US embassy cable - 05SANTODOMINGO3345

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SANTO DOMINGO 003345 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR WHA, WHA/CAR, INR; NSC FOR SHANNON; USCINCSO ALSO 
FOR POLAD;TREASURY FOR OASIA-MAUREEN WAFER; 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, Dominican Politics 
SUBJECT: DOMINICAN POLITICS #30: BIG PICTURE CONSTITUTIONAL 
 
REFORM 
 
1. (SBU)  This is #30 in our series of political reports on 
Leonel Fernandez's first year in office. 
 
BIG PICTURE CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Dominican Senate President Andres Bautista convened a 
conference on June 15 on "Constitutional Reform" with invited 
experts from 8 Latin American countries.  He was seeking to 
give momentum to an effort to examine the "big picture" of 
constitutional reform, stalled since 2001 when a study was 
delivered by a commission headed by Msgr Agripino Nunez, 
rector of the Catholic PUCMM university.  Congress has 
changed the Constitution 37 times, almost always respondingto 
political exigencies of the moment -- as in the 1996 
amendment that barred presidential succession, blocking 
Balaguer, and the 2002 amendment that reversed the decision, 
permitting Hipolito Mejia to make an ultimately unsuccessful 
re-election effort.  Sessions to amend the constitution are 
voted by a simple majority of the Congress and convened 15 
days later; changes to the text are enacted by Congress, by 
2/3 vote of those present, with a mimimum quorum of half of 
the membership. 
The day before the ceremonial opening, during a meeting with 
the President and the U.S. ambassador at the presidential 
palace, Bautista and House of Representatives President 
Alfredo Pacheco had invited  Fernandez to speak at the 
opening in the Senate chamber.  The event was televised. 
Other speakers generally droned through their written texts 
-- for example, House President Pacheco summarized the 37 
changes made since the Dominican constitution was established 
in 1844. Bautista explained the intentions of the meetings, 
greeted  invited scholars and practitioners and thanked 
mediator Msgr Nunez for his commission's work. 
The President's Suggested Themes 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
As the final orator, Fernandez reminded his audience he had 
been invited only the previous day - - but the scope, 
precision and passion of his extemporized twenty-minute 
speech outshone any of the other participants.  Among his key 
comments: 
- -  Though the Constitution provides that laws and 
regulations counter to the Constitution are null and void, it 
identifies no mechanism for deciding constitutionality or 
establishing the principle of precedent and general 
applicability.  Fernandez noted that some countries have 
created a special court of chamber specifically charged with 
constitutional interpretation; some, such as France, have 
judicial bodies that certify the constitutionality of laws 
before they are promulgated.  Fernandez called for debate on 
this theme and suggested that the Supreme Court might be 
specifically designated for this function. 
- -  He noted that following Hispanic tradition, the Public 
Ministry (Ministry of Justice), once representative of the 
Crown, is part of the executive branch.  Fernndez suggested 
discussing whether the Justice Ministry should be independent 
of the executive. 
- -  Debate on the Constitution should include a 
re-examination of the rights and responsibilities of 
citizens.  He suggested that the Constitution might, for 
example, recognize the right of a citizen to privacy and to 
safeguard of his reputation and provide recourse when those 
rights are impugned. 
- - &In a constitutional reform in the Dominican Republic it 
would be interesting to introduce the concept of an electoral 
consultation, a referendum, and even of a recall election, 
not only for the head of the executive branch but for any and 
all elected representatives of any jurisdiction.8 
- - Fernandez suggested that congressional representatives 
seek to define a mechanism for institutional representation 
of the Dominican &diaspora.8 
Reporters busily interviewed other politicians for reaction, 
which was featured in newspapers the following day.  Some 
expressed misgivings about the provisions for electoral 
consultations or recall elections, suggesting that these 
might cause political instabililty. 
Issue:  Including the Military 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  - 
The greatest stir arose from a press interview with Secretary 
of the Armed Forced Sigfrido Pared Perez, published the next 
day.  In a comment incidental to the interview, Pared Perez 
offered his personal opinion that the Constitution should be 
changed to allow members of the armed forces and the police 
to vote.  Some political figures and commentators 
subsequently expressed deep concern about that idea, arguing 
that security forces would become politicized.  No one was 
admitting at the same time that the senior leadership of both 
institutions has long been adept in exploiting ties to the 
parties -- for example, Pared Perez himself is the brother of 
Reynaldo Pared Perez, Secretary General of Fernandez's PLD. 
Fernandez, an enthusiast for the big picture in any form, 
demonstrated his eloquence, patriotic concern and mastery of 
the subject matter, further anchoring his authority as head 
of state.  Bautista and the rest of the congressional 
leadership have not proposed any timetable for considering 
specific reforms to the Constitution, and in the end, this 
conference may serve simply to add to the theoretical 
literature on constitutional law.  And the political unease 
aroused by proposals that a U.S. observer might consider 
simple or benign served to remind us that a number of the 
deciders of Dominican democracy are not entirely at ease with 
the notion of offering greater electoral voice to the people. 
 Or to the security forces, either. 
 
2. (U)  Drafted by Michael Meigs. 
 
3. (U)  This piece and others in our series can be consulted 
at our SIPRNET site 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/santodomingo/  
along with extensive other material. 
HERTELL