Six months after President Leonel Fernandez promised austerity in government in his inaugural speech, the reality appears to be different. El Caribe newspaper reveals that the consulate in Manhattan has 24 vice consuls, more than double the number staffing the Mexican consulate serving a comparable number of people in New York. The newspaper reports that there are 22 consular clerks. This information was provided by the consulate at the request of the newspaper.
Carlos Leiter, a former vice president of the ruling PLD party in New York, estimated that there are 35 vice consuls and 31 consular clerks employed at the consulate. He told El Caribe that 25 of them don’t have any role. He said that this is fraud against a state where there is an economic crisis. He said that several of the vice consuls have other jobs, mentioning the case of Carmen Deen and German de Leon, who he said work as teachers; Gregorio Malena, a parish priest in the Bronx; and Damian Rodriguez, a partner in the First Class taxi company.
“According to Leonel Fernandez, these are favors to the community, but I don’t think so because they are giving jobs to people who already have jobs,” he said.
A vice consul is paid US$3,500 and clerks make US$1,600 a month. Nelson Encarnacion, spokesman for the consulate, said that US$1,600 wage in New York is negligible. He said that while it is true that several of the vice consuls hold other jobs, it is not required that they be in the office all the time.
Protests about the overstaffing of foreign missions have been frequent over the years.