VZCZCXYZ0003
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDG #2465/01 2092114
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 282114Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY SANTO DOMINGO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5626
INFO RUEHKG/AMEMBASSY KINGSTON 2611
RUEHPU/AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE 4296

UNCLAS SANTO DOMINGO 002465 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: DR CASC PGOV PHUM SOCI ASEC KCRM
SUBJECT: NEW DOMINICAN CRIME CONTROL INITIATIVES TAKE 
EFFECT FOLLOWING SPIKE IN VIOLENCE 
 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY:   Thousands of military soldiers joined 
police in joint nighttime patrols throughout the country this 
week in an effort to quell violent crime and enforce new 
curfews on the sale of alcohol.  These initiatives, among 
others, were implemented by presidential decree this week in 
response to growing public outcry over the rising levels of 
violence in Dominican society; statistics indicate the 
country,s homicide rate has doubled since 2001.  In a 
meeting two weeks ago with the Ambassador, President 
Fernandez cited violent crime along with the electricity 
crisis as the two most urgent issues facing the country 
today; education, which previously held the number two 
position, was barely mentioned.  Fortunately rising levels of 
violence do not appear to be substantially affecting 
Americans in the country, but Americans, like others, are 
concerned.  The issue is poised to be a contentious one in 
the 2008 presidential elections.   END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (U) To date the Dominican Republic has managed to avoid 
the high levels of violent crime associated with many 
countries in the region.  In 2001, according to statistics 
released by the government,s Office of the Public Prosecutor 
(Procuraduria), 1,065 homicides were committed in the 
country, giving it a homicide rate of 12.49 per 100,000 
inhabitants.  This compared favorably with other countries in 
the region like Jamaica and El Salvador, whose homicide rates 
at that time were estimated at 44 per 100,0000 and 60 per 
100,000 inhabitants, respectively.  The perception that 
tourists need not worry about violent crime has been 
important to the country,s ability to attract foreign 
tourists, who play a crucial role in the Dominican economy. 
 
¶3.  (U) Yet Dominican crime rates have risen precipitously 
since 2001, and the country no longer compares so favorably 
to its neighbors.  Procuraduria data reveals that in 2005 
2,403 homicides were committed in the Dominican Republic, 
giving the country a homicide rate of 26.41 per 100,000 
inhabitants -- more than a two-fold increase over only 4 
years.  (According to FBI data, the U.S. homicide rate was 
5.4 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2004.)  The number of 
homicides so far this year is more or less consistent with 
2005 levels. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Fortunately, rising levels of crime have not 
substantially impacted either the official or non-official 
American citizen communities, but they have certainly gotten 
their attention.  Over the past five years, homicides 
involving American citizen victims reported to the Embassy,s 
American Citizen Services (ACS) section peaked at 19 in FY 
2004, after which they dropped to 13 in FY 2005.  We are 
aware of 7 such homicides thus far in FY 2006.  Numbers of 
American citizen victims of other types of violent crime have 
remained relatively steady following a high of 29 reported 
cases in FY 2004.  It is probably noteworthy (as well as 
troubling) that in the past two months there have been three 
incidents in which American citizens have been the victims of 
vehicular armed robberies in the Northern Coastal area; we 
had not received reports of this nature on a regular basis 
previously. 
 
¶5.  (U) Over the past few months the Dominican public has 
increasingly taken to the streets to express outrage over the 
high levels of crime.  Thousands of demonstrators assembled 
over several days in Santiago last June to demand government 
action following the murder of 18-year-old student Vanessa 
Ramrez Faa.  This week hundreds more demonstrated in Santo 
Domingo to denounce rising crime levels and express support 
for government measures to combat them. 
 
¶6.  (U) Procuraduria statistics indicate that 563 (nearly 
25%) of the killings that took place in 2005 had been carried 
out by members of the National Police.  Although such deaths 
are typically classified as exchange(s) of gunfire or 
self-defense, this is a difficult premise to accept in 
most cases given that only four police ) representing 0.2% 
of all violent deaths in 2005 -- were killed in the line of 
duty that year.  Groups have increasingly objected to the 
perceived role police play in orchestrating instances of 
violence and crime around the country.  For example, protests 
erupted this month in Bonao following news that two police 
officials convicted of murder had escaped from prison. 
Protestors there called upon the Chief of Police to protect 
them from their city,s own police force, who are widely seen 
as being responsible for much of the city,s crime.  This 
week in Santiago a protest at the funeral of Luis Manuel 
Ventura, a 25-year-old leader in a local leftist 
organization, was broken up by a SWAT police team.  Family 
and friends allege that Ventura had been dragged by police 
from a family funeral service and shot in full view of other 
mourners. 
 
¶7.  (U) Still other groups have mobilized to denounce 
corruption-related murders.  The National Association of 
Pilots and the Dominican Association of Air Traffic 
Controllers have demanded that the National Police intensify 
its investigation into the hit-style murder of Angel 
Christopher Martinez, who was shot dead while in his car en 
route to work.  Martinez, a high-ranking official in the 
Office of Civil Aeronautics, had been responsible for issuing 
permits to airplanes flying in Dominican territory.  His 
efforts to bring permit issuances into compliance with 
international standards had allegedly made him many enemies. 
According to his family, unknown intermediaries had 
approached him prior to his death, offering him lucrative 
private sector positions to leave his job and, most recently, 
threatening his life. 
 
¶8.  (U) Violent crime has already become an important issue 
among likely future presidential candidates.  At a speech in 
New York last week, Luis Toral, an aspiring Partido 
Reformista Social Cristiano (PRSC) party candidate in the 
2008 presidential election, denounced the government,s 
(2005) USD $600 million subsidies for millionaire energy 
companies while police officers receive salaries of only 
RD$2,800 (about USD $90) per month.  He called on the 
government to utilize the 90,000 members of the National 
Army, Navy and Air Force to assist in providing security to 
the country. Some say that Pedro de Jesus Candelier, a former 
police chief and another 2008 presidential aspirant, will 
benefit in the upcoming elections from his law enforcement 
background thanks to heightened public concern over crime. 
He has spoken out against the government,s approach to crime 
control and has criticized plans to integrate military forces 
into regular police patrols. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) In a meeting two weeks ago with the Ambassador, 
President Fernandez cited violent crime as one of the two 
most urgent issues facing the country today (the other issue 
was the electricity crisis).  During previous meetings 
Fernandez had indicated that education was one of the two 
most urgent issues in the country.  This time education 
barely elicited mention, and then only in response to a 
direct question from the DCM. 
 
¶10.  (U) With this backdrop, President Fernandez called an 
emergency cabinet-level meeting to discuss crime and 
delinquency in the country on Monday, July 24.  The meeting 
resulted in the immediate issuance of a number of 
&short-term8 decrees intended to address the growing 
violence in the country.  These include: 
 
- Approval of plans to incorporate military (Navy and Army) 
forces into evening law enforcement patrols.  3,000 soldiers 
began patrolling the streets alongside another 3,000 police 
on June 25. 
 
- Limitations on the consumption and sale of liquor.  These 
include outlawing the consumption of alcoholic beverages 
while driving and enforcement of curfews (12am on weeknights, 
2am on weekends) after which the sale of alcohol in bars, 
clubs and corner stores will not be permitted.  RSO reports 
that on the night the new restrictions took effect, civilian 
and military units were out in force ensuring that the 
restrictions were enforced. 
 
- Control of motorcycles, which are a favored means of escape 
by criminals.  License plates and helmets will be mandatory 
for motorcycle operators beginning in October 2006. 
 
- Limitations on firearms.  The importation of firearms and 
munitions will be banned.  Illegally held firearms will be 
confiscated, and those found bearing them will be prosecuted. 
 
- Redesign of border controls, implementation of systems for 
ground, air and maritime electronic surveillance.  Embassy 
will be investigating this proposal to learn more about 
exactly what it will entail. 
 
- Addition of 3,000 new police officers in Santo Domingo and 
another thousand in Santiago.  Police officers on service in 
government offices will be replaced by soldiers.  Policemen 
found guilty of delinquent acts will be prosecuted; currently 
most are simply transferred or released from service. 
 
- Revision of the new Penal Procedures Code.  The newest 
revisions passed by Congress include modifications to bail 
laws and police arrest practices that are intended to enhance 
the police,s ability to fight crime.  Although President 
Fernandez has signaled support for unspecified revisions to 
the Penal Procedures Code, it is unclear whether he will sign 
off on these specific changes. 
 
¶11.  (U) The President of the Association of Hotels, Bars and 
Restaurants, while noting in principle his support of 
government objectives, has expressed concern that the new 
initiatives could hurt businesses and discourage tourism; 
otherwise the public response has generally been supportive. 
Newspaper editors at each of the major newspapers have 
expressed their support for the decrees, many of which went 
into effect on June 25, but it remains unclear how the 
general public will respond.  There is a well-established 
tradition throughout Dominican society of staying out late 
and drinking alcohol, especially on weekends, at clubs and 
corner-stores known locally as colmados. 
 
¶12.  (U) Civil society has also raised some concerns with the 
government,s approach to crime.  Armidis Galan, Director of 
International Relations at the Military Institute of Human 
Rights, voiced her support in principle for using military 
units to assist police in law enforcement responsibilities. 
Yet she qualified this support with the assertion that 
military units needed to receive proper training in order to 
adapt to civilian law enforcement responsibilities; they 
currently are not receiving such preparation.  Villaverde 
Gomez, Program Director at the powerful Foundation for 
Justice and Institutionalism (FINJUS), believes that the 
changes to the country,s Criminal Procedures Code may 
represent a step backwards to the days when police forces in 
the country acted with impunity.  The Father Juan Montalvo 
Center for Social Studies has in the past released studies 
taking issue with the government,s approach to tackling 
violence levels, noting that the Government should first 
tackle the underlying social causes like poverty, lack of 
medical insurance, and education. 
HERTELL