The Dominican ambassador in Spain, the aging veteran Dominican diplomat, Fabio Herrera Cabral, a former under minister for Foreign Relations for many years, told it “as it is”. In an interview with the Listin Diario, he said that the factura consular, or consular invoice, will be maintained because it is used by the Dominican government as a prize for people to whom it owes political favors, especially hose incurred during the electoral campaigns. He pointed to those in the big money-making consular positions, such as the former representative of the PRSC on the Junta Central Electoral, Dr. Juan Esteban Olivero Feliz (Korea), a former JCE judge, Leonardo Matos Berrido (Taiwan), Jose Quezada (New York), Miledys de Cabral (Amsterdam), Guaroa Liranzo (Miami), and Rafaela Alburquerque (Hamburg).
“Unfortunately that is the practice and that is why there is not an effective democracy here and those posts are occupied not people who are capable,” he said. The former under minister added that the use of the consular invoice, an effective additional tax paid in cash without a receipt being issued, and at the discretion of each consul in the countries where the Dominican imports originate, is obsolete. It is simply a practice by the different governments to finance the consulates abroad. The DR is one of the few countries in the world that still use the procedure as a source of enrichment for its consuls. and in lesser terms, hard currency for the treasury.
Mr Herrera Cabral said that the situation also brings about a lot of friction between ambassadors, who have the obligation to represent the country, and the consuls. While the ambassadors for the most part must subsidize their costs with their own funds because of their low salaries, consuls are made millionaires overnight.
The current Minister of Foreign Relations, Carlos Morales Troncoso, says that the country will be able to maintain the consular invoice requirement for another six years, until agreements signed under the new world trade order forces it to discontinue the practice.
The Association of Free Zone Industries has been most critical of the decision of the Customs Bureau to reinstate the requirement of the factura consular after a brief month when the requirement was lifted. It was replaced after consuls complained of the loss of income. Teofilo Quico Tabar, the head of Customs is now levying a “fine” of RD$3,700 on each container arriving without a factura consular. The fine is probably illegal, as free zone imports are permitted to enter the country duty free.