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rellosk

Silver
Mar 18, 2002
4,169
58
48
MaineGirl, Great link!

As some of us have said, Leonel has accomplished a lot in less than one year; especially considering 15% of the population slipped into poverty under his predecessor. [Per the article "According to the World Bank, an extra 1.3m people (out of a total of 8.7m) slipped below the poverty line in 2002-04."]

The article also points out one of the major problems with Leonel getting anything done; "But the president needs the support of Mr Mej?a's party in Congress, and is treading cautiously". Hopefully this will change with the 2006 congressional elections.
 

ESOLteacher

New member
Dec 14, 2004
59
0
0
Good article - thanks!

"One in ten of the workers in the free-trade zones where the clothing factories are based has been laid off since December. The tourism industry is flagging too."

I have been noticing that my friends in the hotels and restaurants have been getting laid off left and right lately - is this an "off season" thing that happens every year?

Also, what about the Haitian workers? When I was in Samana, there was a small increase in crimes and the violent/semi-violent ones were all attributed (perhaps erroneously) to Haitians - not just any Haitians but ones that had been invited to work at a resort, only to see the resort fold in last year's storm. The Haitians stayed in the area, with no work. Of course they may have gotten into some shenanigans.

What is with the strong racism against Haitians?

Thanks for letting me ramble. Great article, thank you.