Drug money is behind economic growth: former US envoy’s husband

Santo Domingo.- The husband former US ambassador in the Dominican Republic, James Brewster, says in his book “Breaking Protocol”, published on July 4, that Dominican Republic’s economic growth in recent years is due to funds from Venezuela through drug trafficking and money laundering.

Bob Satawake on page 131 of the text notes that “the monopoly style and protectionist measures (applied by the authorities) make foreign investment in the Dominican Republic virtually impossible, which is why the country’s current market “remains stagnant.”

He stressed that despite the situation, the Central Bank and the Dominican Government will argue that the growth of recent years in the country exceeds 5%.

He adds however that “in reality this is a result of Venezuelan economic investment, including money related to drug trafficking and money laundering activities,” which in his view, “was stolen by people under the dictatorial regime of Hugo Chávez.”