I, myself, had planned on seeing the palace at least once during my first-ever trip to the D.R. Sadly, there has been torrential rain pretty much every day since I arrived. On Sunday, November 10th, 2024, I attended the Feria Del Libro (National Book Fair) and my interest to see the palace grew much stronger. The presenters did a fantastic job illustrating the country’s beginnings, it’s culture, and the political framework for its government.

On Monday, November 11th, 2024, the rain cleared for what I guessed [correctly] would be a couple of hours. That was my chance! I took at Uber from my hotel and as we arrived, I noticed the palace was inaccessible (unlike presidential palaces I’ve filmed in El Salvador, Chile, and elsewhere). My Uber driver told me not to worry. He said I could walk the perimeter on the public sidewalk and that the soldiers might even take pictures with me. That got me excited and as I stated earlier, the grounds are majestic, the buildings are spectacular, and being the travel and history buff that I am, I was in heaven. Unfortunately, as soon as the Uber driver stopped the vehicle at a good distance across the street and on the next block away from the main gate, the guards (which look like military but may be police) started shooing him off. And when I got out, they barked at me that I could take photos for only a few seconds.

The palace guards seemed highly on edge. Most presidential guards at palaces I’ve visited around the world engage with citizens and tourists. They are respected by the public for their professionalism and approachability. Their state of readiness is not scored based on how nasty they can be to visitors, rather, by their posture, their organization, and their ability to communicate with visitors and themselves [internally]. What I saw here were overly aggressive and highly paranoid, heavily armed guards. They don’t inspire confidence and competency like the guards of other countries do. Quite the contrary. Their paranoia struck me as fear. Fear of what? I haven’t the faintest idea, but fear and guns don’t mix well. If they were nasty to a big American guy smiling, waving, saying good morning while holding a video camera, Lord only knows how they must treat the citizens of the Dominican Republic.

As I cleared the first corner, I was very nervous. I saw the gentleman (pictured above) walking alongside me on the opposing street. Once traffic cleared, he crossed, and gave me a very dirty look. He then went into the next gate and had a word with the guards there. As I cleared the next corner, the guards at that gate scolded me that filming was not allowed. Remember, the guards at the [first] main gate where my Uber driver dropped me off said I could take photos for only a few seconds. And mind you, while there are signs posted throughout the grounds for No Parking and No Loading/Unloading passengers, there are no signs for photography or filming. In fact, my Uber driver, who is a Dominican national was even under the impression that not only was filming perfectly fine on the sidewalk, but he was under the impression that the soldiers would pose for photos with me.

If there’s no signs posted anywhere, the soldiers are giving mixed directives, and locals think filming is ok, how is a tourist supposed to surmise from all of those factors that filming would end up getting you detained or worse? Once again, the palace guards seemed extremely unorganized, paranoid, and overly aggressive. And heavily armed. Can’t forget that. Definitely can’t forget that!

As I made it to this plaza, my video for SightsSoundsFlavors (English channel) was coming to an end. I was about to start filming my video for TodoQueVeo (Spanish channel). As I started to cross the street to walk the second half of the sidewalk wrapping around the other half of the presidential palace, I heard a man ask to talk to me. At first, I thought he was a panhandler and said no thank you without fully turning around. He asked for a second time. Again, I said no thank you. Finally, he ordered me to speak with him so I stopped my video and asked him what he wanted.

He presented himself as a member of intelligence, verbally only. The correct protocol should have been to have done that from the onset and not having done so approaching me from behind while crossing a congested street while clearly filming forward. He should have walked up to to me face to face. When he got my attention, he should have immediately showed me his government badge. He did not. He, too, was aggressive and nasty. He said photography was not allowed. He demanded my ID and he lectured me about not coming to speak to him initially, even though I didn’t know him from Adam and thought he was a panhandler. Could you imagine stopping to talk to every person who wanted to talk to you in a major city while filming with a $2,000 camcorder? Seems resaonable, right?

Soon, thereafter, another intelligence agent arrived. (I later found out he was a Major). He also did not identify himself as such or show his badge. They only showed badges (which looked a little goofy to me) when I asked. I informed them that the initial guards said photography was ok, the next guards said it wasn’t, and now they were telling me it was illegal. They then said it wasn’t illegal. So I asked, if it wasn’t illegal why were they detaining me? The lower rank intelligence officer said I needed a permit. I was stunned that a permit was needed to film from a sidewalk. At that point the Major told him to quiet down, largely, because his underling was probably making up the permit part. The major never once raised that silly argument. Maybe this was a shakedown? I don’t know.

When they demanded my ID, I said I could call the U.S. Embassy, and let them get involved. They backed down FAST. It was a point in the nonconsensual conversation where the tables turned. All of their power was gone. My comment rattled them. It was like the holy water scene in The Exorcist. I then, really, knew these “intelligence officers” were as full of it as my gut instincts led me to believe. They weren’t just doing their job. They were a couple of thugs who probably do this to tourists on a daily basis. And once you give them your ID or passport, what must foreign nationals have to do to get those sacred travel credentials back? Once they have your passport, they can ask you anything, and if you want that travel document back, you might give up all sorts of information under duress. It’s also the perfect setting for a shakedown. They backed off after that.

As I started to film my Spanish video and left the two intelligence jokers behind, the guards at the next gate got flustered. I explained that the two intelligence officers back at the plaza said filming wasn’t illegal and that the guards at one of the main gates said a few seconds was ok. I wasn’t even filming their gate. I was filming as I walked the sidewalk. They had no reason to be so aggressive and paranoid, but by this point I had had enough and backtracked filming while looking for a place to call an Uber. As I crossed the street and was now about two blocks from the palace, I was then approached by another intelligence officer and a uniformed military police officer. Much like their other colleagues, they were also overly aggressive, paranoid, and rude. None of these various groups of police and intelligence seemed to communicate with each other because they were all saying different things and none of them knew who I was or what I was doing. They also didn’t have radios, as the uniformed guard had to pull out his cell phone to communicate. Neither of these guys could give me an explanation for why there were no posted signs relative to photography or filming like there were signs for parking and loading/unloading passengers in designated areas. The uniformed guard actually had the audacity to say the palace zone was a “restricted area,” but couldn’t tell me why there wasn’t even ONE single sign posted that said so.

These two agents of the state really didn’t like the filming (they’re on video). And the uniformed one said I should have asked for permission to film. When I asked him a very simple question, he looked at me dumbfounded. I said, if there aren’t any signs that say no filming or no photography, why would anyone ask if they can film or photograph? It’s nonsensical. I don’t want to mock these guards and agents, but the collective IQ level is pretty low.

As I left these two to play with their phone and chase their shadows, I noticed a plainclothes motorcyclist race by me a couple of times as I walked several blocks away. By this point, I was damn near terrified, but kept walking, filming, and looking over my shoulder. On the last drive-by he turned and gave me the middle finger. Why would a motorcyclist give a pedestrian the middle finger for walking on a sidewalk (now four blocks from the palace)? Oh, and the Uber I was supposed to get, right where the last two agents approached to harass me, wouldn’t drive up five blocks to get me. I thought the uniformed officer and the plainclothes intelligence agent would try to intimidate the Uber driver from helping me get out of there if I stayed put. So I lost that trip and paid the cancellation fee. I got a new Uber three or so blocks away and got out of there. Interestingly, the Uber driver who picked me up was a retired Dominican police officer (of 20+ years). At first, my paranoia set in a bit, but I immediately relaxed when he told me in no uncertain terms that the guards at the palace were seen as assholes by the Dominican people. He said they have a very bad reputation for dealing with the public. You don’t say?!

The United States and the Dominican Republic have extremely strong ties. In fact, we just built a new embassy in close proximity to the Sambil Mall in Santo Domingo. My hotel was full of Americans, some from the Carolinas, Florida, Arizona and California. And those were just the folks I ate breakfast with, shared elevator rides, and chatted up at the lobby. I’d say the vast majority of guests at the Embassy Suites (the tallest building in the capital) were tourists. Had any of these soldiers or intelligence officers laid a finger on me, confiscated my camera, searched my camera or arrested me, it would have created a diplomatic shitstorm because nothing I was doing was illegal and they were arbitrarily detaining and questioning foreign nationals. These guards and/or intelligence will eventually cross the line. As a licensed, practicing attorney and experienced YouTuber, I know how to deal with ignorant people. That being said, not everyone is like me. I always stay civil and I knew I had the nuclear option – calling the U.S. Embassy. They guys lack training and common sense, but they know that one call to the U.S. Embassy, and they’re done. There is NO WAY the Dominican government would excuse, much less defend, this type of treatment of United States citizens by its police and intelligence agents. That’s why they lost all their bravado when I asked if I should call my embassy. Had they been acting lawfully, they would have stood their ground.

The U.S. Embassy needs to address their Dominican counterparts with regards to what is going on at the National Palace. The U.S. State Department should also have something posted regarding public photography in its Travel Advisory for the Dominican Republic and/or on its Country Information Page. It’s only a question of time until these uniformed guards and/or plainclothes intelligence operatives illegally arrest or physically harm foreign nationals taking photos or videos in the Dominican Republic. Nowadays – EVERYONE – has the ability to take beautiful photos and videos in as high as 4K quality with their smartphones. And not everyone is going to put up with being illegally detained and questioned by the government thugs like I was.

A copy of this article will be sent to the appropriate officers at the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo by email and regular mail. The same will be done with the U.S. State Department and the appropriate Dominican government agencies. I would like to request a formal investigation of police and intelligence practices related to tourists and filming at the National Palace. My requests will more likely fall on deaf ears, but it’s only a question of time until these agents of the Dominican state harm foreign nationals. They lack training and they need to work on being less aggressive and less paranoid.

Santo Domingo is not a warzone and tourists are not the enemy.

Christian Duque

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