On this day in history, May 17th, President Leonel Fernandez declared victory in the Dominican Republic national election and pledged to continue pushing economic projects forward. His new take on economy and politics in his country have helped pull the Caribbean nation’s economy out of crisis.
Fernandez has had a great legacy being credited with stabilizing the peso, taming 30 percent inflation and bringing the country back from an economic crisis ignited by a bank collapse in 2003 in addition to the $695 million, 450 million Euro, in loans from the International Monetary Fund.
This victory has made Fernandez the first Dominican president to be re-elected since the country’s last official was thrown out 12 years prior. This new election proved that many of the nation’s people have out grown the worry of having long-term politicians in a country with a painful history of strict and authoritarian rule.
