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/
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