The President Has Spoken!

Rate Danilo Medina's response to the accusations from Saint Vincent:

  • 5 = Excellent

    Votes: 27 73.0%
  • 4

    Votes: 5 13.5%
  • 3 = Fair

    Votes: 1 2.7%
  • 2

    Votes: 1 2.7%
  • 1 = Unacceptable

    Votes: 3 8.1%
  • Sorry, I don't understand Spanish.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    37

NALs

Economist by Profession
Jan 20, 2003
13,370
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[video=youtube;lKeOrOT6uto]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKeOrOT6uto[/video]

Yesterday, 29 of January of 2014, President Danilo Medina felt compelled to respond to the incessant accusations against the Dominican Republic that the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines has been presenting in every single international forum. This forum in particular took place in Havana, Cuba and was the reunion of all Latin American and Caribbean states to discuss all manners of issues that affects all these nations.

Until now, President Danilo Medina has never shown a very strong response in which he even told the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to focus on governing his islands and to let the Dominicans govern ours.

The video lasts a little more than 13 minutes with the first few minutes putting in place the context, using the expulsion that Cuba was subjected to in the 20th Century due to going down the path of socialism and communism, and indirectly associating that event with what the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines has been suggesting (basically the expulsion of the Dominican Republic from all international forums and treaties, and perhaps even subjecting the Dominican Republic to an economic embargo.)

The full video is in Spanish.
 

Expat13

Silver
Jun 7, 2008
3,255
50
48
why?

[video=youtube;lKeOrOT6uto]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKeOrOT6uto[/video]

Yesterday, 29 of January of 2014, President Danilo Medina felt compelled to respond to the incessant accusations against the Dominican Republic that the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines has been presenting in every single international forum. This forum in particular took place in Havana, Cuba and was the reunion of all Latin American and Caribbean states to discuss all manners of issues that affects all these nations.

Until now, President Danilo Medina has never shown a very strong response in which he even told the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to focus on governing his islands and to let the Dominicans govern ours.

The video lasts a little more than 13 minutes with the first few minutes putting in place the context, using the expulsion that Cuba was subjected to in the 20th Century due to going down the path of socialism and communism, and indirectly associating that event with what the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines has been suggesting (basically the expulsion of the Dominican Republic from all international forums and treaties, and perhaps even subjecting the Dominican Republic to an economic embargo.)

The full video is in Spanish.

Curious whats the logic behind these expulsion requests fro St. Vincent PM? Did the DR do something unacceptable? or is it just the obvious, theft, corruption yada yada which isn't really a crime these days as much as a skill-set.
 

Mauricio

Gold
Nov 18, 2002
5,607
7
38
Danilo doesn't know how to speech (compared to his predecessor) but his message was very good. If I would be dominican I would be proud of my president.
 

Criss Colon

Platinum
Jan 2, 2002
21,843
191
0
38
yahoomail.com
Why didn't he just say,..
"Tengo Un ODIO por los Maldito NEGRO,Haitianos!!!
"Que Los VAYAN de MI Patria"!!!!!
"Cono"!!!!!
Saves about 13 minutes!
CCCCCCCCCCCCC
 

HUG

Silver
Feb 3, 2009
3,940
1
0
I watched the speech live and actually found him very strong in his delivery, the contents were rather questionable as in quality, some may have concluded a hint of racism if they wanted to, but good passionate delivery. Proud? I don't have to choose thankfully having a huge 'NO VOTA' stamp on the back of my cedula!
 

Castle

Silver
Sep 1, 2012
2,982
1
0
I think the intelligence of Danilo has made all this trauma easier for the country. He defends the court ruling in public, but does the right things internally. I am very happy with the way the executive has handled the horrible mishap of the judges. Steps have been taken to regularize the situation under not only the law but also the human part in all this. As for his speech, well, all speechs by politicians are directed to cause a media effect. I say listen a little less and watch the actions a little more. His actions have been correct.
 

Mauricio

Gold
Nov 18, 2002
5,607
7
38
I didn't hear any hint of racism in his content. The weak part in my opinion was that he referred to the government looking the other way, and saying the law says this, and we do something else to support the Haitians.

I'd wouldn't have mentioned how the government looks away, I would have presented how DR supported the Haitians (as he did) and next how DR is sovereign and the judgment of the TLC was only confirming what is for 85 years in the constitution. He didn't need to say how they have been looking away.
 

NALs

Economist by Profession
Jan 20, 2003
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There is nothing that Danilo has done so far that was not contemplated in the initial tribunal ruling. Some people think that because Danilo "ordered" the deportations to be halted, that he is acting in ways contrary to what the tribunal ruling originally dictated when in reality Danilo is simply following exactly what the tribunal ruling and the migration law states. The tribunal judges have been saying pretty much from day one that the plan doesn't contemplates mass deportations, but most of the naysayers simply ignored whatever they said in order to create the big (and highly distorted) international scandal.

Mar, his reference to Haitians was too much IMO.
The Prime Minister of Saint Vincent has been attacking the DR for months solely by referencing the Haitians, so its completely normal that Danilo, after basically ignoring the PM every time he blasted the DR, finally decided to respond and focus almost exclusively on the Haitians. The PM was one of the main reasons for why the DR was not accepted into the CARICOM as a full member, but it must also be said that the British Caribbean has never been at complete ease with the Spanish Caribbean and this goes back to colonial times. The DR has been trying to join as a full member of CARICOM since the 1970s and all those small mostly English-speaking islands always find an excuse to keep the DR in limbo up to this very day.

Not many years ago I think they finally accepted Haiti as a full member, but they imposed a special condition on Haitian nationals. The nationals of all the other CARICOM countries can actually move from one island to the other without visa requirements, but his privilege is denied to Haitians. Everyone knows why, but its still interesting how Haiti is given a different treatment and no one says anything.
 
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NALs

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Jan 20, 2003
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By the way, where I said "colonial times," I'm using the Dominican historical reference (prior to 1821). I'm aware that most (perhaps all) of the British Caribbean were colonies of Britain well into the 20th Century, with many of those islands gaining their independence in the 1960s or 70s.
 

HUG

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Feb 3, 2009
3,940
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There is nothing that Danilo has done so far that was not contemplated in the initial tribunal ruling. Some people think that because Danilo "ordered" the deportations to be halted, that he is acting in ways contrary to what the tribunal ruling originally dictated when in reality Danilo is simply following exactly what the tribunal ruling and the migration law states. The tribunal judges have been saying pretty much from day one that the plan doesn't contemplates mass deportations, but most of the naysayers simply ignored whatever they said in order to create the big (and highly distorted) international scandal.


The Prime Minister of Saint Vincent has been attacking the DR for months solely by referencing the Haitians, so its completely normal that Danilo, after basically ignoring the PM every time he blasted the DR, finally decided to respond and focus almost exclusively on the Haitians. The PM was one of the main reasons for why the DR was not accepted into the CARICOM as a full member, but it must also be said that the British Caribbean has never been at complete ease with the Spanish Caribbean and this goes back to colonial times. The DR has been trying to join as a full member of CARICOM since the 1970s and all those small mostly English-speaking islands always find an excuse to keep the DR in limbo up to this very day.

Not many years ago I think they finally accepted Haiti as a full member, but they imposed a special condition on Haitian nationals. The nationals of all the other CARICOM countries can actually move from one island to the other without visa requirements, but his privilege is denied to Haitians. Everyone knows why, but its still interesting how Haiti is given a different treatment and no one says anything.

Very intelligent post, really, makes me consider my own understandings. Gracias! I agree but you put mice in my mind! Again, thank you!

Nals, are you dominican? How old are you ( not a confrontational question, purely generational)?
 
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Castle

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Sep 1, 2012
2,982
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Yes NALs, that's exactly what I'm saying. He's kept the haters, moderate and humans happy. Every group thinks Danilo is doing what they think should be done. They all think they are winning, or at least saving face. Fascinating. That's what world class politicians do.
 

the gorgon

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Sep 16, 2010
33,997
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There is nothing that Danilo has done so far that was not contemplated in the initial tribunal ruling. Some people think that because Danilo "ordered" the deportations to be halted, that he is acting in ways contrary to what the tribunal ruling originally dictated when in reality Danilo is simply following exactly what the tribunal ruling and the migration law states. The tribunal judges have been saying pretty much from day one that the plan doesn't contemplates mass deportations, but most of the naysayers simply ignored whatever they said in order to create the big (and highly distorted) international scandal.


The Prime Minister of Saint Vincent has been attacking the DR for months solely by referencing the Haitians, so its completely normal that Danilo, after basically ignoring the PM every time he blasted the DR, finally decided to respond and focus almost exclusively on the Haitians. The PM was one of the main reasons for why the DR was not accepted into the CARICOM as a full member, but it must also be said that the British Caribbean has never been at complete ease with the Spanish Caribbean and this goes back to colonial times. The DR has been trying to join as a full member of CARICOM since the 1970s and all those small mostly English-speaking islands always find an excuse to keep the DR in limbo up to this very day.

Not many years ago I think they finally accepted Haiti as a full member, but they imposed a special condition on Haitian nationals. The nationals of all the other CARICOM countries can actually move from one island to the other without visa requirements, but his privilege is denied to Haitians. Everyone knows why, but its still interesting how Haiti is given a different treatment and no one says anything.

NALS, let us clear up some of your blatant falsehoods, once and for all. to say that Ralph Gonsalves is one of the reasons why the DR has not moved from observer status to full member is absolutely inaccurate. actually, he was one of two people within Caricom who were spearheading the efforts to get full membership for the DR, right up until the time when this citizenship debacle reared its head. the other was the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. ironically, they are the two main protagonists who are pushing for reprisals against the DR for the court decision. as i have posted before, Ralph Gonsalves is an old friend of mine, and i know his political stance, especially in matters where human justice is concerned. he was a firebrand socialist as a young man, and he still believes in fairness today. he is tenacious and unwavering, and he has taken to this issue like a pit bull.

let us clear up a few misconceptions that you seem to be laboring under. Caricom is not a trading agreement. it is a Common Market. it had a political component. it is comprised of mainly black majority nations, and one of the stumbling blocks has been the fact that people like Balaguer were out and out racists, who had contempt for people of color. Balaguer wrote in one of his books that the black man was akin to "vegetable matter". that did not sit well with countries who had had black prime ministers. the other political dimension is that in matters such as the Iraq war runup, the Caricom nations were severely reprimanded for not supporting the USA in the UN, while the DR actually sent troops. Caricom wondered how it could function as an integral political entity, when there was such a disparity in philosophy between members.

the size of the DR was also considered to be an obstacle, but nothing that could not be dealt with. after all, DRCAFTA is made up of small countries trading with the biggest economy on earth. the problem was the refusal of the DR to accept the notion of a fair playing field. they always wanted to rig the game to get an unfair advantage. how many times have member states of DRCAFTA taken them to court for unfair practices? was it not just last week that the US had to quietly read them the riot act regarding the taxes on imports of American cars, something which was understood to be central to the agreement? Jamaica has bought cement from the DR on a regular basis, but look at what happened when Jamaica tried to sell cement here.

as to the visa issue with the Haitians; that is a big problem for everyone, something with which the DR is very familiar. other nations are allowed to move freely because the travel is normally temporary. people going on vacations, or business. the Haitians, on the other hand, seek political asylum as soon as they land. there are usually not grounds, and they end up clogging the administrative system, only to be sent back home. i am not advocating that the DR should let Haitians into the country in great numbers. that is not sustainable. however, when you seek to obtain quasi slave labor to boost your economic numbers, you have to deal with the consequences. the British caribbean has no need, nor desire, to nurture the ingress of slave labor. the unemployment numbers are already daunting, as it is.
 

bachata

Aprendiz de todo profesional de nada
Aug 18, 2007
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I made a mistake during the presidential campaign process I've called him "Mamita" which mean in DR a coward man...

I like this president, he is very different than the former PLD candidate and ex-president of DR.

Que viva Danilo!!!

JJ
 

bachata

Aprendiz de todo profesional de nada
Aug 18, 2007
5,341
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Como decimo en elo Cibao... El presidente hablo claro y a calzon quitao!!!

JJ
 

Dolores1

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May 3, 2000
8,215
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Fox TV reports on the speech and the comments by US Ambassador in Santo Domingo:

New U.S. Ambassador To Dominican Republic Plunges Into Country's Immigration Controversy | Fox News Latino

New U.S. Ambassador To Dominican Republic Plunges Into Country's Immigration Controversy
Fox News Latino
31 January 2013

The U.S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic voiced his support Thursday for the country’s controversial immigration plan to register foreigners, adding that the Dominican government needs to respect the basic human rights of immigrants in a difficult situation.

Ambassador James Brewster’s comment came only a day after President Danilo Medina slammed critics of the country’s Constitutional Court ruling that specifies criteria to obtain a Dominican nationality and a few days after Dominican ambassador the U.S. An?bal de Castro made his appeal for the U.S. support in an opinion piece published in The Miami Herald.

“The Dominican Republic has a long history of supporting its immigrant community, including providing access to free public services such as healthcare and education,” de Castro wrote. “As this process moves forward, the government remains fully committed to guaranteeing these critical services to all persons within the Dominican Republic.”

See more at the above link.
 

NALs

Economist by Profession
Jan 20, 2003
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Yes NALs, that's exactly what I'm saying. He's kept the haters, moderate and humans happy. Every group thinks Danilo is doing what they think should be done. They all think they are winning, or at least saving face. Fascinating. That's what world class politicians do.
Yes, there is some of that, but only a few have actually taken the time to read much of the actual sentence from the TC and its clear he has not deviated from what it states. People that are against the ruling may think he's tilting their way, but I seriously doubt most of them have even read the title of the actual sentence. :)

Most people against the TC base their opinion on what others have said that it says, which isn't always reflective of what it actually says.
 

NALs

Economist by Profession
Jan 20, 2003
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NALS, let us clear up some of your blatant falsehoods, once and for all.
Ooookay!

the gorgon said:
to say that Ralph Gonsalves is one of the reasons why the DR has not moved from observer status to full member is absolutely inaccurate.
Oh...

the gorgon said:
actually, he was one of two people within Caricom who were spearheading the efforts to get full membership for the DR, right up until the time when this citizenship debacle reared its head. the other was the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago.
Aha...

the gorgon said:
ironically, they are the two main protagonists who are pushing for reprisals against the DR for the court decision.
Right. Let me quote myself from my original post: "The PM was one of the main reasons for why the DR was not accepted into the CARICOM as a full member".

Maybe its me, but I don't see how what you said and what I said are in conflict. :surprised

the gorgon said:
he was a firebrand socialist as a young man, and he still believes in fairness today. he is tenacious and unwavering, and he has taken to this issue like a pit bull.
Interesting...

the gorgon said:
let us clear up a few misconceptions that you seem to be laboring under. Caricom is not a trading agreement. it is a Common Market.
Right, but I don't know where I have even mentioned what type of a relationship CARICOM consist of.

Plus, maybe its me, but I have a hard time understanding how something that is not a trading agreement can be a common market. :eek:

the gorgon said:
it had a political component.
This is no secret.

the gorgon said:
it is comprised of mainly black majority nations
And in much of the Caribbean distinctions are made between blacks and mulattoes, despite in some countries the mulatto category is much more exclusive than in others. In any case, what is the majority of the DR? I think only Martinique resembles much more closely DR's racial demographics and even there its a little different. I always assumed this was an underlying issue.

the gorgon said:
the other political dimension is that in matters such as the Iraq war runup, the Caricom nations were severely reprimanded for not supporting the USA in the UN, while the DR actually sent troops. Caricom wondered how it could function as an integral political entity, when there was such a disparity in philosophy between members.
The DR was not a full member of CARICOM (never has been), so I don't see why a decision made by a country that is not even a full member would be a problem for its acceptance. This is assuming that the CARICOM group doesn't uses any excuse to prevent full membership to the DR, as they have done since the 1970s.

Care to explain how the CARICOM countries came to the conclusion to not support the USA? Unilaterally? Multilaterally?

I want to incline towards the second one, but you probably know more than I do about this. In any case, if it was multilaterally and all of them voted against it, then why would anyone think that DR fully integrated into CARICOM would be able to go against the multilaterally decided decision of CARICOM?

Some how the Central Americans didn't had any issues in accepting the DR in the Central American Parliament and neither have any other group of nations with whom we have signed agreements with.

the gorgon said:
the size of the DR was also considered to be an obstacle
This is obvious, but the DR also has the ability to benefit the most considering that its precisely with other Caribbean countries that the DR has the greatest trading advantages, some of which are not fulfilling because these islands keep using any excuse to put a roadblock.

the gorgon said:
as to the visa issue with the Haitians; that is a big problem for everyone, something with which the DR is very familiar.
That's precisely my point with the added bonus that CARICOM countries are not internationally condemned and continually derided for not allowing the free flow of Haitian migrants. Do we really need a recap of what the DR goes through the moment we even think about controlling the border? I don't think so, it should be clear. All those CARICOM countries should open the gates to Haitian migration, at least until the Haitian colonies make up 7 to 10% of the population of each island. Then they should control it and then they have a true basis from which to criticize the DR concerning the Haitian migration problem. The percentages are not coming out of thin air, in case you are wondering.

the gorgon said:
other nations are allowed to move freely because the travel is normally temporary. people going on vacations, or business. the Haitians, on the other hand, seek political asylum as soon as they land. there are usually not grounds, and they end up clogging the administrative system, only to be sent back home.
There is no other group of people in the Caribbean that understand the Haitian dilemma better than Dominicans. Everyone else simply theorizes, probably based on what they notice is happening to the DR, but I think they would get much more credibility with a little experience under their belt. Open the gates and close them once they hit 7% of the population. Then begin the attacks against the DR. Its not much to ask, especially with the small populations of these islands (except for Trinidad and Jamaica -I'm not sure if Jamaica is part of CARICOM, but I'm assuming it is) the experiment would probably last a few months.
 
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