DOMINICAN TRANSITION 11: STUDENTS PROTEST

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SANTO DOMINGO 004514

SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/CAR AND WHA
NSC FOR SHANNON AND MADISON
TREASURY FOR OASIA-LAMONICA
USDOC FOR 4322/ITA/MAC/WH/CARIBBEAN BASIN DIVISION
USDOC FOR 3134/ITA/USFCS/RD/WH
DHS FOR CIS-CARLOS ITURREGUI; SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/04/2009
TAGS: PGOV ASEC DR
SUBJECT: DOMINICAN TRANSITION 11: STUDENTS PROTEST
VIOLENTLY AGAINST MEJIA


Classified By: Acting DCM Mary B. Marshall for Reason 1.5 (b) and (d).


1. (U) This is no. 11 in our series on the Dominican
Republic's transition to a new administration:

STUDENTS PROTEST VIOLENTLY AGAINST MEJIA


2. (U) Police estimated that 200 students protested violently
at the inauguration by President Mejia of a new central
library at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD),
the nation's largest institution of higher learning, on
August 3. The students said they opposed inaugurating a
library that lacks books and computers. The previously
announced demonstration turned violent after the ceremony,
when protesters pelted the President's departing motorcade
with rocks and other objects and the presidential security
detail responded with warning shots. Protesters also
destroyed a commemorative plaque crediting the Mejia
administration with the building. There were no injuries or
arrests, according to police, but vehicles were damaged.
University authorities subsequently suspended a professor and
seven students, expelled two more students, and threatened to
prosecute a non-student participant. They closed the main
campus through August 4; classes are scheduled to resume
August 5.


3. (C) Embassy contacts in the Military Adjutants Corps --
which provides presidential security -- told us the
President's advisers had recommended he skip the
inauguration. However, Supervisor of Public Works Hernani
Salazar, a close adviser to Mejia who had pushed for the
library's completion, urged the President to attend. Our
contacts acknowledged that the adjutants had failed to
perform an advance site inspection with enough lead time to
cancel the President's appearance, once the demonstrators'
presence became obvious. They said some of Mejia's advisors
tried to blame President-elect Fernandez's PLD for inciting
the protest, but said that in fact a student federation had
organized it.


4. (U) Editorials in two leading dailies denounced the
student violence. News commentator Ana Mitila Lora, while
agreeing with this point, attributed the disturbance to
rising public irritation over widespread and extended power
blackouts and the nation's other serious economic problems,
and President Mejia's apparent reluctance to address them
during the transition to the administration of
President-elect Fernandez, scheduled to take office August 16.


5. (SBU) Comment: Sporadic protests, mostly against the
electricity crisis, have occurred over the past few weeks and
have provoked a few violent incidents, mostly in low income
neighborhoods. The UASD protest is another symptom of the
public's displeasure with the outgoing administration.
However, it does not appear to signal any new trend of
escalating disturbances. The upcoming inauguration, and
public expectations of the new administration, should -- at
least temporarily -- calm the waters. Whether the public's
patience holds over the next few months remains to be seen.
End comment.


6. Drafted by Bainbridge Cowell.


7. This and other reports in our election and transition
series can be read on the SIPRNET at
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/santodomingo/ index.cfm, along
with extensive additional material.
MARSHAL