CARIBBEAN CONFERENCE: RAINIERI RESPONSE AND

UNCLAS SANTO DOMINGO 004736

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

DEPT FOR INR/AA, WHA/CAR

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: DR OTRA PINR SNAR
SUBJECT: CARIBBEAN CONFERENCE: RAINIERI RESPONSE AND
DISGUST WITH CORRUPTION (DOMINICAN REPUBLIC)

REF: A) STATE 245508 B) SANTO DOMINGO 4548 C) SANTO

DOMINGO 4680


1. (SBU) Dominican businessman Frank Rainieri told EcoPol
counselor on Sept 4 that he is interested and potentially
available to participate in the CSIS conference on the
Caribbean. He has noted this in his agenda and awaits
further information. Having surveyed the agenda, he asked
about the format of his participation; EcoPol counselor
suggested that given the time available, he would probably be
asked for a 10-15 minute presentation, with availability to
questions toward the end of the session.


2. (SBU) Rainieri said that he was pleased with the Aug 29
piece in the NY Times on his enterprise (World Business: "A
Different Standard of Living: Dominican Resort is Community
Project for Developers") but that it wouldn't get any play in
the Dominican Republic. (The article reports his retort to
President Mejia's teasing: "Excuse me, but we pay millions in
taxes and not one cent is invested here. The ones who do not
pay taxes are your friends. Here, political friendships are
the source of privilege.") He said that he had taken a copy
to that afternoon's meeting of the Monetary Board, where he
is one of twelve members. Mejia's daughter saw him passing
it to a friend, got up and came around the table with a
inconsequential comment, clearly checking to identify the
document. "They've read it in the Palace and they don't like
it," he commented. "We are a little more exposed than we like
-- my wife appeared in a seven-page article in Hola! this
week" (Hola is a celebrity magazine published in Spain,
France, and the UK).


3. (SBU) Rainieri says that he has been carrying around his
letter of resignation from the Monetary Board, given his
disgust with the inaction on the banking scandals, and he
intends to update it. He has not decided whether to quit the
Monetary Board in disgust. He expressed at length his
disgust with cronyism in government, which hides corruption
and promotes impunity.


4. (U) He introduced EcoPol counselor to Diogenes Checo,
Executive Director of the NGO "Aprenda," set up by the Punta
Cana Group and associates to promote prevention of drug use.
Rainieri wants to continue coordination with the USG on this
topic. Checo described Aprenda's efforts to educate company
personnel departments to elaborate and apply anti-drug
policies and to train employees. He said that efforts had
begun to sensitize staffs of participating banks about the
legal consequences of accepting funds tied to drug
trafficking and to orient supervisors of export firms about
ways to detect and prevent smuggling to the United States.
KUBISKE