Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Dominican Republic Today
Young and old alike groan equally about endemic corruption and lack of opportunit-
ies, and with a past filled by strong-man dictators and corrupt politicians, the average
Dominican has learned to live through hardships, and approaches the present with a
healthy skepticism. Despite this, there's a general equanimity, or at the very least an
ability to appreciate the good things in life: family, togetherness, music and laughter.
The Mood
Most Dominicans would consider themselves religious and, while a deeply Catholic coun-
try, few attend Mass regularly. Evangelical Protestant Christianity attracts adherents with
dramatic faith healings, fiery sermons and exorcisms. An underlying mix of popular le-
gends, folk superstitions, syncretic African rituals and Vodou spiritualism, in part intro-
duced by Haitian immigrants and their descendants, are alive and well, though less visible.
Reformists took heart in Leonel Fernández' decision not to pursue constitutional changes
that would have allowed him to run for a fourth presidential term in 2012. Instead, Danilo
Medina, an economist from the PLD
(Partido Liberación Dominicana)
and former chief-
of-staff for Fernández, narrowly won with 51% of the vote over former president Mejia, the
leader of the PRD
(Partido Revolucinario Dominicana)
, the main opposition party. In the
immediate aftermath, Mejia accused the PLD of vote-rigging. Since then, Medina has been
credited with a more populist tone than his predecessor, in part because of 'listening tours'
he's taken through rural regions.
The Other Half
Many Dominicans still refer angrily to the Haitian occupation of their country over 160
years ago. Haitians are typically blamed for overburdened schools, insufficient healthcare
and rising crime rates, especially guns, drugs and prostitution, and for taking Dominican
jobs. Haitians continue migrating to the Dominican Republic (DR) in large numbers to
work on the vast sugar plantations or in construction, risking violence, discrimination, poor
living conditions and lack of legal protections; most workers on sugarcane plantations only
have work during the
zafra
, the four- to six-month harvest period. One of the most
reflexively-held prejudices across all strata of society is the assumption that the lighter the
skin the higher the class and vice versa.
