Back then, his main claim to fame had been his role as right-hand man to a former Marxist president, Juan Bosch. In the early 1970s he had helped Mr Bosch form the left-wing pro-Cuban Dominican Liberation Party, the principal aim of which was to campaign against US influence in
Three years ago, it sank into a financial crisis as severe as any witnessed in the volatile region, following the sudden collapse of the country’s third biggest bank.
And yet 18 months after Mr Fernández’s return to power following an election victory in 2004, an IMF-backed recovery is well under