An El Caribe editorial today focuses on the pluses and minuses of the first year of President Hipolito Mejia’s government. Pluses: President is not flirting with re-election as his predecessor Leonel Fernandez did. Success in education and environment efforts. Government has taken advantage of its majority in Congress to pass important bills, with others still pending. Macroeconomic stability. Minuses: Overspending for political patronage. Arrears in paying its own power bills resulting in blackouts despite sufficient supply. Increase in the number of public employees on the government payroll. Scandalous increments in foreign debt. Lack of a serious effort to combat corruption within the government.
