US embassy cable - 04SANTODOMINGO1816

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SANTO DOMINGO 001816 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR CA MAURA HARTY, CA/PPT ANN BARRETT, CA/PPT/PAS 
JOHN HOTCHNER AND MARCO TEDESCO, CA/FPP FRANK TURLEY, 
G/TIP, INL, WHA/CAR 
 
E.O. 12958 N/A 
TAGS: CMGT, CPAS, CVIS, CASC, KFRD, DR 
SUBJECT:  MEETING WITH GODR OFFICIALS ON STATUS OF NEW 
DOMINICAN PASSPORT AND NEW PASSPORT ANTI-FRAUD UNIT 
 
REF:  SANTO DOMINGO 006970 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED, PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY 
 
1. (U) SUMMARY:  GODR is still on track to produce ICAO 
compliant passport in April.  GODR Passport Office has 
established new Anti-Fraud Unit. END SUMMARY. 
 
2. (U) On March 9, 2004 Consul General and FPM met 
with Director of GODR Passport Office, Mr. Elias Wessin 
Chavez. Purpose of the meeting was to find out the 
status of a proposed ICAO compliant Dominican passport. 
Reftel stated that new Dominican passport was expected 
to be ready by April, 2004. 
 
3. (U) Chavez is holding to the original deadline of 
April, at which time he said that at least the Central 
Passport Office in Santo Domingo would be producing the 
new Dominican passport.  On the day of our meeting, 
Chavez reported that there were some problems in 
Dominican Customs with release of the passport printing 
hardware shipped from Germany.  Once it is released, he 
said, it will be installed in all twelve passport 
agencies, which are already networked.  Passport 
authorization, however, will only be done by the 
Central Passport Office in Santo Domingo.  The only 
serious infrastructure problem Chavez envisions is the 
lack of dependability of electricity.  He has planned 
on buying generators for each office. 
 
4. (U) Chavez mentioned that this first year is 
considered a transition phase after which the new 
operation will be replicated for official and 
diplomatic passports, and Dominican visas 
responsibility for which comes under the Office of 
Consular Affairs, headed by Ambassador Dulce Rosario de 
la Maza. 
 
5. (U) Chavez emphasized that not only will the GODR be 
producing a new ICAO compliant passport, it will be 
implementing a new approach to the passport 
application, adjudication, and issuance process. He 
said that he did not want the passport office to be 
seen as a "passport factory" where you can get a 
passport as long as you have paid your money.  Instead, 
he said that the process will be under more control and 
that applicants will have to prove their eligibility 
for a passport.  He is, therefore, implementing the 
following anti-fraud measures: 
(1) Payment for passports will be through the Banco de 
Reservas and applicants will bring their payment 
receipts to the passport office.  This is to separate 
the handling of cash from the actual passport 
adjudication and issuance process. (2) Burning all the 
blank old Dominican passport books that will become 
obsolete with the issuance of the new passport. 
 
Most important, however, was Chavez's announcement the 
week previous to our meeting that he had established a 
Passport Office Anti-Fraud Unit with fraud prevention 
as its mission.  This unit is staffed by both lawyers 
and police officers.  The latter bring technical 
expertise in fraud practices.  Chavez stated that they 
have already submitted thirty-five cases of fraud to 
the justice system.  The FPM and FPU staff had been 
invited the week before to attend an anti-fraud 
training workshop sponsored on four consecutive 
Saturdays for GODR Passport Office employees country- 
wide.  FPM and staff attended the inauguration of the 
workshop on March 6.  There were more than 100 
participants from the entire country and they displayed 
a high degree of interest and enthusiasm for the 
concept of "fraud prevention". 
 
During our meeting, Chavez requested training from the 
Consulate to which we agreed.  He also hinted at a 
request for forensic lab equipment to which we did not 
commit.  He promised to give us samples of the new 
Dominican passport as soon as they are ready. 
 
6. (U) Dominican presidential elections are to take 
place on May 16, 2004. When we asked Chavez what would 
happen to his efforts after that date, he responded 
that no matter who followed him, he believed that this 
new passport system would survive since it would be 
something that could really not be dismantled easily. 
He also mentioned that he had been invited to the ICAO 
Conference on May 17, 2004 but because of the elections 
was unsure whether he would attend. 
 
7. (U) Embassy will continue to follow the progress of 
the new Dominican passport and report as developments 
occur. 
 
HERTELL