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Editor’s Note: This Letter to the Editor was originally submitted in late November. All names have been withheld.
Tomorrow marks two years since I left Dominica after spending a year and two months living on that beautiful island trying to obtain citizenship by investment. I was naive enough to become a client of XXX, who kept delaying the process week after week. It became clear that because I was applying for the lowest price, the donation to the state, where CBI agents don’t make hefty profits, I was always going to be last in line. Later, it was a whole murky affair with my payment, where I practically lost the money. Furthermore, XXX played the role of the abuser who gets indignant at the victim who rebels, and he managed to prevent me from receiving citizenship. The irony was that I had already been approved, but the CBI simply never issued me the passport. I only saw one lawyer brave enough to stand up to XXX. The others avoided any confrontation or were even openly afraid of him.
Corruption and underdevelopment have degraded Dominica to levels rarely seen before in others countries. It’s no coincidence that certain statistics are so difficult to access. I experienced this firsthand for a year and two months. I saw a beautiful and vibrant nation, but paradoxically, also a sad one.
Rosie Douglas’s revolutionary ideals have been betrayed by a gang of capitalists. Dominica lacks basic necessities like traffic lights, daily newspapers, and sidewalks; the roads are in terrible condition. The Atlantic Coast lives in shameful poverty for an economy where the state collects so many millions of dollars through the CBI. There are very few Dominicans and a lot of money from the CBI, so there shouldn’t be so much poverty in Dominica.
I loved and still love Dominica. During my year and two months in Dominica, I lost a lot of money and my health deteriorated. Nothing will bring back the time I lost. Sometimes I wonder if the State of Dominica shouldn’t compensate me for that, especially since I’m technically a Dominican citizen because I was approved by the CBI. Unfortunately, [the lawyer who stood up to XXX] is no longer in Dominica. I wish another lawyer would have the courage to represent me.
I don’t have Dominica citizenship and I lost a lot in Dominica, but in my living room, in my office, and on my keychain there is a Dominica flag.
Long live Dominica!