US embassy cable - 04SANTODOMINGO1696

UNCLAS SANTO DOMINGO 001696 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CAR (MCISAAC) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, DR 
SUBJECT: GODR PRESIDENT MEJIA PUBLICLY DENIES AIDING 
HAITIAN REBELS 
 
REF: SANTO DOMINGO 
 
 1. (U) President Mejia commented extensively on March 11 to 
a journalist from Hoy newspaper, a respected daily in Santo 
Domingo, Dominican Republic. insisting that the GODR was not 
involved in helping Haitian rebels in any manner. 
 
2. (U) Begin unofficial translation: 
 
MEJIA DENIES SUPPORTING REBELS IN HAITI 
 
President Hipolito Mejia yesterday denied rumors that are 
circulating among diplomats and in the U.S. Congress that the 
Dominican government is supporting the Haitian rebels that 
rose up against President Jean Bertrand Aristide. 
 
"I want to take this opportunity to say that we, in regard to 
the Haitian conflict, have shown great respect for the 
(Haitian) people, the government, society and the dignity of 
the Haitians," assured President Mejia. 
 
"We have not provoked nor thrown fuel on the fire of this 
environment already charged with conflict, nor (have we) 
supported them with weapons that have lead to deaths, nor 
(have we) given them any other type of support," said the 
President, on his own initiative, during a ceremony honoring 
a Puerto Rican priest, Rafael Candelas Morales, for his many 
years of residency in the country. 
 
"We have maintained good control (over the crisis in Haiti) 
in order to avoid any misunderstanding," said Mejia, who also 
mentioned that the Dominican Republic has been complimented 
for not having been "opposed" to the deteriorating situation 
of the neighboring state. He didn't say who offered their 
compliments. 
 
"We ask God to help that country (Haiti) to leave behind its 
worries, the overwhelmingly grave problems that it has," 
added Mejia at the ceremony that took place in his office. 
 
In diplomatic and media circles there has been speculation 
about the supposed backing (of Haitian rebels), including the 
presumed arms supply to a leader of a group headed by the 
former Haitian police director, Guy Philippe, who stated that 
he entered Haiti by crossing the Dominican border. 
 
More recently, Congressman Donald Payne, Democrat from New 
Jersey, requested the government of the United States to 
explain why it had sold 3,500 guns to the Dominican Republic, 
believing that this country (Dominican Republic) is the place 
where the former Haitian paramilitary leaders organized their 
rebellion against the Aristide government. 
 
The Secretary of Dominican Armed Forces, Lt. Gen. Jose Miguel 
Soto Jimenez, denied that arms were purchased. 
 
Mejia identified with a phrase used by the deposed President 
Aristide and said that Haiti and the Dominican Republic "are 
two wings of the same bird," but he emphasized that, "much of 
the mischief that our Haitian brothers make (in Haiti), we 
must understand and accept," an obvious allusion to the 
political instability. "I have said that we are a marriage 
without a divorce," said the leader. 
 
Manuel Jimenez, Editor of Hoy. 
 
(End of unofficial translation.) 
KUBISKE