US embassy cable - 05SANTODOMINGO1304

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SANTO DOMINGO 001304 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR WHA, WHA/CAR, WHA/EPSC; NSC FOR SHANNON AND 
MADISON;LABOR FOR ILAB; 
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD; TREASURY FOR OASIA-LCARTER 
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 POLITICS #15: HATUEY - RAGING OR 
FERNINAND THE BULL? 
 
1. (SBU) This is #15 in our current series on politics in the 
Dominican Republic: 
 
Hatuey - Raging or Ferdinand the Bull? 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
It is too easy to make fun of Hatuey Decamps, the 
dispossessed president of the Partido Revolucionario 
Dominicano, now the founder of a new political group, the 
Partido Revolucionario Social Democrata. 
With his 1930,s-style good looks and his eloquent campaign 
delivery he seems curiously "retro." 
 
Hatuey fought as hard as he could to prevent the decisions 
that allowed Hiplito Meja to run for a 
second term.  Meja,s supporters in the "PPH" faction outdid 
him every step of the way.  They changed 
the Constitution, refused to recognize Hatuey,s authority in 
the party, declared illegal the PRD 
convention convened and chaired by Hatuey in December 2003, 
and then in the PRD convention that 
nominated Hiplito, they voted Hatuey out of the party 
presidency.  Hatuey,s followers retaliated 
by physically taking over the PRD,s traditional headquarters 
building on Calle Bolivar in the Gazcue 
neighborhood, an occupation that continues today. 
 
The Supreme Court declined to hear Hatuey,s petition to be 
reinstated as PRD president, when it confirmed 
last week that the National Electoral Board does indeed have 
the last word on the legitimacy of internal 
processes of political parties. 
 
Hatuey had no further legal recourse within the PRD.  He had 
never captured more than about 10 percent 
of the party faithful, despite having served as a member of 
Congress, chief of staff to President Jorge 
Blanco, PRD secretary general and president, and vice 
president of the Socialist International.  PRD 
convention organizer former Vice President Milagros Ortiz 
Bosch had expressed the hope that Hatuey 
could be reintegrated in the party, but Hatuey in his 
grandiloquence spoke to the nation twice last 
week.  On Thursday he ranted against Meja, calling that 
administration "corrupt and "an embarrassment 
to the party."  He recited the disasters of PRD leaders 
elected to preside over the Dominican Republic: 
"Bosch lasted seven months; Guzmn killed himself; Jorge 
Blanco wound up in jail; Hiplito wrecked the 
country.  We have spent 54 years in the opposition because of 
their bad governments." 
 
On Friday night, March 4, he told the nation that he was 
establishing a new party, the Social Democratic 
Revolutionary Party (PRSD).  Repeatedly invoking the late PRD 
leader Jose Francisco Pena Gomez, Hatuey 
promised a return to founding principles.  He displayed the 
new flag, with a bull as its central emblem. 
Hours later, the signs and symbols on the old PRD 
headquarters were replaced by those ofthe new party. 
And on the weekend, as PRD candidates for the party 
presidency met in a local hotel for a debate, Hatuey 
took his campaign to Santiago, the second city.   He is 
likely to take with him 1 or 2 of the 29 PRD 
senators and 5 or 6 of the 47 PRD congressional 
representatives. 
 
Few in the mainline PRD are sorry to see him go.  Hiplito 
Meja, who came out of a long seclusion just 
two weeks ago, commented, "I never replied to his hatred and 
complexes."  Referring to a campaign song 
Hatuey had used against his own presidential re-election 
effort, Meja added, "Now he,s the one who fits 
the slogan he used, from the old merengue: Old friend, go 
along in peace." 
 
This past weekend the PRD held ceremonies at the grave of 
Pea Gomez, commemorating the birth of the 
charismatic leader who never made it to the presidency. 
Hatuey staged his own media event at graveside 
the same day, as he did last year. 
 
Behind this all is the question of charisma versus continuity 
of party structures.  Although the PRD 
lost last May, it was not smashed by Hiplito,s defeat; it 
retained its core of 34 percent of the 
electorate, principally among the dispossessed.  Its greatest 
lack currently is leadership.  Symbolic 
of that is the current race for the PRD presidency, populated 
with graying figures Sen. Ramon Alburquerque, 
former party chief Enmanuel Esquea and former culture 
minister Tony Raful.  Mild-mannered Orlando Jorge 
has the inside track for secretary general, but is challenged 
by drug-tainted Guido Gomez.   Pea Gomez,s 
widow Peggy Cabral has just added her name as a candidate for 
secretary general, perhaps to fill the vacuum. 
 
SIPDIS 
 
Hatuey,s PRSD is likely to be a streak in the sky, bright 
but self-destructive.  Juan Bosch tried the 
tactic in 1973 and Jacobo Majluta did the same in 1990 but 
neither got to the presidency.  But - - 
we remember that in other countries in the hemisphere 
established parties have fallen into institutional 
decay and disrepute, opening opportunities for charismatic 
opportunists.  Hatuey has the megalomania 
and he has begun the campaign, preparing himself in case 
Leonel Fernndez and the PLD make mistakes 
serious enough to open the way for him. 
 
2. (U) Drafted by Michael Meigs. 
 
3. (U) This piece and others in our series can be consulted 
on our classified SIPRNET site 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/santodomingo/  along with 
extensive other material. 
HERTELL