For the last 50 years the DR had the opportunity to grow but in my eyes it hadn't lived up to its potential and I'm sure that corruption played a big part in this.
1960s - political instability lead to economic instability. Lost decade.
1970s - good decade, the middle class began to grow and the economy to develop.
1980s - Latin American credit crisis also affected the DR. The PRD government mismanaged the economy worsening the crisis to the point, that in 1984 Santo Domingo suffered the worst looting since, perhaps, the days of Sir Frances Drake in colonial times! The country had to wait until Balaguer returned to put it on the right path again. The middle class shrank considerably, the first massive exodus of Dominicans ensued and poverty grew.
1990s - A repeat of the 1970s, middle class expanded, economy developed faster than ever before, this were going great.
2000 - 2004 = Economy started to slow and then the Baninter crisis and the following PRD mismanagement practically set the DR a full decade back. The second exodus began, middle class shrank and poverty grew by upwards of 1 million.
2004 - today = Economy having a repeat of the 1990s, with some impact from the unfavorable international crisis. Middle class growing again, poverty declining, public opinion not withstanding.
And yet, you go around claiming the DR had 50 years to grow? Baloney.
The country has actually done quite well, considering the context of its time periods.
Now, go on and explain to everyone why in those same 50 years, Panam? has not even become developed yet. Sure, Panam? city looks wonderful, but... the country is not Panam? City, or is it?
frank recktenwald said:
Cuba had for more than 50 years a communist regime and I'm convinced that the reason the Castro's were able to pull the strings for so long is because of the "help" from the US gov. If there wouldn't have been a Helms-Burton law that regime would have been gone already a long time ago. It gave the Castro's strength and the Cuban people somebody to blame for their misery.
Even though a lot of wrong has been done by that regime I honestly must say that it also has done a lot of good and to add a little to what was already mentioned by other posters.
Cuba is the only country where I have seen blacks and whites working side by side doing for example road repairs, inter racial couples. In the DR or here in Panama when you see a black girl with a white guy, the guy is a foreigner.
In addition the Cubans are very well educated which has them prepared for the inevitable and that's capitalism.
There's a lot lacking in Cuba but it still has a lot more to offer than the DR and as soon as the Gringos can freely visit Cuba I fear for the future of the DR.
The Cuban story is a case of half-truths.
People often forget to mention that in 1959 Cuba had:
The highest literacy rates in the Developing World.
The most developed economy of any country in the tropics.
One of the healthiest population in the Developing World with the highest life expectancy.
Havana was more developed than Madrid!
So on and so forth.
Of course Fidel Castro was able to reach such high levels of social acheivements, the Cuba he inherited was almost there. He simply did the minor work of finishing the little bits needed to accomplish such.
Had Fidel inherited an Hait?, let's not fool ourselves. We all know what would had happened.
So let's tell the story, the full story and not the partial mambo jumbo.
He did, however, improved race relations, which in Cuba were much better before the Americans went there acting as if they owned the place and imposed their Jim Crow nonsense, simply to feel 'at home.' But, one can see a country becoming more mixed when the white segment leaves, not so much due to greater mixtures than before but simply because the weight the white population had on the overall racial composition simply dissappeared.
It was like what happened in El Salvador, except that over there blacks were forcibly expelled from the country and were prohibited from moving there, subject to instant deportation. Bam, problem solved. An instant completely homogenous population!
Tell the whole story.