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| - The Dominican Republic, which holds a presidential election on July 5, is the top tourist destination in the Caribbean but the coronavirus pandemic has set back its battle with poverty. The Dominican Republic covers two thirds of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola -- nestled between Cuba and Puerto Rico -- which it shares with Haiti. Its 10.6 million inhabitants (World Bank, 2018) are ethnically mixed, coming mostly from descendants of European colonialists and African slaves. The two neighbors have had a fractious history. In 1822, Haiti colonized Saint-Domingue, which declared its independence in 1844. It was then annexed by Spain in 1861, regaining its independence four years later, before the US occupied the country from 1916 to 1924. Impoverished Haitians have long sought to carve out a better life in the Dominican Republic, becoming targets of resentment and racism, which boiled over into the massacre of thousands of them in 1937 under the orders of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo. Relations have further deteriorated in recent years, following a clampdown in the Dominican Republic on migration, leading to tens of thousands of people being forced to leave the country. The Dominican Republic is one of the strongest growing economies in the region, recording on average 6.3 percent a year between 2014 and 2018, according to the World Bank. An agricultural country and major sugar cane producer, it has successfully shifted its economy to manufacturing and tourism, the latter becoming the country's main source of revenue -- in 2019 it welcomed 5.3 million foreign visitors, drawn to the beaches and colonial architecture. The growth has led to a reduction in the poverty rate, down to 21 percent in 2019 compared with nearly half the population in 2004, following a major banking and monetary crisis. But it has been hit by several deadly hurricanes and tropical storms. And the coronavirus pandemic forced the government to shut the borders in March, hammering the economy and tourism industry and, the World Bank has warned, putting part of the population at risk of falling back into poverty. Transfer of money into the country from the Dominican Republic's diaspora, mainly settled in the United States, represents nearly eight percent of its GDP. The Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht, embroiled in a massive corruption scandal in Latin America, has admitted to paying $92 million (82 million euros) in bribes in the Dominican Republic. The colonial city of Saint-Domingue was founded in 1498 and is on UNESCO's World Heritage list. Among its historical jewels are the first cathedral built in the Americas, the first hospital, the first university and the first library. ber-ang-eab/jmy/rbu
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