Lyndon Johnson sent 20,000 U.S. troops to defeat the revolt. Balaguer became the President of the Dominican Republic in 1966, with U.S. backing. He governed the country until 1978, when he was defeated at elections by Antonio Guzmán Fernández, leader of the Dominican Revolutionary Party.

He returned to office in 1986. This second government was in some aspects different from the first one (commonly referred as "The Twelve Years").

He left office for the second time, reluctantly, in 1996, after agreeing to hold earlier elections following controversy over his 1994 reelection, but he remained a power in Dominican politics to the very end of his life. He ran for president in 2000 but was placed third with 24.6% of the first-round vote. He died of heart failure in 2002. Balaguer never married and had no children; he was survived by a sister. He was also blind in later life.