Oh How Little Things Have Changed

[Porfio_Rubirosa]

I was reading up on my Dominican history recently - in particular the period from the assasination of the dictator Ulises "Lilis" Heureaux until the first US occupation (1899-1916).

Seems that ol' Lilis had secretly bankrupted the country before he was summarily dismissed from office with a bullet - courtesy of Sr. Cacares from Moca. He was taking loans in the name of the Dominican state from American and European banks for, essentially, the personal use of himself and his cronies. Lilis didn't see a problem with this and neither did the foreign banks. There was really no risk of default. As had become regular practice, the United States and/or European powers would send naval squadrons off the coast and demand to take over part or all of the Dominican customs regime (in essense, the revenues of the Dominican state) to ensure repayment by, essentially, paying themselves from the Treasury. (I'm reminded of Stalin's question: "How many [military] divisions does the Pope have? Apparently not as many as the Rockefellers, JP Morgans and Mellons.)

Subsequently, power shifted back and forth between the parties of the two primary caudillos, Horacio Vasquez and Juan Isidro Jimenez - both of which had no discernable political ideology. The interests of these two groups were purely the obtaining and maintaining power so as to provide patronage jobs and the lucrative control of the letting of "concessions" to foreign companies. These governments would occasionally borrow new money to pay themselves as well as the old debt. At one point, all foreign debt was consolidated into a single loan from the US - resulting in the DR becoming a virtual US protectorate.

The scoundrels in government continued to look for money from European sources, sounding alarm bells in Washington as the US entry into WWI approached. The United States Marines already occupied Haiti, so you can guess what happens next.

The similarities are astonishing, don't you think? A former president and his cronies that absconded everything. Non-ideological political parties fighting for money and power and nothing else. Foreign banks lending to government scoundrels - knowing that the money will be stolen - but also assured of repayment through the "big stick" (now the IMF), complacent in their part in the strangling of a poor country. Governments focused on debt reorganization (so they can borrow more) and the letting of foreign concessions (a personally lucrative business for politicos). US troops in Haiti.

The only difference is that now, instead of occupying the customs house or sending naval squandrons to ensure that the big banks get paid from the mouths of the poor, the IMF comes in as the big stick - threatening to toss the country from the world financial system or worse - and commands an austerity program. Same result, though: Half of government revenues go to pay Citibank, JPMorgan, BNP, Royal Bank, Banco Santander, etc., and poor Dominicans suffer through financial, tax and currency manipulations.

Now aren't you glad all of your countries continue to play a part in this.

[Porfirio]

A great analogy. The political system in the DR is built on patronization. Jobs are doled out to party loyalists. The Families of those working on the¨teata¨ all vote the Party in Power, until the corruption and/or incompetence forces a change to the opposition Party, like Ding and Dong. The DR cannot elevate its status with such a system repeating itself over and over. A penalty for corruption is a major necessity to help avoid a continuance of this travesty. The corruptors protect each other at the expense of the DR, which could be a paradise if all these violators were exterminated.

[Tordok]

Technical issue: Only now do I realize that Porfirio and Porfio_Rubirosa are 2 different posters!! I find this very confusing. Porfirio, you being the more junior on DR1 boards, I suggest that you consider changing your screen nameEither way thank you both for these compelling observations of the grim historical record of the nation.

Re: how little things have changed..........I cannot agree more. The Dominican kleptocracy has been in place for a very long time. For obvious reasons -like overwhelming financial power- the establishment private sector gets more impunity than the pelagatos (politicos) that do their bidding for them. Even the names of many of the national and international major players and interest groups are still pretty much the same after 100 years.

Each generation of local oligarchs bypasses paying legitimate taxes to the nation's coffers, instead paying more cost-effective bribes to the equally dirty politicos that favor their particular interests and keep the status quo in place. They then congratulate each other for their business acumen and political enlightement.

These people are remorseless vampires, sucking away from the most needy to fatten their own bellies, and unquestionably the main reason why the country remains mired in backwardness!!!:

It is vulgar and absurd. I am all in favor of entrepeneurship, but "pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered" as the saying goes, thus Lilís was a hog and the poetic bullet found him. The impunity with which our contemporary pigs and hogs - under any objective analysis criminals but in the DR often considered to be the standardbearers of the best that Dominican society has to offer- get away with manipulating the masses for their own benefit is astounding. The fact that it happens with the collaboration of international vampires is no excuse. There are too many untouchables in the DR.

But the really sad thing is that even the educated middle classes and the subservient/desperate poor essentially aspire to be able to do the same thing themselves, especially by entering the game via exploitative business practices and/or politics.

- Tordok

[Texas Bill]

I've said on a few other posts when I first joined this community.
the DR is a country that loves to imulate, on the surface, the more affluent nations of the world, but just doesn't have what it takes to be successful at the game of political coverup.

The DR claims to be a Democracy. on the surface that would appear to be true...until, that is, one begins to wipe away the rhetoric and reveal the true import of the everyday workings within and of the government (political party) in the driver's seat (power).
When one views the true matter of things here, one inds that "Feudalism" is alive and well! Only the surface has changed. Underneath the daily machinations of the government, one sees the true workings. The monied families and their synchophants are immulating the feudalistic characteristics that make this world of the DR go around.
You all know of which I speak. There is no obvious solution that i would wish to support, because I would be deported as a"'rabble rouser", fomenting a revolution, forthwith.
I just wish the powers that be would quit honking their "Democratic" horn and call "a spade a spade".

Texas Bill

[Mirador]

Originally Posted by Texas Bill

...and their synchophants are immulating the feudalistic characteristics that make ...

Love your spelling ;-) try 'sycophants' and 'emulating'...

Originally Posted by Texas Bill

...You all know of which I speak. There is no obvious solution that i would wish to support, because I would be deported as a"'rabble rouser", fomenting a revolution, forthwith....

Actually, DR democracy has been reduced to the freedom to 'speak'. You are free to say anything you want, for which you will never be deported as a "rabble rouser", because 'the powers that be' are aware that nothing that you will ever say will trigger change... So go ahead, say anything you want, foment revolution if thou wilt. It's very cathartic (did I spell that right? ;-)

[Tordok]

Texas Bill,
I think the leaders of the country pretend to emulate rather than truly follow the good aspects of governance and civility found in the most advanced nations.

You are correct in that the prevailing mentality is basically neo-feudal. A few privileged few, who inherited their stations in life but feel that it is their God-given talents that got them there, feel that the rest of society is expendable riffraff/savages, only good to serve them. I am not making this up or read it in a book somewhere, most of my interactions in the DR are with members of the "elite" and I see how they cover things up with highly creative rationalizations, if indeed they bother at all to cover anything up. Obiouvsly this does not apply to all, but to many if not most.

It is interesting that most rich people in the US make their own fortunes, while in Latin America the wealthiest individuals and families by large measure have inherited theirs. Please notice that I say most, since obviously many wealthy folks in the US did get it from family, and a few among the Dominican wealthy are "self-made".

I am not as pessimistic as I sometimes sound, but the socioeconomic rigidity of the country has only very recently started to become more dynamic. The culture -up and down the social scale- needs to change for the long term prospects of the economy to change/improve.

- Tordok

[Texas Bill]

Mirador-- I do not take offense at spelling corrections!!
I am probably the worlds worst speller. My old Commander used to tell me that my spelling was "atrocious", so I started trying to use the dictionary more frequently. BTW, I learned to spell in grade school using the "phonics" method. It served me well until I graduated and found that it should only be used as an "aid" to spelling. Live and Learn. Most of the time I use a spelling checker when in doubt, but my new machine hasn't one at present. That problem will be corrected very soon, I hope, when I transfer files, etc. from my laptop the this machine.

Tordok- Your supportive commentary is much appreciated. I was begining to wonder if I was the only one who had the opinion of "feudalism" in the DR.
And you're absolutely correct about the US. there are pockets of "feudalism" existing there as well. Particularily in the Southern States, though not as much as when God and I used to play in the sandpile together. Those areas are gradually becoming more "democratic" through the exposure to modern society yearly. There is still some underlying "bigotry" which perpetuates the scenario, however. During my lifetime, I've seen the gradual acceptance of equality those segments of society, albeit reluctantly.
Enough of my philosophysing. Let's get on with the discussion.

Texas Bill

[Chris_NJ]

Originally Posted by Tordok

These people are remorseless vampires, sucking away from the most needy to fatten their own bellies, and unquestionably the main reason why the country remains mired in backwardness!!!:

I am curious - have any of you ever sat down and talked with the "remorseless vampires"? Are they obvious shameless lowlives who laugh all the way to bank(s) or do they try to come across as do-gooders for Dominican society who quietly help themselves to a little. We always hear about Dominican corruption but I would like to know are the vast majority of politicians filthy and corrupted or is it some giving others a bad name?

Two times this year when I was in a room with some people of this Dominican political class (a Dominican film festival and the classical music concert in NY) I looked around and wondered if these were the people involved in pillaging the country's coffers and if so what is goes through their heads on a daily basis.

[Tordok]

Like I said, whenever confronted with questions about how can some of these people desensitize themselves from the pressing social concerns of the majority local population, you often find the psychological defense mechanism of rationalization. In order to repress a guilty conscience, they fabricate more digestible explanations for the maintenance of the self-serving, convenient status quo.

Rationalization= Offering a socially acceptable and apparently more or less logical explanation for an act or decision actually produced by unconscious impulses. The person rationalizing is not intentionally inventing a story to fool someone else, but instead is misleading self as well as the listener.

Some of these 'tutumpotes' convince themselves that they are indeed the good guys, and that since they are successful in material terms, there must be something wrong with the rest of the country mired in poverty, not with them. They are not, in many cases, even aware of their own social perversity, go to church each sunday and teach their kids to be moral citizens. In practice however they see nothing wrong of taking financial advantage of others by underpaying people in their employ or overpricing goods and services. BTW, I am generalzing here, since obviously not all are like this, but again, unfortunately many are.
cheers,

- Tordok

[Texas Bill]

That the DR is a sea inhabited by those who rationalize their every action.
From the common man who takes a tool, a wallet, a cellphone, rationalizing that he can make better use of it than the true owner) to the businessman who overcharages his customers and underpays his employees because he "rationalizes" that it is "business". And to those psuedo-Christians who pray on Sunday and gouge the rest of the week.
All this has it's basis in the inherent greed of the human psyche to posess that which your neighbor has.
Please excuse the misspelled words. My tooth aches and I'm not up to thinking today.

Texas Bill