Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05SANTODOMINGO4690
2005-10-19 11:16:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Santo Domingo
Cable title:  

MEMCON: THE AMBASSADOR AND THE DOMINICAN

Tags:  DR ECON EFIN ENRG TBIO ETRD SNAR 
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 SANTO DOMINGO 004690 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA, WHA/CAR, WHA/CCA,WHA/EPSC, EB/CBA, INL,
INR/IAA, EB/ESC/IEC/EPC, OES; STATE PASS USTR FOR VARGO,
MALITO, AND HAUDA; STATE PASS USAID/LAC; NSC FOR LATIN
AMERICA ADVISOR; USSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD; TREASURY FOR
OASIA-MAUREEN WAFER; USDA FOR FAS; 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: 10/17/2015
TAGS: DR ECON EFIN ENRG TBIO ETRD SNAR
SUBJECT: MEMCON: THE AMBASSADOR AND THE DOMINICAN
PRESIDENT, SEPTEMBER 29


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

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 SANTO DOMINGO 004690

SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA, WHA/CAR, WHA/CCA,WHA/EPSC, EB/CBA, INL,
INR/IAA, EB/ESC/IEC/EPC, OES; STATE PASS USTR FOR VARGO,
MALITO, AND HAUDA; STATE PASS USAID/LAC; NSC FOR LATIN
AMERICA ADVISOR; USSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD; TREASURY FOR
OASIA-MAUREEN WAFER; USDA FOR FAS; 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: 10/17/2015
TAGS: DR ECON EFIN ENRG TBIO ETRD SNAR
SUBJECT: MEMCON: THE AMBASSADOR AND THE DOMINICAN
PRESIDENT, SEPTEMBER 29


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


1. (C) On September 29 President Leonel Fernndez received
the Ambassador for two hours in the
Palace. Fernndez had just finished a four-hour meeting on
energy and was unaccompanied. The
Ambassador was accompanied by DCM and USAID director. Topics
discussed, mostly at USG initiative,
were:

- - Millennium Challenge Corporation - Encouragement to try
to qualify for MCC assistance from 2006

- - HIV/AIDS - Use of grants from the Global Fund

- - Electricity sector - Update on the general situation;
Fernndez is concerned about the financial
implications

- - Ethics and government procurement - The Ambassador urged
Fernndez to sign and issue the "bridge
decree" directing that government procurement above defined
ceilings be carried out through an open bid
process

- - Illegal narcotics -- The Ambassador showed the President
a chart of tracks of recent drug flights, largely
from Venezuela; the Ambassador compared them to a Venezuelan
attack on the Dominican Republic.

- - Police training program - - Concern that Secretary of
the Interior Almeyda had not been supportive of
plans for USG (INL)-funded police training activities

- - Cuba's activities in the Dominican Republic

- - Preview of the SOUTHCOM-organized assessment of
management of the border with Haiti

- - Recent interruptions to express courier service due to
forceful Customs interventions


2. (SBU) Fernndez raised the OAS General Assembly, which
will take place in Santo Domingo in June,
2006, and his vision for forming a new Dominican Republic.


3. Detail follows:

(SBU) Millennium Challenge Corporation Funding: The
Ambassador explained that the Dominican
Republic was unlikely to be chosen for MCC funds this year,
based on its ranking on a series of indicators
compared to other lower middle income countries. He provided
a list of the formal indicators used to rank
countries, along with a chart that suggested that Dominican
competitiveness had dropped significantly in
the past year. U.S. officials suggested that the
administration could work to show it had the political will

to
improve, possibly bring up its scores, and thereby have
better prospects in 2006. Fernndez said he had
wanted to put together a committee of people to work on this.
He asked the Ambassador's opinion about a
possible chair for the committee and suggested Andres van der
Horst of the Competitiveness Council or
Technical Secretary of the Presidency Temistocles Monts.
U.S. officials suggested that as a senior
administration official Montas might be a better choice.
Fernndez said he would name Monts to head the
committee.

(C) HIV/AIDS: Fernndez commented that the Dominicans need to
be concerned about HIV/AIDS because
neighboring Haiti has high rates. The Ambassador pressed
Fernndez to get his officials to deliver results
from the phase 1 grant from the Global Fund of USD 14 million
so as to qualify for a Phase 2 grant of USD
37 million. Fernndez expressed disappointment at hearing
the program was functioning slowly. He said
that he had thought that director of the anti-AIDS program
COPRESIDA Alberto Fiallos would be more
efficient than his predecessors.

(SBU) Electricity Sector: Fernndez said he expected energy
to be very expensive for about two weeks.
"If the price can get down to USD 60/barrel after that, we
can manage." He planned to make budget
adjustments in the last quarter of 2005 to cover the higher
costs. Fernndez considered that the
government could not pass along higher LPG prices to
customers because that could provoke unrest.
Fernndez said that in addition to the recent price shock,
the Dominican Republic faces a problem with
inefficient distributors in electricity. Separately, he also
noted that the publicly owned distributors were not
meeting IMF/World Bank targets on cutting losses via improved
collections, and that international managers
for government-owned regional distributors Ede-Norte and
Ede-Sur had been hired. Fernndez said had
given up on the idea of buying the two coal plants the
government had been considering after learning that
the seller was less than reputable. Instead, the government
would issue an international public tender for
coal plants to be constructed in 2007.

(C) Ethics Commission: Commenting on the abrupt resignation
of technical director of the new Ethics
Commission Gustavo Montalvo in August and later press reports
of differences between the Commission
and the director of the presidency's office for information
services (OPTIC) Domingo Tavarez, Fernndez
said that since OPTIC had been looking at acquiring Microsoft
systems, it was very unlikely that there had
been malfeasance in regard to the briefly published request
for bids to furnish an "electronic portal for
government." He said he had felt embarrassed by the need to
suspend the tender and to ask for an Ethics
Commission review. Fernndez commented that Montalvo had
been unhappy anyway and had thought he
was in charge of the e-government initiative. Fernndez
said Montalvo had previously quit other
assignments when unhappy.

(SBU) Draft "Bridge Decree on Government Procurement." The
presidency has been holding since
March a draft decree that would require government agencies
to use public bidding process to acquire all
goods, services, and construction valued above relatively
restricted amounts. Fernndez said he wanted
to hold a seminar in the next 15 days or so with government
entities that would have to implement the
decree. The seminar would explain the changes and officials'
responsibilities under the new process. As
soon as everyone understood, Fernndez said, he would sign
it. He anticipated needing 6-7 months to
establish all of the institutions needed for full
implementation; even so, he said, he hoped to have the
structure in place and ready to go at the time the CAFTA
agreement goes into effect.

(C) Police Assistance/Almeyda. The Ambassador raised his
concerns that recently announced programs
of cooperation with the John Jay College of Criminal Justice
in New York might distract from the NAS-
funded basic training activities for the National Police.
Fernndez expressed his strong interest in
Dominican cooperation with John Jay, the New York Police
Department, and others, though not to the
exclusion of the USG-financed program. He inquired whether
the USG might be able to fund the John Jay
program. He said recognized that Secretary Almeyda's abrupt
manner had caused some problems; he was
aware, he said, that Almeyda had dressed down the new
Dominican police chief in front of subordinates.
Fernndez said he was "working on the Almeyda problem."

(C) Cuban Assistance. The Ambassador inquired about rumors
that Cuba might be seeking involvement
in police work and training. Fernndez said emphatically
that Cuba was not doing any political, security, or
"sensitive" training, and any such proposal would have to
come through him.

(SBU) The President said Cuban assistance is accepted only
for non-security, non-sensitive areas, such as:

- -Adult literacy - under Cuba's program, adults could be
taught to read in 7-8 weeks

- - Providing copies of their educational curricula K-12
curricula in math, bio, physics, and chemistry so that
the Dominicans can compare them with the national curriculum
and that used in New York state. The
Education Ministry has already compared the national
curriculum with that of New York.

- -Training of teachers

- - Eye care - originally, the Cubans wanted Dominicans to
travel to Cuba, but the Dominicans asked the
Cubans to train Dominicans here.

- - Assistance in the area of preventive medicine at the
primary care level, because it would lower demand
for the already overflowing Dominican hospital system

- - Certain kinds of natural disaster assistance (forestry,
etc). Fernndez said that he wants Dominican
technicians to understand what Cuba does in this area and
how. The Ambassador referred to the USG
programs in this area, and Fernndez suggested the USG
provide training in meteorology. Fernndez said
he would be interested in forming an alliance with Florida's
hurricane center.

(C) Illegal Narcotics: Fernndez said he had named lawyer
Vinicio "Vincho" Castillo his adviser on
counter-narcotics and wants Castillo to develop strategy and
policy for fighting illegal narcotics trafficking.
He commented said that the National Anti-Drugs Agency (DNCD)
needs to be cleaned out again. The
Ambassador showed Fernndez a chart of recent air tracks
from Venezuela to the Dominican Republic and
compared the situation to a Venezuelan attack on the
Dominican Republic. Fernndez looked and listened,
without comment.

(C) Haiti. The Ambassador again expressed USG concern about
Haitian nationals residing in the
Dominican Republic while seeking to destabilize the Haitian
elections.

(SBU) Border Assessment: The Ambassador noted that the
assessment of the Dominican-Haitian border
based on extensive fieldwork in July coordinated by the U.S.
Southern was almost ready. Its
recommendations would offer an opportunity for fundamental
change.

(SBU) Express mail companies: The President and Ambassador
reviewed the conflicts and changes that
had resulted in a four-day suspension of Customs clearing
services for all express mail companies, including
the major international firms UPS, FEDEX and DHL. Fernndez
reaffirmed that Customs Director General
Miguel Cocco is capable and a man of integrity. He commented
that the suspension was bad for the
country's image. Fernndez had heard of the conflict while
he was in the United States. The Ambassador
said that honest U.S. companies should not be penalized for
the suspect behavior of others.

(SBU) OAS General Assembly: Fernndez said he wants to
propose the theme of "Digital Solidarity" for
the June 2006 general assembly meeting to be held in Santo
Domingo. His concept is to pursue a plan to
get financing to provide more individuals access to the
Internet.

(C) A new Dominican Repuiblic: At the end of the two-hour
conversation, President Fernndez said that
the Dominican Republic was still in a painful transition, and
he was having to deal with many problems
simultaneously. "It will take a long time - more than
another 4 year term or two - to create a modern
Dominican Republic." He felt very alone, he said, because
there was not yet a critical mass of people
committed to public service with experience in running a
modern government. Technical Secretary
Temistocles Montas, Chief of Staff Danilo Medina, and Legal
Advisor Pina Toribio were three who did
understand and who formed the core of his team dedicated to a
modern state.

(C) As for himself, Fernndez said, his own commitment is to
democracy and to establishing a modern
Dominican state. He said he identified with the United
States, because he had grown up there. He said he
understood perfectly the importance of the bilateral
relationship.
BRINEMAN

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