Dominican President Leonel Fernandez’s Global Aspirations
Dominican President Leonel Fernandez continues to take advantage of every opportunity possible to tell the Dominican people how smart he is instead of just leading the country as he promised. Most recently, according to DR1’s Daily News, instead of laying out his domestic plan for sky-rocketing fuel prices and a flimsy economy, he decided to share “his broader picture of the oil problems and listed his international efforts to tackle the problems on a global level.” This lecture included an attempt to educate Dominicans on how unregulated speculators can drive up the cost of crude oil by fiddling with futures options on commodities they don’t plan on ever receiving. Get it? It’s simple, right? Well, not exactly. You see, he’s speaking to a largely illiterate and uneducated population that, among other things, doesn’t know what they’re supposed to do at red versus green traffic lights.
“Doctor” Fernandez’s plan includes forming a fund from the excess profits (as if there is such a thing) of oil-producing countries (aka other people’s money) to help offset costs in the developing world. Not a word was spoken about domestic efforts to deal with the worsening crisis. Not a word about how he plans on dealing with Public Transport Unions that openly defy and bully him. Not a word about the need for conservation, fiscal responsibility, and, most importantly, national solidarity to weather the coming storm – the things you would expect from a leader of his alleged stature. Instead, the government and society will continue sailing along in typical Dominican style – drinking champagne on a beer budget.
In March of 2008, Fernandez hosted the XX Summit Meeting of the Rio Group just a few miles from my house in Santo Domingo. The meeting was held in the immediate aftermath of Colombian President Uribe’s cross-border attack on a known FARC position inside of President Correa’s Ecuador. Add Venezuelan President and “Mouth of the South” Hugo Chavez and the homeless-looking Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua to the mix and tensions were high. Fernandez displayed exceptional diplomatic skills, kept the tone somewhat civil, and was able to get the million dollar picture he needed for his scrapbook – orchestrated handshakes between Uribe, Correa, Chavez, and Ortega with himself (of course) as the peacemaker. I was proud of him that day and said so. If we are going to criticize our leaders every time they make a mistake we have an obligation to praise them when they do well. At the Rio Summit he had an obligation, as host, to step-up and lead the international effort to defuse an escalating conflict among fellow Latin American nations, but the global crude oil market is another problem all together and, quite frankly, over his head. It’s time for Fernandez to plant his feet firmly on the ground (preferably Dominican soil) and get to work on his own domestic agenda.
President Fernandez’s reputation on the global stage is excellent (for some reason the Economist loves him). And it has become obvious that he wants to be an international political player with a significant position in the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund or another global institution and there’s nothing wrong with that. But if he really wants to “be someone” on the global stage he needs to stop talking and start leading immediately.
Fernandez has been President of the Dominican Republic for 8 of the past 12 years and there is little doubt his star is on the rise internationally. The only lingering question is what condition he will leave his country in when he finally sets up office in another part of the world. Will it be a better, stronger Dominican Republic or will the only change be a giant footprint on the island because he used his own country as a stepping-stool? Only time will tell.
About the Author: Randall H. Miller is an American college educator/blogger. He is also a former U.S. Army officer (82nd Airborne) with a M.A. in Diplomacy (focusing on International Terrorism) and a B.A. in Criminal Justice. Use the form on the right to sign up and receive notifications of new content. The words and ideas expressed here are 100% his own and not those of his employers or affiliated organizations.
JuniHH | Jul 15, 2008 | Reply
Thank you for share my Photoshop photo in your blog.
Lu Olivero | Jul 15, 2008 | Reply
Fernandez is a wanker if he thinks no one is smart enough to see through his charade. Last week during his speech he demonstrated why he is the President “que habla bonito.” He was so suave and charismatic in his delivery you could have easily believed the bull he was feeding you until you remembered that gas in the DR is at US$6 bucks, due in large part to government taxes, and that him and his cronies get to drive around in CHEVY SUBURBANS the we the tax payers pay for.
“Gunnery Sergeant Hartmann, Full Metal Jacket: “Bullsh*t. It looks to me like the best part of you ran down the crack of your mama’s a$$ and ended up as a brown stain on the mattress.”
That to me is Leonel Fernandez’s speech in a nutshell.
RHM | Jul 15, 2008 | Reply
It’s ironic that the Google-generated ad for this post (in the upper-right hand corner) is a link to a crude oil trading site?
Aren’t technology and globalization beautiful things?
RHM
Norma | Jul 15, 2008 | Reply
I agree with you about his lousy plan-obviously countries who sell oil, knowing that it wont last forever- will want to invest their present earnings in projects that will help them to prosper in the future when they are out of oi instead of “giving away their profits”, but I found it in bad taste to say that Dominicans dont know how traffic lights work or that the typical Dominican style is to drink champane on a beer budget. I found it demeaning and cruel. But hey, Im Dominican!!
A. Taveras | Jul 15, 2008 | Reply
Good post. Leonel is not alone in diverting blame to speculators instead of leading his countrymen in a campaign to reduce dependency on oil. For a nation the size of US reducing oil dependency is a huge undertaking; in tiny DR it should be entirely possible, especially with all those SUVs running around needlessly.
Adrielle Perdomo-Berrido | Jul 16, 2008 | Reply
Hey… i wonder if “Doctor” Fernandez knows that this blog exists? I wonder, would he read it?
I am a dominican-american and i take no offense to remarks on how stupid we dominican and/or americans are. There are stupid people all over the place.
I myself like to think of Leonel´s speeches as stand-up! I laugh, i cry, and then i quickly loose interest when he starts feeding me bull.
MCA | Jul 18, 2008 | Reply
I am a dominican, and I am also not offended by the remark: I think it refers to dominicans in general. We the “educated” are a teeny tiny minority. However, a typical scene at a very poor barrio is a huge t.v. in a run-down shack, or my nanny, how can barely afford to buy the milk supply for her grandkids, wasting her hard-earned money on food and drinks for ALL her neighbors at an hora-santa (religious mass- kinda thing). Dominicans DO spend money frivolously when you think of the awful poverty the majority of our population lives in….and HELLO, we get the new Benz models BEFORE the US does…..irrelevant? MAybe. That the article was dead-on and might’ve just struck a nerve…..probably…..
Francisco Santillana | Jun 16, 2010 | Reply
According to the author of this article the Dominican people are a bunch of undereducated group that we do not even know left from right. It’s very distressing the way RHN perceives the Dominican situation and our ethnicity. It does not surprise me at all the way he express himself about the Dominican people, mainly because this type of people who travels to DR to enjoy our everything, but deep inside they hate our birthright because we are not the same as they are; sorry Charlie, you (American) are the way you are, but we do not need to mimic you in any way, shape or form to achieve success as a civilize country.
I do not care how you feel about Leonel Fernandez because you are entitle to your own twisted opinion, now when you express yourself nonconstructive about the Dominican people in general, subsequently you have a big problem, because if you want to compare the Dominicans to any group in particular I can assure you something, the Dominicans are not superior to any other group in the world, but we are not worse, in another word, we are not second to none if you know what I mean.