The Dominican Republic

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the Taino Indians inhabited the island at least 5,000 years prior to Christopher Columbus' discovery of America; these natives were eliminated by smallpox, which Columbus brought with him. The author points out that the Trujillo administration for more than thirty years made massive spending in building infrastructure; however, the despot himself, his family and his associates cornered the major part of the monetary gains. The paper relates that the pattern of the last 500 years of abysmal poverty and complete government mismanagement and corruption by the people in power has continued with the election of President Leonel Fernandez, who made the things ever worse when he depreciated the currency to the dollar by 50% and enhanced taxes and prices to insure poverty for his people.

From the Paper:

"During the late 1970s, the pace of economic growth demonstrated a shortfall while the sugar prices varied and the quadrupling of oil prices that initiated in 1973 converted the terms of trade of the nation to become negative. Progressive deficits in the balance of payments, reducing revenues of the government coming out of the extensive tax exemptions, and growing expenditures on state-operated companies quickly enhanced the national debt. During the early 1980s, oil prices again enhanced to a great extent, the international recessions diverted the local economy, and sugar prices hit a forty-year low, and never before high interest rates on foreign loans threw the economy into the whirlwind of balance of payments deficit and growing external debt."

More papers on The Dominican Republic:

• Research Paper # 5066 : "In Search of Solidarity - The Dominican Republic's Long Struggle For Political, Societal & Economic Stability"
• Analytical Essay # 5146 : "The Dominican Republic"
• Comparison Essay # 121132 : "Haiti and the Dominican Republic"
• Term Paper # 69094 : "The Dominican Republic and the U.S."

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: