When I came to DR for the first time (17 years ago), Santo Domingo was a mess, best mall in the city was Diamond Mall or Unicentro, and government institutions were inefficient houses of horror where you would spend hours just to get a simple paper or deposit a document. (But at least you could find a 'buscon' that would do (or skip) the waiting for 200 pesos).
By time things got better, the city modernized, developed and also government institutions became more efficient, buscones disappeared and I'd do basically all interactions with the government myself, with reasonable speed.
However the last 2, 3 years or so, I feel things are going backwards. Some government offices are back to the old waiting lines, rooms full of 'mensajeros' waiting for their turn. Yesterday I was confirmed in this notion when I needed to deposit a letter in the ministry of labour. When I arrive I ask what the procedure is: get a number there and take a seat. I get a number: 07, and see on the electronic board, they are 'now serving' 07. I ask, "where do I go, since it's my turn?". Take a seat was the answer. While seated I hear another lady saying she has number 06 and wondering when they will attend her. The 'mensajeros' around us laugh and explain that we have to wait till it goes from 07 to 99 and starts over. The add that the only reason they are sitting there is because it's their job. Since the average Dominican sometimes say things just to say something or are just plain wrong , I went back to the counter where they confirmed, I had to wait the next 07. The mensajeros told me this was business as usual at the ministry of labour. Completely inefficient operation back to Hipólito or even pre-Hipólito days after all the improvements made since 2004.
Add to this the lack of action by the government to combat crime, control the dollar, fight (or refrain from) corruption, a fake economic growth, no real progress in education (building schools is NOT the solution), progress in public health care doesn't go further than fresh up the buildings.
This country is going backwards instead of forward. Though I don't want make this political, but I can't help think about the slogan of a former election: "estábamos mejor con él".
By time things got better, the city modernized, developed and also government institutions became more efficient, buscones disappeared and I'd do basically all interactions with the government myself, with reasonable speed.
However the last 2, 3 years or so, I feel things are going backwards. Some government offices are back to the old waiting lines, rooms full of 'mensajeros' waiting for their turn. Yesterday I was confirmed in this notion when I needed to deposit a letter in the ministry of labour. When I arrive I ask what the procedure is: get a number there and take a seat. I get a number: 07, and see on the electronic board, they are 'now serving' 07. I ask, "where do I go, since it's my turn?". Take a seat was the answer. While seated I hear another lady saying she has number 06 and wondering when they will attend her. The 'mensajeros' around us laugh and explain that we have to wait till it goes from 07 to 99 and starts over. The add that the only reason they are sitting there is because it's their job. Since the average Dominican sometimes say things just to say something or are just plain wrong , I went back to the counter where they confirmed, I had to wait the next 07. The mensajeros told me this was business as usual at the ministry of labour. Completely inefficient operation back to Hipólito or even pre-Hipólito days after all the improvements made since 2004.
Add to this the lack of action by the government to combat crime, control the dollar, fight (or refrain from) corruption, a fake economic growth, no real progress in education (building schools is NOT the solution), progress in public health care doesn't go further than fresh up the buildings.
This country is going backwards instead of forward. Though I don't want make this political, but I can't help think about the slogan of a former election: "estábamos mejor con él".