Bernardo Vega, the multifaceted intellectual, points out how several PRD ploys back-fired for the largest political party in the Dominican Republic. Vega points out how often short-term solutions go awry in long-term disasters, shooting the idea?s promoter instead of the political adversary.
The first case, says Vega, was the constitutional reform. As written, the new articles in the Constitution that allow presidential re-election also prohibit Hipolito Mejia from ever being a candidate for the office of President of Vice-President again. At the same time, these same articles forced on the country by the PRD will allow Leonel Fernandez, to be re-elected if he so chooses. First backfire.
Vega then looks at the huge quantity of money spent to register overseas voters, a move pushed by New York resident Fernando Mateo (of ?Toys for Guns? fame), who has stated he would like to become President some day, counting on the ability of the New York community to swing the voting in his favor. Mateo received the enthusiastic support of the PRD and in the eleven cities that were accepting absentee ballots, the PRD lost by a shattering landslide of between 72% and 80%. Considering the fact that there was at least a 33% rate of absenteeism in the voting abroad, and adding in the fact that voting was done on a Sunday, Vega figures that if the date of 16 May falls on a weekday the cost of each overseas vote will be astronomical. The second backfire.
And now, says the former Dominican ambassador to Washington, DC and economist, historian and editor, the entire sugar industry in the Dominican Republic is up in arms over the Free Trade Agreement that they consider greatly prejudicial to their interests. This is because after the conclusion of the free trade talks, the same thing happened that happened in Mexico after its NAFTA: The United States was allowed to sell duty-free corn-based fructose to our soft drink manufacturers – to the great harm of local sugar producers who rely on this market for a high percentage of their internal sales. Backfire – again.