Chip, like Rocky stated earlier your intensions are good and I too applaud you for possessing same but due to the proverbial ?been there, done that, got a t-shirt? in reference to a foreigner with plans to change the inevitable?.. Well??..
In my time here on this island I?ve tried to study the history of this country with no emphasis on any particular time frame or ruler and have come to conclusions on a number of points.
The history has had a tendency to instill the present culture and due to the pressure that culture plays on a society has the affect of determining where that society does and will go. The only way to bring about change is by changing the culture of the people. As it is their culture passed on to the next generation by them it is only logical that any changes in the culture will have to be applied by them.
If it were my desire I could list a large number of examples whereas their culture has had a tendency to retain their ability to obtain a better life and help society as a whole. Rather than go through a long dissertation of those examples I will only list two that readily come to mind.
Sit down with any Dominican here and start a conversation about ?malos costumbres?. If you don?t receive, and you probably won?t, any examples of what they consider as bad customs then ask them if trash being thrown on the streets is a ?malo costrumbe?. You should, as I always do, receive a 100% agreement that this practice is in fact a ?malo costrumbre?. Once agreement has been reached as to it in fact being a malo costrumbre then ask the simple question as to why they do it. The responses that I always receive to this question are always the same when they tell me, ??Porque es el costumbre aqu?!?.
The second example is when I see something being accomplished here that requires a lot more work then something that I or other foreigners have been taught and a suggestion is made as to how the same or possibly better results can be obtained by doing it a little differently with a lot less work. The typical response that I receive to my suggestion is, ??ste es c?mo lo he hecho toda mi vida y mi padre lo hizo esta manera al igual que su padre?. With mind-sets such as this it makes changes in culture very difficult.
I have made posts a number of times about Dominicans that ventured away from the island in search of an education and experience with the intension of returning to their home land and helping their mankind. There have been many Dominicans that have in fact done this and Leonel is the latest example of a foreign educated Dominican having returned to his homeland and tried to bring change to the country and has succeeded in a number of areas but there is only so much that one person can do when not backed by like minded individuals.
History has shown that the DR has always been controlled by those with money which equates to power. The ?Real y Supremo Consejo de las Indias? back in the 1500?s was basically the beginning of this control which lead through the years to different groups, organizations and countries being the controlling factor until 1838 when a twenty-year-old Dominican, of a prominent Santo Domingo family, who had returned home five years earlier after seven years of study in Europe started a significant organized movement against Haitian domination. The young student's name was Juan Pablo Duarte. In the ensuing struggles for dominance the personality and attributes of Duarte ran counter to those of most of the country's ?caudillos?. It was these ?caudillos? that have controlled this country from 1844 till presently. It was the unprincipled, self-serving dominance that did much to entrench the tradition of caudillo rule in the Dominican Republic and Trujillo was nothing more then another segment of this ?caudillo? dominance when he took over in 1930.
The ?caudillos? still rule this country but they presently do so under the guise of ?democracy?. It is because of their hold of the reigns, to include that of the military and police, that positive change in all the important aspects of this country will not change. If the changes that have taken place increase their monetary holdings then they are allowed and if they don?t then the changes are just ignored by those with the control.
Any new or different political party will have to pay its dues to those that are in power and any failure to do so will mean a short life to that particular organization. Everything here is based on the ?you scratch my back and I?ll scratch yours? concept and it is because of this that you will never get away from the corruption that dominates this country. (MHO).
Rick
