Interview with Leonel Fernández, President of the Dominican Republic

Issues 89 INTERVIEW WITH LEONEL DOMINICAN REPUBLIC John C. Bersia FERNANDEZ, PRESIDENT OF THE Universityo f Central Florida, Orlando Leonel Fernundez took ofice as President of the Dominican Republic on August 16,2004. He recently discussed his administration 'spriorities and ambitions with John C. Bersia, who serves as Special Assistant to the President for Global Perspectives and is University Professor at the University of Central Florida. Question: Couldyou summarizethe mainproblemsfacingthe Dominican Republic today? Leonel FernBndez: Three problems, I would say. First of all, macroeconomic stability. Second, violence and organized crime. Third, electric power. Q: What was the top priority for your first 100days in office? A: The top priority had to do with stabilizing the exchange rate regime. The Dominican currency experienced a deep devaluation. That created economic turmoil, because we had high interest rates, high inflation and a high exchange rate regime. But if you lower the exchange rate regime and appreciate the currency, all the other variables will be put in place. I think we were successful during the first 100 days in bringing down the exchange rate, stabilizing it, and then reducing inflation and interest rates. Q: For your first year in office, what do you hope to accomplish vis-a-visthe issues you outlinedin the first question? A: Our main goal is to stabilize the economy, guarantee economic growth, create new jobs and encourage dynamism within the economy that can make it operational. At the same time, working with the electric power industry, we will try to solve all the problems with outages and blackouts, and create new investment for the industry. Then, I wish to have a national plan to combat violence and crime. 90 The Latin Americanist Spring 2005 Q: In the current world, where neo-liberalism is the most universal paradigm, what does it mean to be the head of a party from the “left” in government? A: Nowadays in government, efficiency and transparency should be emphasized. Those issues have very little to do with ideology. Fiscal deficits are neither to the right nor to the left. It’s about efficiency. You have efficient conservative parties in government. And you have efficient center-left parties in government. As well, you have inefficient parties from both groups in government. Again, efficiency is key, along with transparency and integrity. What we’re trying to do in the Dominican Republic are three basic things: strengthen democratic institutions; have sustained economic growth; and promote social justice. If we can accomplish those goals, the country can move forward. Q: The fear of electoral fraud and political violence surrounding last year’s election did not materialize. How would you explain the apparent “new” period of democracy in the Dominican Republic? A: Violence did not occur because there was a landslide. My predecessor was really trying to have a Plan B, in order to stay in power. The basic problem had to do with institutional weakness . We had an electoral board that was not impartial. That is why I say we need to strengthen democratic institutions. We need to create institutions that are credible and that will have people’s confidence. Q: In what ways do the economic and political situations in the Dominican Republic differ from when you were president before? A: In economic terms, there was a downturn during the 20002004 period. In my previous administration, there was an economic boom. Secondly, we were trying to build, strengthen and deepen democratic institutions. My predecessor weakened those institutions. So the country made a negative turn in the past several years, and now we’re trying to make it bounce back. Q: New constitutional courts in Latin America, for example in Costa Rica and Colombia, have been increasingly active in the governance of those countries. Will you continue your previous efforts to end corruption and breathe new life into the Dominican Republic’s judicial system? Issues 91 A: Very much. I think the judicial system in the Dominican Republic has improved during the past eight years since I was elected to office the first time. It’s still insufficient, and there are some changes pending. But if you compare what we have now with what we had then, we have...