When the Green March turned gray: silence in the current corruption scandals

In August 2015, the citizen struggle was dressed in "green hope", with the birth of a movement called "Green March". The country felt the resurgence of voices demanding transparency, driven by various civil society organizations that were calling for justice in the face of corruption scandals, which were awakening and challenging the "misconduct" of politicians and officials who were at the head of important government offices. The purpose was to present a civil and non-partisan movement, avoiding the prominence of leaders of the traditional political parties. Representatives even reported that they chose the color green to avoid the use of other colors associated with established political parties. In his most active years, he managed to make visible the collective social opinion against corruption and push the public agenda towards accountability, transparency, and the demand that public management be clear, and without the interest of tarnishing the State's coffers for individual or family gain. The first major demonstration was when thousands of Dominicans marched to Independence Park, demanding that the authorities act firmly against all those involved in the Odebrecht Case. Entire streets were dressed in green, with banners and clear messages: "Enough of theft", "End to impunity", "Justice!"...

Then this spread throughout the territory, with peaceful marches in Nagua, Santiago, and other locations, demanding the resignation of President Danilo Medina, for his alleged connection to corruption and the establishment of an independent justice system. Their years of great presence and lucidity were between 2017 and 2020, when they organized more than 30 demonstrations. Today, the Green March is conspicuous by its absence in the demand for justice... The change of government from the Dominican Liberation Party, which led the nation for more than 20 years, to the Modern Revolutionary Party, things changed significantly. Silence enveloped the movement. With the largest fracture in the history of the PLD, which affected its performance in the 2020 elections, and a series of scandals emerged that tarnished the image of the government and its officials.​ Odebrecht, the Metropolitan Bus Services Operator (OMSA), the State Works Supervisory Office; and at a certain point, the treatment of the then Attorney General of the Republic, Jean Alain Rodríguez, to Dr. Miriam Germán Brito in a public hearing on television, were some of the notorious events that shocked and irritated the social sectors of the country.​

At that moment, the Green March was trending on all social media. The media spoke incessantly about this movement and its cry for justice.

Today, 5 years later, the movement became a lethargy from which it shows no signs of recovering. In current cases such as the National Health Insurance (SeNaSa); the case of the Government Office of Information and Communication Technologies (OGTIC); the deputies involved in active judicial cases; the case of the National Institute of Transit and Land Transportation (Intrant); among others from public institutions of great relevance, the movement says nothing. It shows no signs of life. Political figures have not been left behind. In the first four years of President Luis Abinader Corona's government, figures such as Kimberly Taveras, Luz del Alba Jiménez Ramírez, Luis Maisichell Dicent, Leonardo Faña and others were dismissed or resigned amid controversies and accusations of corruption. The country has witnessed new scandals, in a context where the citizenry expected substantial changes in transparency and institutionalism. And it was there where the Green March stopped shining. Their motto, “For the end of impunity”, seems to have been forgotten collectively. Marches are no longer called, hashtags are not created, justice is not demanded with the same force as before. Thus, that which was once the largest, most fervent, and most listened-to non-partisan movement in the country was extinguished.