Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
03SANTODOMINGO5390
2003-10-02 20:36:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Santo Domingo
Cable title:  

VICE PRESIDENT FAULTS PRESIDENT MEJIA, ADDRESSES

Tags:  DR EAID PGOV PINR PREL 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SANTO DOMINGO 005390 

SIPDIS

STATE PASS AID

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/29/2013
TAGS: DR EAID PGOV PINR PREL
SUBJECT: VICE PRESIDENT FAULTS PRESIDENT MEJIA, ADDRESSES
CAMPAIGN ISSUES


Classified By: Charge Lisa Kubiske for reasons 1.5 (b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SANTO DOMINGO 005390

SIPDIS

STATE PASS AID

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/29/2013
TAGS: DR EAID PGOV PINR PREL
SUBJECT: VICE PRESIDENT FAULTS PRESIDENT MEJIA, ADDRESSES
CAMPAIGN ISSUES


Classified By: Charge Lisa Kubiske for reasons 1.5 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: Dominican Vice President and candidate for
president Milagros Ortiz-Bosch told DCM Kubiske September 26
that President Mejia cannot win re-election next May because
of his unpopularity and voter opposition to a second
consecutive term. She agreed with Mejia's vision and
policies, but faulted him, in her view, for lack of strategy,
failure to communicate his administration's considerable
accomplishments, and poor economic management. She portrayed
herself as clean (uncorrupted) and statesmanlike, in contrast
to other candidates in the field such as Leonel Fernandez of
the PLD. With respect to electricity, Ortiz-Bosch said the
GODR would seek assistance from expert consultants on how to
conduct a tender to attract strong bidders, including from
the United States, to invest in two distribution companies
recently returned to government hands. End summary. End
summary.

Unpopularity of President Mejia
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


2. (C) GODR Vice President and presidential candidate
Milagros Ortiz-Bosch (PRD),at a luncheon hosted on September
26 by DCM Kubiske with several of Ortiz-Bosch's political
advisers and emboffs, asserted that President Mejia could not
win his controversial bid for reelection in May 2004.
According to Ortiz-Bosch, Mejia -- beset by the Dominican
Republic's pressing economic problems and accusations of
mismanagement and corruption -- lacks the necessary public
support. Moreover, voters and especially the PRD rank and
file reject presidential reelection, regardless of candidate,
even though the PRD-dominated Congress amended the
constitution last year to allow this. She said that a poll
commissioned by the PRD and conducted by a US firm in
mid-September found that 79 percent of voters reject Mejia's
reelection, while only 18 percent support it. Also, 55
percent expressed disapproval of presidential reelection in
principle. The PRD has commissioned a second poll on these
issues.

Quest for PRD Nomination
- - - - - - - - - - - - -



3. (C) The Vice President stressed the importance of holding
the already announced "plebiscite" of PRD members October 12,
organized at the behest of the seven would-be candidates
challenging President Mejia for the party's nomination, so as
to test rank-and-file sentiment on the reelection issue. She
said the plebiscite would be in the tradition of the PRD as
"the most democratic political party in Latin America." The
results of the plebiscite and the polls would then be aired
at a proposed PRD nominating convention November 2. Asked
how the fractious party could win the election, Ortiz-Bosch
expressed confidence that unity would be achieved through
internal negotiations, and she dismissed President Mejia's
call for arbitration by the Central Electoral Board (JCE).
She predicted that if the PRD unifies behind a single
alternative candidate, its poll numbers will immediately gain
8-10 percent over Mejia's low approval ratings.

Mejia's Shortcomings
- - - - - - - - - - -


4. (C) Ortiz-Bosch faulted President Mejia for poor economic
management, lack of strategy, and failure to communicate with
the public on the administration's considerable
accomplishments in agriculture and rural development, labor,
tourism, education, environment, water and sanitation, and
housing. She said she agrees with Mejia's political vision
and his policies, but believes he has not followed through on
campaign promises and has not allocated enough resources to
human development programs. She claimed the local press has
felt "intimidated" for the past several months and has
practiced self-censorship, including restricting publication
of unspecified opinion poll data. Acknowledging the impact
of external events (9/11, a sluggish world economy, oil price
increases),the Vice President nonetheless accused Mejia of
failing to manage what he could control locally, such as the
massive BANINTER bank fraud and problems in the energy sector.


5. (C) Ortiz-Bosch emphasized the need for a long-term
government strategy, carried out through a multi-year budget
with annual performance targets. It would give priority to
investments in human capital through education, health, and
social services. The government should do more to promote
citizen participation in the political process, with an
effective communication program that would go beyond
President Mejia's near-monopoly of statements to the media.
Official pressures for media self-censorship should cease,
she said. The Vice President commented that Dominican
society over the years has become better informed, more
pro-democracy, and less tolerant of behind-the-scenes
manipulation.

Main Adversary - Leonel Fernandez
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


6. (C) Asked how the PRD would attack its main adversary in
the coming elections, former president (1996-2000) Leonel
Fernandez of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD),the Vice
President said she would take him to task for having
concentrated 80 percent of government expenditures in the
capital city of Santo Domingo and the second city of Santiago
and having provided only 20 percent to the rest of the
country. She noted that the Mejia administration had
reversed that ratio and restored a more balanced allocation.
One of Ortiz-Bosch's advisers said that if she were to become
the PRD candidate, she could accuse Fernandez of being
corrupt, but he could not credibly make any such allegations
against her.

Progress on USAID Projects
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -


7. (C) The Vice President, who is also State Secretary of
Education, commented that a civil service reform for public
school teachers, including unified benefits and higher
salaries, was nearly complete. She expressed appreciation
for USAID collaboration in publicizing essential information
of the Secretariat of Education on a world-wide web page,
enhancing transparency.


8. (C) Ortiz-Bosch, as chairperson of a committee to
implement the new Dominican criminal procedures code, said
that she had requested a budget for implementation beginning
in 2004 and had asked the Justice Secretariat to help her
convene regular working sessions of the committee. She also
reaffirmed her commitment to justice reform, dating from her
years as a senator when she had worked on a reform bill.
Priorities in her view include more training for judges and
courtroom prosecutors ("fiscales"),inter alia to reduce
their susceptibility to corruption, and a big increase in
number of public defenders.


9. (C) Anticipating the GODR's renationalization of two
electricity distribution companies on October 1, Ortiz-Bosch
raised the urgency of announcing a new tender of the
companies' shares for private purchase. She said the GODR
would seek assistance from expert consultants on how to
conduct the tender so as to attract the best possible
bidders, from the United States and other countries.

Comment
- - - -


10. (C) The Vice President is walking a tightrope, being both
a senior member of President Mejia's administration and one
of his most credible challengers for the PRD nomination for
the presidency. She appears nonetheless committed to the PRD
plebiscite and November 2 national convention, which Mejia
has rejected in favor of a national convention (without
plebiscite) on November 23.


11. (C) Mejia's rivals in the PRD fear that his expected use
-- or misuse -- of government resources to promote his
candidacy and his control of the upper levels of the party
will enable him to have his way, dooming the PRD to defeat in
the election. This is a plausible, though not inevitable,
scenario. Were his PRD challengers to unite behind a single
candidate, they might be able to thwart his bid for the
nomination. But they have not yet shown the will to do so.
In any case, it is premature to predict what will happen in
the election next May. Mejia has announced that according to
a poll conducted o/a September 20, the PRD had pulled ahead
of the PLD in voter preferences by a 5-percentage-point
margin.


12. (C) With regard to the Vice President's desire to
contract expert consultants on energy sector privatization,
Embassy is exploring possibilities with the World Bank, IDB,
and AID.

Bio Note
- - - - -


13. (U) The first Dominican woman to assume presidential
duties, Ortiz-Bosch has acted as president for 135 days
during Mejia's 38 trips abroad and, along with Minister of
Tourism Rafael "Fello" Subervi, is widely recognized as one
of the most potent alternatives for the PRD nomination.
KUBISKE