Could dissenting foreigners be kicked out?

This seems to be a good question, but due to international back-last this might cause a lost of tourism bad political move. DR needs every Penny it get, even from retire folks. No politician dare do such a thing, it would cost him dearly in the future if he plans to run for any public office. Political death, for himself and any member of his party.

mariaobetsanov said:

This seems to be a good question, but due to international back-last this might cause a lost of tourism bad political move. DR needs every Penny it get, even from retire folks. No politician dare do such a thing, it would cost him dearly in the future if he plans to run for any public office. Political death, for himself and any member of his party.

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Assuming that is a typo and should read, "backlash", I agree 100%.

Foreigners have been shown the airport's door in many countries for political reasons. It would appear not to be too frequent anymore in open societies, but it does happen, even in the DR, which typically welcomes all foreigners. It happens all over the world. Remember how Nixon's FBI tried many times to deport John Lennon? The DR is surprisingly open to give refuge to political exiles from Latin American and people from other cultures as long as they keep a low public profile on internal matters. In the more extreme era of Trujillo, the Spaniard Jes?s Gal?ndez didn't fare too well even after leaving the country.
But in general, criticism by foreigners, even if not welcomed, is mostly tolerated by recent governments.
- Tordok

I think the Spanish priest Christopher Hartley and the other priest whose name escapes me, would qualify as foreigners who stepped on some toes and got expelled. They dissented strongly against the treatment of Haitians in the Dominica Republic, and although the Catholic Church had plenty of influence in expelling them, ultimately it was the government's machinations that did them in. So yes if you dissent too much about certain subjects in the DR its "hasta la vista baby"aranoid:

A.Hidalgo said:

I think the Spanish priest Christopher Hartley and the other priest whose name escapes me, would qualify as foreigners who stepped on some toes and got expelled. They dissented strongly against the treatment of Haitians in the Dominica Republic, and although the Catholic Church had plenty of influence in expelling them, ultimately it was the government's machinations that did them in. So yes if you dissent too much about certain subjects in the DR its "hasta la vista baby"aranoid:

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In what year did that occur, under who's regime?

Rocky said:

In what year did that occur, under who's regime?

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In 2006 under the regime of Leonel. The other priest's name is Pierre Ruquoy a Belgian national. Some in the media pointed out that it was the the church that removed them, but in reality the governments finger prints were all over this affair. It should come as no surprise to many that in the Dominican Republic the government and the Catholic church work hand in hand with each other.

A.Hidalgo said:

In 2006 under the regime of Leonel. The other priest's name is Pierre Ruquoy a Belgian national. Some in the media pointed out that it was the the church that removed them, but in reality the governments finger prints were all over this affair. It should come as no surprise to many that in the Dominican Republic the government and the Catholic church work hand in hand with each other.

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Thanks for the reply.
Were they actually deported out of here, or just "invited" to leave?

Rocky said:

Thanks for the reply.
Were they actually deported out of here, or just "invited" to leave?

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Could not find specific answer to your question because there was so much back door dealing, but expelled would be appropriate. Dominican Today followed the affair with a few stories.

http://www.dominicantoday.com/app/search.aspx?m=1&s=christopher%20hartley

The following is from IPS news. Some of this has been covered here under threads dealing with the Haitian issue.

Hartley was forced to leave the Dominican Republic under what he says was pressure from the Dominican government and the politically powerful Vicinis in late 2006. Another priest who had advocated on behalf of Haitian workers in the country, the Belgian Father Pedro Ruquoy, fled after death threats were leveled against him in November 2005.

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HAITI/DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Exhibit Reveals a Bitter Harvest

I think I get the picture now, but he wasn't kicked out for dissention. (If he was kicked out at all)
He liked and favoured Hatians and the Dominicans didn't like that.

PS: Maybe that is a form of dissention.
I don't know.
I'm tired, lol.

Not wanting inside and kicking out are two very different things.

It was the Catholic Church that removed them. In the specific case of Hartley, it was his direct superior Monsignor Francisco Ozorio who decided he should leave. For many years, Monsignor Ozorio was a strong supporter of Hartley, but he did a turnaround in his support after major irregularities were detected. This I heard from a very respected priest. The Catholic Church does not reveal the irregularities or breaking of the law of its own, and will defend the priests with their silence, with apparently the only remedy to happenings they decide to no longer tolerate being the relocation of the priests.

The Dominican government, and this government maybe even more than those before it, has over the years maintained a very laissez faire attitude towards Haitian migration to the DR.

Dolores said:

It was the Catholic Church that removed them. In the specific case of Hartley, it was his direct superior Monsignor Francisco Ozorio who decided he should leave. For many years, Monsignor Ozorio was a strong supporter of Hartley, but he did a turnaround in his support after major irregularities were detected. This I heard from a very respected priest. The Catholic Church does not reveal the irregularities or breaking of the law of its own, and will defend the priests with their silence, with apparently the only remedy to happenings they decide to no longer tolerate being the relocation of the priests.

The Dominican government, and this government maybe even more than those before it, has over the years maintained a very laissez faire attitude towards Haitian migration to the DR.

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Thank you Dolores.
Could you also address Lambada's OP?

After Honduran Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, said that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ''thinks he's God and can trample upon other people", Chavez responded by calling Cardinal Rodriguez Madariaga "''Another parrot of imperialism appeared, this time dressed as a cardinal. That's to say, another imperialist clown.''

New York Times

Funny how we tend to see in others that which we are....

Did I just read Mirador calling the guy he voted for an imperialist clown?

Rocky said:

Thank you Dolores.
Could you also address Lambada's OP?

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One of the virtues and ironically main weaknesses of the Dominican people is its tolerance. I only see a repeat of a Chavez situation, if the Dominican people voted in our own version of Chavez.

Lambada said:

Could you ever see this happening here in DR?

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The possibility always exist. However, its more likely that it would occur under certain circumstances.

Lambada said:

Would a Dominican President ever be likely to threaten this?

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Again, the possibility exist, but only under certain circumstances.

Lambada said:

Under what sort of circumstances would you feel that it would be warranted to throw foreigners out of the DR for criticising the Government?

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Foreigners (or locals) should never be punished for criticizing the government. However, if certain commotions occur within the country (an increase in protests, social unrest, etc) and its something that is occuring primarily due to influence by foreigners on the local population, then under such circumstance I think the foreign component should be under vigilance by the government and whatever individuals that may pose a threat to the stability of the country ought to be expelled or at the very least, interrogated by security forces.

Lambada said:

Under what sort of circumstances would you feel it might be likely?

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If social unrest is found to be the result of foreigners influencing the local population to take more violent ways of attempting to impose change. Passive change is ok, violent disrupting change is not ok.

Mostly because how change is created within a country will be responded in kind by government forces. This is true everywhere.

Criticism of the government on its own doesn't merit such, but criticism combined with action of the violent variety obviously merits some attention from government officials and security forces regardless if the individual is a local or a foreigner.

-NALs

It is simple. Foreigners have less loose strings. Dominicans have more vested interests. The government can always send the tax people to investigate the accounting books and something will always be found. Thus, the reason there may be the perception there is more tolerance to foreigners.

Actually, there is a lot of tolerance here to dissent. Just listen to the TV, radio talk shows, and read the press. At DR1 we have a hard time finding good stories to share when compiling the news, even though there are lots of good things happening.