This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 SANTO DOMINGO 006213 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA, WHA/CAR, WHA/EPSC, INL; 
NSC FOR SHANNON AND MADISON;LABOR FOR ILAB; USCINCSO ALSO 
FOR POLAD;TREASURY FOR OASIA-LCARTER; 
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: 11/08/2014 
TAGS: DR ENRG HA PGOV PREL
SUBJECT: DOMINICAN POLITICS #8: FERNANDEZ, THE RIO GROUP 
AND HAITI 
 
REF: STATE 243180 
 
Classified By: DCM Lisa Kubiske.  Reason: 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary.  When the Rio Group summit of November 4 got 
to the agenda item on 
Haiti, Dominican President Leonel Fernandez asked for 
hemispheric help in 
re-instilling democracy in that &narco-state,8 but he put a 
big front wrong in 
advocating the inclusion in the process of former president 
Jean Bertrand 
Aristide.  Following a November 6 conversation with the 
Ambassador, Fernandez agreed that Aristide was distinct from 
Lavalas, and said he meant to say that groups with broad 
popular support needed to be included in the process.  The 
Ambassador and several other ambassadors see President 
Fernandez November 16 to discuss Haiti further, per reftel. 
 
¶2.  (C)  Dominicans are continually worried about the other 
half of Hispaniola, 
and with good reason -- perhaps a million Haitians reside in 
the Dominican 
Republic already, many of them undocumented.  The February 
2004 hostilities in 
Haiti did not cause any significant cross-border movements 
but the Dominican 
military temporarily reinforced the border and the Dominican 
Congress 
precipitately voiced its opposition to any eventual proposal 
to establish 
refugee camps on national territory. 
 
¶3. (C)   The official press release from the presidency 
offers an account of the Dominican positions at the meeting. 
(See para 4 below.)  It includes two 
elements of concern two us:  a calculated reference to 
Aristide and a quote 
from Hugo Chavez blaming &a large part of the disorder in 
that brother country8 
on the United States.  Chief of staff Danilo Medina said that 
the press release 
was not cleared elsewhere in the palace.  See septel for 
discussion of the Dominican-Venezuelan questions. 
 
¶4. (U)  Following is our informal translation of the release, 
which played 
extensively in the Dominican press: 
 
- - - - - - - - - - - 
 
(begin text) 
 
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  The presidents of Latin America 
declared their 
determination to provide concrete help to Haiti in 
establishing a true 
democratic order where institutions function and all 
participants may be 
brought together for a dialogue on the future of the country. 
 
Responding to a proposal by President Leonel Fernandez, the 
heads of state and 
government meeting at the XVIII Rio Group Summit agreed in 
the need for the 
re-establishment in Haiti of peaceful coexistence and 
institutional order, so 
that in the future a constitutional convention may be 
assembled. 
 
President Fernandez, who offered an analysis of the 
historical roots of Haiti,s 
ingovernability, stated that in that Caribbean nation there 
exists a power 
vacuum and a great scarcity as a clandestine economy 
functions based on 
narcotics trafficking. 
 
&Haiti, a theme of discussion of the Latin American leaders 
participating in 
this summit, is a narco-state subjugated to poverty and human 
degradation, such 
that we the countries of Latin America have the historical 
responsibility of 
going to its aid,8 he emphasized. 
 
He said that within a democracy there should be participation 
of all sectors, 
and that in Haiti there is a political leader with great 
popular support, Jean 
Bertrand Aristide, who should be involved in the process for 
a democratic 
solution and establishment of stability and democracy. 
 
The Dominican leader called on the Rio Group to make a 
profound analysis of the 
Haitian situation, given this immense undertaking, so that 
the presence of the 
MINUSTAH can be transformed in a clear and decisive manner to 
cooperate in 
building a true state of laws. 
 
The Dominican president,s analysis of the Haitian crisis was 
seconded and 
approved by 11 of the presidents present, who in their 
remarks expressed 
support to the Dominican initiative seeking immediate support 
for Haiti. 
 
President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez, who will visit the 
Dominican republic this 
Saturday, said, &We should go to the aid of Haiti, but a 
great deal of the 
fault for the disorder in that brother country lies with the 
United States.8 
 
The president of Paraguay Nicanor Duarte said that countries 
meeting here 
should offer support for building a true democracy in haiti, 
with sovereignty 
and with respect for its cultural roots. 
 
The president of Panama Martin Torrijos backed the position 
of the Dominican 
leader and said that he was ready to offer cooperation in 
elections, welcoming 
the position of President Fernandez. 
 
At the same time, the Vice President of El Salvador, Ana 
Vilma de Escobar, 
spoke of the need to restore order and to organize a 
constitutional convention 
in which all participants can find consensus and will respect 
the rules of the 
game. 
 
&We should carry out a crusade to recover multi-lateralism, 
so that we can work 
at establishing order in Haiti, and then work in favor of a 
civilized 
co-existence where conversations about the future can 
begin,8 commented the 
president of Bolivia, Carlos Mesa. 
When his turn came, the president of Guatemala, Eduardo Stein 
Braillas, 
affirmed that the efforts to assist the Caribbean nation 
should be carried out 
jointly with the United Nations, but added the self-criticism 
that the 
countries of Latin America did not take decisions concerning 
that nation when 
they faced the need to do so. 
 
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, November 4, 2004.  Office of 
Information, Press, and 
Public Relations. 
 
(end text) 
 
- - - - - - - - - - - 
 
 
¶5. (C)  The Aristide comment appeared to come out of nowhere. 
 Fernandez had 
not previously discussed Aristide by name in conversations 
with us, or with our French and Canadian counterparts. 
 
¶6. (C) Perhaps the greatest surprise for us was the palace's 
presumption that 
there would be no downside.  The next-day in-house press 
analysis by 
Fernandez's strategy unit concluded that there was "no risk" 
associated with 
his comments and that Fernandez was "presenting himself as an 
element of 
international cooperation." 
 
Fernandez Backtracks 
- - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶7. (C) On November 6, during a pull-aside at a social event, 
the Ambassador admonished Fernandez that his reference to 
Aristide was a serious mistake, one 
that had the potential of further inflaming a situation 
already dangerous for 
the Haitian people and for the international peacekeeping 
force.  Fernandez 
replied that given popular support for Lavalas, it would have 
to be part of the 
situation.  The Ambassador was direct: Aristide had led a 
violent gang involved 
in narcotics trafficking and had squandered any credibility 
he formerly may 
have had.  "Nobody has given me any information about that," 
Fernandez 
replied.  The Ambassador insisted that no supporter of human 
rights and 
democracy could in good conscience allow Aristide and his 
close supporters back 
into the situation in Haiti.  Fernandez listened and 
eventually agreed to 
distinguish between Aristide and Lavalas.  He asked for any 
information on 
Aristide that the United States might be able to share with 
him. 
 
¶7. (C) On November 9 the Ambassador, DCM and EcoPol chief 
questioned 
presidential chief of staff Danilo Medina about the reference 
to Aristide. 
Medina suggested that the President hadn't meant Aristide, 
but rather the 
Lavalas political movement; the Ambassador questioned that 
interpretation. 
Emboffs pointed out that Aristide had been named in the press 
release and 
questioned the inclusion in a Dominican press release of the 
anti-U.S. remark 
by Chavez.  Medina professed not to have seen or cleared the 
release, which had 
been drafted by the press office. He said that in future, 
press texts would be 
routed through his office before release. 
 
¶8.  (C)  The Ambassador meets with President Fernandez  to 
discuss Haiti (using reftel talking points) on the evening of 
November 16, accompanied by the French, Canadian, British and 
Spanish ambassadors.  We will report septel on the results of 
that discussion. 
HERTELL