DOMINICAN TRANSITION 12-PRESIDENT FERNANDEZ NAMES

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SANTO DOMINGO 004531 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CAR (MCISAAC) NSC FOR SHANNON AND MADINSON TREASURY FOR OASIA AND LAMONICA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON ENRG MCAP PGOV PINR PREL EINV DR SUBJECT: DOMINICAN TRANSITION 12-PRESIDENT FERNANDEZ NAMES ECONOMIC TEAM ¶1. (U) This is number 12 in our series on the transition between the Mejia and Fernandez adminstrations. President-elect Fernandez- Two weeks from power. ¶2. (U) Summary. President-elect Leonel Fernandez on August 4 announced appointments to his administration, mainly in positions related to economic affairs. Four of the eight appointees had served in President Fernandez's previous administration from 1996-2000. Below is a list of the names and a short biography of each. End Summary. ¶3. (U) Eusebio Rafael Camilo Abreu (Superintendent of Banks) is a career Professor of Economics and Sociology at UASD. He is a member of the National Committee of the Partido de la Liberacin Dominicana (PLD) and was appointed as a National Director of Planning (ONAPLAN) during the first Fernndez administration (1996-2000),serving for all four years. More recently, Mr. Camilo has been a private consultant and member of the Economic Commission and Programming Commission for the Fernndez transition team. ¶4. (U) Vicente Bengoa (Secretary of Finance) is an economist and former Superintendent of Banks during 1996-2000. He has been a Congressional deputy for the PLD in the past, and recently headed the FILA (Frente Independiente Leonel al Poder) movement for the 2004 Presidential Election. ¶5. (U) Juan Temstocles Monts Domnguez (Technical Secretary of the Presidency) is a chemical engineer and economist, who completed his formal studies in the Dominican Republic and Spain. Monts was a founder of the PLD in 1973 and has been a member of its central committee and political committee. He served as a PLD deputy in Congress from 1986 to 1990. He was the General Manager of the National Electrical Company (CDE) in the first Leonel Fernandez administration (1996-1998) and the main promoter of electric sector privatization and reform based on recommendations from the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank. He was the Technical Secretary of the Presidency (minister of planning) for the remainder of the first Fernandez administration (1998-2000). Monts was in charge of the PLD platform in the 2004 election campaign and was appointed by President-elect Fernandez as the Coordinator of the Transition Commission. ¶6. (U) Daniel Toribio Marmolejos (Manager of Banco de Reservas) is a professional economist educated in the Dominican Republic. He was a professor at the Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo and director of the National Fiscal Training Institute in the Secretariat of Finance. Toribio served as Secretary of Finance during the first Fernandez administration (1996-2000). He later worked as a private consultant before being selected as a member of the Transition Commission by President-elect Fernandez on May 20. ¶7. (U) Juan Hernandez (Director General of Internal Taxes) is an economist from PUCMM with post-graduate studies on tax systems. In 1996, he was the General Director for the Income Tax Office, and in 1998, he became the first General Director for Internal Taxes. In 1985, he served as Under Secretary for Finances. ¶8. (U) Hector Valdez Albizu (Governor of the Central Bank) is an economist; not an activist for any particular party, he is basically a technician who started his career in the Central Bank in 1970 and rose to the position of Governor step by step. In 1991, President Balaguer appointed him as the Central Bank,s representative on the Administration Council for the Banco de Reservas. He was named Administrator for this Bank, 1993-1995, and then Balaguer appointed him Governor of the Central Bank, a position which he continued to hold during the first Fernndez Administration (1996-2000). ¶9. (U) Julio Ortega-Tous (Head of the President,s Council of Economic Advisors),an economist and sociologist, was Deputy Director of the External Debt Department in the Central Bank, Director of Foreign Investment, and Technical Manager of the Central Bank from 1993 to 1995. Ortega-Tous was the National Director of Planning (ONAPLAN) from 1991-1993. During the first Fernndez administration (1996-2000),Ortega-Tous was Deputy Technical Secretary of the Presidency (1996-1999) and Ambassador to Canada (1999-2000). Subsequently, Ortega-Tous worked as a Senior Advisor of the Banco del Progreso, a commercial bank. Ortega-Tous is currently President-elect Fernandez's coordinator of international economists. ¶10. (U) Miguel Cocco (Director General of Customs) held the same post during the first Fernndez administration (1996-2000). In August 1999, he experienced problems with his kidneys and sought treatment in the U.S. Cocco was an early follower of PLD founder Juan Bosch, and his brother, Manuel Cocco, has served as an economist in previous Dominican administrations. ¶11. (U) Drafted by Mark Kendrick. ¶12. (U) This report and others in our transition and election series are available on our SIPRNET site http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/santodomingo/ along with extensive other material. MARSHALL