Dominican Republic a Paradise of Corruption in 2005
SANTO DOMINGO. - Most of family heads in Dominican Republic are
unemployed, according to the results of the survey Enhogar 2005,
conducted by National Statistics Office (ONE). For 51.6% of the
Dominican heads of households the country's main problem is
unemployment, followed by crime, with 48.3%, and the lack of
electricity with 40.4%.
ONE director Pablo Tactuk affirmed that the high cost of living
constitutes the fourth problem that most concerns Dominicans,
with 36.6% of those surveyed responding so.
The year also was marked by political scandals within the
governing Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) -including corruption
and swindle- standing out among these the scandal of the I.D.
cards from the National Investigations Department (DNI) that
concluded several days ago in Manhattan Criminal Court with a
guilty plea by Juan Soler, president of the PLD's local branch
and of a political movement which supported Fernandez in the
last elections. He is expected to get a one year jail sentence
in January.
Another scandal stemmed from the appointments of 25 "bottles"
-people who get salaries and serve no purpose other than
cronyism- including vice consuls, nearly 50 assistants, more
than 40 officials in the United Nations and 55 inspectors and
assistants of the Presidency, eroding the confidence in the
government's announced fight against corruption.
The designation of the Consultative Council could, according to
the people consulted, is seen as the only institutional
accomplishment, but the organization whose, members are
honorary, could only stage one event, pressed by the Presidents
presence last September. Still expected from that event is the
diagnosis in relation to the Dominican Diaspora in New York.
Some designations have also locally irritated the governing
party, including the appointment Franklin Guti