US embassy cable - 05SANTODOMINGO4606

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 SANTO DOMINGO 004606 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR WHA, WHA/CAR, WHA/PPC, DRL, G, S/P 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KDEM, PHUM, PREL, DR 
SUBJECT: DEMOCRACY PROMOTION STRATEGY - DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 
 
REF: STATE 169581 
 
 1.  (SBU) Embassy Santo Domingo's  response on our democracy 
promotion strategy for the Dominican Republic is keyed to 
lettered sub-ticks in para 6 reftel: 
 
A.  Most important outcomes of the Democracy and Governance 
reform agenda for the Dominican Republic 
 
1) Government develops, approves and implements legislation, 
norms and procedures to control corruption. 
2) Government advances implementation of the new accusatorial 
criminal justice process affording increased protection of 
human rights, criminal justice service delivery, and better 
control of criminality. 
3) Government conducts free, fair, and participative 
congressional and municipal elections in May, 2006 with low 
incidence of political tension and violence, maximum 
transparency through the campaign, voting, vote count and 
transition processes, laying the groundwork for improved 
accountability to citizens. 
4) Government and other participants advance an agenda to 
improve transparency and accountability by creating a civil 
service career system, by instituting measures to regulate 
government procurement already agreed in principle in the 
CAFTA-DR agreement and by regularizing political party 
finance. 
 
B.  Six-month USG Diplomacy and programming strategy to 
achieve desired outcomes 
 
1) Control of Corruption: 
- - The USG will emphasize diplomacy and policy dialogue, 
because President Fernandez,s declarations of intention to 
counter corruption have met resistance from self-interested 
officials and politicians involved in the long established 
customs of influence-dealing, bribery and malfeasance. 
Reinforcing the political will of the President and senior 
officials will be critical for strengthening governance, full 
implementation of CAFTA and the IMF stand-by agreement, as 
well as opening the possibility of accessing assistance 
through the Millennium Challenge Account. 
- - We will direct our private diplomatic efforts to the 
President and relevant cabinet members, to the Presiding 
Justice of the Supreme Court and senior justices, and to the 
congressional leadership. 
- - The Ambassador and embassy officials will advocate the 
passage of laws, decrees and administrative actions to 
regularize public procurements, national budgeting and public 
debt management, as well as timely implementation of these 
measures and vigilant oversight of compliance. 
- - The Embassy will program assistance through USAID for the 
President,s National Anti-Corruption Plan in the form 
programming of training, and technical assistance programs 
for executive, legislative and judicial branch institutions. 
 Themes and concerns include implementation of measures for 
transparent government procurement, implementation of newly 
passed legislation on freedom of information, and compliance 
by elected and appointed officials with existing requirements 
to declare assets. 
-- The Ambassador and embassy officers will continue to 
emphasize the need to implement as quickly as possible the 
controls and ceilings on government procurement agreed to in 
the CAFTA-DR free trade agreement. 
- - The Ambassador and USG officials will advocate the 
establishment of transparency report cards, offices of 
professional responsibility and fraud detection, measures to 
encourage whistle-blowing, and means for citizens to detect 
and denounce fraud and malfeasance. USAID will provide 
technical assistance for these initiatives. 
- - The Embassy will continue to provide the military with 
training and assistance on ethics, corruption detection and 
prevention mechanisms, and application of sanctions.  MAAG 
has a week-long training conference scheduled for November 
2005. 
- - Through USAID the Embassy will continue to provide the 
judiciary with programs of technical assistance and training 
in ethics and professional practice. The justice system is a 
main venue for corruption, as well as a key bottleneck in 
sanctioning of corrupt behavior.   Assistance for all justice 
sector actors will be targeted at minimizing discretion and 
implementing good management systems and internal controls, 
as well as providing techniques for effective investigation 
and prosecution of corruption and complex financial crimes. 
- - Embassy will advocate Dominican compliance with IMF 
requirement to pass legislation criminalizing tax evasion and 
will continue to support U.S. Treasury evaluation of need for 
assistance to tax authorities. 
- - The Narcotics Assistance Section will continue training 
support for the National Police, to include elements for 
strengthening internal affairs investigations. 
- - Through Public Affairs the Embassy will program speakers, 
international visitor program participants, digital video 
conferences, media placement and electronic outreach to 
address this issue. 
2) Better Administration of Accusatorial Criminal Justice 
System: 
- - In private diplomatic contacts the Ambassador and embassy 
officers will encourage continuing independence of the 
judiciary and the prosecutorial function, will emphasize the 
recurring scandal of impunity, and will support the Attorney 
General,s initiative of implementing a career system for 
prosecutors. 
- - Through USAID the Embassy will provide continuing 
assistance for training and technical assistance to the 
judiciary and to the corps of public prosecutors.  This is 
aimed at improving techniques used for criminal 
investigations, reinforcing cooperation between police and 
prosecutors, and moving cases more quickly through the 
system.  The aim will be to assure fair adjudication of 
criminal cases, resulting in less impunity.  At the same time 
the Embassy will advocate measures to assure citizens are 
protected from human rights abuses and generalized 
criminality. 
- - Through the Narcotics Assistance Section the Embassy will 
provide basic training and orientation to the Police Academy, 
aimed at instilling methods and procedures to safeguard 
citizen rights and to reduce arbitrary or discretionary 
enforcement involving demands for bribery.  NAS training 
through a U.S.-funded police advisor will be coordinated so 
as to complement the academic training proposed by the John 
Jay College of Criminal Justice. 
- - The Embassy will continue to work closely with Justice 
Ministry officials to obtain extraditions of fugitives 
currently in the Dominican Republic and will emphasize U.S. 
interest in reciprocity by counseling those officials as 
required on procedural and legal requirements for Dominican 
requests for extraditions from the United States. 
3) Free, fair and transparent elections with improved 
accountability to  citizens: 
- - Working with other governments in preparation for the 
May, 2006 congressional and municipal elections, the 
Ambassador and embassy officers will emphasize the theme used 
in 2004: "Elections must be free, fair and transparent.' 
- - Embassy officers will engage the judges of the Central 
Electoral Board with a view to encouraging better preparation 
for the May, 2006 elections.  USAID will continue to support 
local non-governmental organizations evaluting the Board,s 
ability to register citizenship and to issue the national 
identity cards required for voting, and will advocate reform. 
 An overhaul of the civil registry is needed as approximately 
20 percent of Dominicans are without basic identification 
cards and therefore not able to register to vote.  However, 
progress on the civil registry is not expected before May 
2006. 
- - Embassy officers will remain alert to proposals to modify 
the electoral rules, engaging as appropriate the leadership 
of each major political party and leaders in congress. 
- - The Ambassador and Deputy Chief of Mission will engage 
appropriate decision makers if issues are identified that 
threaten the transparency and competitiveness of elections. 
- - The Embassy will seek to persuade the Dominican 
authorities to make a request to the Organization of American 
States for observation of the campaign, vote, and vote count 
by international observers trained, certified and supported 
by the OAS.  USAID will provide development assistance 
funding for this purpose and the Embassy will request an 
additional $200,000 in ESF for the international observation 
effort. 
- - The USG should arrange to deliver an &overview8 message 
on democracy in the Caribbean early in the congressional 
election campaign -- one possible date would be just before 
the February 27 national holiday commemorating the 
establishment of the Dominican Republic in 1844. 
- - Through USAID the Embassy will continue to provide 
support and training through the non-governmental 
organization &Participacion Ciudadana8 in order to field 
Dominican observers across the country. 
- - Through USAID the Embassy will support initiatives by 
civil-society non-governmental organizations aimed at 
developing and implementing accountability mechanisms at the 
national and municipal levels of government, such as public 
declaration of congressional voting patterns and the outcomes 
of committee deliberations. 
- - Through USAID the Embassy will provide support for 
awareness raising activities within political parties.  These 
will help increase efficiency, transparency, and 
accountability to citizens, especially to the poor majority. 
- - Through USAID the Embassy will provide limited technical 
assistance and training for elections administration. 
- - Through Public Affairs the Embassy will program speakers, 
digital video conferences, media placement and electronic 
outreach to address this issue. 
4) Civil Service Career Tracks and Political Party Finances: 
 
- - The Ambassador and embassy officers will encourage 
passage and implementation of laws to establish a civil 
career system and to regularize political party finance. 
These are essential elements for good governance, stewardship 
of public resources and control of corruption, clientelism 
and state-capture concerns in the Dominican Republic. 
 
- - Through USAID the Embassy will provide support for civil 
society non-governmental organizations advocating these 
issues.  The reality is that little progress is likely before 
May 2006, as the attention of members of Congress is turning 
to re-election campaigns. 
 
C.    Resources needed to implement strategy 
 
- -   Embassy requests that Department seek to program an 
additional USD 200,000 in ESF to complement the USD 250,000 
in ESF already allocated through USAID  to providing 
international observers for the May, 2006 congressional and 
municipal elections. 
 
- -   Embassy requests the visit of a senior Department 
official in mid- to late February 2006 to deliver a speech on 
the theme of democracy in the Caribbean. 
 
- -   Embassy requests that the Department and other 
Washington agencies arrange for the availability of senior 
USG officials to address these issues on the record in 
digital video conferences or telephone interviews.  Embassy 
asks for one such event monthly in the first quarter of 
calendar year 2006, to deal with anti-corruption,  democracy 
and the law, and trafficking in persons. 
 
- -   Embassy requests an expansion of the number of 
International Visitor Program slots from 9 to 15, with the 
six new slots to be used to sponsor a tailored group program 
for promising young leaders from the three major political 
parties. 
 
- -   Embassy requests that INL return funding of Narcotics 
Assistance Section activities to levels of previous years. 
 
- -   USAID will operate on its currently programmed funding 
and will request an increase of USD 1.3 million for programs 
of democracy promotion for the period FY07 - FY10. 
 
D.    Major impediments to accomplishing the outcomes: 
 
- - The country,s deep-rooted authoritarian heritage and 
lack of social investment have left many Dominicans unable to 
appreciate the basic functions of government or to 
distinguish between the roles of government and political 
parties. This has resulted in lack of understanding, 
tolerance of arbitrary or corrupt governance or indifference 
among Dominican citizens. 
- - Many law makers and public officials lack a commitment to 
public service.  They consider their offices as transitory 
sources of personal gain and influence. This is due in part 
to the lack of a public sector career system. 
- - Despite formal commitments in the CAFTA-DR agreement and 
in the IMF standby program, the government and Congress have 
more work ahead to change the lack of transparency, the 
ineffective oversight and the absence of internal controls 
that allow for considerable discretion in decision-making. 
- - The inability to date of prosecutors and courts to 
convict and sanction major fraud and corruption prompts 
officials at all levels to consider malfeasance a high-gain, 
low-risk strategy.  The probability of detection or effective 
sanction is low. 
- - Political and economic elites and criminal elements 
frequently manipulate public institutions to suit their 
interests, given the fact that individuals staffing those 
institutions identify very little with the mission of the 
institution or the ideal of public service. 
- -Ineffective, often corrupt government institutions with 
inadequate resources, poor management systems and 
ill-prepared staff fail to provide basic public goods and 
services and therefore lack credibility in the eyes of 
citizens. 
- - The recent economic downturn further increased 
disparities in economic opportunity, distribution of income, 
and wealth.  Lower income groups have lost purchasing power 
and have accordingly less of a stake in civil society. 
- - Crime, drug use and violence have increased, especially 
in the poorer neighborhood.  The public perceives that drug 
traffickers have increased influence. 
 
E.    Other countries, organizations, actors with significant 
influence on democracy outcomes 
 
Positive influences: 
 
International donors, including United Nations organizations, 
the Organization of American States, the World Bank, the 
International Monetary Fund, the Inter-American Development 
Bank, the European Union and many embassies and bi-lateral 
donors.  The international community is aligned in its 
messages regarding the importance of strengthening governance 
and transparency in the Dominican Republic. 
Negative influences: 
 
(SBU) President Hugo Chvez of Venezuela is actively seeking 
to exert influence throughout the region through his 
Petrocaribe oil financing facility, and the Dominicans have 
gratefully accepted this offer, which lowers petroleum costs 
in real present-value terms for about a third of their 
imports by about 25 percent.   Chvez and his government will 
probably periodically seek political quid-pro-quos in 
international fora.    The Venezuelans probably do not 
represent a direct threat to Dominican democracy, given their 
relatively limited ties to Dominican political parties and 
the absence at the national level of any credible radical 
populist groups.  Even so, Chvez himself presents a model 
for the rise of a charismatic ideologue in the face of 
discredited political parties.  That example is motivating at 
least one retired Dominican security officer to contemplate a 
presidential bid for 2008.  It is important for the USG to 
expose the flaws in the Venezuelan approach to democracy and 
to articulate the rationale for a vigorous adversarial 
political system with respect by all for the rules and for 
responsible conduct of government and political party 
internal affairs. 
 
(SBU)  Fidel Castro of Cuba is regarded with warmth and 
nostalgia by many of the older members of the ruling PLD, but 
the Cuban economic and political models have no credibility 
in the Dominican Republic.  The government accepts Cuba,s 
offers of social and medical assistance but views these as 
non-threatening.  The Dominican Republic abstained on the 
2005 Cuba resolution at the UN Human Rights Commission, a 
decision that is unlikely to change in 2006. 
 
 
F.    Government policies and activities 
 
Pro-Democracy: 
 
- - The Dominican Republic has made progress on consolidation 
of democratic institutions, economic growth, and development 
of a growing network of credible civil society organizations 
and media that offer channels to air grievances. 
 
- - The transparent selection of Supreme Court Justices begun 
in 1997 has proven to be a significant step.  At the highest 
levels the judiciary has demonstrated independence of the 
executive and the political parties. 
 
- - Regular free and fair elections since 1996 have featured 
increasing voter participation, low levels of conflict and 
strengthening of electoral oversight both domestically and 
internationally.  These have helped move the country away 
from the highly coercive state that dominated the country 
only 10 years ago.   Direct election of mayors and members of 
congress has established the foundation for increased 
accountability of elected officials. 
 
- -The Fernandez government,s support for the CAFTA-DR free 
trade agreement, its compliance with the IMF stand-by 
agreement and its advocacy of governance reforms are elements 
which support the achievement of outcomes specified in 
section A. 
 
Counter to Democracy: 
 
- - Persistent under-funding of primary education renders 
many citizens unable to understand democratic procedures or 
participate effectively in democracy.  In 2001 82% of rural 
adults had not completed primary school and the quality of 
public education is so poor that most 4th grade graduates 
cannot read or write. Although the Fernandez administration 
professes its attachment to improving education, the 
administration has used the financial crisis and necessary 
government austerity as a pretext for not increasing 
investment in basic education. 
- - Political parties seeking patronage have persistently 
failed when in office to implement key reforms.  The 
principal example is the civil service law passed in 1990 but 
not implemented. 
- - The administration and Congress have failed to elaborate 
adequate policies related to public procurement, national 
budget transparency, management of public debt, career laws 
for electoral board members and staff, political party 
finance, or prevention, detection and sanction for 
administrative corruption. 
- - The electricity sector remains handicapped by 
mismanagement. This includes inadequately negotiated 
contractural commitments, a poorly implemented privatization 
process, disregard for the contractual rights of generating 
firms, mistaken subsidy policies, and the lack of effective 
sanctions for users who fail to pay.  The results are 
extremely high electricity tarifs, ongoing shortages, 
widespread sporadic blackouts and frustration of the 
citizenry. 
- - Officials in many key regulatory institutions are free to 
exercise political clientelism and patronage, resulting in 
non-transparent decision-making that hinders development. 
These include, among others, regulators of banking, 
securities markets, insurance and pensions, the Controller 
General of the government, the customs authority and the 
environment ministry. 
H.    Consequences of pursing a proactive reform agenda: 
 
- - There are significant benefits for the United States to 
encouraging a proactive reform agenda in the Dominican 
Republic.  Good governance and democratic consolidation in 
the Dominican Republic encourage political and economic 
stability.  These are important to U.S. national interest due 
to the country,s proximity to our territory, the strong 
flows to the United States of legal and illegal migrants, and 
the threat to the U.S. population posed by narcotics and 
criminal elements in the Dominican Republic or transiting 
there. 
 
- - A vigorous democracy in the Dominican Republic will 
provide a counterweight to authoritarian, non-democratic, or 
failed regimes such as Cuba, Venezuela and Haiti. 
 
- - Economic recovery is underway in the Dominican Republic, 
in large part thanks to the IMF standby program and to the 
promise of the CAFTA-DR free trade agreement.  Economic 
improvement will complement and reinforce the move toward 
democracy, particularly as government revenues become 
available for increased investment in public goods such as 
education and infrastructure. 
 
- - Dominican success in countering corruption and enforcing 
laws would be a key factor in obtaining eligibility for U.S. 
assistance through the Millenium Challenge Corporation.  MCC 
funding would open a large number of possibilities for 
improvements in infrastructure and provision of social goods 
basic to support for a democratic state. 
 
- - Improvements in governance and the assurance of stability 
in the Dominican Republic would directly affect the situation 
in neighboring Haiti.  Trade, remittances, and cooperation 
between the two countries would help provide Haiti and the 
rapidly growing population of Haitian economic refugees with 
essential services and economic opportunities.  Better 
conditions in the Dominican Republic would reduce the 
potential for outbreaks of violence related to the deep 
ethnic and cultural grievances between Dominicans and 
Haitians.   The U.S. needs the Dominican Republic as a stable 
partner in the region 
 
Given the current and historical ties to the United States, 
the influence of the American Embassy is unrivaled in Santo 
Domingo.  The Dominican economy is closely linked to the 
U.S., with out-migration and remittances serving as safety 
values for conflict.  (Santo Domingo is the second largest 
visa issuer in the world and remittances from the U.S. total 
well above $US 2 billion, around 10% of GDP.)  For these 
reasons, the USG has the ability to influence decision-making 
through diplomacy and development assistance at a level much 
higher than the actual resources would indicate. 
 
KUBISKE