PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN RHETORIC HEATS UP

UNCLAS SANTO DOMINGO 000039 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/CAR E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV ECON DR SUBJECT: PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN RHETORIC HEATS UP REF: A. 07 SD 0233 (VARGAS WINS NOMINATION) ¶B. 07 SD 0329 (VARGAS' POLITICAL DIRECTOR) ¶C. 07 SD 0348 (VARGAS FOREIGN POLICY) ¶D. 07 SD 0590 (FERNANDEZ TO RUN) ¶E. 07 SD 0685 (FERNANDEZ DEFENDS RE-ELECTION) ¶F. 07 SD 0846 (PLD DIVIDED) ¶G. 07 SD 1017 (VARGAS WITH DIPLOMATIC CORPS) ¶H. 07 SD 1078 (FERNANDEZ WINS PRIMARY) ¶I. 07 SD 1691 (CAMPAIGN TEAMS) ¶J. 07 SD 2366 (ANALYTICAL OVERVIEW) ¶K. 07 SD 2568 (VARGAS WITH POLOFFS) ¶1. (SBU) After a respite caused by two major tropical storms and the holiday season, rhetoric among presidential candidates heated up again over the weekend. The PLD party candidate, President Leonel Fernandez, launched the first attack. Referring to the 2003-2004 economic crisis during the last administration of the rival PRD party, Fernandez implored voters not to return the government to "unfit minds and uncertain hands." ¶2. (SBU) The President argued that the Dominican Republic could ill afford a PRD administration given the "strong international turbulence" facing the country, including high oil prices and a slowing U.S. economy. Referring to his opponent, wealthy former Minister of Public Works Miguel Vargas Maldonado, Fernandez said the government should not be in the hands of "people who think that politics is a business for enriching themselves, (nor people) whose only merit is their personal fortune." ¶3. (SBU) Vargas responded quickly, turning Fernandez's words against him by saying it was the PLD that the county could no longer afford to keep in power. Exhibit A, according to Vargas, is the controversial $130 million loan the government secured through the Sun Land Corporation without consulting congress. The opposition candidate also returned to the central PRD campaign theme that Fernandez is abusing state funds for his political campaign: "This government has demonstrated that is uses and abuses state resources without limit or scruples. They did it in (the congressional election); they did it (in their party primary election),and they're doing it now." ¶4. (SBU) Vargas also struck back on the issue of personal wealth, saying regarding the President that, "In 1996 (when Fernandez was elected to his first, non-consecutive term), that man was a simple lawyer, who after 20 years in his profession had only become an insolvent person. However, after almost eight years of a presidency full of corruption cases he exhibits a personal fortune that he can't justify." Regarding the Marbella corruption scandal in Spain, to which the PLD has tried to tie the PRD candidate, Vargas implied that it is in fact Fernandez that may have been involved, saying, "The Spanish case is interesting because there we have to determine who had dealings with the Marbella case -- the candidate seeking re-election or me." ¶5. (SBU) Regarding his own wealth, Vargas said that it is derived from his 30 years as a real estate developer, and that he is "prepared to demonstrate to the country where the wealth comes from and what assets I have." Responding for Fernandez, Interior and Police Minister Franklin Almeyda said that the President's declaration of assets shows a net worth of only US$550,000. ¶6. (SBU) Meanwhile, PRSC party candidate Amable Aristy Castro, not wanting to be left out of the heated campaign rhetoric, joined the fray. Aristy described the PRD as the "kings of disorder" and the PLD as "experts at simulation and deception, who seek to convert small tropical storms into major disasters (so that they can) impose abusive taxes." The PRSC candidate spent the weekend giving away toys, food, and school supplies to the poor and otherwise engaging in the overt clientalism that has become his trademark. ¶7. (SBU) COMMENT: While many Dominicans are disturbed by the volume and negativity of the campaign rhetoric, the solution to the problem is unclear, particularly given the long history negative, personality-based political discourse here. Late last year, a proposed set of regulations that the Central Elections Board hoped would limited campaign activity failed to gain approval after all three major parties (and some media outlets) opposed the new rules. Op-Ed columnist Hamlet Hermann wrote that, "This election campaign has turned into one person putting the blame on the other. Each candidate does this without realizing that psychiatrists consider that as one of the symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia." While we at Post would not go that far, the rhetoric has certainly heated up with the official start of the campaign still six weeks away. On the plus side, United States policy has been a non-issue is the campaign thus far. (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