Dominican President Leonel Antonio Fernández Reyna called for economic reform yesterday in his election-season visit.

Facing pointed questions from a Haitian advocacy group in an election-season visit, the president of the Dominican Republic implored Latin American nations to find a balance “between neo-liberalism and neo-populism” in politics and economics to a packed auditorium last night.

Leonel Antonio Fernández Reyna’s speech, titled “Development and Democracy in Latin America: The Dominican Example,” proceeded without turbulence, and students who attended a private luncheon with the president beforehand said that it, too, was calm.

But before he arrived, the smoothness of the president’s visit was far from assured.

FORMAL AND INFORMAL POLICIES

The Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations invited Fernández—who is currently in his second term and running for re-election in 2008—to the school, with co-sponsorship from the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies and the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.

According to a faculty member who holds positions with the latter two groups, the visit broke an “informal policy” they typically observe.

“Harvard, in my experience, has tried to avoid, at least in the case of Latin America, allowing people running for election to visit,” said Steven R. Levitsky, the John L. Loeb associate professor of the social sciences. “In Latin America, a visit to Harvard is usually seen as an electoral benefit.”

Nevertheless, Levitsky, who specializes in Latin American politics, said Fernández was an appropriate exception.

“I have no problem with Fernández being here, because this is a guy who, to my knowledge, has a pretty clean record in human rights and corruption,” Levitsky said.

Fernández has made economic growth and free trade a cornerstone of his two terms, and according to the C.I.A. World Factbook entry on the Dominican Republic, the country experienced 10.7 percent GDP growth in 2006.

“No elected government official, no matter how inflamed is the rhetoric, is seriously considering the possibility of challenging the capitalist system,” Fernández said of Latin American leaders in his speech.

He urged such heads of state to pursue what he called a “ten-point action plan” that followed his personal approach to reforms. The points emphasized economic liberalization and deals like the Central American Free Trade Agreement, but also called for “family values,” “solidarity,” and “public investment” based upon the needs of citizens.

HAITIAN AGITATION

Not all audience members were satisfied with Fernández’s policies.

Edad Mercier ’10, co-president of the Harvard Haitian Alliance (HHA), said Fernández has not done enough for ethnic Haitians in the Dominican Republic.

“Their children are not allowed to enroll in schools, they are not given health care,” she said. “They are just exploited, purely for labor, because they have absolutely no rights.”

According to the U.S. Department of State, during Fernández’s tenure Dominican authorities conducted mass expulsions of ethnic Haitians, sending thousands of people in a period of weeks across the Haitian border often solely on the basis of their appearance.

In a public invitation to the speech, posted on Facebook.com, HHA members implored students to “personally question the current leader of this so-called ‘democratic nation.’”

Larry D. Arbuthnott ’10, the other co-president, said the HHA spoke to Fernández about the Haitian issue during the luncheon, but said they received unsatisfactory answers.

“He’s a politician, so he was pretty polished about it,” he said. “He didn’t get into the meat of the issue.”

In a question-and-answer session after the speech, the president spoke about Haitians in his country.

“We cannot guarantee universal education or universal health care access to all Dominicans or to Haitians, but it is not guaranteed in Haiti, either,” he said. “The tendency is to blame the Dominican Republic for something that affects both countries.”

He added that Haitians in his country are moving out of agriculture and into other sectors, a process he thinks will bring “some sort of social relief.”

“I know that there are many issues still pending,” he said, citing immigration, trade, and drug trafficking problems in the Haitian community. Nevertheless, he remained optimistic, calling the two peoples “brothers and sisters.”

Jorge I. Domínguez, the Antonio Madero professor of Latin American politics and economics, and vice provost for international affairs, called Fernández a “bridge-builder” after his speech.

“He has ways of building support that bridge ideological disagreement,” he said.

—Staff writer Abraham J. Riesman can be reached at riesman@fas.harvard.edu