By Bethania Apolinar
Dominican journalist Marino Zapete presented to the Dominican diaspora that resides in the City of Lawrence his most recent book: “The Irreverent Chronicle”, during an act held at the Esperanza Academy.
Zapete, who has been characterized by his energetic denunciations and comments against the corruption of the last governments of his country, said that the book is a bet against oblivion and that his main objective is to publicize the recent history of the Dominican Republic.
Zapete’s presentation was coordinated by Father Joel Almonó, who stressed that the journalist has always identified with the just causes in his country and that at the moment “is one of the few voices that cry out in the arid desert of Dominican injustice , and his voice is so strong that it reaches the City of Lawrence. “
During his conversation, the communicator indicated that he did not come to this country to share a book, but to denounce that “the Dominican Republic is today a failed state”, which he attributes to the fact that every time an international survey is made, the Caribbean nation leads the list with the highest rates of infant and maternal mortality, and pregnancies in adolescents throughout Latin America, in addition to being considered one of the most insecure countries in the world.
He added that official statistics indicate “that we are currently the most corrupt country in Latin America and almost in the world,” which in his opinion is due to “a small group of bad Dominicans who have ruled in the last half century has taken what we all contributed and it in their pocket. “
He argued that the Dominican Republic is a country with a small economy that currently has 53 percent of the Gross Domestic Product in service of external debt. “In just the seven years that the government of Danilo Medina has been in power, the accumulated debt went from 19 billion to 42 billion,” he added.
“The Irreverent Chronicle”, focuses on the last five decades of democratic history of the Dominican Republic and its main actors, of which according to the journalist, nothing has been written. This is a document “that says who has done what in the last 50 years of the Dominican Republic, and says it with his first and last name,” he explained.
He said that his book seeks that the new generations do not forget history and that they know what the truth is, and based on this they take the correct decisions that are needed to change the course of their country.
The activity was attended by dozens of Dominicans living in Lawrence, who were interested in knowing the opinion of the communicator about the current political situation in the Dominican Republic, who mostly acquired the book.
Zapete was hopeful that the next presidential elections to be held in the Dominican Republic in 2020 will give him the opportunity to democratize a bit, following the current division of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), since only one Party will not have control of all state powers.
In Lawrence Zapete concluded the promotion of his book on the East Coast of the United States, where the largest concentration of Dominicans outside the island is located. The stops included New York, Allentown and Reading in Pennsylvania, Providence, Boston and Puerto Rico.
The energetic denunciations and comments, in which the journalist exposes the corruption of the Dominican government, caused him to be “kicked out” of media such as Antena Latina, Color Visión, Noticias SIN and Teleradio América.
Zapete’s last expulsion from the media took place last September, when the journalist echoed an investigation by lawyer Jorge Luis Polanco. The investigation showed that a business group, represented by Maybeth Virginia Rodríguez Sánchez, sister of Attorney General Jean Alain Rodríguez and daughter of the ambassador of the Dominican Republic in Germany, benefited from contracts for more than one billion pesos granted by the Ministry of Public Works and Communications under the management of Gonzalo Castillo.
This complaint unleashed the wrath of the Attorney General. According to Zapete’s testimony before the Dominican community, the director of Teleradio América yielded to the pressures of the Attorney General, who threatened to sue the media if his program “El Jarabe de Zapete” was not canceled.
