Washington.– Secretary of State Hillary Clinton welcomed on Friday a group of Youth
Ambassadors from Central America and the Dominican Republic to the
United States for a three-week exchange program on civic education,
youth leadership, community service, and entrepreneurship.
Secretary
Clinton congratulated the 21 students on their leadership and
encouraged them to continue being agents of positive change in their
communities. During their visit to the U.S. Department of State, the
group also met with Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and
Cultural Affairs Ann Stock and Assistant Secretary of State for Western
Hemisphere Affairs Roberta S. Jacobson.
The 21 students and four educators from
the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama spent
their first week in Washington, D.C., where they volunteered and
completed training sessions focused on building leadership and conflict
resolution skills.
The Youth Ambassadors
Program of the U.S Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and
Cultural Affairs brings talented high school students to the United
States to promote mutual understanding, increase their leadership
skills, and prepare participants to make a difference in their home
communities.
Written by: Vivacuba, 9 Jun 2012 4:26 AM
From: Dominican Republic
Groom these innocent young people into believing usa is good and trusting and conduct a media operation for the global dumbed down adult viewing audience. psy op mind control
Written by: zooma, 9 Jun 2012 7:51 AM
From: United States
Vivacuba,
Me thinks this is a great opportunity for Fidel and Raul to invite the same group to Havana so they can be exposed to the values of another idelology.
Written by: RoyStone, 9 Jun 2012 8:36 AM
From: Australia
Vivacuba,
Perhaps you're confusing the American State Department with the Dominican Catholic Church?
Written by: BASTA, 9 Jun 2012 9:13 AM
From: Dominican Republic, =Ghetto/Legalize Drugs/Free abortions for all
roy= 3***
Written by: danny00, 9 Jun 2012 10:53 AM
From: United States, syosset, key west, santo domingo AND NOW THE GLOBE TROTTER
like the idea bring them to cuba, mr vivacubas father.
the castro brothers will take real good care of them, and if that does not work bring them to mr chavez he also will take them on a tour.
bettter they stay in the dr where the dr government gives their own a real chance at life lol
choo choo train all aboard.
hey! ex pres leo is going to work at disney world hes going to drive the monorail and ex pres mr hippo going to work at the dumbo ride.
maybe they can get u mr vivacuba a job playing mickey mouse?
choo choo train............
.
Written by: Atabey, 9 Jun 2012 11:49 AM
From: United States, NYC
Sad to think that people STILL view the on goings in Cuba as worthy of emulation!
What dear posters who believe such nonsense could these young lads learn from Cuba's experience if not: HOW TO F*** UP YOUR COUNTRY IN 50 years or so!
Written by: Atabey, 9 Jun 2012 11:50 AM
From: United States, NYC
Cuba, DR on very different path
on Jun 7 at 3:59 PM
Fidel Castro.
Zoom Picture
By Roland Alum
On May 20, 1902 the Cuban Republic was born, following the Spanish-American War, or Spanish (Cuban) American War that ended Spain's colonial rule. Coincidentally, this May 20, the Dominican Republic (DR) is holding its 14th presidential election since the downfall of Rafael Trujillo in 1961.
It behooves us to compare the trajectories of the two Hispanic-Caribbean nations in the last five decades. One, recovering from tyranny and gross underdevelopment, took the free-enterprise path while expanding its freedoms. The other one endures stagnation and deprivation under a self-perpetuating Marxist-Leninist paradigm.
Written by: Atabey, 9 Jun 2012 11:51 AM
From: United States, NYC
Instability characterized Cuba's republican era from 1902 to 1958. Government corruption climaxed under Fulgencio Batista's authoritarian dictatorship. Still, by the 1950s, the island-nation was a hemispheric leader in agriculture, labor rights, education, healthcare, and other indices.
With tremendous initial popularity, Fidel and Raúl Castro supplanted Batista in power in 1959; but the pair turned Cuba into a closed society beset by unprecedented repression and chronic inefficiency, a systemic hallmark of Soviet-styled “economies of scarcity.”
Meanwhile, the DR progressed toward the open society model. Interim juntas followed Trujillo's assassination on May 30, 1961. In the 1966 elections, a former Trujillo protégée, Joaquin Balaguer, won the presidency and sponsored the constitution that created the present three-branch government framework.
Since Trujillo's demise, notwithstanding the 1963-66 period, the DR has elected six presidents, all civilians from three major
Written by: Atabey, 9 Jun 2012 11:52 AM
From: United States, NYC
all civilians from three major political parties, in 13 presidential elections. As different from the Castros' regime that habitually demonizes expatriate Cubans, the DR politically enfranchises Dominicans abroad.
Recent constitutional amendments bar consecutive presidential terms in the DR. So outgoing President Leonel Fernandez backs his Dominican Liberation Party colleague Danilo Medina. Medina's principal rival is similarly centrist ex-president Hipólito Mejía of the Dominican Revolutionary Party. The late Balaguer's conservative Christian Social Reformist Party is supporting Medina.
In contrast, Cuba is still dominated by the unvarying less-than-one-percent 1959 “revolutionary” elite. This militaristic gerontocracy has engendered amongst hungry Cubans what anthropologists call a culture of poverty.
A fair assessment of a democracy contemplates more than secret-ballot periodic elections. Despite historical disadvantages, the D.R. has become more self-sufficiently prod
Written by: Atabey, 9 Jun 2012 11:53 AM
From: United States, NYC
Despite historical disadvantages, the D.R. has become more self-sufficiently productive than Cuba.
The D.R. has a smaller population than Cuba -- 9.3 million to 11.2 million people -- and a smaller territory. Yet the D.R.'s GDP growth rate, an average of 5.9 percent over the past five years, outperforms Cuba's 3.2 percent. The Dominican people have been enhancing their liberal democracy paso a paso (step by step), although still imperfect, along with socio-economic progress.
The D.R. enjoys a robust civil society plentiful in competing enterprises, free press, labor unions, and uncensored Internet access. Conversely, it lacks paredones (firing squads), political prisoners, labor camps, exiles, censorship, neighborhood spies, or humiliating rationing.
The reverse is factual for outmoded “socialist” Cuba, in need of more than reforms by autumnal octogenarian pseudo-patriarchs. As numerous studies persuasively argue, the regimented mismanagement, not the watered-down U.S.'s comm
Written by: Atabey, 9 Jun 2012 11:54 AM
From: United States, NYC
The reverse is factual for outmoded “socialist” Cuba, in need of more than reforms by autumnal octogenarian pseudo-patriarchs. As numerous studies persuasively argue, the regimented mismanagement, not the watered-down U.S.'s commercial boycott, or embargo, is responsible for Cuba's abysmal socio-economic failures.
On this May 20, it's not Cuba's 53 years of miserable totalitarianism, but the quiet Dominican Republic's democratic development that deserves acclaim.
Roland Alum, a former OAS anthropology fellow in Santo Domingo and past Dominican elections international observer, is a consultant with Icod Associates. Email him at rolandnj@yahoo.com.
Originally published in the Sun Sentinel,
May 20, 2012
Sadly, many people STILL need to read history without nursing IDEOLOGICAL rose colored glasses.
Cuba has grown poorer and LESS DEVELOPED under the Castro's. But don't take my word for it, go visit the place and SEE WITH YOUR OWN EYES.
Written by: Vivacuba, 9 Jun 2012 7:51 PM
From: Dominican Republic
@ Roy, the USDOS probably runs the church behind the scenes also. jajaja
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Vivacuba,
Me thinks this is a great opportunity for Fidel and Raul to invite the same group to Havana so they can be exposed to the values of another idelology.
Perhaps you're confusing the American State Department with the Dominican Catholic Church?
the castro brothers will take real good care of them, and if that does not work bring them to mr chavez he also will take them on a tour.
bettter they stay in the dr where the dr government gives their own a real chance at life lol
choo choo train all aboard.
hey! ex pres leo is going to work at disney world hes going to drive the monorail and ex pres mr hippo going to work at the dumbo ride.
maybe they can get u mr vivacuba a job playing mickey mouse?
choo choo train............
.
Sad to think that people STILL view the on goings in Cuba as worthy of emulation!
What dear posters who believe such nonsense could these young lads learn from Cuba's experience if not: HOW TO F*** UP YOUR COUNTRY IN 50 years or so!
Cuba, DR on very different path
on Jun 7 at 3:59 PM
Fidel Castro.
Zoom Picture
By Roland Alum
On May 20, 1902 the Cuban Republic was born, following the Spanish-American War, or Spanish (Cuban) American War that ended Spain's colonial rule. Coincidentally, this May 20, the Dominican Republic (DR) is holding its 14th presidential election since the downfall of Rafael Trujillo in 1961.
It behooves us to compare the trajectories of the two Hispanic-Caribbean nations in the last five decades. One, recovering from tyranny and gross underdevelopment, took the free-enterprise path while expanding its freedoms. The other one endures stagnation and deprivation under a self-perpetuating Marxist-Leninist paradigm.
With tremendous initial popularity, Fidel and Raúl Castro supplanted Batista in power in 1959; but the pair turned Cuba into a closed society beset by unprecedented repression and chronic inefficiency, a systemic hallmark of Soviet-styled “economies of scarcity.”
Meanwhile, the DR progressed toward the open society model. Interim juntas followed Trujillo's assassination on May 30, 1961. In the 1966 elections, a former Trujillo protégée, Joaquin Balaguer, won the presidency and sponsored the constitution that created the present three-branch government framework.
Since Trujillo's demise, notwithstanding the 1963-66 period, the DR has elected six presidents, all civilians from three major
all civilians from three major political parties, in 13 presidential elections. As different from the Castros' regime that habitually demonizes expatriate Cubans, the DR politically enfranchises Dominicans abroad.
Recent constitutional amendments bar consecutive presidential terms in the DR. So outgoing President Leonel Fernandez backs his Dominican Liberation Party colleague Danilo Medina. Medina's principal rival is similarly centrist ex-president Hipólito Mejía of the Dominican Revolutionary Party. The late Balaguer's conservative Christian Social Reformist Party is supporting Medina.
In contrast, Cuba is still dominated by the unvarying less-than-one-percent 1959 “revolutionary” elite. This militaristic gerontocracy has engendered amongst hungry Cubans what anthropologists call a culture of poverty.
A fair assessment of a democracy contemplates more than secret-ballot periodic elections. Despite historical disadvantages, the D.R. has become more self-sufficiently prod
The D.R. has a smaller population than Cuba -- 9.3 million to 11.2 million people -- and a smaller territory. Yet the D.R.'s GDP growth rate, an average of 5.9 percent over the past five years, outperforms Cuba's 3.2 percent. The Dominican people have been enhancing their liberal democracy paso a paso (step by step), although still imperfect, along with socio-economic progress.
The D.R. enjoys a robust civil society plentiful in competing enterprises, free press, labor unions, and uncensored Internet access. Conversely, it lacks paredones (firing squads), political prisoners, labor camps, exiles, censorship, neighborhood spies, or humiliating rationing.
The reverse is factual for outmoded “socialist” Cuba, in need of more than reforms by autumnal octogenarian pseudo-patriarchs. As numerous studies persuasively argue, the regimented mismanagement, not the watered-down U.S.'s comm
The reverse is factual for outmoded “socialist” Cuba, in need of more than reforms by autumnal octogenarian pseudo-patriarchs. As numerous studies persuasively argue, the regimented mismanagement, not the watered-down U.S.'s commercial boycott, or embargo, is responsible for Cuba's abysmal socio-economic failures.
On this May 20, it's not Cuba's 53 years of miserable totalitarianism, but the quiet Dominican Republic's democratic development that deserves acclaim.
Roland Alum, a former OAS anthropology fellow in Santo Domingo and past Dominican elections international observer, is a consultant with Icod Associates. Email him at rolandnj@yahoo.com.
Originally published in the Sun Sentinel,
May 20, 2012
Sadly, many people STILL need to read history without nursing IDEOLOGICAL rose colored glasses.
Cuba has grown poorer and LESS DEVELOPED under the Castro's. But don't take my word for it, go visit the place and SEE WITH YOUR OWN EYES.