US embassy cable - 04SANTODOMINGO2263

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SANTO DOMINGO 002263 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR WHA AND DRL 
NSC FOR SHANNON AND MADISON 
LABOR FOR ILAB 
TREASURY FOR OASIA-LAMONICA 
USDOC FOR 4322/ITA/MAC/WH/CARIBBEAN BASIN DIVISION 
USDOC FOR 3134/ITA/USFCS/RD/WH 
DHS FOR CIS-CARLOS ITURREGUI 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, DR 
SUBJECT: DOMINICAN ELECTIONS #35: WHAT THIS ELECTION IS NOT 
ABOUT 
 
 
1. (SBU)  The following is #35 in our series on the Dominican 
presidential elections: 
Elections # 35 - What It's NOT About 
In the Dominican presidential elections set for May 16, none 
of the leading political parties believes in blaming the 
United States for Dominican woes or sees any advantage in 
setting forth positions at odds with ours.  For example, here 
are some of the topics that this election is NOT about: 
- -  A free trade agreement with the United States. 
Secretary of Industry and Commerce Sonia Guzman and  USTR 
 
SIPDIS 
Robert Zoellick announced the agreement on March 15.   The 
March 26 PLD program, drafted in earlier months, promises 
simply &to continue negotiations toward a free trade 
agreement with the United States.8  Despite the complexity 
of the agreement and the potential tidal wave of its impact 
on government finances and the real economy, no one of 
consequence has opposed it.  Yes, distinguished &El Caribe8 
commentator Bernardo Vega just wrote a rueful piece about the 
eventual demise of the Dominican rice sector.  But the only 
really sour commentator has been Frederico Cuello, Mejia,s 
previous ambassador to the WTO (yanked because he could not 
get with the program).  Cuello warned that Dominican 
producers would be overwhelmed by American exports, that 
China would raffle up any advantages in apparel, and that 
Dominicans should be stalwart with Brazil against the U.S. 
During the final round he even implied darkly that Dominican 
negotiators were in the pay of United States interests.  No 
one has listened to him. 
- - Dominican troops in Iraq. The Dominican armed forces are 
currently training a second six-month relief for the 
"Quisqueya" battalion.  A new contingent would arrive at just 
about the same time as the August 16 presidential 
inauguration.  Mejia,s presidential opponents have not 
questioned Dominican participation, not even last week with 
Dominican troops under fire or when a Salvadoran soldier was 
killed.  The PLD platform notes the difficult situation in 
Iraq but does not reject U.S. policy.  After Easter mass 
Dominican Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez commented 
to an El Caribe journalist, "Our poor soldiers, I would like 
to see them come back as soon as possible."  In response, 
Mejia told reporters in New York yesterday,"The agreement 
with the U.S. government lasts through July. We are allies of 
the United States.  In June we,ll see what happens" 
Opposition parties have not commented. 
- - The tough medicine prescribed by the IMF..  In 
unaccustomed fashion, Dominicans appear to have accepted that 
they got themselves into the current financial mess and that 
they will have to endure the cure.  Presidential candidates 
blame one another for errors of commission or omission, 
opening a rich and entertaining exchange among the scribbling 
classes on the effects of corruption.  Occasionally a wishful 
financial type calls for dollarization of the economy.  No 
one has revealed that the USG politely declined Dominican 
suggestions of a $300 million bridge loan or a long-term 
billion-dollar loan to restructure the tottering burden of 
Central Bank debt.  Discussions of finances mention the 
United States only occasionally, chiefly when someone hopes 
U.S. courts will do the Dominicans, job for them on 
prosecuting bank fraud. 
- - The United States and its ambassador.  Over the past 70 
years of Dominican history the personal representative of the 
U.S. President has often served, like the papal nuncio, as a 
decisive counterweight to the &Jefe8 currently in the 
presidency.  Dominicans well recall the U.S. marines in 1965 
and U.S. involvement in securing a resolution to the 
corrupted 1994 presidential election.    President Mejia has 
forthright pro-U.S. policies and an evident appreciation of 
the Ambassador. None of the political parties has questioned 
the advisability of close relations with the United States. 
The PLD platform advocates closer alignment with CARICOM and 
with the developing countries of the &Group of 218 from 
trade talks in Monterrey, but these are only nuances.  During 
an early March visit to Washington Leonel Fernandez advocated 
publicly and privately for even closer USG involvement in 
election monitoring.  As for the Ambassador himself, the 
country,s leading daily &El Caribe,8 generally sympathetic 
to the PLD, ran an editorial last December praising him for 
his &dignity, prudence, impartiality and stature8 and 
commenting, &These qualities are evident to all, along with 
his certainty that his government will watch over the 
transparency of the elections this coming year.8 
 
 And  in fact, in contrast with other countries across the 
hemisphere, almost none of the fringe groups purport to be 
anti-Yanqui.  The allure of the United States and all things 
(north) American remains a constant in the Dominican 
Republic. 
 
2. (U)  Drafted by Michael Meigs. 
 
3. (U)  This piece and other election reporting is available 
on the SIPRNET site 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/santodomingo/ index.cfm along 
with extensive other material. 
HERTELL