Dominican Republic, a country that breeds colourful politicians
When I first met Fernando Rainieri, he was the dedicated and colourful Minister of Tourism for the Dominican Republic.
The most unusual of politicians, Rainieri had a pointed sense of humour, never took himself too seriously, but threw himself into the job.
Meeting up with him recently at the Toronto Marriott Hotel some 15 years later, he had changed very little.
Always a passionate spokesman for the Dominican Republic, he now heads up the Canadian-Dominican Chamber of Commerce, and was in Toronto to celebrate the first Trade and Investment Mission to Canada, 2002.
It was Magda de la Torre, Dominican Republic enthusiast, in attendance at the Trade and Investment Mission to Canada, who first introduced me to Rainiere.
Rainieri, who seems to know everybody in his country, is a man of a thousand and one anecdotes, and is as much at home at the estate of fashion mogul Oscar de la Renta as he is in the most humble of beach huts.
Urbane, well-read and the most genial of hosts himself, Rainieri comes from a country that seems to breed colourful politicians.
On a long ago trip, when de la Torre implored me to visit the D.R.’s Santo Domingo where she was hoping to found a new orphanage, Joaquin Balaguer was the president.
It happened that our trip coincided with an election year. Balaguer, the author of some 20 books, was in his 80s. His seat was hotly contested. His opponents--half his age--were complaining that they couldn’t keep up with the incumbent’s energetic pace.
That he happened to be all but blind didn’t keep Balaguer from regaining his seat or from participating full-steam in any of his many other pursuits.
The president was a man of shrewd wisdom and great compassion. Having heard we were in his country to found an orphanage, he sent word to de la Torre at our hotel, informing us, on palace letterhead that he had no official objection to our doing so, provided that we first availed ourselves of a trip to an existing orphanage, known as Dona Chucha.
Our little group decided we would do Balaguer the diplomatic honour. We’d drop in at the site in the name of courtesy and be on our way, pronto.
As it turned out, Dona Chucha was an all-girl’s orphanage and the poorest one in the city, Even as we were being given a tour, desperate relatives were leaving babies in baskets at the orphanage front door.
Poor but proud was Dona Chucha. A scrupulously clean dormitory boasted rows of cots but no linen. Among the rows of cots, a lone teddybear on one of them added a touching footnote.
On the particular day of our visit, some farmers had dumped off dozens of lettuces. Dona Chucha’s lone cook was trying to devise a recipe of soup as that was all to be found in the larder.
De la torre and members of our group hit the faxes upon the return to our hotel. I filed a column back to the daily newspaper for which I was working. That evening we worried aloud. We had promised the girls nothing but were hoping desperately the faxes and stories would bring help.
By the very next day we got word that a ton of linen, clothing and teddybears were enroute.
Balaguer’s legendary wisdom told him that once we stopped at Dona Chucha, our orphanage search would be over.
The tiny, five foot three Dominican Republic President, who died at age 95 last July, visited the graves of his mother and several of six sisters, until the end.
"Balaguer lives!" "Balaguer lives!" hundreds of mourners shouted outside his modest Santo Domingo home on the day of his death. "Balaguer without you this island will sink," shouted one mourner while others wept and waved photos of the former leader.
Even as president, he lived in the servants’ quarters of his family home. Among his servants was always one dwarf who swept the sidewalk every day.
He wore black suits, black hats and black ties every day after his mother died in 1973 at age 97.
He chose 1992–the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ first voyage to America--to inaugurate his most ambitious building project: a huge lighthouse in Santo Domingo that casts a beam in the shape of a cross thousands of feet into the air.
In the end he had ruled the Dominican Republic for 22 years.
Meanwhile, for me, the best part of meeting up with Fernando Raineri in Toronto was hearing that Belaguer’s beloved Dona Chucha still opens its doors to girls as an orphanage in beautiful Santo Domingo.
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
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