Abinader, the elected president of the Dominican Republic, adopts a strong stance against corruption and Haiti

When Luis Abinader assumed the presidency of the Dominican Republic for the first time in August 2020, he inherited a nightmare scenario.

During the coronavirus pandemic, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Caribbean island nation soared to more than 86,000, tourism was virtually at a standstill and the economy plummeted.

Now, its economy is booming, with a record 10.8 million tourists visiting the nation last year, and GDP growth is expected to be 5% in 2024, one of the highest in Latin America. Poverty is decreasing and the quality of education is increasing.

Abinader’s success in guiding his nation through the unprecedented global crisis was the foundation of his sweeping Sunday’s election victoryconsolidating his position as one of the most popular politicians in the country and in America.

“Before 2020, Dominicans believed that politicians came to power only to enrich themselves at the expense of the people’s suffering,” said Jacqueline Jiménez, co-editor of the book “Dominican Politics in the 21st Century.”

“Now, thanks to this new Government, that mentality has been changing,” he added.

Abinader, 56, also prioritized the fight against corruption in the country.

Before his first presidency, tens of thousands of Dominicans took to the streets in the largest protests in decades against corruption following a landmark bribery case against high-ranking officials.

On his first day in office, Abinader appointed Miriam Germán Brito, former Supreme Court judge, as attorney general. A year later, the European Union awarded him its Human Rights Prize for his “fight against corruption and for transparency and justice.”

Abinader’s government has also strengthened the country’s electoral laws, drawing praise in April from the Organization of American States (OAS), which highlighted policy changes to strengthen transparency and equity in campaign financing.

Despite concrete steps toward strengthening the country’s still nascent institutions, Geovanny Vicente-Romero, a Washington-based Dominican political strategist who knows Abinader personally, told Reuters that there is still much to improve for his second term, which will begin in August.

“Abinader’s government has faced criticism for being unable – or unwilling – to bring its own people to justice, especially those in its inner circle,” Vicente-Romero said.

“For Abinader to seal his legacy against corruption, he will have to look inward to really achieve lasting progress in this regard,” he added.

Abinader’s rivals, a wealthy former businessman whose reported net worth of $76 million places him among the region’s wealthiest leaders, may not be the squeaky-clean politician he has tried to portray.

A group led by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) discovered in 2021 that Abinader, who is also the richest public official in the Dominican Republic, owned at least seven offshore companies whose details were murky, when he was elected.

Abinader, who was not convicted of any crime, said he had created the offshore companies at a time when his own country’s company law was considered obsolete.

Since the beginning of his term, in August 2020, he has donated his salary as president to social programs.

Since Dominican electoral law limits presidents to two terms, Abinader’s legacy will also depend on his handling of the fallout from the crisis in neighboring Haiti.

In 2022, the president donned a helmet and helped pour concrete for a much-publicized border wall with Haiti, promoted by magnate Elon Musk, and which has prompted the deportation of illegal immigrants.

“Our motto from now on will be: Either we fight together to save Haiti or we fight alone to protect the Dominican Republic!” Abinader said in February at the United Nations.

That stance gave him another domestic political advantage, said Eric Farnsworth, a Latin America expert at the Americas Society/Council of the Americas (AS/COA).

“He faces some criticism… outside the Dominican Republic, but not much internally, which weakens Haiti as a political issue,” Farnsworth said.

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