Three days before 8.1 million Dominican men and women were called to the polls, Luis Abinader (Santo Domingo, 56) was celebrating his victory in what he called the “great celebration of triumph.” Surrounded by merengue troupes, dancing laughing with his wife and interviewed by children, the candidate of the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) looked full and victorious. Even more than when he won the 2020 elections, which he took office in the middle of the pandemic. Improving the economy, attracting more tourists to the country, an anti-corruption discourse and controlling immigration policy at all costs have been the pillars of his Government. And most likely they will continue to be. That is why he called the opposition this Monday. “To continue building that country that we deserve. That Dominican Republic that wants to show itself to the world as happy, hospitable, productive and competitive,” he stated in his speech after learning the results. His vision, his detractors say, is closer to that of a businessman than that of a ruler. For the 59% of voters who re-elected him this Sunday, it is quite a compliment.
Both ambitions, political and economic, come from his birth. Son of the businessman of Lebanese descent and former senator of the Republic, José Rafael Abinader, his father is one of the most important figures in his life. “Lunch and dinner were a lecture on public administration,” he said in the documentary he released a week ago, President in times of crisis. The PRM, in fact, is founded on Abinader Sr.’s political group: Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD). “It is often said that he is trying to create a type of government that his father would be proud of,” close sources say.
Born on July 12, 1967 into a wealthy family, Abinader studied Economics at the Santo Domingo Institute of Technology and completed a postgraduate degree in Corporate Finance and Financial Engineering at Harvard University and Advanced Management at Dartmouth College. Before his emergence into politics, he dedicated his professional life to the Abicor group, the family business founded by his father. Today, with a net worth of $75 million, he owns a cement factory, several hotels and O & M University. For many Dominicans, he is the face of a successful man who maintains Catholic values and the traditional family; a good man. When his name appeared among the Pandora Papers, for having accounts offshore, the commotion in the country ended quickly when he told the opposition that he had a way to prove his income unlike them. Today, practically no one blames this scandal.
“He doesn’t care about human rights”
His fiercest critics are in the progressive wing of the country. Sergia Galván, one of the most recognized feminists on the island, regrets that she believes “that the country is a company”: “Even if she campaigned [para las elecciones de 2020] supporting women’s rights, he doesn’t care about us. Neither us nor social rights.” However, despite the reproaches of social activism and feminism, there is a consensus among his voters and his government that he “is a man of his word.” The closeness of both the working classes and the billionaires is one of the virtues they value most. According to surveys prior to these elections, 70% of the population supported his policies.
His economic discourse and the perception that all Dominicans have seen their economic condition significantly improved affects the owner of a hotel chain as well as the cleaner who tidies up the rooms. Sources close to his team say that the first thing the president does when he arrives at the National Palace is open a folder in which there are the latest reports of what Dominicans are searching for on the internet. “He is a man completely devoted to trends and what is fashionable at the moment. He comes from whatever social class he comes from,” he says.
Although Abinader has always been rich, his country has not had the same luck. Only since 2020 has the Dominican Republic become a middle-income country. Something that makes the president’s chest swell with pride. The president represents his country as a “nouveau riche” determined to bury a less prosperous past.
Any occasion is good to remember: “We are no longer a third world country,” he said several times during the campaign. Although the Dominican Republic is the ninth fastest growing country in the region, the basic basket is still more expensive than the minimum wage, which is around $500. Francisco Tavares, an economist, assures that the president “knows perfectly” that inequality rates are “unsustainable”: “Now that he will serve his last term, he will be able to make the fiscal and tax reforms that the country so requires.” Abinader has never hidden that he wants to go down in history as the president of the great reforms. He recalled it in his presidential speech: “We have come part of the way and it is time to deepen the changes and reforms.”
“He went from leader to political leader”
The president has been one of the leaders who has most promoted tourism on the island, which, for the first time in history, attracted more than 10 million foreigners, a number similar to the Dominican population. This sector—which he knows so well—contributed $7 billion to GDP in 2023 and was positioned as the third source of income. That will be one of his great legacies. Hoteliers will remember how, after the pandemic, he attended each hotel reopening to congratulate and shake hands with their owners.
The sociologist Juan Miguel Pérez considers that, in four years, “the president spent from being a leader to becoming a political leader.” And thus he can escape the criticism that he received from society of being “a tayota” [un fruto insípido]. “They wanted to tell him that he was dull and, like fruit, took on the flavor of whatever you put in it. That is no longer the case,” she says. However, he points out that his popularity in the party may begin to be questioned since he will not run in 2028 and it will be his teammates who begin campaigning, potentially overshadowing him. The names that are most popular in the PRM are Carolina Mejía, mayor of the National District, and David Collado, Minister of Tourism. For now, there are four more years of Abinader.
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