CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

Dominican Republic, Serving the US, Expels Cuban Diplomats, Yet Ties with Cuba Have Their Appeal

Photograph Source: Paul Stein from New Jersey, USA – CC BY-SA 2.0

The Dominican Republic expelled nine Cuban diplomats on April 13; Cuba claimed 10 . The day marked the centennial of Fidel Castro’s birth. A celebratory three-hour “political-cultural gala” was taking place at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo. News of the action spread. Attendance at the event swelled to over 2000.

Journalist Pablo McKinney wrote that, “I’ve never felt so much like we were a pawn of another country.” Leaders of small left-leaning Dominican political formations criticized their government, among them: Minou Tavárez Mirabal, founder of the Democratic Option; Guillermo Moreno, president of the Alliance for the Country; and María Teresa Cabrera, president of the Broad Front.

The diplomats arrived in Havana five days later. Vice-Chancellor Josefina Vidal commented that, “Dominican officials were unable to offer one reason justifying their decision, because there are none.” But serving their US overseers would have been reason enough. The timing of the action with Fidel Castro’s birthday would have pleased them.

At the UN General Assembly in October 2025, the DR abstained rather than vote its customary approval of an annual resolution calling for the US blockade of Cuba to end. In November 2025 and again six months later, Dominican authorities opened up two of the country’s airports to the comings and goings of US military aircraft. Prompted by the US, Dominican President Luis Abinader canceled the 10th Summit of the Americas which he was to have hosted in Punto Cana in late 2025. He had previously disinvited Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.

The DR joined with the right-wing governments of Panama, Costa Rica, Ecuador to form the so-called Alliance for Democratic Development (ADD). The group fosters commercial and political cooperation under US tutelage. The Abinader government joined those nations in sending electoral observers to Honduras’s most recent........

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