DOMINICAN PRESIDENT FACES VIOLENT DEMONSTRATIONS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SANTO DOMINGO 005410

SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA, WHA/CAR, WHA/EPSC, WHA/MEX, WHA/OAS,
INR/IAA, DRL; USSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD; TREASURY FOR
OASIA-MAUREEN WAFER; 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: 12/12/2015
TAGS: DR PGOV HA PREL
SUBJECT: DOMINICAN PRESIDENT FACES VIOLENT DEMONSTRATIONS
IN PORT AU PRINCE


Classified By: ECOPOL Counselor Michael Meigs


1. (SBU) President Leonel Fernandez intended his first,
brief visit to Port au Prince to serve as a reinforcement of
bilateral relations and a boost to the Interim Government as
it prepared for January elections. The Dominicans cut the
event short as demonstrations outside the presidential palace
turned violent. The presidential motorcade ran through
bonfires and angry crowds while gunfire sounded. An event
intended for amity instead played in Dominican media as an
affront and an attack by Haiti on all things Dominican.


2. (C) Early in the Fernandez administration, Foreign
Minister Carlos Morales Tronocoso indicated to the Ambassador
Fernandez's interest in visiting Port au Prince, perhaps as
early as mid-2005. Instead, relations have been carried out
through the Dominican ambassador Jose Serulle Ramia and with
occasional working contacts, as the recent encounter between
national police chiefs or an earlier encounter between
environment ministers. In May of 2005 as Dominicans reacted
to reprisals between poor Haitian and Dominican residents in
the northern border area, the Haitian foreign minister
called at short notice on Morales Tronocoso in Santo Domingo
to ask for calm and order. Haitian diplomatic business has
been handled by a Haitian Consul General in Santo Domingo.


3. (C) The December 12 visit had been planned for some time
and kept quiet by those concerned. Fernandez programmed it
as a short stopover in route to Mexico's December 13 summit
with Central American presidents. He wanted to lower
bilateral tensions, to pay his respects to the interim
government and to get to know leading presidential
candidates. He brought along UK Ambassador Andrew Ashcroft
and Italian Ambassador Georgio Sfarra, both accredited to
Port au Prince, as well as Morales Troncoso, Finance Minister
Vicente Bengoa and Education Minister Alejandrina German, who
was to present a check for the reconstruction of a ten-room
school for Dominicans resident in the city.


4. (C) The visit began well, with Fernandez received with
honors at the airport and then proceeding to the palace for
meetings with Boniface and Latortue. The scene around the
palace appeared to be something of a street party as the
delegation arrived. Discussions with Haitian officials were
cordial. Latortue compared bilateral relations to those of
France and Germany -- with a difficult history but with
prospects for great improvement. He raised the subject of
mistreatment of Haitians in the Dominican Republic.
Fernandez described bilateral relations as "delicate" and
condemned abuses but advised Latortue that the Dominican
Republic has the same right as any country to return illegal
migrants to their country of origin. One newspaper account
suggests that the Haitians suggested the signing of a joint
communique, but that Fernandez left the text on the table.


5. (SBU) Meanwhile, outside the palace the crowds became
more agitated. Bonfires were lit to block the streets and
tires were thrown into them. Dominican newspapers report
that there were chants against Fernandez and that at least
one demonstrator brandished an image of the Belgian priest
Pierre Ruquoy, recently called back to Europe by his home
order after his ministry in favor of Haitian migrants had
become controversial. By the time that Fernandez and the
Haitian leaders were moving to hold a press conference, the
noise of the demonstrations had become loud enough to be
intrusive. Dominican officials and security decided to leave
immediately.


6. (C) The motorcade faced a frightening prospect as it left
the palace. Haitian security was "a disaster" and there
appeared to be no control at all of the crowds. According to
UK ambassador Ashcroft, the motorcade had to depart at high
speed, with the lead cars plowing through two street fires,
one of them so high that nothing was visible beyond it. Four
Dominican military helicopters stayed overhead all the way
and, according to a Dominican private pilot on the scene, two
of them discharged their machine guns. (Comment: They may
have been firing in the air to intimidate rather than
directly at the crowd. End Comment.) At some point, the
vehicle carrying Education Minister German was stopped and
evacuated; the car was burned. Dominican press accounts
assert that one vehicle in the motorcade took two hits from
automatic weapons fire.


7. (C) Fernandez and his party departed for Mexico via a
private plane, reportedly loaned by a Venezuelan businessman.
The Dominican press and media were in an uproar over the
following two days, with anti-Haitian sentiments and
offending national pride much on display. Dominican
Ambassador Serulle Ramia said President Fernandez ended his
trip early "to avoid the risk of being assassinated.-" -- not
only overstating the situation but further increasing alarm
in the Dominican Republic. Speaking for the Foreign Ministry,
Under Secretary for Consular Affairs Rosario Graciano
denounced the events and demanded an apology from Haitian
authorities, which was promptly delivered both orally and by
diplomatic note. Haitian authorities called the
demonstrations "intolerable and inexcusable" and stressed
that Fernandez had never been in danger.


8. (SBU) In a separate development, the consternation over
Haiti was further reflected on December 14 when the Dominican
Supreme Court delivered a constitutional interpretation that
reportedly categorized the children of undocumented
foreigners as "transients" and therefore not eligible for
Dominican nationality. Perhaps the harshest aspect of the
public discourse on these themes, in this run up to the
Christmas season, has been the sentiment reappearing in
commentaries, "The Haitians hate us, and those attacks were
just more evidence of their anti-Dominican attitude."
Defensive aggression on the sensitive issue of Haiti remains
the orientation for many Dominicans -- and perhaps for most
of them.
HERTELL