President Luis Abinader speaks at the Columbia University World Leaders Forum

[Dolores]

President Luis Abinader is in New York City to attend the UN General Assembly and took time to speak to Columbia University students. The President explained that the security of Dominicans is his main concern, even above economic interests, when referring to the recent conflict with Haiti. The DR has officially protested that Haitians divert the waters of a river born in the Dominican Republic. The Masacre/Dajabón river runs for 55 km of which two km pass through Haitian territory.

The Haitians defend their right to divert the course of the waters. The Dominican government has closed trade and migration between both countries to protest the actions that violate treaties between the two countries. The stand of the Dominican Republic is not to sick down for talks until the diverting of the river waters is stopped.

Likewise, the President said that the...

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[El Hijo de Manolo]

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Typical woke entitled girl shows President Abinader complete disrespect during Columbia University Q&A.

 

[bob saunders]

Typical woke entitled girl shows President Abinader complete disrespect during Columbia University Q&A.

She had her mind made up, like all these progressives and was not willing to listen to his answer. Shame what they are putting out as university grads these days. I see daily lots of Haitian women with brand new babies, and numerous others ready to pop. There aren't in the DR because they get mistreated.

 

[El Hijo de Manolo]

She had her mind made up, like all these progressives and was not willing to listen to his answer. Shame what they are putting out as university grads these days. I see daily lots of Haitian women with brand new babies, and numerous others ready to pop. There aren't in the DR because they get mistreated.

Kids today can't respect a President of a sovereign nation. I'm not all in for Abinader, but he's the President. This young lady no way in heck has boots on the ground experience to treat him like that. I would never have agreed to one of those woke Q&A for entitled kids ever. Columbia should issue an apology

 

[bachata]

She had her mind made up, like all these progressives and was not willing to listen to his answer. Shame what they are putting out as university grads these days. I see daily lots of Haitian women with brand new babies, and numerous others ready to pop. There aren't in the DR because they get mistreated.

Why they choose Dominican hospitals, back in the days even Dominican women had babies delivered con parteras in their own houses. That's not a DR. Problem that Haití have not hospitals.

JJ

 

[josh2203]

Kids today can't respect a President of a sovereign nation. I'm not all in for Abinader, but he's the President. This young lady no way in heck has boots on the ground experience to treat him like that. I would never have agreed to one of those woke Q&A for entitled kids ever. Columbia should issue an apology

I've never been a great fan of the DR Govt, but I do think Abinader is a decent person and after watching that video clip I'm actually proud of him... I can't believe any person, let alone a kid/student, would have the audacity to interrupt a state official, no matter which country...

I've also never heard Abinader speak English before, and even though there were grammatical errors, he does a nice job...

 

[bachata]

I've never been a great fan of the DR Govt, but I do think Abinader is a decent person and after watching that video clip I'm actually proud of him... I can't believe any person, let alone a kid/student, would have the audacity to interrupt a state official, no matter which country...

I've also never heard Abinader speak English before, and even though there were grammatical errors, he does a nice job...

He have stronger accent than I have... 😂

JJ

 

[MoJoInDR]

This young woman doesn't seem to understand the difference between being allowed to ask a question and being allowed to debate/argue a point. Her mic should have been turned off the moment she finished asking her question... So I'd put a bit of responsibility on the folks who were managing the Q&A aspect.

Abinader responded very well to her antagonistic disposition towards him, which, for me, expresses his level of personal maturity. I will say though that he was willing to quickly go to the "...mixed race..." fallback justification of why the DR society only has a small amount of racism within it... Which isn't, according to some qualified-on-the-matter Dominicans that I recently listened to, the case. The African heritage that many, if not most Dominicans have, is not held to/considered in the same light as the Spanish heritage, and this alone shows a definite bias within the society... A bias that is played out in the daily life of Dominicans... And, by extension, those who come in contact with Dominicans (and to be clear, I'm not big on the promotion of human culture as a way to define your person).

Add to this the historical relationship between Haiti and the DR... And it all becomes a cauldron of contention that makes it very hard to create palatable relations.

Yet, what Abinader said about the hospital situation with pregnant Haitian women is wonderful, and should be recognized as a huge plus for the DR. And he was correct to point out that the DR is not a wealthy country, which gives even more kudos to what the DR is allowing.

No doubt it's all a very difficult situation... And one that Abinader can't allow to take up all of his government's time as I'm sure that there are many other pressing needs to attend to.

As always... Stretch forward... Even when asking hard questions.