Diario Libre summarizes the many times former US President Jimmy Carter visited the Dominican Republic. The newspaper recalls that the Carter Center has observed several presidential elections in the Dominican Republic.
Diario Libre says that the 98-year old US President has recently begun to receive hospice care at his home. Carter served as President of the United States from 20 January 1977 to 20 January 1981. His term coincided with the transition from the many terms of governments of Joaquín Balaguer (Partido Reformista) to that of Antonio Guzmán of the opposition Dominican Revolutionary Party that took place in 1978.
After the end of his term as the US President, Carter continued to keep in touch with the country through the activities of his Carter Center, the non-profit organization he and his wife Rosalynn founded in 1982.
From the Carter Center, Carter promoted advances in election observation, human rights and health in more than 80 countries, including the Dominican Republic.
The Carter Center has observed several presidential elections in the Dominican Republic and assisted in an 18-month bi-national initiative to accelerate the elimination of malaria and lymphatic filariasis from the island of Hispaniola.
As part of these social and peace efforts, Carter visited the Dominican Republic on several occasions.
A Carter Center bulletin indicates that he monitored numerous elections in the Dominican Republic, including the 1990, 1996 and 2000 elections.
In the 1996 elections, Jimmy Carter and former Colombian President Belasario Betancur led a pre-election mission to the country in April 1996 and returned for a 30 June runoff election in which Leonel Fernandez won, says the Carter Center.
Diario Libre also reports that in September 2008, The Carter Center, in partnership with the Dominican Republic and Haiti, launched an initiative to help the two countries and their other partners accelerate the elimination of two mosquito-borne infections, malaria and filariasis.
In October 2009, Carter flew to the Dominican Republic landing at Puerto Plata’s Gregorio Luperon International Airport and then commuting to Dajabon on the border with Haiti.
A report published in Diario Libre on 8 October 2009 states that after touring several sectors of Dajabón, Carter expressed his hope that in the next 10 years malaria and filariasis will be eliminated in the Dominican Republic and Haiti and said he had good expectations about the health program initiated in September 2008.
During his visit to Dajabón, the former head of state toured the sectors of El Bombillo and La Bomba, where several cases of malaria had been reported.
The former president was accompanied by his wife Rossalyn Carter.
On 9 November 2011, then President Leonel Fernandez decorated Carter with the Duarte, Sanchez and Mella merit in the degree of Grand Cross Gold Plaque, for his great contributions in favor of democracy and respect for human rights in the world.
Fernandez presented Carter with the highest award granted by the government in a ceremony held in the Ambassador’s Hall of the National Palace.
In making the recognition, Fernandez emphasized that thanks to Carter many Latin American countries went from dictatorship to democracy.
On 11 October 2002, the Oslo Nobel Committee announced that Jimmy Carter, 78, was that year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate for “his decades of tireless efforts to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, advance democracy and human rights, and promote economic and social development”.
Read more in Spanish:
Diario Libre
The Carter Center
Statement on President Carter’s health
22 February 2023