Situation in Dominican Republic

[platano2988]

Right now we are seeing allover Latin America a change towards socialism or at least away from the right. I have spent alot of serious time analyzing the major countries in Latin America and their particular conditions to evolve towards socialism, and I realized that the Dominican Republic is a country that at the moment is in ruins. You might come here and see a booming tourism sector and rich people in Bentleys and maseratis but from the moral, political, and official standpoint, this country is a failed state in every possible way. We compare it to Cuba pre 1959, and we see some similarities, The state and its institutions are completely useless. both have corrupt leaders, populations that were marginalized and repressed, but there is one main difference the Cuban people had a political, social and moral ideology, This does not exist in the Dominican Republic. The people here do not buy food so that they may get drunk, neo liberalism has struck the Dominican Republic in a way that it has handed over its sovereignty to the U.S. and large corporations, politicians not only adopt this neoliberal strategy of being subservient but they are corrupt as no other.Imagine a systems where on top of having corrupt politicians they adopt an officially corrupt system. At first as a Dominican, i had the extremely distant hope that there would be a revolution. A socialist revolution like the one in Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba. But now I see that these people deserve to live in squalor. Why because they care more about the price of presidentes then they do about health care. I am so dissolutioned and truly sad. I am a communist, and one that implements iit every aspect of his life,(one of the reasons im in med school)
and i honestly don't see a socialist change in my country. If socialism expands somewhere else than I will support it . But in Dominican Republic if you go out and try to do something right, the rich and the poor, the coherent and the drunk all treat you like scum and resist change. If they want mediocrity then they deserve it. First Catholic, then Communist, then a far and distant last, a Dominican

[Xocializta]

I, like you, am from the Dominican Republic. Unlike you I am very proud of my people but I do agree with you that the country is not yet ready for revolution. The politicians are very corrupt. The one thing that you need to see is that the average Dominican citizen views politics in a very different way then we do. The average Dominican citizen looks to vote for the politicians who will given them the most PERSONALLY, instead of those who will help them the most as a class. Most people who support a candidate support them for personal gains and not because they think he/she will try and achieve national goals, such as social programs for the poor or a health care system. Another aspect that makes a socialist revolution difficult is that the DR does not have the resources that Venezuela has. DR has to a certain extent be submissive to the US because if the US where to cut it off in the way it has done to Cuba, the economy would not be able to take it. A country like Venezuela that has massive oil wealth does not need the US, in fact the US needs Venezuela. For there to be a true revolution FOR THE PEOPLE there has to be a massive change in the political conscience of the people and a program of solidarity with the DR from other socialist countries.

1st post-Xocializta

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

There was a revolution in the DR, and it was smashed by U.S. intervention. The tasks of that revolution need to be finished, something Caamaño tried to spark during Balaguer's rule.

There are regular, general strikes, there were near-soviets created a few years ago, there are fairly regular, militant protests which often come down to shoot-outs with the police, etc. There is a revolutionary sentiment among the toilers of Quisqueya, but there is also a history of their resistance being brutally smashed, and of huge betrayals by misleaders and reformists with red flags.

Here are some things I would suggest looking into (as well as the group that published all of this):

The 1965 Revolution in the Dominican Republic (http://www.freepeoplesmovement.org/fpm/page.php?360)

Action platform of the Dominican Republic branch of the Movimiento de la Gente Libre (http://www.freepeoplesmovement.org/fpm/page.php?138)

We need a new restoration! (http://www.freepeoplesmovement.org/fpm/page.php?169)

Dominican National Police murder young political activist! (http://www.freepeoplesmovement.org/fpm/page.php?186)

[platano2988]

Both of you are correct. But i must say this, that I am proud of what the term, the denomination,dominican, entails and is supposed to represent.I am not proud of what it has become. That i will confess to you. But in regards to Country with low resources and having to rely on the U.S. i cannot agree with you on this. First we can observe an avid intention from countries in the eastern europe,the middle east, and asia to strengthen their hand and position in latin america. Some examples of this are Iran, russia,etc. Recently there was news that the Saudi Arabians wanted to build a refinery in the dominican republic. This is due to the fact that govt's here do not want leave the U.S. orbit and discover new possibilities. There are countries both in the socialist and radical world, that are either well planted or are aqcuiring considerable amounts of strength. Cuba. for instance, is not protectorate of the United States, yet even though, the immense economic turmoil, they are socialist, and actually have shown one of the steadiest growing and recovering economies. Im not saying that the dominican republic will have the will of cuba but they can pull themselves away from capitalism, Which is a demon for growth here. If more dominicans shared both your point of views, than things would be different, but let me ask you this, Can anybody deny that the people here are blind to whats going on? Oh well! When Latin America starts to rise from the ashes (which it is doing) and follows the examples of Bolivar, Marti, Che Guevara, Fidel castro, and the Dominican Republic is in the same state.Then maybe that will be a wakeup call.

*it has been a pleasure having discovered a fellow dominican on this forum.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

There are a few. Trinitario is another.

[Dominicana_1965]

There was a revolution in the DR, and it was smashed by U.S. intervention. The tasks of that revolution need to be finished, something Caamaño tried to spark during Balaguer's rule.

Amable Aristy just referred to Balaguer's administration as "the good ol' days"
:rolleyes:

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

That sounds about right.

[RedStarOverChina]

It truly saddens me to see such a demoralising post. Things do look grim not only in DR but also around the world, and I feel your pain. However, that's only another reason to strive forward.

BTW, platano2988, you will have to choose whether you are a communist or a Catholic. It's a difficult choice but I hope you will eventually make the right decision.