Economic Sanctions In The Dominican Republic

In the 1930s the Dominican Republic began to peg its currency against the US dollar after the abandonment of the gold standard by the United States of America and Great Britain . In 1955 the annual budget in the Dominican Republic did not have expenditures which were greater than the amount of income the country was generating and there was no foreign debt, this meant the standard of living was on the rise and there was no inflation. The Dominican peso was exchangeable at a rate of 1-1 for US dollars. At this time the main products coming out of the country were raw materials such as iron, gypsum, salt, marble, copper, nickel and agricultural goods such as sugar, coffee, cocoa, tobacco, rice, and bananas. In 1955 these goods were generating …show more content…
These sanctions had the effect of causing political changes in line with what the OAS wanted to see in the Dominican Republic. The main goal was to scold the current dictator in the country Rafael Trujillo for the attempted assassination of the Venezuelan president Betancourt. It was ruled by the OAS that the government of the Dominican Republic had known about the attempted uprising in Venezuela at the time and had issued passports to people who had both promoted the uprising and attempted the assassination. Acting in the background was the United States of America which wanted more liberalization of the current regime in the country. The OAS charter at the time had a provision which stipulated that in order to achieve international order one country must have respect for the personality, sovereignty, and independence of states. The Economic sanctions which were applied consisted of three main provisions. The first was the suspension of trade with the Dominican Republic by those involved in the OAS in the areas of petroleum and petroleum products, trucks, and spare parts for automobiles. The second was the prevention of re-export of goods from the OAS members to the Dominican Republic. The third was the provision that each member of the OAS report their measures to the UN. Under these sanctions the government took the steps of increasing taxes and subsequently increasing the tariffs on luxury items. It is of note that the trade embargos on the Dominican Republic did not work very well because of non OAS members. Europe was more than willing to fill the trade void left by the OAS however the deals with Europe were clearly not as lucrative for the Dominican Republic. An example of this could be Sugar which had been traded with the USA at a price of 5.36 cents for 1 pound whereas on the world