The Dominican Republic on the island of Ayti (made up of the Republic of Haiti and the Dominican Republic) has been for the past ten years the darling nation for investors, tourists and travelers. Its budding infrastructure is equal to or even better than any developed country. Santo Domingo has a brand new subway metro system; the highway from Santiago to Santo Domingo is smooth, large and efficient. The Dominican Republic has achieved food security for its people while feeding Haiti with all types of produce from coconut to plantain, including eggs and macaroni.
It is led by Leonel Fernandez, a savvy New York based lawyer with the street smart of a Manhattan cab driver, yet draped with the finesse of a well bred gentleman issuing from a proud and good family. He is forging the Dominican Republic ahead according to the defined Renan Doctrine repeated so often in my essays on nation building process. You will recall, it includes:
– A strong army to protect, defend and enhance the territory while valuing national heritage through the veneration of heroes, and the passing through of the ancestors’ code of morality and conduct.
-- rooting the citizens in their localities with infrastructure, institutions and services as well as cultural traditions so they will not become internal nomads in their own land, moving from villages to the cities, from the cities to the capital and there seeking a better life abroad.
-- Last but not least taking all the necessary steps to leave no one behind, including the aliens and the belongers.
The Dominican Republic has a strong army visible from the border to the capital. Travelling from Port au Prince by bus to Santo Domingo, you will be scrutinized by no less than 19 different army posts that check your visa your passport and your belongings, ensuring that each visitor has been invited in. The army is also ensuring that each tree is not uprooted unless there is a permit or it is in the interest of the largest forest to do so. Last but not least the military plays its part in the development of infrastructure as well as in the protection of the civilians in case of disaster.
The government has also done its best to root its population in their localities. Whether the citizen is living in Bani or Santiago, they have easy access to decent and low cost transportation. The children of the country wear the same uniform all over the nation -- khaki pants with a blue shirt -- representing a concern of the government to provide basic education to the next generation of Dominican citizens. Services are well represented all over the country, the Dominican week-end is alive and vibrant, so vibrant that the well-heeled Haitians do not spend their weekends in Haiti, from Friday to Sunday they flock to Samana, Cabaret or Puerto Plata for fun, fete, and frolic.
The Dominican Republic needs improvement, though, with the concept of leaving no one behind. Perfecting the Dominican Republic will mean making the country hospitable to the entire population whether they are citizens, visitors or aliens. This concept is difficult to accept and to implement. Yet is the hallmark of a great nation on its way to complete fulfillment. It will imply the enforcement of strict control on the borders. The end result will be all those who are already inside the territory must receive the red carpet treatment in terms of education, health care and economic development. They are the potential citizens who will continue the process of nation building of the Dominican Republic.
To avoid the story of the battle of Sysive where victory is all always at hand but never achieved, the Dominican Republic should engage the Republic of Haiti in the process of nation building and development. While in the past it represented a magnet mainly for the Haitian farmers in the sugar field, it has now became a magnet for the young Haitians in search of a proper higher education instruction and a secure job at the end of it. We have seen earlier, it is a magnet for the Haitian businessmen who leave the Haitian capital at the weekend, avoiding the stress of, as well as the lack of a night life in Haiti.
The culture of complete indifference of the Haitian government towards its citizens is detrimental not only to Haiti but it is also detrimental to the Dominican Republic, which shares the same borders. The Dominican government must have a policy of enhancing good governance in Haiti. Its own future is at stake.
The international community, (United Nations, OAS and CARICOM) has professed good will towards Haiti. This manifestation of good will has not been translated into a minimum of welfare for the Haitian people. I met recently the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Dominican Republic in Santo Domingo while the UNICEF president was camping in the capital en route to Haiti. Looking me in the eye, the Minister of Foreign Affairs told me: ‘‘We have re-directed our policy towards Haiti.” He did not elaborate.
The fact is the Dominican Republic has been extremely generous toward Haiti after the earthquake, even offering the building of a large university in the northern part of the country. The Dominican Republic has also profited handsomely from the Haitian catastrophe, being the vendors of choice of all the necessities that are utilized for Haiti’s recovery.
The Dominican take off will be fully operational when it includes Haiti on the locomotive train. With a population of 20 million people (10 million on each side of the border) this Caribbean market, well integrated in tourism, tropical organic produce, services and industry, will have no competitor in the Western Hemisphere.
Haiti needs above all good governance that breaks away from the tradition of corruption and the lack of respect for its own people. It is the business of the Dominican Republic to foster such happenstance. Haitian civil society, the opposition must be regarded as a natural ally in bringing about that fundamental change in the country.
The Dominican Republic in contrast to the international partners completely embedded with the predatory government must follow these three principles:
a) Facilitate the largest democratic forces inside the country.
b) Rely not on the functioning government but on a democratic principle ... for example: “leaving no one behind” for its policies on Haiti.
c) Speak to everybody not only to friends.
The people of Haiti are now angry over the theft of the vote in the last election. The national police as well as the MINUSTHA were totally nonexistent in protecting life and limb during the political and electoral crisis. Under a flawed or a fair election, the people of Haiti have chosen Joseph Michel Martelly as their viable leader for the next five years.
Does the redirection of the Dominican government policy toward Haiti include also facilitating the respect of the voice and the vote of the people of Haiti in the last elections?
Stay tuned for next week's essay: With friends like the UN, OAS and CARICOM, Haiti needs no enemy!
December 11, 2010
caribbeannewsnow
