AMBASSADOR FANNIN PRESENTS CREDENTIALS, MAKES

C O N F I D E N T I A L SANTO DOMINGO 002790

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/CAR

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/27/2027
TAGS: PGOV ETRD SNAR ECON PHUM DR
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR FANNIN PRESENTS CREDENTIALS, MAKES
COURTESY CALLS

REF: SANTO DOMINGO 2748

Classified By: Ambassador P. Robert Fannin, Reasons 1.4(b),(d)

Summary
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1. (U) Since arriving at Post on December 13, Ambassador
Fannin has presented his credentials to President Fernandez
and paid courtesy calls on all three branches of the
Dominican Government, including the Attorney General, the
Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, the President of the Central
Elections Board, Minister of Industry and Commerce, President
of the Supreme Court, Minister of Environment, and the
Presidents of the Senate and House of Representatives. While
these meetings were primarily an opportunity for the
Ambassador to get to know his Dominican counterparts, a
number of substantive issues were discussed, including the
presidential election, CAFTA-DR summit, "shootdown" law,
Santo Domingo subway, Somo-JCE commercial dispute, Dominican
Freedom of Information Act, and prison exchange treaty.

President Fernandez
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2. (C) On December 18, the Ambassador presented credentials
to President Fernandez and spoke to the President for
approximately 30 minutes. The discussion was very friendly
in tone, with Fernandez eschewing some of the formality of
the event, enthusiastically greeting members of the country
team, and singling out the DCM for praise for his service as
Charge d'Affaires. Fernandez pledged to work with the United
States in every way possible and said that his office has an
open door to us. He then spoke at some length about the
damage caused by Tropical Storms Noel and Olga, describing
his visit the day before to disaster sites. The President
said the agricultural sector has been hit badly and that the
recovery would take three-to-four years. Regarding the
upcoming presidential election, Fernandez said that he
regretted that the Dominican political system depended more
on the granting of jobs to supporters than the candidates'
ideology and platforms. He expressed his hope that the
election would be seen as fair and transparent, regardless of
who wins.

Minister of Industry and Commerce
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3. (U) Minister of Industry and Commerce Paredes told the
Ambassador that President Fernandez had asked him to organize
a CAFTA-DR summit in March 2008 to assess the first year of
implementation. After the meeting, ECONOFF spoke to the
Director of the Directorate of Foreign Trade, Pablo Espinal,
who said he had informally contacted his counterparts in
Central America to see if they could find possible dates in
March for a summit. He acknowledged that if the dates slip
into April, it would be less likely that the event could be
held before the presidential elections in May. In September,
during a visit to the United States, President Fernandez had
announced his intention to host such a summit. However, in
October, the Secretary for Economy, Planning and Development,
Temistocles Montas, told us that the Administration would not
be able to organize a summit before the presidential
election.

President of Senate
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4. (SBU) Reinaldo Pared Perez, President of the Senate,
discussed recent achievements by the upper house, putting
special emphasis on a number of laws passed that would help
strengthen institutions, as well as legislation that requires
the executive branch to consult with Congress on spending
budget surpluses. Pared said that an important issue remains
pending -- constitutional reform. Amendments are needed so
that "developments" in the country since the 1966 charter can
be taken into account, e.g. the plebiscite, third generation
rights (such as the right to culture and to environmental

protection),and "amparo" (appeal for legal protection). The
DCM raised our concerns regarding the law pending in the
Senate that would authorize the "shootdown" of aircraft
suspected of narcotics trafficking (Reftel). Pared appeared
surprised to hear of our concerns, but pledged to discuss
them with the committee chairman handling the bill. Pared
requested a copy of the CNIES agreement, the accord which the
shootdown law may violate.

Dean of Diplomatic Corps
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5. (C) The Ambassador thanked Monsignor Timothy Broglio,
outgoing Papal Nuncio and Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, for
his outstanding cooperation with the Embassy over the past
six years, and inquired regarding the state of Dominican
democracy. The Monsignor said that there has been progress
on democracy, but that it had to be measured in small steps.
On the one hand, there have been "great strides" with
improving the judiciary. On the other, the Dominican
political system is still based on spoils and not ideology or
party platforms. Regarding the human rights of the
Haitian-Dominican community, the creation of the Foreigners'
Book (Libro de Extranjeria) to document births is a "big
advance," although there are still "many problems" with
Haitian rights. The Monsignor commented that some
Haitian-Dominican activists have "unrealistic demands." The
Ambassador raised the Santo Domingo subway project. The
Monsignor replied that the subway was an "abomination of
desolation," and that the spending on the transportation
project came at the expense of an education system that is in
"very bad shape."

President of Central Elections Board
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6. (SBU) Julio Castanos Guzman, President of the Central
Elections Board (JCE),described the U.S. as an ally of the
JCE in its efforts to strengthen Dominican democracy.
Castanos expressed concerns about the executive branch's
proposed budget for the Board for next year. He said that
the allocation was virtually unchanged from this year,
despite the fact that 300,000 new voters would participate in
the 2008 election and 250 polling stations were being set up
around the world for overseas Dominicans in a major new
initiative. The DCM praised the JCE's work in past
elections, as well as the achievements of Citizens
Participation (Participacion Ciudadana),a Dominican NGO and
USAID-grantee that leads electoral observation efforts.
(Note: Guzman told the Ambassador that the Dominican Republic
had had free elections since 1966, an assertion which left us
scratching our heads given that there were fraudulent
elections in 1978 and 1994, at a minimum.)


7. (SBU) Regarding the JCE's recently introduced Foreigners'
Book (Libro de Extranjeria),Castanos refuted critics' claims
that the program discriminated against the Haitian-Dominican
community. Rather, he argued, the Book promotes human rights
by allowing illegal immigrants to register births, while at
the same time meeting a Dominican objective of not conveying
citizenship. The Ambassador then raised the commercial
dispute between the JCE and the American-Dominican consortium
"Somo." Somo has a US$58 million contract for work on the
Board's identity and birth document system and sought Post's
assistance in receiving payments in arrears and securing a
meeting with the JCE, which they have not had in over a year.
Castanos replied that there were allegation of corruption
regarding the contract and that the JCE had hired an auditor
to investigate. He said that the Board would meet with
consortium "in a few months" when the audit had been
completed.

President of Supreme Court
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8. (SBU) Jorge Subero Isa, President of the Supreme Court,
described the Dominican judiciary was the most improved in
Latin America in recent years. Subero said that the U.S. had

played an important role in these strides, praised USAID's
programming for the justice sector, and requested continued
support next year. Key current judicial programs include
strengthening the public defender service, the judicial
school, an anti-corruption case integrity system, rigorous
performance evaluation of judges, land titling, alternative
dispute resolution, and improved service to the public via
consolidated justice centers. Unfortunately, Subero
continued, the President's proposed budget for the judiciary
is insufficient and will impede the implementation of these
projects. Turning to the Supreme Court's rulings, the judge
cited as 2007's two most important decisions the ruling in
favor of a journalist in a test of the Dominican Freedom of
Information Act, as well as the Court's decision to increase
the sentence of a military officer convicted of the 1973
extrajudicial killing of Orlando Martinez from 20 to 30
years. (Note: It is indeed rare here to see the executive
branch lose a major court case and this one is precedent
setting, since the public and government are testing the
scope and limit of the 2004 FOIA law.)

Attorney General
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9. (SBU) Attorney General Jimenez praised the state of
bilateral cooperation, saying that he did not consider
Embassy staff "foreigners," but rather "part of our team."
He described USAID's justice programs as "fundamental" to
reform of the legal sector and he made a strong pitch for
continued support in 2008. The USAID officer present replied
that we hoped to continue our program with the justice
system, but that we could not make any definitive statements
until after our Operational Plan in completed. When the DCM
said that a bilateral prison exchange treaty is under
consideration, Deputy Attorney General Cueto expressed the
concern that, if transferred to the Dominican Republic,
Dominican drug barons would take advantage of weaknesses in
the local prison system and continue to run criminal
enterprises from behind bars. The DCM expressed the hope
that the prison system could be strengthened and pledged to
continue the discussion of the treaty.

President of House
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10. (SBU) Julio Cesar Valentin, President of the House of
Representatives, briefed the Ambassador on issues facing the
legislative branch. Valentin, who represents the same party
as the President, said that the House needed to improve its
check and balance function vis-a-vis the executive branch.
Given the prevalence of clientism, he continued, the Congress
must improve its auditing and accounting work, as well as its
follow up once laws are passed. The ability to pursue these
objectives has been impeded by the paucity of skilled
professional staff. The DCM discussed the possibility of
sending staffers on International Visitor Programs (IVPs).
Describing the U.S. as "our principal friend," Valentin
praised the IVP program. He said that in the late 1990s he
and Senator Andres Bautista had been on an IVP together, and
that subsequently he and Bautista had gone on to be the
presidents of the House and Senate. Valentin also said that
he hoped to form a U.S.-Dominican Congressional Friendship
Committee.

Minister of Environment
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11. (U) The Ambassador informed Minister Environment Ramirez
of the environment trade capacity building allocations for
FY07, which were due to be announced in Washington the same
day. The Minister said he was pleased with the close
cooperation that his ministry has with the Embassy and that
he looks forward to working closely together in the future.

(U) This report and additional information can be found on
Embassy Santo Domingo's SIPRNET site,
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/santodomingo/
FANNIN