Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04SANTODOMINGO5727
2004-10-19 17:14:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Santo Domingo
Cable title:  

DEMARCHES TO DOMINICANS ON HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP

Tags:  ETRD PGOV DR 
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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 02 SANTO DOMINGO 005727 

SIPDIS

DEPT PASS USTR FOR VARGO,RYCKMAN, MALITO, CRONIN; DEPT FOR
WHA, WHA/CAR, WHA/EPSC, EB/TPP/BTA; NSC FOR SHANNON AND
MADISON;
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD;TREASURY FOR OASIA-LCARTER
USDOC FOR 4322/ITA/MAC/WH/CARIBBEAN BASIN DIVISION
USDOC FOR 3134/ITA/USFCS/RD/WH; DHS FOR CIS-CARLOS ITURREGUI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/04/2014
TAGS: ETRD PGOV DR
SUBJECT: DEMARCHES TO DOMINICANS ON HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP

REF: STATE 220252

Classified By: DCM Lisa Kubiske. Reason: 1.4 (a) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SANTO DOMINGO 005727

SIPDIS

DEPT PASS USTR FOR VARGO,RYCKMAN, MALITO, CRONIN; DEPT FOR
WHA, WHA/CAR, WHA/EPSC, EB/TPP/BTA; NSC FOR SHANNON AND
MADISON;
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD;TREASURY FOR OASIA-LCARTER
USDOC FOR 4322/ITA/MAC/WH/CARIBBEAN BASIN DIVISION
USDOC FOR 3134/ITA/USFCS/RD/WH; DHS FOR CIS-CARLOS ITURREGUI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/04/2014
TAGS: ETRD PGOV DR
SUBJECT: DEMARCHES TO DOMINICANS ON HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP

REF: STATE 220252

Classified By: DCM Lisa Kubiske. Reason: 1.4 (a) and (d).


1. (U) Summary. EcoPol counselor delivered talking points
urging rapid repeal of the 25 percent
tax on fructose-sweetened drinks to Deputy Foreign Minister
Alejandra Liriano on
October 14. She accepted the document and undertook to pass
it on. EcoPol counselor
and poloff met Senator Alejandro Santos, chair of the special
committee
considering repeal, on October 18. Santos said that the
7-member committee appointed to
study the repeal measure is stacked in favor of the FTA, but
that the votes are not yet there
in the broader Senate to pass the repeal measure. He and
other Senators continue to work
toward repeal. Santos released to the press on October 19
the text of USTR Amb. Zoellick's
October 4 letter to U.S. congressional leaders counseling
against inclusion of the
Dominican Republic in CAFTA if the 25 percent tax is
retained. End summary.


2. (C) EcoPol counselor delivered reftel talking points
urging rapid repeal of the 25 percent
tax on fructose-sweetened drinks to Deputy Foreign Minister
Alejandra Liriano on
October 14. She accepted the document and undertook to pass
it on.


3. (C) On Monday, October 18, after senators returned from
their constituencies, EcoPol
counselor and poloff met with Senator Alejandro Santos (PRD -
Salcedo),president of
the Senate Trade Committee and chair of the special committee
appointed by Senate
President Bautista to examine the draft proposal to repeal
the 25 percent tax. Santos,
a proponent of the free trade agreement (FTA),initially
asked whether there
was any prospect that the U.S. authorities might offer to
show some flexibility concerning the
desires of the sugar sector -- as a means of moving enough
senators away from their previous
vote, delivered less than 3 weeks ago. Emboffs told him that
there was no chance;
the decision of President Fernandez to appeal directly to

President Bush on behalf of the
sugar sector had further diminished Dominican credibility in
Washington. Every day that passed
was reducing the chances for the Dominican Republic.
Planning for regional meetings on
sanitary and phytosanitary standards did not include the
Dominican Republic, and unless
the tax were repealed quickly, the country would not be
included in December consultations
on trade capacity building. Santos asked whether there might
be some prospect of
help, however modest, that would permit the sugar sector to
adjust to losses caused by
the FTA; emboffs said that was highly unlikely, given the
vigorous attacks of the sector
over a period of months.


4. (C) Santos says that the 7-member committee appointed to
study the repeal measure is
stacked in favor of the FTA, with only one firm proponent of
the 25 percent tax. For now,
however, he does not see sufficient votes for repeal in the
broader Senate. The committee
heard out sugar sector representatives this morning and plans
to meet with the association
of free zone manufacturers (ADOZONA),who made a vigorous
public presentation on
October 13 arguing the need to preserve jobs and promote
competitiveness with the FTA.
He expects to meet again with ADOZONA president Arturo
Peguero and to urge the industrialists
to approach their legislators in systematic fashion to argue
in favor of repeal and the FTA.In
his public comments Santos stresses "the need to save the
FTA."


5. (C) Emboffs discussed with Santos the full set of
talking points (reftel) and again stressed
the urgency of the measure. The agreement with the Dominican
Republic is only one part
of a much wider trade strategy for the United States; further
delay could well lead to a
situation in which the advantage of the "demonstration
effect" to other trade partners of dropping the country
for manifest inability to deliver on its commitments could
outweigh the diminishing interest
in keeping the Dominican Republic.


6. (C) Santos concluded that the committee has less time to
act than members had thought. Some
had suggested waiting until after the U.S. elections, he
commented -- a notion that emboffs
dismissed as dangerous and counterproductive. Santos will
suggest that Senate president Andres
Bautista invite the Ambassador to meet soon with the full
Senate of 32 members, in closed session
in Bautista's office. He believes that the most effective
approach would be to focus on the
advantages to the country of the FTA, avoiding polemics.


7. (SBU) Santos inquired whether he might release to the
press the text of USTR Amb. Zoellick's
letter of October 4 to U.S. congressional leaders
transmitting CAFTA texts and recommending against
inclusion of the Dominican Republic if the tax is retained.
Emboffs encouraged him to do so, and
the story ran prominently in all major newspapers on October
19, along with Santos' comment to
journalists about the "need to save the FTA."


HERTELL