Dominican Republic-Paradise Lost

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Paradise, Lost

Four Americans died in the Dominican Republic last year, according to CBS News. At least 10 more have died this year. Others have suffered injuries during violent attacks.

Bizarre sicknesses that cause heart attacks, septic shock and pneumonia have been involved in some of the deaths. “Vomiting. Stabbing stomach pains. Collapsing. Blacking out. And doctors telling him he might not live,” wrote the Detroit Free Press of local resident Alejandro “AJ” Jones. “This is what Jones said he experienced after a trip last month to the island paradise that he’s visited dozens of times before.”

Investigations have yet to yield answers for victims’ families, but Dominican Tourism Minister Francisco Javier García insisted the island was not holding anything back. “There is no mystery whatsoever regarding any of these deaths,” García told the New York Times.

Three Americans died after they underwent inexpensive plastic surgeries at a now-closed clinic in Santo Domingo, the capital, the New York Daily News wrote.

Other visitors to the island have been victims of violence, pure and simple.

Americans complained in June that they were beaten by robbers in the Caribbean country, WPXI reported. Another woman saidsomeone wearing a staff uniform tried to strangle her at her hotel. The hotel disputes her account.

A Staten Island woman recently said she was raped and thrown from a second-story balcony while on vacation in the country, WABC wrote.

Public health and crime are serious issues that could hurt the Dominican Republic’s vital tourism industry, explained the Washington Post, noting that the country of less than 11 million has 80,200 hotel rooms that cater to more than 6 million visitors annually. The shooting of former Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz couldn’t be good for business even if Big Papi survived with aplomb.

The recent spate of deaths in the Dominican Republic is a rare case of Americans feeling the effects of state collapse, the National Interest suggested. The authorities no longer control the country, one could argue. A robbery occurs every 10 minutes.

“The Dominican Republic has become the ideal place for domestic and transnational criminals to operate with impunity,” wrote the conservative online magazine. “The criminal activities that transpire in the Dominican Republic range from armed robberies and improvised laboratories that specialize in counterfeiting booze and medications to drug trafficking, political corruption, contract killings, illegal arms trade and human trafficking.”

Perhaps when Tourism Minister García said there was no mystery to the deaths, he meant it was obvious that such events might transpire amid the country’s current conditions.