Italian citizens in the Dominican Republic believe it would be “a historic error” if Italy goes ahead with its plan to shut down its Embassy in the Dominican Republic. The closure would need to be reciprocated with the closure of the Dominican Embassy in Italy. President Danilo Medina will be in Italy for a private meeting with Pope Francis on 13 June and is also expected to meet with the Italian President.
Renzo Seravalle, president of the Casa Italia, and businessmen Roberto Casoni, Enzo Bonarelli, Guillermo Rodriguez Vicini, Fernando Rainieri Marranzini and Diego Fernandez expressed their concerns in an interview with Listin Diario. They said the closure would have serious effects on the Italian community resident in the Dominican Republic. The Italian Embassy in the DR is the largest in Central America and the Caribbean. They say that the Embassy had 6, 375 Italians registered in 2012, increasing to 8,314 in 2013. They mentioned that around 150,000 Italian tourists visit every year.
As reported in Listin Diario, of the 116 Italian embassies around the world, the DR embassy is in the 20th place in terms of the number of registered citizens since it opened in 1984.
The citizens called for the Italian government to assess bilateral relations, the inconveniences the closure would represent for Dominicans who will have to carry out necessary paperwork in Panama, the designated concurrent embassy.
Diego Fernandez mentioned that events such as weddings, birth declarations, death certifications would require new costs for Italians residents in the Dominican Republic and other Caribbean island residents who come to Santo Domingo for the services of the Italian Embassy.
“It does not make sense for the largest community to have to travel to another country. The consequences will be very painful. We do not want Italy to make an error that they may regret in the future,” said Fernandez and Casoni.
In April, the Italian Foreign Ministry announced plans to close the embassy to cut spending. Fernandez commented that there would not be great savings, because the staff working here will have to be reassigned to other countries, with additional costs. “The Italian government will have to incur in costs to move the extensive files accumulated over more than 100 years and will have to expand any other mission to provide the new services,” he pointed out.
Roberto Casoni said that Italy’s economic future could be advanced by adding, not subtracting markets. “How can they leave now when this is the best time to stay? It makes no sense for Italy to leave the main economy in all Central America and the Caribbean,” he commented.
He announced that Casa de Italia has launched a campaign for Italian citizens in the Dominican Republic, who can participate by visiting the webpage http://www.casadeitaliard.org