Flavio Darío Espinal (born July 22, 1957 in Santiago de los Caballeros) is a Dominican jurist, political scientist, diplomat and academic.

Dr. Flavio Darío Espinal served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Dominican Republic to the government of the United States of America during the period from November 23, 2004 to March 25, 2009.

[11] The tenure of Ambassador Espinal stood out as a result of a strategic, effective and innovative dynamism that contributed to the strengthening of the bilateral relations of the Dominican Republic and the United States of America.

His initiatives were aimed at achieving greater projection and advancing the interests of the Dominican Republic in different areas, particularly in the political, economic and cultural spheres, recognizing the priority nature of the relations with the United States, due to their commercial interests, cultural linkages, common challenges (especially in matters of security), and the presence of more than one million citizens of Dominican origin.

Ambassador Espinal played a proactive and extensive role lobbying, along with representatives of government and private sector of the Member Countries, to ensure the ratification of the Agreement by the United States Congress, and its subsequent implementation, thus consolidating preferential access to the US and Central American markets, which allowed for the continuous development of the country's export processing zone industry, generating new potential sectors, in synergy, as a regional bloc.

Under his tenure, the Embassy of the Dominican Republic developed and implemented effective strategies, with concrete results, for the promotion and facilitation of trade and investment, including the promotion of the country as a privileged tourist destination for the North American market, of the quality of the world-famous Dominican cigars and cocoa, supporting the national export sector in fulfilling import requirements and strengthening their trade capacity.

His work included developing relations with a wide range of relevant agencies and institutions of the US government, including the Department of Energy, which allowed the incorporation of the DR into regional initiatives in the field of renewable energy; Department of Agriculture, which close collaboration was essential to significantly increase the level of compliance with import standards and requirements, and facilitating the country’s efforts to obtain necessary certifications such as that required for the export of meat; USAID, working on strategic impact sectors; Ex-Im Bank, highlighting the importance of adequate financing to increase trade and investment; and the Federal Aviation Agency, on withdrawing the country from category 3 list, which would allow the flight of commercial aircraft with national registration to the United States.

As one of the strategic pillars of Ambassador Espinal’s tenure in Washington, DC, security cooperation with the United States of America deepened around a new framework in which the Dominican Republic played a regional leadership role, to face together, in coordination and around the concept of shared responsibility, the fight against common threats to peace and security, by transnational organized crime, trafficking of drugs, of illegal arms, of people, terrorism, among others.

Being the city of Washington, D.C., headquarters to some of the most important and influential centers of thought and distinguished universities, in addition to international organizations, Ambassador Espinal, renowned academic, jurist, constitutionalist and political scientist, participated frequently as a panelist in different institutions, including the Inter-American Dialogue, Council of the Americas, Heritage Foundation, Brooking Institution, Georgetown University, George Washington University, among others, becoming a reference, which gave greater visibility to the country, projecting an active diplomacy, allowing to influence the formulation of public opinion at these levels, aware of their relevance in decision-making process in the government and Congress of the United States.