The crime of walking without a vaccination card

Pedro René Almonte Mejía

Each day brings a lesson; it brings something new from which we learn something; each day comes with its own eagerness, and the enthusiasm is different, as the days are different. There are good, bad, and regular days, but the obligation of those of us who are lucky enough to be alive is to learn from each experience and always see the good side of things because although it may seem untrue, everything has something from which we can take something positive.

Sometimes things happen to us, so that instead of learning, we have to unlearn what we learned wrong, erase the traces of the road, and trace a different route towards the goal we want to reach.

In fact, we Dominicans are living something unusual; it seems that we have forgotten the many struggles waged by this quisqueyano people. This half-island that to become a Republic had to take and give itself a foundation with Spain, Haiti, and even with the United States (the gringos), but it seems that we have forgotten all that or they have made us forget it; they have even bombarded us so much with foreign words that the Dominican of today has almost lost his identity, and half of the population wants to find a way to get out of here.

Likewise, what I never thought any Dominican government would dare to do after Trujillo’s death happened. Yes, one day we woke up to lift this country at the expense of the government that we have, and then, carrying a vaccination card was more important than getting to your workplace; carrying a vaccination card was more important than entering the university for learning; carrying a vaccination card was more important than buying food at the supermarket; carrying a vaccination card was more important than entering any place of recreation; carrying a vaccination card was more important than paying for services, more important than entering a bank.

One day we woke up prisoners of a vaccination card and were prevented from walking freely through the streets and places of our nation, just because the president of the day thought that without that vaccination card, we would not be citizens of the Dominican Republic. The worst part of the case is that on the one hand, I found Dominicans submissive and obedient to an irrational disposition that violates the constitution of our country; it is as if the one who does not have a vaccination card lost from one day to the next, all the rights with which he was born by the simple fact of being Dominican.

On the other side, the opinion-makers, evidently bought by the government, applauding like seals a measure that could not be more dictatorial. In this sense, I have reflected on all this, and I realized that the government could do with Dominicans whatever they want; they can put a gallon of gasoline at 300 pesos; they can give us blackouts 24 hours a day; they can put a pound of chicken at 150; crime can continue to take over the streets; they can do whatever they want and Dominicans will simply make a meme and laugh at their bad luck. For all of the above, I am sure that Trujillo and Balaguer would be laughing their heads off if it had been their turn to govern today’s Dominican.

Finally, what can be said is that Duarte, Sanchez, Mella, and Luperon would be amazed at the endurance capacity of contemporary Dominicans. At the same time, they would be ashamed of what we have become as a country, nation, and citizens. What else is left for us to endure?