Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
In September 2013, the Dominican Constitutional Court ruled that 'people born in the
Dominican Republic to undocumented parents' weren't automatically afforded citizenship
themselves. The decision, which applies to anyone born after 1929, was widely and
strongly condemned by human rights activists, foreign governments and influential
Dominican writers, artists and intellectuals as a racist ruling that targets Dominicans of
Haitian descent. According to critics, it would officially strip vital rights from tens to hun-
dreds of thousands of people who are fully integrated into Dominican society, many for
generations. The government argues that it is finally putting in place a system to regular-
ize the status of immigrants.
Haiti, after the US, is the second largest export market for Dominican goods (this
doesn't include an estimated several hundred million dollars of contraband). Trade dis-
putes, however, are commonplace, including accusations that the DR ships lesser and un-
safe goods to Haiti and that Haitian products are glaringly absent from Dominican stores.
In response, the Haitian government began building a wall 8km from the border crossing
at Elías Piña, it claims in order to collect taxes on imported Dominican goods. National-
ists from both sides have talked of building a wall that lines the entire 300km (190 miles)
border.
The Economy
Many Dominicans lack electricity, while the remainder experience regular blackouts. Wo-
men, who make up less than one-third of the DR's paid workforce, are poorly represented
in government and politics, and abortion, under all circumstances, is illegal. Recently, the
economy has been growing at a hearty 4.5% clip and Ikea stores and luxury car dealer-
ships point to the growing purchasing power of a small segment of society. However,
nearly 40% of Dominicans live below the poverty line, the monthly take home pay for
minimum wage jobs is only US$140 per month and, according to the gross domestic
product per capita, the DR is the fourth poorest country in the Caribbean. When thousands
of public hospital workers went on a three-day walkout in September 2013 demanding
higher wages, the average monthly salary was between US$600 and US$1000 for doctors
and US$500 for nurses.
The DR earns more tourism dollars than any other country in Latin America except
Mexico and Brazil. The service industry, primarily tourism but the free-trade zone areas as
well, is the largest employer and earner in the DR. Around 500,000 people work in the or-
ganic cocoa industry - the DR is the largest exporter in the world. Another revenue source
is remittances from Dominicans living abroad - more than one million people collectively
