VZCZCXYZ0001
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDG #0238/01 0231107
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 231107Z JAN 06
FM AMEMBASSY SANTO DOMINGO
TO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA PRIORITY 1522
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS PRIORITY 0518
RUEHMU/AMEMBASSY MANAGUA PRIORITY 0508
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO PRIORITY 1022
RUEHPU/AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE PRIORITY 4076
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3248
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SANTO DOMINGO 000238 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA, WHA/CAR, WHA/CEN, WHA/OAS, D, P, EB, INL, 
EB/IFD/OMA, S/S; NSC FOR WESTERN HEMISPHERE ADVISOR 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/19/2009 
TAGS: PGOV PREL OPDC DR OAS HA
SUBJECT: DOMINICANS ORGANIZING PRE-OAS-ASSEMBLY 
PRESIDENTIAL SUMMIT; FM ON VENEZUELA; ALEMAN INVESTIGATION 
 
REF: A. 2005 STATE 197220 
     ¶B. LINDWALL/MEIGS E-MAILS 1/09/06 
 
Classified By: EcoPol Counselor Michael Meigs.  Reason: 
1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (C) Dominican Foreign Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso 
told the Ambassador and visitng WHA Deputy Assistant 
Secretary Patrick Duddy on January 12 that the Dominicans are 
 
SIPDIS 
hoping to organize a summit meeting of U.S.-friendly 
presidents on May 28-29, the week before the OAS General 
Assembly of June 3-6, to improve the atmosphere for the 
Assembly. They hope that President Bush will accept an 
invitation to attend the event. Relations with Venezuela have 
been cool since Ferandez supported the FTAA at Mar de Plata. 
The FM had no immediate comment on USG interest in seeing 
prosecution of former president of Nicaragua Aleman. 
 
OAS -- AND A LIMITED EARLY SUMMIT 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶2.  (C) In a private conversation on January 12 with the 
Ambassador and visiting WHA Deputy Assistant Secretary 
Patrick Duddy, Dominican Foreign Minister Morales Troncoso 
deplored the events at the Mar de Plata summit, where 
presidents Kirschner and Chavez embarrassed other presidents 
at the event.  Morales commented that President Bush had 
shown command and had tremendous impact.  The Dominicans do 
not intend to allow their OAS event to be manipulated.  They 
would like to invite "the real, true friends of the United 
States" to a meeting on May 28-29.  Morales suggested that 
the newly-elected president of Haiti could attend.  He noted 
that President Fox of Mexico was proposing a "Plan Puebla 
Panama" to counter Chavez's "Petrocaribe"; the meeting could 
include potential participants and CAFTA partners.  Morales 
suggested invitations to Mexico, Colombia, Honduras, 
Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua -- "all of Central America, 
all the best allies of the United States."  In total, he 
said, this would make 9 presidents. The Dominicans could 
invite OAS SecGen Insulza, or not, depending on the concept 
of the event.  Morales Troncoso portrayed the suggestion as 
an opportunity for the U.S. president to show his interest in 
Latin America in an event that could be carried out in a 
single day. 
 
¶3.  (C)  The Dominicans intend the OAS summit here in Casa 
del Campo to be thoroughly pre-scripted.  Morales said that 
they would avoid "the problems of Ft. Lauderdale and Mar de 
Plata. . . Insulza wants this to be his first successful 
General Assembly." 
 
HAITI 
 
¶4.  (C)   He again characterized Ambassador to Haiti Juan 
Serulle as "crazy."  The following day he would be attending 
the Ministry's chief of missions seminar, and he intended to 
"grill" Serulle in front of the assembly.  Fernandez does not 
like to change ambassadors, the Minister said, but Serulle 
was "on his way out."  (Morales tried to get Serulle canned 
last year but was unsuccessful.) 
 
¶5. (C)  UN Special Representative to Haiti Juan Gabriel 
Valdez had met President Fernandez and Morales Tronocoso on 
December 28 in La Romana and subsequently spoke to OAS SyGen 
Insulza.  Morales commented that Valdez and his team are 
"stretched absolutely to the maximum" in the effort to 
prepare the elections in Haiti. 
 
¶6. (C) The Minister said there had been no more than 3 or 4 
days of advance planning for Fernandez's visit to Port au 
Prince.  He said he believed that the Haitian chief of 
security had been involved in arranging the demonstrations 
that occurred outside the palace. "I saw Guy Philippe there." 
Amb. Serulle had said he would take care of security, using 
only Haitian forces, with none from the UN. 
 
BOLIVIA 
 
¶7.  (C) Morales Troncoso told U.S. officials that he had no 
intention of attending the inauguration of Evo Morales, 
scheduled to take place in the Bolivian highlands.  "I told 
the President he could send Miguel Mejia," he joked.  (This 
 
 
week the presidency announced that Vice President Rafael 
Albuquerque would go, accompanied by the administration's 
roving ambassador Miguel Mejia, specialist in leftist and 
communist regimes.) 
 
VENEZUELA 
 
¶8.  (C) Dominican relations with Venezuela have been "cool" 
since the Mar de Plata summit, Morales said.  At one point 
after the departure of President Bush, Chavez turned to 
Fernandez in the midst of a harrangue and urged, "Leonel, say 
something."  Fernandez did not respond, and left the meeting 
ten minutes later. 
 
NICARAGUA AND ALEMAN 
 
¶9.  (C) As DAS Duddy absented himself briefly to take a 
telephone call, the Ambassador raised with Morales Troncoso 
USG interest in seeing effective prosecution of former 
president of Nicaragua Aleman and advised the Minister of 
evidence that Aleman had used Dominican financial 
institutions to launder some of the money. The Minister did 
not have an immediate comment. 
 
MEXICO MEETING ON MIGRATION ISSUES, JANUARY 9 
 
¶10. (C)  When U.S. officials spoke of the moderate tone of 
the ministerial statement on migration issued January 9, 
Morales Troncoso replied, "That was written here in Santo 
Domingo."  Following the Embassy demarche on January 5, the 
Dominican representative to the meeting MFA Undersecretary 
for Consular Affairs Rosario Graciano had prepared a draft 
for the meeting. 
 
ANTI-TERRORISM INSTRUMENTS 
 
¶11. (C)  As the Minister proceeded to the Ambassador's lunch 
for DAS Duddy and several Dominican cabinet members, EcoPol 
counselor raised with Morales Troncoso U.S. concern that the 
Dominicans had to date joined only four of the 13 
international instruments used to combat terrorism.  Morales 
Troncoso requested that the Embassy provide the details and 
status to his advisor Amb. Trujols, also attending the lunch. 
 Trujols accepted the document at the end of the lunch, with 
thanks, and promised to verify the status of Dominican 
consideration of the conventions. 
 
 
HERTELL 

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