AMBASSADOR'S CALL ON DOMINICAN PRESIDENT MEJIA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SANTO DOMINGO 001174

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR WHA, WHA/CAR, G/TIP, IO

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/24/2009
TAGS: AORC PHUM DR
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR'S CALL ON DOMINICAN PRESIDENT MEJIA


Classified By: Ambassador Hans H. Hertell. Reason: 1.5 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary. Dominican President Hipolito Mejia heard
out the Ambassador's request for the country to sponsor the
Cuba resolution at the March session of the UNHCR but
declined to make any commitment. Mejia said in the course of
changes to be announced on national day he will remove
several officials to whom the United States has objected. He
described his plans for selecting a vice presidential
candidate. End summary.

CUBA


2. (C) In response to Department inquiries, the Ambassador
called on Dominican President Hipolito Mejia on February 23
and urged him to sponsor the resolution on Cuba to be
presented to the meeting of the UN Human Rights Commission
opening in Geneva on March 15. The Ambassador stressed the
need for hemispheric solidarity against arrests of dissidents
and Cuba's refusal to accept the visit of a duly constituted
UNHCR rapporteur. He noted widespread support across the
hemisphere for this approach and suggested that the
Dominicans could play an important leadership role.


3. (C) Mejia replied that he has no interest in Castro and
finds Cuba's actions unacceptable. The relationship between
the Dominican Republic and Cuba is part of Caribbean history,
however, and must be handled with extreme caution. That day
he had met 40 Dominican students receiving grants to study
medicine in Cuba, where there are a thousand Dominicans in
higher education. "I didn't establish relations with Cuba"
(a dig against his presidential opponent, former President
Leonel Fernandez). Mejia said he had spoken out against
Castro, including via Radio Marti, but he had done so in a
personal capacity. "When is this up for discussion?" When
he heard that the session opens in mid-March, Mejia accepted
a copy of last year's resolution and of the draft of U.S.
thoughts on the content of a 2004 resolution. "I will talk
to Guerrero Prats" (the Foreign Ministery). The Ambassador
indicated that the DCM had presented the same request to Vice
Foreign Minister Pichardo the previous week. (That evening
at a diplomatic function the Ambassador raised the matter
directly Guerrero Prats, who pointed across the room at
Mejia: "That's the only man who will be making the decision.")

HAITI


4. (C) Mejia said he had recently spoken to Haitian President
Aristide by telephone. Aristide was worried, Mejia
commented, and the North of Haiti was out of control.
Despite the Carnival celebration in Port-au-Prince, a bomb
had killed an army officer just at the corner of the
presidential palace. Elements of the resistance were in
Port-au-Prince and forces had occupied a village ten
kilometers from the Dominican border post of Jimani. He had
been informed that bandits were killing individuals near the
border town of Juana Mendez, where 20,000 Haitians had come
seeking to attend the weekly market. Dominican troops were
on good behavior, respecting human rights, even though the
young "gangsters" across the border were high on cocaine.


5. (C) As for Aristide, Mejia commented, there was no way
of knowing how to read him. The conversation had been in
Spanish. Aristide was "very clever." Aristide had made no
request for help, even though he knew that Mejia had a
helicopter available.

TRADE AGREEMENT


6. (C) The Ambassador raised the subject of the President's
notification to Congress of the free trade agreement with the
Central American states (CAFTA). Mejia was already aware
that the notification did not cover the talks with the
Dominican Republic, and he waved the point away as
procedurally unimportant.

HUMAN RIGHTS, EXTRADITION & TRAFFICKING


7. (C) The Ambassador asked about rumors of a change in the
head of the National Police. Mejia replied that he had no
intention of removing Gen. Jaime Marte Martinez, who is doing
a "very good job." Mejia raised the subject of promised
extraditions. Papers were ready for most of the 11
outstanding cases. Two of the detainees were serving prison
terms for offenses in the Dominican Republic, so they were
not yet available. One of the remaining suspects, according
to staff at the Presidency and Attorney General's office, is
probably not involved in the crime for which he was requested
-- in their opinion, there is a confusion with the
individual's brother. "But never mind that," said Mejia, "I
told them to prepare the decree and he can face the charges."
(Mejia insisted that the Ambassador stay longer than
scheduled, so that Mejia could sign the decrees in front of
him that day.)

8. (C) "I am making some changes right after the National
Day speech" (of February 27),the President said. He will
remove Director of Immigration Miguel Vasquez, substituting
him with retired Air Force General Rojas Taval (as heard),
head of the Air Force in the 1990's and briefly head of the
Armed Forces early in the Fernandez administration. Guido
Gomez is leaving his position as Legal Advisor to the
President (a fact that Gomez has been communicating for the
past week to the media). "And I am withdrawing that
ambassador to Argentina." (The Ambassador and Embassy have
pressed for some time for this action, given reports of
possible complicity in trafficking for prostititution in
Argentina.) Mejia indicated that as for Radhames Garcia, the
provincial representative intermittently on trial at the
Supreme Court for trafficking Asians, Mejia does not have
adequate control of the House of Representatives to move
against him there.

POLITICS -- AND A VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE


9. (C) Mejia said that he was going to constitute a PRD
committee to choose a vice presidential running mate for him.
"I'll give them a list -- some cadavers, some politicians,
and some private sector." Mejia would prefer Manuel
Alejandro Grullon, the president of the Banco Popular, well
respected offspring of the Santiago banking family in his
40s. But the committee can pick whom they choose.


10. (C) The Ambassador told Mejia that many Dominicans were
telling him that Mejia should negotiate with Fernandez and
the PLD in order to escape prosecution if he loses the
election. Mejia called the notion nonsense -- "absolutely
not true, and I'm not negotiating with anybody." He finds it
absurd that there are rumors of a plot against Leonel
Fernandez ("that originated with a police recruit who is
assigned to accompany the sargeant who's the driver for the
PRD chairman"). And as for the discussion in the papers over
the Feb 21-22 weekend concerning incorrect voting lists,
"Those are the same lists used in 2000; and if they want to
accuse anyone, they can blame Hatuey, because I have never
had a hand on them." The Ambassador suggested that Mejia
take the initiative to restate publicly his commitment to
free and fair elections. (At the dinner with the diplomatic
corps that evening, Mejia delivered exactly that message.)

COMMENT


11. (C) President Mejia was relaxed and cheerful; the
Ambassador congratulated him upon arrival on celebrating his
63rd birthday. As usual, Mejia was talkative, jumping from
subject to subject. He was the one to raise the removals of
Dominican officials. As the Ambassador waited afterwards for
the extradition papers to arrive, the President's sister
Chavela Grullon dropped by the office We believe that she
has been playing an important role in keeping the dossier on
trafficking alive with President Mejia.
HERTELL