Motorcycle Style Bicycle

Notes

Haiti has just disappeared. The image of the President on CNN, dirty and homeless, was the highest expression of the implosion of the state that we will ever see. Even in bloody civil wars, the ruling elite was always able to live within a certain comfort level. But it is not the case. Without the government, there is no way to count the number of deaths, conduct or coordinate funding efforts to bury the victims before the health problem is made Dante or preserve law and protect people from crime. Here in Santo Domingo, I saw the efforts of tens of international organizations, trying to transport equipment and cargo to Haiti (which is quite impossible due to the collapse of the border). What follows is unclear.

Once the Haitian State has disappeared (as Somalia did), the logic of power says that someone else will replace the power vacuum. In Somalia, the warlords and pirates were in control. In Haiti there are two likely contenders for power: A partial takeover of the Dominican Republic, backed by resources and coordinated by the United States and international organizations, or control over the medium term for local bands some linked to drug trafficking. Dominicans see Haiti as a former colonial power (Dominican declared independence from Haiti, not in Spain) and above all, as a demographic threat today. There is a strong anti-Haitian discourse in the collective mentality, built by the elites. Haitians are poor and also speak French. A million came in the last four decades and now live in the Dominican Republic (> 10% of the population), and work mainly in construction and other poorly paid jobs (ie, less than $ 80-90 per month ) that Dominicans do not want. The nationalist-xenophobic discourse of the elites has led Haitians here to marginalization and exclusion, in a kind of apartheid emerging that the crisis will worsen. Recently, the Dominican reformed its constitution to limit access to Haitian nationality: in the past, a baby born in the Dominican Republic to Haitian parents would be considered illegal Dominican (jus soli). This is not the case, and the worst is that it is retroactive, so it's easy to find people with 35 years of age, family of four and without regard to Haiti, to be excluded from citizenship and being now stateless in their own country. Vine

Dominican Republic with a team of political scientists to try to understand best the dynamics of democracy here, the deficiencies in governance, transparency and corruption, low levels of accountability and the lack of responsiveness to the voters, and much more abstract (but important nonetheless). After a week of meetings with academics, journalists, civil society organizations, politicians, government officials and entrepreneurs (mostly to listen), our understanding of the actual operation of Dominican democracy is a little clearer ... and very depressing. There is a common denominator that everyone seems to subscribe, even people in government now is patronage.

The patronage is a common theme in almost all democracies, and very significant in Latin America. In the U.S., for example, patronage has traditionally come in many forms: ear-marking in the politics of Congress or candidates who meet the interests of big campaign contributors, etc.. But here in the Dominican Republic patronage is so strong and steady, partly due to historical reasons (60 years of the Trujillo dictatorship and democracy Balaguer patterns), when a new government takes power in the DR, people President expected to renew the majority of officials and substitute its own members and voters (92% of government employees are hired, not civil servants, and therefore can be dismissed). Many officials only charge and have no real function. Similarly, social policies are not based on objective eligibility criteria, but are directed to co-opt groups that is necessary to ensure electoral loyalty. With 500,000 government officials and 2 million people who receive these Bono School, Solidarity Program and other ill-targeted social programs, the number of people who depend directly or indirectly from the government is enormous in a country so sparsely populated. In essence, the whole country is purchased in order to obtain the consent and fair elections.

Someone said cynically that democracy and institutions in the DR seems to be "good enough", since people seem apathetic and demobilized, governments are stable, there are few protests, and unions do not play any role, and inequality poverty levels are relatively low compared with many countries in Latin America. No ideological confrontation, and everyone hates (or despise) to Haitians, who are the poorest of the poor. When there are major corruption scandals, no pay, even if the man was captured on camera in prime time. Impunity is the norm, as is the silence. Nobody wants to lose their share of small own government benefits, whether a poorly paid job or a social program (because nobody sees it as his individual right, but as a gift / perk that does not want to lose at the hands of another). Utilities are in a sorry state: people-those who can afford it, of course, has power plants in the home due to constant blackouts. The same for water. And schools and hospitals do not close, but they have performed so badly, that might improve social indicators in the country if they did. The middle classes have long moved to private schools and health insurance, increased differences in opportunities. Besides being very unfair to all classes workers, this level of "self-production" of basic services is incredibly expensive for the middle class.

Despite clamorous public policy failures of governance and widespread corruption everywhere, people live in peace, and the system re-elected over and over again the same establishment. Most of the explanation for this apparent social peace has to do with:

a) migration. Was massive from the 1950's and, mostly, went to New York and most recently Spain. Migration acts as a safety valve mass (option "O").

b) The enormous amount of remittances that immigrants send home, in a kind of social security, in addition to unemployment benefits that come from abroad (25% of Dominican families have a member abroad), and

c) The conservatism of conservatism dominicana.El society values \u200b\u200bappears in all the international surveys that include the Dominican Republic. As an example, are about to enact a new Constitution, which prohibits any case of abortion even after rape or if it actually endangers the life expectancy of the mother. It is said in Santo Domingo that the cardinal is the most powerful authority in the shade. And in fact, Church plays an active role in politics, therefore, that politicians of all parties pay homage.

In this context, the destruction of Haiti and its government is going to put much pressure on the Dominican Republic and its social services. The end of Haiti as a country just accelerate a dramatic earthquake in the island, and of course for the Dominican. With the inevitable migration of hundreds of thousands of Haitians across the porous border, the system of the Dominican Republic will be subsumed by a discourse even harder (almost fascist) against Haitians, unless the United Nations and the U.S.. UU. are able to restore some kind of government Haiti from scratch. The established elite trying to remain in power and strengthen the re-election of Leonel "due to exceptional circumstances" and "threat" in Haiti. For now, we will soon see thousands of desperate Haitians confined in a sort of camps run by international organizations in the areas near the border RD.

But this is only the beginning.