When asked “What do you think is the most important problem facing this country today?”, 42% of Dominican voters named crime and delinquency. Second is unemployment (28%), then the high cost of goods and first necessity items (28%) and corruption (25%), according to findings of the 1-3 September 2018 Asisa Research Group poll of 1,207 eligible voters.
Most of those polled understand the greatest accomplishments of government are in the education sector. 81% of those polled understand the government has done little to check corruption in government in the past six years. 71% of those polled say they have little or no trust in Dominican justice in the Odebrecht bribes corruption case. 60% stated that the case has been poorly managed by the Attorney General Office. 48% considers the Marcha Verde movement has grown in the past months.
US ambassador returns to US with her family after a day on the job
US Ambassador Robin Bernstein returned to the United States with family a day after she had presented credentials to President Danilo Medina at the Presidential Palace. She had just presented credentials on 6 September 2018, after arriving on the previous 30 August 2018.
She was summoned by the US government for consultations that coincided with El Salvador having switched diplomatic relations from Taiwan to China. The consultations would be with the US mission chiefs in El Salvador and Panama. Costa Rica is the other Central American country to have signed with China, but the US ambassador in Costa Rica was not summoned.
News reports indicate that Bernstein returned to the United States in an American Airlines flight to Miami, Florida early on Sunday, 9 September accompanied by her husband Richard Bernstein and her daughter, Julia.
What to read into the abrupt departure? Foreign Minister Miguel Vargas says that all is well regarding Dominican and United States relations, calling these “excellent”. He described the recalling as “normal procedure.” On Saturday, 8 September 2018, Foreign Minister Vargas and his wife Angelita García had hosted the new ambassadors and their daughter in a welcome dinner at their home in Santo Domingo.
Follow the story in Spanish:
http://www.mirex.gob.do/medios/noticias/canciller-miguel-vargas-afirma-relaciones-entre-republica-dominicana-y-estados-unidos-son-excelentes
http://www.mirex.gob.do/medios/noticias/canciller-miguel-vargas-ofrece-cena-en-honor-a-embajadora-de-ee-uu
https://listindiario.com/las-mundiales/2018/09/11/532639/bernstein-viaja-hacia-ee-uu-
12 September 2018
