More Clarity, More Friendship

It’s not very often the U.S. ambassador meets for three hours with the [Dominican] Republic’s attorney general, even when the encounter is supposedly to facilitate a strengthening of relations between both countries in the fight against crime.

A moderately institutionalized society would require Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito to offer a more detailed explanation for his prolonged conversation with Ambassador James Brewster, assuming the influential diplomat’s visit wasn’t just a courtesy [call].

Yesterday was the U.S. ambassador’s third official visit to the attorney general; in each visit, the diplomat has offered his support for the Public Ministry’s anti-corruption policy.

During the first meeting, Brewster appeared shocked by the increase in organized crime and domestic and gendered violence in the Dominican Republic; in their second meeting, he offered the attorney his support in pursuing the suspects implicated in [these crimes].

Cooperation between two countries — for common causes like the prevention, prosecution and punishment of crimes, and offenses such as drug trafficking, money laundering, embezzlement, human trafficking and terrorism — should always be encouraged. But it should also be pointed out that, in a diplomatic setting, formalities should be preserved.

Brewster has sufficiently demonstrated that his management is singularly characterized by an agenda that, in many aspects, collides with the motivations and initiatives of the Dominican state, especially considering controversial legislation legalized by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The attorney general should be advised not to go too far with agreements to share initiatives or agendas with foreign ambassadors or representatives, without a ruling from the public that what is agreed upon does not invade the delicate territory of national sovereignty or collide with the chancellor’s agenda.

Right now, Attorney General Dominguez Brito should recount with more detail the circumstances, reasons and outcome of these repeated meetings (this time for three hours) with the U.S. ambassador. The more clarity [there is], the more friendship [there will be].