2 years to go.

[Chris]

I have this thought in my mind and I realise it is a very naive thought .. but damn, Fernandez is good at flitting alll over the place and attracting positive press and by the looks of things, positive investment.

Now we're going into a period of constitutional amendment that seems to want to address the endemic corruption problems and in the back of my mind is something that says, Uh Oh! something's fishy.

We still see corruption excesses all over the place, they cannot get it together to get the paperwork and legal requirements in a state to implement DR-Cafta, we have continual police force excesses, document forgeries being run very successfully out of jails and so on and so on.

Tell me, is Fernandez and all his grandiose plans going to really make a difference in the next 2 years to go? Or is it simply status quo accompanied by brilliant words and grandiose schemes? Is he working harder to obtain his next job than to maintain his current job?

Are the grandiose schemes going to go uncompleted and hang about half-done like so many others? Where is Golo when we need him? Can someone assess for us... Is the level of corruption going to simply poof... disappear with the constitutional amendments? Somehow even I cannot quite buy that. Is this country going to get onto a more solid footing? What is really happening?

[bob saunders]

To overcome a culture of corruption, takes more than words and willpower. The 300+ years of Spanish culture of coruption will take several generations to change, but it can be done. I believe that they(PLD) will try to clean up corruption to a certain extent and the more the international community keeps the pressure up, the more coruption will be eliminated. The amount of damage created by the 4 years of PRD government will take a long time to recover from. Better Come solo, than Come todo.

[Ken]

I think that Fernandez is serious and that time is right. He has the majority in the Congress, the leaders of the Catholic church are calling for action against corruption, the polls show that this is the major concern of the people, and foreign governments and agencies on which the country depends os investment and financial assistance are demanding action against corruption. It is a win-win situation for Fernandez. True he has less then 2 years until the election in May, 2008, but if it can be seen that he is making pirogress, he will have another 4 years to continue the wor

[Rocky]

I just consulted my crystall ball, and it says the following.
"Leonel will do better than Hippolito."
That's all it said, I'm afraid.
PS: It also mentioned that Mangu Minute will yield more political influence than the newspapers, within the next 20 years.

[Tuan]

Excelent post, Chris! And there is no answer to your questions, but "poof" will never come. There are forces in the country far more powerful than LF, and the best he can do is put the economy on an even keel -- which he's done -- and then expand it and the middle class with it. The hope is that a broad middle class will prevent back-sliding, but that didn't help in 2000, what?
Just pray the economy strengthens so the FR and Chavistas don't feed on a depressed DR.
And Sauders: 300+ years of Spanish tradition is nothing after 800 years of Arab masters....

[El Vegano]

Corruption is a human condition and it appears to be more rampant in the poorer countries of Latin America, Africa and Asia.

In the DR, it is deeply imbedded in every facet of society, especially in the mindset that the government is there to provide jobs and benefits for those in power.

Of the 3 major parties in the DR, the PLD is the most atypical and by far 'cleaner' than the other two. The PRD has always thought of the country as its pie to divide among its members and has gone as far as to split the country into a ridiculous amount of provinces, in order to obtain more benefits by increasing the number of governors, senators, deputies, mayors, etc. The PRSC is not too far behind in this selfish behavior.

There are no viable alternatives to the PLD at this moment since President Fernandez possesses many excellent qualities that put him far above his competition.

[rellosk]

Originally Posted by Ken

... he will have another 4 years to continue the work

Or possibly more, if he changes The Constitution.

[Keith R]

I'm fairly sure I have told this story before, so it's probably in the archives somewhere, but I couldn't find it, so here goes (again)...

We lived in the DR during Leonel's first presidency, and he had declared eradicating corruption a top priotity then, too. My wife was an officer at the DR subsidiary of a American company. A new CEO of the sub was appointed who had done prior stints in other developing nations, including a Latin American nation. He held meetings with the chief and asst. chief of each dept. to "chat in private" about their perspectives about the company and operating conditions in the DR. So my wife and her boss had their turn.

One of the CEO's questions was, Leonel seems to be serious about combatting corruption, do you think he'll succeed. My wife's boss, a 20-30 yr Dominican veteran of the company, gave a bland, politically neutral answer. My wife, Dominican born and raised but having spent 20 yrs in the US and American corporate culture and accustomed to speaking her mind, said no way, it will take at least a generation to diminish corruption in the DR. The CEO, surprised, asked why she would say that. She replied because all Dominicans living today have never known anything else, so until they pass and a full generation is raised expecting the possibility of clean government, corruption will remain a fact of Dominican life.

I fear she was right. Leonel, for all his talk, has never seriously pursued prosecution of the big figures of corruption from prior PRD and PRSC administrations, and he turns a blind eye to it in his own party. In short, he has yet to show that his commitment goes well beyond promises and public relations stunts.

[rellosk]

Originally Posted by Keith R

She replied because all Dominicans living today have never known anything else, so until they pass and a full generation is raised expecting the possibility of clean government, corruption will remain a fact of Dominican life.

Excellent point. It will take a generation, but it can be done with the right leadership.

[Conchman]

I totally agree, he is willfully surrounded by people who he knows engage in corruption. He cannot do anything about these people because they helped him get elected.