Whiter the Course?
Having an incumbent president pass on the sash of office to his successor is still a rare occurrence in the Dominican Republic. Guzmin's July suicide once more preempted this symbol of...
...But a crisis is a period of readjustment and realignment, and the coming months promise to be volatile ones...
...With the clash between expectations and reality promising to be more acute than ever, the future of the popular movements, the PRD and Jorge Blanco himself is at best uncertain...
...To the people, Jorge Blanco had promised no public sector layoffs...
...Guzmin's July suicide once more preempted this symbol of continuity and propelled Vice President Jacobo Majluta temporarily to the post he had long been eyeing...
...On the other, the constraints of economic crisis have never been so great...
...On the one hand is Jorge Blanco's recognition that he cannot afford to lose the allegiance of the popular sectors...
...If anyone could inspire trust that austerity would be shared, it was Jorge Blanco...
...In late October the country reached a tentative agreement with the IMF on a three-year credit package worth $467 million...
...Business would pay too, it seemed, through a ceiling on dividends and brakes on capital flight...
...The peso had been effectively devalued by 50% through the earlier institutionalization of the parallel market via the commercial banks...
...These measures, together with the PRD's economic recovery program, may ultimately prove irreconcilable with continued popular support...
...Morality, because rumors of corruption during Guzman's administration were rife, and had reportedly led the President to suicide...
...but builders and buyers would now face interest rates closer to the U.S...
...Majluta used his forty-day presidency to recoup his political image following months of divisive party faction fights and charges of dishonesty...
...The central concern now, given how the population responded over the last four years to price increases and economic malaise, is whether he can maintain a climate of political freedom for all...
...This crisis will be overcome only with great effort and with the sacrifice of all Dominicans, especially the most economically powerful classes," Jorge Blanco prefaced his program...
...from speculators, a capital gains tax...
...The presence of Reagan's inaugural delegate, Ellsworth Bunker, evoked another memory which spoke to Jorge Blanco's principles: the last time Bunker and Jorge Blanco had been face to face was over the negotiating table in 1965, following the U.S...
...The 1982 balance of payments deficit was already $560 million...
...He managed to receive the kudos which should have been Jorge Blanco's by lowering prices, decrying speculation and raising public sector doctors' salaries...
...Jorge Blanco, representing thousands of Constitutionalist fighters still pressing on in the streets, stood up to U.S...
...domestic business interests and international business pressures are calling for a tune that is hard for everyone to sing together...
...Measures to continue the wage freeze and lengthen the work day were cushioned by the promise of a literacy campaign to teach 200,000 to read, mainly through the volunteer labor of thousands of party rank and file...
...He worked well with the party, inaugurating PRD anti-corruption measures such as state company audits...
...Meticulous in his reference to the party as his guide, and to the people as the PRD's source of strength, on the first day it seemed that Jorge Blanco's popularity could survive even in the face of austerity...
...He was known as a politician of liberal convictions, an honest lawyer, a family man to boot...
...More than a leader was needed: a consensus of sacrifice had to be forged...
...Jorge Blanco set the tone in his August 16 inauguration speech: "By voting for us the people voted for morality and austerity, the fundamental pillars of our government's program...
...to the IMF, a hefty reduction in public spending...
...the government budget deficit was even higher...
...Many elements of Jorge Blanco's program suggested a brand of reformism capable of legitimizing the skewed distribution of wealth and economic growth...
...By September's end, the CEA would cease all international sales...
...Already campaigning for 1986, Majluta left the National Palace a candidate...
...threat to bomb Santo Domingo...
...The government's emphasis on construction made the unemployed hopeful about jobs...
...More than 150 capital city businesses were verging on bankruptcy, low world prices had caused Falconbridge's nickel operations to be closed all year and now Alcoa was threatening 33NACLA Report to retire from its bauxite operations...
...level...
...Austerity because, by all accounts, all accounts were empty...
...an end to non-food price controls was offset by basic food price stabilization and the establishment of a sort of food stamp program...
...The President himself made a hit by taking a 40% salary cut and by reducing bureaucratic wage levels...
...While details of the agreement were not made public, the government did commit itself to substantially reduce the budget deficits, raise local interest rates and not implement any import restrictions-including Jorge Blanco's proposed ban on the import of food and luxury goods...
...The IMF, short on tolerance for the often drawn-out strikes and mobilizations which characterized the Guzmin period, will be measuring government performance every three months...
...troop invasion...
...From urban property owners the government would exact a real estate tax...
...demands, minimizing political losses in a nowin situation...
...and he left Jorge Blanco with only austerity tasks to implement...
...generous tax incentives to agroexporters were offset by a commitment to reclaim for redistribution to 8,000 families each year the thousands of acres of government land in the hands of individuals...
...The wage freeze is certain to continue, but prices will surely spiral as electric rates are increased to counter the state utility's deficit, lessened export restrictions diminish local food supply and the parallel market rate reduces the import purchase power of the peso by half...
...Bunker's words were weighted with the U.S...
...The Central Bank, devoid of reserves, was nearly $400 million behind in its commercial payments, and overdue debts had piled up above $200 million...
...That Jorge Blanco will provide a climate of economic freedom to business has never been a question...
Vol. 16 • November 1982 • No. 6
