The “people want more” in permanent demand for answers to needs

As the first half of the 2024-2028 four-year period approaches its end, the powers of the Dominican State, including the Judiciary – lagging behind in final rulings on alleged corruption – remain under fire from different sectors, which would reaffirm a validity of freedom of expression, if you will, but also of the levels of dissatisfaction that lead to concerns about the future of democracy and that preference tends to rise in the community for any authoritarian ism that augurs solutions to social problems. More than 20% of citizens agree with this idea and 27% have advanced towards social and political indifference.
Antecedents of the loss of confidence in the conventional ways of governing countries are expressed in the shift towards radical positions of power in one of the firmest democracies, previously, evident with Donald Trump back on the throne in Washington, giving an idea of the potential for drastic and possible setbacks in democratic exercises; as happened with Bolsonaro in Brazil (happily later returned to the positive), with Bukele in El Salvador and the resounding fall of Kirchnerism (descendant of Peronism in Argentina) that gave way to the ultra-libertarian Javier Milei, who breaks schemes. Outside of the theft of the popular will perpetrated in Venezuela.
Several debts with the national community are high, including permanent legislative refusals to update codes such as the Fiscal, Civil and Labor Codes, three essential cornerstones for the legal order postponed by the hesitations of those who have the upper hand to make agendas flow. With institutional weaknesses in the face of insecurity due to criminal attacks, with prisons that strengthen criminality because they do not serve for behavioral regeneration, insistent appeal to extrajudicial executions and the unstoppable advance of femicides.
With meagre fruits from the 4% budget for pre-university education that is now twelve years old. With attacks on natural resources that are regaining presence shortly after appearing to be slowed down and that presage that the poachers for charcoal and industrial crops will significantly reduce the forestedness of the Baoruco mountain range. The dunes of Baní would go to a severe exiguity with predators that come and go and the archaeological wealth of the Pomier Caves is still under threat from quarry mining.
It is necessary to mention the never-ending story: deficits of the electricity system due to collection failures, theft of the fluid without sanctions that combat the culture of free and that deal hard blows to public finances. And it doesn’t end here.
The current administration of the State projects its budgetary policy to give less response to social demands this year with public investments that improve the country’s infrastructure and productivity in response to its population and economic growth and thus increase true development and reduce the monstrosity of an informal sector that worships inefficiency from its widespread marginalization.
The option underway has been – according to analyst Nelson Suárez – to focus on a fiscal adjustment, after the failure of the ideal reform and to contain the expansion of spending by sacrificing capital investments. A reduction of RD$28,075.9 million compared to the previous year.
30 YEARS OF FAILED AGRICULTURE
Despite its social and economic importance, Dominican agriculture has been decreasing its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product, which was 8% ten years ago and in May 2024 was 4.2% (figure from a publication by the Central Bank). The NGO Codespa foundation previously diagnosed that in recent years national agriculture has followed an unfavorable trend that weakens productive capacity, including livestock.
More than 242,000 Dominicans tied to the land and two and a half million hectares have been affected by low crop yields, lower sales prices and continuous increases in production costs. The aforementioned group of professionals and experts from different disciplines interested in the integral development of the country believes that, to some extent, it has identified the causes of the decline:
They understand that “A limiting factor in addressing the problems of low productivity is the lack of financing as a result of the difficulties many producers have in meeting the requirements of the financial sector. Access to financing is key to promoting the expansion and competitiveness of farmers and ranchers. According to official sources, the agricultural sector only accounts for three percent of the current credit portfolio in the Dominican Republic. Recently, the media quoted farmers denouncing that “the Agricultural Bank lends money at zero interest to people who are not from the agricultural sector”. The bank promptly denied the accusation.
Meanwhile, in the pages of the newspaper HOY on Monday, January 13, the agricultural consultant and teacher of Dominican agriculture for decades, Pablo Rodríguez, argued that “during the last 30 years of the republican era the same policies have been applied in the country without fully solving any of the problems of the sector”.
OUTSTANDING GOALS
The so-called “fight against corruption” undertaken in 2020 with a climate of state favoring transparency and judicial action created by the incoming government of Luis Abinader, has been seen by the civil society organization Participación Ciudadana as slowing down in 2024: Without definitions for “A total of cases involving public funds of more than RD$56 billion pesos, a figure that close to one billion pesos” used for illicit enrichment.
In a document expressing its assessment of the implementation of cases of alleged embezzlement, the organization considered proven ‘the limited action of the bodies in charge of oversight such as the Chamber of Accounts, the Directorate of Ethics and Government Integrity, the National Congress and the Comptroller General of the Republic’.
The general coordinator of Citizen Participation, Erick Hernández Machado, has called attention to the fact that “both the preliminary hearings and the trials of funds are being hindered by delaying strategies that postpone the hearings for unjustifiable reasons such as alleged illnesses, social commitments or trips abroad.”
Other citizen complaints refer to pronouncements by the Ombudsman’s Office, which keeps watch over the prosecution of crimes and offenses carried out by the National Police, which has more than once requested “to keep statistics on cases of people killed in shootouts with police officers with the aim of clarifying each incident and ensuring accountability.” He considered that the police force must be aware that while criminals must be subject to the full force of the law, this does not justify them being shot while they are unarmed.
“The National Police are not above anyone’s rights. Therefore, we must be critical of any action that does not respect human rights. All procedures must be governed by the use of force manual,” he emphasized.
CLERGY CONCERNED
This is not a hospitable country for vulnerable citizens, as the Dominican Episcopate made clear when, in its usual message prior to the Day of the Altagracia, it said it was concerned “about the conditions of poverty and suffering experienced by the Dominican people”. It considered it essential that the country renew its commitment to social justice, the integral development of each person and the protection of the most vulnerable.
“We are extremely concerned about the situation of so many Dominicans who live in vulnerable conditions exposed to the constant risk of falling into poverty due to the economic crises and the effects of climate change.” The Church said it reaffirmed its mission to stand by the most needy, the marginalized and those who suffer in their struggle for a more dignified and hopeful future and warned about the impact of the high cost of living in Dominican society.
Individually, and from the pulpit of the Basilica of Higüey, Monsignor Jesús Castro Marte criticized the situation of immigrants in irregular conditions who are engaged in productive activities and are being deported. He also complained about the “precariousness of the justice system and the annual number of deaths due to traffic accidents.”