Howard Wiarda, a noted political scientist and writer, currently at the University of Georga, told his audience at the Funglode conference center that small countries like the Dominican Republic don’t have the capacity to bring a person like Hugo Chavez to the presidency and take on a foreign policy that is independent of the United States, because they simply don’t have the resources on the one hand and because they are close to the United States on the other. Wiarda was speaking at the conference entitled “Cultural Tradition and Politics in Latin America” being held at FUNGLODE from 3 May until 5 May. He is representing the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
As part of his talk, Howard Wiarda said that because of the strong cultural and economic ties between the two nations, it is “impossible” for the DR to assume an independent political position, and to attempt to do so would be a “disaster”.
Chavez can go a different way than the United States or any other international agreements, because he has the wealth of the oil income, but for countries like the Dominican Republic this is not possible, he said. He also reasoned that there are more Dominicans in the United States than there are Venezuelans, and the whole East Coast of the United States is economically tied to the Dominican Republic, tourism is very important and a lot of the resident Dominicans send remittances back to the DR. This is why the DR is different from Venezuela and the Dominicans need to understand this reality, in his opinion.
Nonetheless, Wiarda sees the nation as obliged to diversify in its relations with Europe, Caricom, Mercosur and even with China. However, he warns, this must be done on a pragmatic not ideological basis, especially during a time of globalization.