Before becoming president, Abinader was the general manager of Grupo Abicor, a business consortium started by his father, José Rafael Abinader, a former senator and finance minister. Grupo Abicor includes a real estate and construction company focused mainly on the tourism industry, a cement factory, and a private university. As revealed by the Pandora Papers, Abinader also owns several offshore companies.[1] Abinader was proclaimed as Latin America's richest president by Bloomberg Línea in 2022.[2]
Abinader was re-elected to a second term as president in the 2024 Dominican Republic general election. In his victory speech, Abinader said that the "changes that we've made are going to be irreversible", and that the "best is yet to come".[3]
Early life and family
José Sesin Abinader, the grandfather of Luis Abinader (April 1945)
He was the Executive Chairman of ABICOR Group, which has developed and operated major tourism projects in the Dominican Republic. This family group spearheaded the business plan that led to the establishment of Cementos Santo Domingo, where he served as Vice President.
He has been president of the Association of Hotels in the Puerto Plata area and is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Hotels and Restaurants (ASONAHORES).
He was recognized by the Rhode Island General Assembly for his career in public service, education, and business. He also received acknowledgments from the City Hall of Boston and the Massachusetts Senate for his contributions to higher education, civic engagement, and community service.
Abinader was, along with Soraya Aquino, one of the two presidential candidates in 2016 who had not been born during the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo (1930-1961).[10]Giuliani Partners, specifically Rudy Giuliani and John Huvane, advised Abinader in the campaign as security consultants.[11][12]
Abinader successfully ran for President in the 2020 election.[13]Rudy Giuliani and John Huvane once again advised Abinader in the campaign as security consultants.[11][14]
2024 election
In August 2023, he announced his intention to seek presidential re-election, and in the May 19, 2024, election, he was re-elected with 57% of the votes for the 2024-2028 term. His two closest competitors were Leonel Fernández of the People's Force party, and Abel Martínez of the Dominican Liberation Party. They received 29% and 10% of the votes, respectively, in that election.[15][16]
Suspicions of tax evasion
In October 2021, Abinader was named in the Pandora Papers leak.[17] Prior becoming President, he filed a public declaration of assets stating that he had a net worth of 76 million US dollars.
Littlecot Inc. (created on 24 March 2011 and which he owns with his sister and brother). Abinader interviewed by the ICIJ said that Littlecot Inc. holds family property in the Dominican Republic.
Padreso SA (created on 8 January 2014, and in which his three siblings are shareholders). This company owns and manages shares in six other entities that own properties and extensions of the private university (also owned by his family).
Documents found in the Pandora Papers show that these two companies originally had bearer shares, not registered in the name of any particular person. It also shows that after in 2015, Panamanian law required companies to disclose the identity of the owners of their bearer shares, in 2018, a lawyer for the Abinaders filed a form with an "offshore service company" (Overseas Management Co. or OMC Group) listing Luis Abinader's siblings as shareholders of the companies, instead of "the bearer".
OMC Group is also the service provider that created the company Offshore Dorado Asset Management Ltd. on 2 July 2004 in the tax haven of the British Virgin Islands on behalf of Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski. Once president, Abinader created the company Offshore Dorado.
Once president, Abinader declared these two companies (and at least seven other offshore companies under a revocable trust). His net worth was approximately US$70 million, according to a public declaration of assets he filed a month after being elected president in 2020.
The inauguration had a reduced number of guests due to the measures taken for the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the international guests was the Secretary of State of the United States, Mike Pompeo, who attended on behalf of President Donald Trump.[21]
He made the fight against illegal immigration one of his priorities. In February 2022, he began construction of a separation wall with Haiti, which will extend over 164 of the 380 kilometers of border.[22]
Border wall
In February 2023, construction was started on a border wall that will cover the border with Haiti.[23][24] The project includes 70 watchtowers and 41 access gates for patrolling containing fiber optics for communications, movement sensors, cameras, radars and drones.[23][25] This project will be the second longest border wall in the Americas, after the US-Mexico wall.[24] Proposals for a wall came from several Dominican politicians, including Ramfis Trujillo, grandson of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo, and Abinader before becoming president.[26][23] The idea is supported by the vast majority of the Dominican population.[27] Dominican officials claim the wall will slow the illegal Haitian migration, the drug trade, as well as reduce the chance of gang violence in Haiti from spreading to the Dominican Republic.[25]
Economic management
Despite efforts to reactivate the economy in the post-pandemic period, Abinader's administration has faced numerous criticisms.[28] Several economists have pointed out that, although there were successes in vaccination and some economic stimuli, the debt policy has been inefficient.[29][30] The significant increase in loans, without strong capital expenditure to boost the economy, could compromise future governments.[31]
Additionally, the policy of eliminating customs duties for certain imported products has been criticized, arguing that it has harmed domestic producers and led to the bankruptcy of many local businesses. These measures failed to control the prices of food and other basic products, and the national economy continued to slow down, with double-digit inflation and economic growth limited to 2% in 2023.[32][33][34]
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was among those in attendance at Abinader's swearing-in ceremony.[19] Under Luis Abinader's leadership, the Dominican Republic is set to form stronger economic and diplomatic ties with the United States.[35] Under his administration, the Dominican Republic became one of the countries that, along with the US, voted to maintain the arms embargo on Iran.[36]
He is close to the Lima Group, which brings together nations in the Americas to oppose the Maduro regime and advocate for a return to democracy in Venezuela.[37]
The government of Luis Abinader has been questioned for the increase in the country's public debt, taking it from U$44,622.3 million in 2020 to U$54,828.8 million by December 2023, which means that in just 3 years (2021-2023) it increased by U$10,206.5 million.[40] This makes his government the one that has most indebted the country in absolute terms. Consolidated public debt along with the Central Bank debt (U$19,944.9 million in 2023) reached a total of U$74,900 million by December 2023.[41][42][43][44][45]
Clientelism
The management of Luis Abinader has continued the old practices of clientelism to gain popularity, spending billions of Dominican pesos on RD$1500 bonds, which are approximately 30 dollars.[46] These bonds, which are supposed to support families, have been labeled as an act of clientelism by the government.[47][48][49]
In a press conference, one of the main opposition parties, Fuerza del Pueblo, denounced through its legal team that the president had been given about 30 thousand cards of the 2023 Christmas bonus.[50]
Popularity
Despite the high inflation rate experienced by the country and the devaluation of the Dominican peso against the US dollar (going from 53.30 per dollar to 56.50),[51][52] President Luis Abinader has maintained a popularity above 55% to this day.[53][54] He is also the second most popular president in Latin America, behind Nayib Bukele, President of El Salvador.[55][56]
Personal life
President Luis Abinader at the launch event for the Second Stage of Revitalization of the Colonial City of Santo Domingo. To the left of the President, Carolina Mejía (Mayor of the National District), and to the right David Collado (Minister of Tourism).
Abinader has been married to Raquel Arbaje Soneh since 1995. She is the daughter of businesspersons Elías Arbaje Farah and Margarita Soneh, both of Lebanese descent. They have three children.[57]
^ abPartlow, Joshua; Dawsey, Josh (20 February 2020). "Amid Ukraine swirl, Giuliani's work for candidate in Dominican Republic caused unease". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 20 February 2020. Retrieved 22 February 2020. Since 2015, Giuliani has been hired by Abinader as a security consultant two times, according to Samuel Pereyra, an official in the Abinader campaign who managed the contracts. His most recent contract, for $75,000, was secured last June, Pereyra said, more than a year after Giuliani joined Trump's legal team.
^Núñez Núñez, Milcíades Humberto. "Descendientes de Raymundo Núñez" [Raymundo Núñez's Descendants]. Genealogy.com (in Spanish). Séptima generación. Archived from the original on 20 January 2009. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
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