This translation has been automatically generated and has not been verified for accuracy.

Many politicians resort to issues that are in vogue. One such topic is science and technology for development. On this issue it is necessary to warn politicians that they are playing with atomic energy, which kills more than it burns. Science and technology cannot continue to be advertised as something necessary to confront globalisation without actually pretending to do anything. The time will come when those who are not up to date in the use of science and technology to sustain their economic system will succumb to globalisation. Bread and circuses are not enough, because to provide bread and circuses one must necessarily produce. And to produce, cheap labour is not enough, because, just as the industrial revolution made the use of slaves for production unprofitable, today the use of cheap and unskilled labour is unprofitable. Just as the industrial revolution made millions of now free slaves destitute, so today globalisation makes room for unskilled labour.

Many complain that the economic growth that the Dominican Republic has experienced is not reflected in the poorest classes. They are right. These classes are deprived of the necessary preparation and training to participate in this economic growth, and, therefore, to take advantage of it. The only way we can solve this problem is through education. We must facilitate and promote the general education and technical training necessary for them to become part of the new productive machinery. This, however, cannot be achieved overnight, it is a matter of more than one generation.