Cándido Mercedes, sociólogo y catedrático universitario, planteo que las redes forman parte del deterioro de la democracia.
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00:00The Dominican government has asked for permission from the Ministry of Interior and the police to provide support to the police.
00:12Since the authorities do not dare to enter the Hoyo de Friusa, which is a separate Haitian republic,
00:23the group of patriotic Dominicans wants to enter a peaceful march where the police do not dare to enter.
00:32Recently, the police, the army, the air force entered, and what they did was take six undocumented people,
00:41which is full of undocumented people, prostitutes, drugs, and everything you can imagine.
00:49It is said that there are more than 100 ghettos like Friusa in the entire national territory.
00:54Ramon, regarding what happened in the construction of a hotel in Ubero Alto,
01:00the press reports that the problem arose with the discussion with the head of the construction,
01:08with the master or the personnel manager, and the guard became aggressive.
01:14They came en masse, and as you know, what should not have come came,
01:19because if it was a matter of the construction of a building,
01:23they would pay him money, because that is the only reason,
01:27they did not have to burn vehicles, nor did they have to be dead or injured.
01:33That situation was exposed, Ramon, in a film that I saw a long time ago,
01:38by a prestigious Dominican filmmaker named Leticia Tonos,
01:42who in the film Christ Reigns exposes the same thing that happened there in that hotel in Ubero Alto,
01:48that it should not happen.
01:49First, the engineers, the contractors, must make contracts to all the workers,
01:57even for a day, and so that everything is clear, when is the day of payment,
02:02the time of that day of payment, because if they went too far, Ramon,
02:06they would say, look, a motel is being built, that has nothing to do with it.
02:09So, make things clear.
02:11And as for the request of the old Dominican order, which is waiting for the answer,
02:17only three days have passed, and it was the 19th that was deposited,
02:20it is workable, and I am sure that if the Ministry of the Interior and the Police
02:24understands that there will be no objection to do that, then it will be done.
02:29They plan to do it on the 30th, the 30th, which is Sunday.
02:34Yes, there is still time, and it is most likely that they will give them permission,
02:39because they are not going to give it to us.
02:40On the other hand, in the political sphere, now we are moving with crossings,
02:45with displacements, with lunches, with dinners.
02:48None have occurred.
02:50And on the weekend, Dr. Leonel Fernández, in his tour of the interior,
02:56and mainly of people who leave the PLD,
02:59he withdrew the invitation to President Abinader to tour the country,
03:04to tour inconclusive works, the Lamban highway.
03:08Surely today, because that is an interesting game of polarization,
03:13surely today, on the weekend, President Abinader will be asked,
03:17and he will also extend another invitation somewhere else,
03:21to the former president, Leonel Fernández.
03:23But that is nothing more than a game of polarization,
03:26even though President Abinader will not be able to be a candidate,
03:30and President Fernández is still qualified to be a candidate.
03:34Now, I ask you, Ramón, is it true that we are already in politics?
03:37In fact, last week, Francisco Javier García, who was the first spokesman,
03:43was a minister, was campaign leader of several candidates of the PLD,
03:49has already made his launch or his official aspirations within the party,
03:54and they say that they are not violating any law by doing that.
03:57That's fine. You say that we are already in a certain way,
04:02that these are part of political activities,
04:04or what politicians do in opposition.
04:07Now, I say, who does that invitation favor?
04:11Do you think that President Abinader wins something
04:16by inviting the former president, Leonel Fernández,
04:18to tour the country in a dimidirection of who did more and who did less?
04:23Because I'm going to tell you, they say that services have deteriorated and those things,
04:29but Abinader will also be able to get some things out of Leonel.
04:32So I don't think that's what it's about.
04:35I don't know how that will contribute to a debate,
04:39and I, being Abinader, president, I don't know what his advisors will say,
04:43because I'm not an advisor or anything like that,
04:45but what is the gain that we are going to get?
04:48A game of polarization.
04:49Maybe he is interested in that polarization between him and the opposition leader.
04:56We'll see.
04:58Look, both are intelligent and both are statists.
05:02There is something there.
05:06There is something there, and for me it is an interest to maintain a polarization
05:10between Leonel Fernández and President Luis Abinader.
05:14Well, maybe things have changed,
05:15because at the time when Leonel was president,
05:17he was told to talk to the opposition,
05:21and he said that there was no one to conceptualize.
05:26I suppose that now that it has been demonstrated that there is,
05:30things are changing, and I think the contributions are important,
05:35but we'll have to see who wins with this kind of,
05:38that you didn't do, that I did, that you did,
05:41that you're not doing anything here and you did there,
05:43but we'll see if that works.
05:45But look how interesting that my interest is,
05:49the aspirants of the PLD are not on the carpet,
05:52the many aspirants of the PRM are not on the carpet,
05:57but Leonel Fernández and Luis Abinader are.
06:01It is a political game.
06:03On the other hand, today the newspaper Diario Libre has an interesting job.
06:09They call it dollarization, but it is not dollarization.
06:15What is happening is that a series of sectors,
06:18to protect themselves from devaluation,
06:21call the products they sell in dollars.
06:26That started a long time ago with the constructions,
06:29that is, the towers, the apartments are called in dollars,
06:36people pay them in pesos,
06:38but it is the exchange rate, many times, that the promoter says,
06:42but that already extends to jewelry, to clothes,
06:46to a number of things that are in dollars,
06:50but it is not that you pay them in dollars.
06:52If you want, you pay it in dollars, but you pay it in pesos,
06:55at the rate that the seller says,
06:58which is often slightly higher than the rate that the Central Bank publishes every day,
07:04which is an average of all the transactions that are made in what is called the spot market.
07:11That benefits the seller, but obviously harms,
07:17and the article presents the case of a couple who were going to buy an apartment,
07:21and it took them three or four months to make the decision,
07:25and they had to pay thousands of pesos.
07:28On top of that, because we are in the presence of a volatility of the exchange rate.
07:34For example, when I closed my article last week, on the 18th, it was 63.20,
07:40and the V&A closed at 63.37.
07:43There are almost 200 basic points between December 31 and March 21.
07:49Look, Ramón, I did not read in extenso that work of the free newspaper,
07:55but I remember that since 2000, 25 years ago,
08:01here the properties are being sold in dollars.
08:04And I have that date as a reference for a relative who bought an apartment
08:09and was going crazy every time the dollar went up.
08:12He said, and now, and I'm not going to be able to pay it, and now, and now, and now.
08:16And it's been a long time since the properties, the rentals, the vehicles, the jewels,
08:23and many other things, the solar panels, and that, are sold and listed in dollars,
08:31with their equivalent in pesos.
08:33If that has now been expanded to certain legal services or medical services,
08:39that's another thing.
08:41But for years, here they have been doing it.
08:44Look, aesthetic surgeries are denominated in dollars.
08:49Oh, because a lot of patients come from abroad.
08:51No, no, but also local procedures are in dollars.
08:56Well, that would be a novelty for the locals.
08:59But you say that more and more goods and services are in dollars.
09:03The housing thing was logical.
09:06That was the way to protect the promoter in times of high volatility.
09:10And others saw that it was worth doing it.
09:15Of course, when there has been appreciation of the peso,
09:18and a few times, but for example in 1922, and in 1921 and 1922, the price appeared,
09:23and then those who sold in dollars suffered.
09:28Because then the peso gained value.
09:30But it is an unstoppable process, but that does not mean that the economy is dollarized.
09:36The peso is still...
09:38We talked about that.
09:39At a certain point, when that started to happen,
09:42when they started to rent in dollars, to sell furniture in dollars,
09:46we talked about dollarization.
09:47And that brought a huge debate here in the country about whether it was convenient or not.
09:52But look, I bought something on Amazon,
09:54and they calculated it to me, taking the risk, in 63.15.
09:58Which gives you the option of either paying in pesos or paying in dollars.
10:04And they have a kind of insurance,
10:07and it says, well, the maximum you can get is this,
10:09and they calculated it to me at 63.15.
10:11Very cheap.
10:12On Amazon, you can look it up and do the calculation.
10:15Today you pay a credit card and the bank has it for you.
10:19Oh no.
10:20Yes.
10:21You pay with a credit card.
10:22Now, you go out to buy dollars, and it's limited to a thousand dollars for each of the occasions.
10:29On the other hand, in international terms,
10:31it is said that on April 2, President Donald Trump will announce in a definitive way,
10:38because this has been postponed,
10:40one thing is said, another is said, and of course,
10:43that is what has created the level of distrust and the forecasts reserved for the North American economy.
10:50Apparently, the aranceles that are going to be worldwide
10:55are the vehicles, the semiconductors, and the pharmaceutical products.
11:04Trump's goal is to balance trade,
11:07because the United States practically has a trade deficit with all the countries in the world,
11:12and that the North American companies that are located abroad
11:17return and relocate to the United States.
11:20The goal is double and ambitious, because I understand,
11:23to balance the balance of what is imported with what is exported is a goal of all countries.
11:30We would like, I would like, I don't know about economics,
11:33that imports go hand in hand with exports,
11:36because that gives us more guarantee.
11:38But there is a imbalance here, you will correct me.
11:41But also the fact that those who left return at the same time,
11:45it is difficult to achieve it in a short time,
11:48without that generating great uncertainty, as it has generated so far.
11:52In four years it seems difficult, and we could talk about that with Candido.
11:58That is, if Trump's kingdom without Trump extends for a long time,
12:03we are in the presence of a de-globalization.
12:06There was a time when companies were installed abroad,
12:09and thanks to that, in part, China's growth was all that North American investment.
12:15But also, the famous four tigers of Asia, it is true that they made economic reforms,
12:22but one of the secrets was that they had the North American market to place their goods.
12:28That is why the president tells you,
12:29Arancelia South Korea, Arancelia Taiwan,
12:32because the United States has a trade deficit with all the countries.
12:36I believe that with the few countries that they have to overcome, it is with us.
12:40Now Ramón, look, I'm going to tell you one thing,
12:44maybe it forces the world to see each country in a different way,
12:49and not to depend so much, despite the fact that we are in a globalized world,
12:54where the independence of the countries is really questioned,
12:57due to that and the economic interests that this globalization involves.
13:02Maybe to look at us in a different way,
13:04and not to depend so much on what comes from outside due to factors that are not controllable.
13:11And Donald Trump, with the avalanche of contradictory announcements,
13:14unfulfilled threats, last-minute rectifications,
13:19confusing messages and changes of opinion about the Arancelis,
13:22it is very difficult to know what are the plans that are going to be executed.
13:27So we will have to wait now, the world is on edge,
13:31let's see if he doesn't make any announcements from here to April 2nd,
13:34which is difficult for Trump,
13:36and that he really rests and consults each of those announcements that he will make,
13:42and the impact that it could have.
13:44I know that you say, how do you do it in your works, the point of what?
13:48Balance.
13:49No, no, of stress.
13:50When you put the maximum weight on a piece of work, to see if it holds up, what is it called?
13:54Stress test, yes.
13:55Stress test.
13:55If you do that stress test to the US economy,
13:59what that can imply, those measures,
14:01that is, to what extent,
14:03and from there to the outside, how those measures are spread,
14:05and the impact of the pandemic.
14:07To the outside is worse, because the advantage of the US economy
14:09is that it can grow based on internal consumption,
14:12but countries like ours,
14:15and most Latin American countries, even developed countries,
14:21exports are an important component of the gross domestic product.
14:25If exports from those countries fall,
14:28those economies will have problems.
14:30You will have to look at other markets.
14:32That is the case of Mexico.
14:34And regroup.
14:36You would say the Chinese market, because the Chinese produce everything.
14:38It is difficult.
14:40But well, April 2nd is there,
14:42and in the meantime, well,
14:44the forecast is that the North American economy,
14:46prices will increase,
14:48and growth will slow down.
14:50No, I'm going to tell you, there is a lot of pessimism,
14:52a lot of fear inside.
14:54Inside.
14:56And the promise to make the United States great,
14:58what they voted for Trump,
15:00they never thought they would do
15:02with this degree of uncertainty,
15:04that now, in just 40 days,
15:06has caused in the American population,
15:08in the migrants,
15:10and also in the whole world.
15:12That is to say, we will have to wait
15:14a little while to continue
15:16drawing conclusions.
15:18But the forecasts are reserved.
15:20It is a patient who is there,
15:22who is being given all the devices,
15:25but we do not know if the surgery
15:27is going to kill him, or the medicine.
15:29We are going to commercials,
15:31and do not miss the interview with Candido Mercedes.
15:54Candido Mercedes is an important person,
15:56important in dealing with important issues,
15:58and that is why we start with a very important person
16:00this Monday.
16:02Mr. Candido Mercedes,
16:04a man who is disputed in all programs,
16:06sociologist, manager,
16:08academic,
16:10and a fruitful writer of articles.
16:12He is a man who,
16:14as I said,
16:16is a man who is a man,
16:18a man who is a man,
16:20a man who is a man,
16:22a fruitful writer of articles,
16:24very good articles.
16:26Candido, thank you very much.
16:28Good morning, Ramón, good morning.
16:30Welcome, Candido.
16:32Precious.
16:34It's good that today I did not have a presentation,
16:36because otherwise I would have been caught
16:38at this time, Candido.
16:40Virtual exam.
16:42I want to start
16:44with the last article.
16:46Unfortunately, with Candido,
16:48one can go a little further.
16:50And you write about
16:52a phenomenon that is taking place
16:54and that is true, which is the erosion
16:56of democracy.
16:58On a global level.
17:00On a global level. One more and one less,
17:02but it is planetary.
17:04What are the reasons?
17:06Rock, in that same article,
17:08you talk about how we are getting better here,
17:10and then it is
17:12going crazy in the world, and here we are
17:14getting better. Well, I said one more and one less.
17:16They are all not in the same ...
17:18Now, here it is still ...
17:20It is fragile, but it is getting better.
17:24Erosion means wear,
17:26deterioration, which does not give respect
17:28to the needs.
17:30And at the same time, that is combined
17:32that there is a crisis of leadership
17:34worldwide.
17:36You, in the 40s,
17:3860s, 70s, as we spoke
17:40off camera, no one would have conceived
17:42what we are seeing
17:44of the elites in the world today.
17:46Notice that, for the first time,
17:48philosophers say
17:50that those who have
17:52true power are always invisible.
17:54And throughout history
17:56it has been like this. The true power
17:58is exercised by the fatical power
18:00in an invisible way.
18:02But not today.
18:04Today, this technofundalism
18:06wants to be more and more
18:08visible. That is why
18:10you see it, Elon Musk,
18:12Bill Gates,
18:14Bezos, and everything.
18:16And as I tell you,
18:18of the 11 richest men in the world,
18:207 are linked
18:22to technofundalism,
18:24that is, to high technology.
18:26What does that mean?
18:28But why technofundalism?
18:30Describe it to me.
18:32Because it is an analogy with feudalism,
18:34as a way of feudal production,
18:36where that man,
18:38the one who maintains us,
18:40he was the owner of the feud,
18:42we were the servants.
18:44The feudal lord has the feud.
18:46He has the feud.
18:48So we had to work
18:50certain hours or days.
18:52In return, we gave him part of the production
18:54and he took care of us.
18:56He was our protector.
19:00So, technofundalism,
19:02because we use
19:04that technology.
19:06But that technology, with the algorithms,
19:08we believe that we are independent,
19:10that nobody knows about our lives.
19:12No, that's what they call
19:14the Jung Chung-Han psychopolitics.
19:16So, they have, with the algorithm,
19:18a psychography of each one of us.
19:22And, as Jung Chung-Han says,
19:24in Infocracia,
19:26the law,
19:30the law is the amen of the 21st century.
19:32It is the?
19:34The amen of the 21st century.
19:36That is, good.
19:38Why has that influence
19:40that you see
19:42grown so much as part of the deterioration of democracy?
19:44Because there is a convergence.
19:46The influences have deteriorated democracy.
19:48It's part of it.
19:50Because it manifests at all levels,
19:52at the economic level,
19:54at the level of well-being.
19:56In Europe, well-being has decreased.
19:58In the United States, well-being has decreased.
20:00The quality of life, the level of life of people.
20:02And why is that?
20:04And there is what is called the soft power.
20:06These are part of the soft power.
20:08And what Gramsci called
20:10the cultural hegemony.
20:12Look, for example, there was a man,
20:14I'm not going to say his name,
20:16who just said
20:18that the young woman
20:22of Indian origin,
20:24that she didn't drown,
20:26that she went to a boat
20:28because her husband wanted,
20:30the family wanted to marry her
20:32with
20:34one of them
20:36because that's what they decide.
20:38And that, you say,
20:40everyone who saw it went to teach it to me.
20:42But I believed. Why?
20:44Because it's the soft power,
20:46as part of the destruction of democracy.
20:48It's true that in a part
20:50of the world of India,
20:52the parents are the ones who decide the marriage.
20:54And the great thing is that sometimes people of high level
20:56see this kind of thing.
20:58But there were a lot of people.
21:00University people and everything.
21:02Because the soft power
21:04and the beliefs are true.
21:06They marry.
21:08And the corpse doesn't show up.
21:10Yes, it comes and puts
21:12the influence.
21:14There was a witness who saw a boat.
21:18So that's part of the deterioration.
21:20This is what happens when you have a short film.
21:22You saw what someone saw.
21:24And you say, oh my God, forgive him.
21:26Because he doesn't know what he's reading.
21:28Or looking.
21:30Because it's deteriorating
21:32democracy in the world.
21:34The leitmotif
21:36of democracy is the truth
21:38and the information.
21:40But all of that
21:42is upside down.
21:44Donald Trump...
21:46So the networks have deteriorated democracy.
21:48They are part of that.
21:50Of that deterioration.
21:52Yes, but remember, it's not that she herself...
21:54But it's part of it.
21:56No, because we are
21:58what we do.
22:00And there's nothing good that doesn't bring
22:02something bad with it.
22:04You're not going to use it for bad things.
22:06But a significant part of it is used for bad things.
22:08There's no more extraordinary social and cultural revolution
22:10than the internet
22:12since the 90s.
22:14However, with the internet
22:16you do mischief.
22:18But it's not the internet that's bad.
22:20It's us.
22:22For example, the violence in the networks.
22:24Is it the networks? No.
22:26The violence in the networks
22:28is the echo of the violence
22:30of us in society.
22:32So all of that...
22:34We give you the supply.
22:36But someone manipulates it.
22:38Look,
22:40right now, the deterioration...
22:42If you go to Canada,
22:44everyone is an enemy of Trump.
22:46But the people who were with Trump...
22:48In the 30s
22:50began,
22:52you as an economist,
22:54depression.
22:56It was on the way, wasn't it?
22:58But the law that approved the arancel
23:00in 25 countries in 1930,
23:02the law of Smoot,
23:04accelerated
23:06depression.
23:08Well, in the United States,
23:10growth isn't going to be 2.1.
23:12It's going to be 1.6, 1.7.
23:14They forgot about that episode.
23:16So that deteriorates even more.
23:18Because it's deteriorating the conditions
23:20of material existence of the people.
23:22So people are looking for
23:24authoritarian people.
23:26Authoritarian.
23:28Because they don't reflect.
23:30For example, who is to blame
23:32that the United States has lost
23:34world competitiveness?
23:36Because when you have to import
23:38hundreds of thousands of times more
23:40than what you export,
23:42what are you telling the economy?
23:44That you have lost competitiveness.
23:46The Dominican Republic,
23:48with whom is the only country
23:50because we are more competitive.
23:52Then we don't have
23:54with Costa Rica,
23:56with Uruguay, with no one
23:58because we are not as competitive
24:00as they are. So the United States
24:02can't go back
24:04in the wheel of history.
24:06I tell people, they can continue
24:08to be the number one power
24:10in the next 20 years.
24:12Because they have the three powers
24:14that are needed for an empire.
24:16In unison.
24:18The economic power.
24:20It still has 25% of the GDP.
24:22It has already lost
24:24the PPA.
24:26Purchasing Parity Price.
24:28China has 19%.
24:30Calculated the GDP
24:32with the PPA.
24:34The PPA, yes.
24:36China is bigger.
24:38And the United States 17%.
24:40So, it still has the economic power.
24:42It has the military power.
24:44So abysmal
24:46that the United States spends more
24:48in arms than the
24:50nine powers that follow it.
24:52So,
24:54he alone, you add
24:56the nine countries that spend more
24:58in arms and he wins
25:00the nine. So it's a power.
25:02Russia
25:04is an empire
25:06and yet, did you know that
25:08the Russian GDP is lower than Brazil?
25:10Yes.
25:12But it has nuclear bombs.
25:14It's an empire, military power.
25:16And it has the other power.
25:18The power that
25:20Gramsci called cultural hegemony,
25:22the soft power.
25:24Do you know 10 Chinese artists?
25:26I don't.
25:28But we know 10 North American artists.
25:30And all the actors and actresses
25:32are North American.
25:34That's part of the soft power.
25:36Turkey, calm down.
25:38You're not eating the candy
25:40with the soft power through the novel.
25:4290% of the novels that you're watching
25:44here, the Dominican women are from Turkey.
25:46And they're good.
25:50They're the most entertaining.
25:52And they're pretty.
25:54It's not the common Turk.
25:56Because they're always chosen.
25:58Now,
26:00do you want to relocate
26:02North American companies?
26:04And the cost of production
26:06in the United States?
26:08And the cost of labor?
26:10That's not possible.
26:12That's not possible.
26:14The goal is
26:18to equalize the commercial balance.
26:20That's a task that
26:22can't be done overnight.
26:24And the fact that
26:26a company that's already
26:28installed in a country
26:30is cut off from that country
26:32and reinstalled in the United States.
26:34Those two processes at the same time.
26:36How do you see it?
26:38It's difficult.
26:40Now, let's not see Trump as Trump.
26:42There's a power behind him.
26:44The problem with Trump
26:46is that there's the design
26:48of the great ultra-right revolution.
26:50But Trump
26:52makes it difficult
26:54for his personality.
26:56And I, a sociologist from Villa Juana,
26:58said that
27:00in the eyes of a good Cuban,
27:02that he has four,
27:04he has four,
27:06but I'm happy because
27:08according to Invert,
27:10an excellent psychiatrist,
27:12he just said that he has four
27:14personality problems.
27:16Yes, he has four, in the eyes of a good Cuban.
27:18But now I'm happy because
27:20according to Invert, who is a psychiatrist,
27:22he just wrote, I sent it to you,
27:24that the experts in the United States
27:26had already evaluated Trump.
27:28And he's super narcissistic.
27:30I put that he's histrionic,
27:32that he looks from afar, that he's histrionic,
27:34that he's obsessive-compulsive,
27:36he has no limits.
27:38Notice how he tells the president of Iran,
27:40do whatever you want.
27:42And the show he did with Selenki
27:44in Casablanca itself.
27:46That's
27:48antisocial.
27:50What does that do?
27:52Narcissist,
27:54obsessive-compulsive and antisocial.
27:56Antisocial.
27:58Obsessive-compulsive,
28:00antisocial, histrionic.
28:02Ah, histrionic.
28:04Like Trujillo.
28:06Trujillo would send you to kill
28:08your partner.
28:10He would send you to look for her.
28:12And he would start crying
28:14in front of you. You would leave saying
28:16that Trujillo's enemies were
28:18the bad guys who had killed your husband.
28:20But it was him.
28:22He would send you to look for
28:24Antonio de la Maza.
28:26To tell him, look how your brother
28:28hanged himself in jail.
28:30And he would tell Trujillo
28:32so he wouldn't witness what he did
28:34with Galindez, his brother.
28:36He was histrionic and he would cry.
28:38And who would believe
28:40that it was Trujillo?
28:42When he had my friend Marrero Ariste killed,
28:44they were having lunch
28:46in the palace when it seemed
28:48that he had been called.
28:50That poor boy
28:52just
28:54had an accident.
28:56All because
28:58the man said
29:00that the next black man
29:02was going to be him.
29:04But he did it
29:06every time he was happy.
29:08And Trujillo was sick.
29:10Trujillo had all
29:12the personality disorders.
29:14All that exists, more than Trump.
29:16Of the 11, Trujillo had
29:187.
29:20So there is a
29:22profound deterioration.
29:24Now, how far
29:26is this going to go?
29:28There is going to be a balance
29:30of the rationality of the human being.
29:32The intelligence and lucidity of reason.
29:34And one will not be able to allow
29:36the emotional, the affective
29:38only
29:40to be recrudesced above reason.
29:42And how does the sociologist explain
29:44that the Dominican Republic
29:46is the other way around?
29:48There is an improvement in democracy,
29:50there is more freedom,
29:52there is more institutionality.
29:54But there is more in the polls.
29:56They keep getting a lot of votes,
29:582 or 3 parties.
30:00And there is no messianic leader.
30:02Look,
30:04we cannot deny
30:06that there was a
30:08very big crisis
30:10in institutional terms.
30:12And there was a very big crisis
30:14in terms of corruption.
30:16I am not saying
30:18that corruption disappeared.
30:20But all international reports
30:22recognize, for example,
30:24International Transparency,
30:26says that only 7 countries
30:28have improved significantly
30:30in the last 5 years.
30:32And there we are.
30:34Another world organization,
30:36Corruption Combat Capacity,
30:38says that in 2020
30:40we were among the 15 countries
30:42evaluated at number 13.
30:44But today we are at number 5.
30:46Today we are at number 5.
30:48Right now,
30:50The Economist
30:52just said
30:54that we improved 9 points
30:56in terms of democracy.
30:58Which indicators were evaluated?
31:00Electoral participation,
31:02government functioning,
31:04political culture,
31:06political participation, and civil liberties.
31:08And Periodismo Sin Frontera
31:10just recognized that the Dominican Republic
31:12in Latin America
31:14is
31:16at the top
31:18in terms of communication.
31:20It is wonderful.
31:22It is one of the most
31:24fundamental points in the world.
31:26Because we have leaders in the world
31:28in traffic accidents.
31:30And one of the countries
31:32that commits the most homicides
31:34is Latin America.
31:36It is just one, which is worse than us.
31:38We are very bad.
31:40So, we have improved.
31:42Why? Because there has been
31:44institutional power.
31:46Today,
31:48the Dominican Republic,
31:50like the whole world,
31:52has corruption.
31:54New Zealand, which was the best,
31:56got 90.
31:58But here, it has improved.
32:00For example, the CEPAR,
32:02I am going to send it to you,
32:04just said that
32:06we improved the indicators of governability.
32:08What are they?
32:10Voice and accountability.
32:12Absence of terrorism and violence.
32:14Control of corruption.
32:16State of law.
32:18Governmental effectiveness.
32:20And regulatory quality of the state.
32:22Now, what happens?
32:24In the Dominican Republic, there is a deep social debt
32:26accumulated.
32:28For example, if you...
32:30I am sorry that no one made it visible.
32:32For example,
32:34what is the UN saying to you?
32:36The UN is saying
32:38that 30% of children
32:40who are 15 years old
32:42have never gone to an educational center.
32:44And that is serious
32:46for a society.
32:4830%.
32:50My oldest granddaughter
32:54was in an educational center
32:56when she was 3 months old.
32:58And there is another one
33:00who is 3 years old.
33:02And since that year,
33:04she was in school.
33:06But look at the great social gap.
33:08But,
33:10it just came out that
33:12only 48.8%
33:14of Dominicans do not have
33:16their own home.
33:18But,
33:20of those 50% who have their own home,
33:2215% are not home.
33:24You know.
33:26So, we have...
33:28We have a huge problem
33:30with what is called
33:32decent employment.
33:34Only in the Dominican Republic
33:36do we have a decent employment.
33:38It is a decent employment.
33:40That's why I don't want
33:42to look at the past.
33:44They don't talk to me about the past.
33:46I don't want to compare
33:48Lionel with Abinader.
33:50No, no.
33:52Compare the present with the past.
33:54I want the present with the future.
33:58But the future is not here yet.
34:00The reference is what it was before.
34:02No, the reference has to be
34:04the present
34:06or the future.
34:08Because if you look at the present while looking at the future,
34:10that society will continue in a deep tautology.
34:12Looking at the past.
34:14Looking at the past. You can't.
34:16Cándido, let's take a break.
34:18It's so interesting what we've been through.
34:20From the first block.
34:22We'll be back.
34:24There are still many things with Cándido Mercedes.
34:36See you in the next video.
35:04CANDIDO MERCEDES
35:26The sociologist Cándido Mercedes
35:28is with us this morning on Telematutino 11.
35:30Cándido, one of the topics
35:32that I've seen you in several participations
35:34is talking about
35:36the issue of public debt.
35:38Consolidated.
35:40And there are many people
35:42who have not been in agreement with you.
35:44Because of the issue that
35:46even if there is a table, a number,
35:48and there is an article that you make
35:50and you put it year by year,
35:52you say that in recent years
35:54the debt has not grown as much as it is said.
35:56I have not said that.
35:58Look,
36:00what happens is
36:02that we cannot make
36:04a vicious circle
36:06of something that has already been done
36:08and then that does not allow us to see the future.
36:10For example,
36:12the three presidents we have had
36:14in the last 30 years
36:16are responsible
36:18for the debt we have.
36:20Why?
36:22Because they have not faced
36:24the power of the FATIC.
36:26It is easier for Lionel,
36:28Danilo and Abinadel
36:30now to take the loan.
36:34You pay right now
36:3625% of interest.
36:38After the investment
36:40in education goes to interest,
36:42we are paying
36:44290 million this year.
36:4625% by 2025.
36:48So, that 25%
36:50is a blood of the tax income
36:52of the Dominican Republic.
36:54But that does not affect a vicini or a corripio.
36:56You are not affecting it.
36:58Not even you or me.
37:00It is affecting the poorest
37:02and most vulnerable sectors.
37:04Investing in water,
37:06in hospitals,
37:08in medicine, in security.
37:10It is 25%.
37:12Now, what happens?
37:14That business is evading
37:1643% of the ITERI
37:18when in Latin America the average is 21%.
37:20That business is evading
37:22the corporate tax at 63%.
37:24And I assure you,
37:26and I am not an economist,
37:28for my three children,
37:30that if you sit down
37:32with that business elite
37:34and say, help me,
37:36let's lower this to 25%,
37:38they are still above the average.
37:40There are more than 300 billion pesos.
37:42But in what sense?
37:44That they pay more?
37:46That they comply with the law.
37:48Or that the exemptions are removed.
37:50Look, I'm not even talking
37:52about the exemptions.
37:54I'm talking about lowering the taxes.
37:56And that must be a commitment
37:58of all Dominicans.
38:00Of everyone.
38:02That's the big problem in this country.
38:04It's not even the exemptions.
38:06Now, you are in more debt
38:08than I am.
38:10In four years,
38:12who is in more debt?
38:14I'll give you that as a reminder.
38:16He knows more than I do.
38:18When Lionel came back,
38:20from 1996 to 2000,
38:22he reduced the debt
38:24by 300 million dollars.
38:26From 1996 to 2000.
38:28Because he didn't have Congress
38:30to approve the loans.
38:32But he reduced it.
38:34When he came back in 2004,
38:36he found a debt of 6,500.
38:38And Polito increased the debt
38:40by 100%.
38:42Lionel, in eight years,
38:44left it at 19 billion dollars,
38:46equivalent to 62%
38:48of the increase of the debt
38:50compared to 2004.
38:52Danilo Medina found it at 19 billion.
38:54And in eight years,
38:56in eight years,
38:58without a local or international
39:00economic crisis,
39:02with an average oil price
39:04of 40 dollars a barrel,
39:06he took 25 billion dollars.
39:08Additionals.
39:10And he left it at 44 billion dollars.
39:1212,500
39:14for four years.
39:16For four years.
39:18Every four years.
39:20Now, if you look at December 2024,
39:22the debt is...
39:24From 20 to 24.
39:26The debt is at 57 billion.
39:28I'm not talking about the consolidated debt,
39:30which is more or less...
39:32So from 44 to 57.
39:34That's 13 billion dollars.
39:36So he almost indebted himself like Danilo.
39:38Exactly.
39:40But the country was closed.
39:42It's true that the war
39:44affected us.
39:46It's true that the prices increased
39:48all over the world.
39:50And I'm not defending anyone.
39:52I'm saying that the three are responsible.
39:54Now, I can't be an irresponsible politician
39:56and come and say that the debt...
39:58Now, what's the problem with the debt?
40:00It's true that the three have taken a lot of debt.
40:02Now, the problem is not so much
40:04what the current president has taken or not taken.
40:06The problem is that there is an accumulation of debt.
40:08Exactly.
40:10There is already a problem.
40:12And a reality of interests.
40:14But it's not like
40:16a press conference.
40:18My friend,
40:20who was the budget director
40:22of the PLD,
40:24Soray Macuello,
40:26and he tells you the problem of the debt.
40:28No, no.
40:30The three parties that have led
40:32in the last 30 years of this country are responsible.
40:34Danilo Medina altered the composition.
40:36When he started,
40:38the bilateral debt was greater.
40:40And he put it backwards.
40:42With capital markets.
40:44Now, Jandido,
40:46how have the other countries that have
40:48come out of this fatal dynamic
40:50broken the relationship with the
40:52factual powers?
40:54Or how have they handled it differently?
40:56The first thing is
40:58that we have to
41:00say it too.
41:02You from the media.
41:04There are no national projects here.
41:06Here, every politician who comes to power
41:08has his agenda.
41:10The president of the Dominican Republic
41:12comparatively
41:14is more powerful than Xi Jinping
41:16and more powerful than Trump.
41:18Repeat it, Jandido. There are no public policies.
41:20There are no national projects.
41:22That's why.
41:24Look at it. Leónel governed
41:26in the PLD, yes or no? 12 years.
41:28Danilo came and it was totally different.
41:30But it wasn't the same party.
41:32There are no national projects.
41:34Now,
41:36go to Mexico so you can see.
41:38There are national projects.
41:40With Morena.
41:42In Uruguay, the left wins and the right wins.
41:44Now the left won, but there is a
41:46national project in Uruguay. Have you been to Uruguay?
41:48Yes. It looks like Europe
41:50that you are.
41:52And the Human Development Index, right now,
41:54in Latin America, Uruguay has the highest.
41:56There are no illiterates.
41:58And it doesn't matter if it's right or left.
42:00There is a national project
42:02where the social indicators,
42:04the welfare and the standard of living
42:06are above everything,
42:08regardless of who you are.
42:10Tabaré Vázquez
42:12was president of Uruguay.
42:14He was an oncologist.
42:16When he gave up, he left
42:18and opened his
42:20consultancy.
42:22Those are the people we want. Laura Chinchilla
42:24was president of Costa Rica.
42:26And I saw her taking a loan
42:28from a bank to send her son
42:30abroad.
42:32How do you see 2028
42:34with so many
42:36light precandidates?
42:38Look,
42:40I resist.
42:42And I was telling you
42:44that I am almost saying goodbye
42:46to the world, not to the world of living.
42:48Because,
42:50first of all, they want to
42:52get us into 2028.
42:54And society has to resist that.
42:56Why?
42:58Because we have too many challenges.
43:00Exactly.
43:02What are we going to do?
43:04This war
43:06is going to affect us.
43:10It is going to affect us as a society.
43:12That instability,
43:14that uncertainty that
43:16Tron is generating in the world is going to affect us
43:18because we are a society with a defective
43:20democracy.
43:22With a very fragile
43:24institutionality.
43:26It can affect us in tourism.
43:28Why?
43:30In Canada, how many tourists come here?
43:32270,000 tourists.
43:34And also in real estate investments.
43:36I think they lead it.
43:38The North Americans are already affecting it
43:40with the price levels.
43:42The economy is going to grow 1.6, 1.7
43:44this year.
43:46All of that is going to affect us.
43:48What would I like to see?
43:50I would like to see a very smart
43:52Lionel Fernandez
43:54talking about the future
43:56of the Dominican Republic
43:58in connection with the exogenous
44:00external factors.
44:02I don't want him to talk about the past
44:04because Google will burn him.
44:06Google will burn you.
44:08And the trip with Abinader?
44:10That should not go to Abinader.
44:12If I were his consultant, I would tell him
44:14that he should not do that as president
44:16because he is not a candidate
44:18and he is electing his candidate.
44:20He is electing
44:22Lionel as
44:24the candidate of the opposition.
44:26I don't know if it is because Lionel has
44:28such a high rate of rejection.
44:32I don't know if you have seen the poll.
44:34It is very high.
44:36He is deciding that it is him.
44:38That should not happen.
44:42That violates the law.
44:44That violates the law.
44:46Of course,
44:48you can send it, but it is clandestine
44:50for your consumption.
44:52And there are newspapers that publish it.
44:56But there are media that hire her
44:58and present her.
45:00But that is prohibited.
45:02That is prohibited.
45:04He is a very good person.
45:08So we have to face
45:10those challenges that we have
45:12towards the future.
45:14For example, the Dominican Republic
45:16which is a decent job
45:18has a decent salary.
45:22It has social protection.
45:26It has gender equality.
45:28Here we pay more to men
45:30than to women.
45:32Here there are more men working
45:34and there are more women prepared than men.
45:3621% more is paid to men.
45:38And the top management says
45:40equal work,
45:42equal salary.
45:44In fact,
45:46in its article 39,
45:48number 5, it establishes equality.
45:50However, from the same state,
45:52from the public administration,
45:54there is
45:56no equality.
45:58So that cannot be.
46:00And there is
46:02no freedom here.
46:04Syndicate.
46:06I mean, I
46:08go to a company,
46:10I have no right to
46:12syndicate.
46:14You know that syndicates
46:16are a living expression of capitalism,
46:18of market society.
46:20You can't go to Cuba or China
46:24to syndicate.
46:26You can't.
46:28Because they are a dictatorship.
46:30But in democracy,
46:32on the contrary,
46:34I was advising a company
46:36that is North American.
46:38And every once in a while
46:40I come to that company
46:42to see how the employees' association
46:44is doing.
46:46They promote it.
46:48It's inconceivable that they don't need it.
46:50Not here.
46:52So that's what we want.
46:54And we want
46:56actions to be
46:58deployed in terms of
47:00institutional development.
47:02A friend of mine lives there.
47:04Find out who he is.
47:06He denounced
47:08with a lot of propriety
47:10that there is a man who is a congressman.
47:12That man
47:14is a union leader.
47:16He runs one of the three companies.
47:18But he is retired.
47:22For the state.
47:24Special. He never worked for the state,
47:26but he is retired for the state.
47:28But he is a congressman.
47:32But he owed, so soon he left
47:34as a congressman. I hope so.
47:36Cancel his pension, yes or no?
47:38But he receives more than 700,000 pesos
47:40a month.
47:42Because here
47:44those unions managed
47:46to get paid there,
47:48there,
47:50wherever there is advice.
47:52They were the ones who promoted it, the union leaders.
47:54And that's supposed to not be
47:56because that's part of your
47:58work in the
48:00inter-institutional framework.
48:02So all that happens here.
48:04And that's where we have to work.
48:06It doesn't matter which party
48:08is in power. Because look what happens.
48:10What PLD,
48:12Fuerza del Pueblo, are criticizing,
48:14they did it.
48:16But what López Remeita,
48:18now in power,
48:20is criticizing, today they are doing it.
48:22For example, I would like
48:24to see Miguel Sierra Hatton here.
48:26And you ask him about the debt.
48:28But I remember,
48:30a good economist, talking about the
48:32problem of the debt, and that they were not going to
48:34enter the path of the debt in that way.
48:36And saying where they were going
48:38to look for the money. It wasn't like that.
48:40Or am I wrong? So,
48:42we can't, that's what we want,
48:44a coherence in leadership.
48:46It's true that the roles change, but you can't
48:48one with a violin,
48:50and another with a guitar.
48:52And you say,
48:54people are going to vote.
48:56What happens is that the Dominican Republic
48:58is one of the
49:00few countries in the world that still
49:02exists in the political discourse.
49:04And the people vote for you,
49:06because they are from X party,
49:08and because they know, and they have a guarantee,
49:10that if their party comes to power,
49:12their problems are solved.
49:14With Trump,
49:16you see there,
49:18but Trump has not been able to fire an employee, he can't.
49:20Even those 10,000
49:22that he suspended from the USAID,
49:24the USAID is there by law,
49:26he has to take that to Congress.
49:28You will see that they will have to
49:30replace part of that.
49:32Why? Because it is by law that the USAID is there.
49:34Remember that this was when John F. Kennedy,
49:36the famous alliance for progress,
49:38became a USAID.
49:40So,
49:42he won a left-wing party in Uruguay.
49:44He doesn't take anyone
49:46from the Colorado party that was in power.
49:48Not here,
49:50here the world is shaking.
49:52Here the situation is so cruel.
49:54I don't know how 90% of Dominicans
49:56don't suffer from
49:58anxiety
50:00or stress.
50:02Why?
50:04Here we should have what the psychiatrists call
50:06a permanent neurosis.
50:08Well, yes,
50:10what happens is that you are working in the public administration
50:12and even with your party,
50:14with your party in power,
50:16you don't have a guarantee of 4 years.
50:18If the minister changes.
50:20If the minister changes, you are gone.
50:22Not necessarily he will take everything,
50:24but he takes a part of his people.
50:26And more with 23
50:28that are believed to be candidates
50:30that will take him.
50:32So, that's the situation.
50:34They don't want to take 28.
50:36Look, Felipe Vallejo,
50:38who you should bring him monthly,
50:40you spoke to him with a lot of property.
50:42Felipe told him,
50:44if PRM
50:46remains united
50:48and PLD
50:50strength of the people
50:52goes up,
50:54there is no way.
50:56There is no way.
50:58It doesn't matter the candidate.
51:00Who? PRM?
51:02PRM is going to negotiate
51:04the source they already negotiated.
51:06They are negotiating.
51:08How?
51:10They know that the same thing will happen to them
51:12that happened to
51:14the mass of people.
51:16Only PRD
51:18beats PRD.
51:20And it was like that, right?
51:22Balaguer arrived in 1986
51:24for the division of Magluta and Salvador L. Blanco.
51:26And Salvador, believing that he was coming back,
51:28Balaguer disappeared him from the map.
51:30And, however,
51:32Jacob Magluta beat Balaguer.
51:34What happens is that
51:36his friend, the cardinal,
51:38was Balaguerita.
51:40And the votes,
51:42Blanco, they didn't count.
51:44And the votes in Blanco gave more,
51:46the votes that had to be counted,
51:48gave more.
51:50There were 21,000 that were from Magluta.
51:52But they didn't count.
51:54The establishment said,
51:56ok, this man of confidence
51:58doesn't generate confidence.
52:00Blind, deaf and mute,
52:02he lasted 10 years in power.
52:04And that's what we have to change.
52:06The institutional,
52:08the institutional strength.
52:10I'm going to send you an article that is already in my head
52:12called
52:14The Social Drama of Exclusion and the Necessary
52:16Institutional Development
52:18of the Dominican Republic.
52:20Because we can't continue with that
52:22political desire. Because we have to
52:24build the meritocracy.
52:26For example, if I run a company,
52:28I need
52:30a good
52:32speaker, what do you say in English?
52:34A good representative.
52:36Speaker.
52:38You want a more ironic
52:40and competitive representative.
52:42Ah, she's not from my party.
52:44I don't care. It's the meritocracy.
52:46Here it's not like that.
52:48We are
52:50the third country in Latin America
52:52with the highest public occupancy density.
52:54We have
52:56one job for every 14
52:58inhabitants.
53:00One public employee
53:02and one public employee for every 9.8
53:04that are registered in the standard.
53:06That's what we have to change.
53:08It doesn't matter which party it is.
53:10That's why I tell you, I don't want
53:12to be compared to the past with the present,
53:14with everything
53:16and the accumulated social debt.
53:18The present today
53:20is better than the past.
53:22Candido, as always, excellent.
53:24We had a great time.
53:26Thank you, Candido.
53:28Let's go to commercials.
53:44.
53:46.
53:48.
53:50.
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