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DE RUEHDG #2726/01 2361353
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 241353Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY SANTO DOMINGO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5879
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RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC PRIORITY
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RUCOWCV/CUSTOMS CARIBBEAN ATTACHE MIAMI FL PRIORITY
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UNCLAS SANTO DOMINGO 002726 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CAR, INR/IAA; USSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD; 
TREASURY FOR OASIA-JLEVINE; DEPT PASS USDA FOR FAS; USDOC 
FOR 4322/ITA/MAC/WH/CARIBBEAN BASIN DIVISION; USDOC FOR 
3134/ITA/USFCS/RD/WH; DHS FOR CIS-CARLOS ITURREGUI 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: DR PGOV PREL PINR MARR
SUBJECT: DOMINICAN POLITICS III #1: ROUTINE AND GENERALLY 
POSITIVE CABINET CHANGES 
 
 
¶1.  This is the first cable in our series on the third year 
of the administration of Dominican President Leonel Fernandez. 
 
 
Dominican President Makes Routine and Generally Positive 
Cabinet Changes 
 
(C) Summary:  Dominican President Leonel Fernandez made a 
small number of adjustments in his cabinet and in the armed 
forces on August 16, the date marking the middle of his 
four-year term.  Most were quality appointments.  The one 
puzzler was the appointment as military attache in Washington 
of Major General Luis Damien Castro Cruz, removed as chief of 
national intelligence.  Castro Cruz had shown himself 
remarkably anti-U.S. and friendly to Cuba during his short 
tenure in that office. Despite emphatic differences between 
Interior Minister Almeyda and National Police Chief Santana 
Paez, the chief kept his job, probably because of the 
conspicuous enforcement success of increasing police presence 
in the barrios.  End summary. 
 
Changes Twice A Year 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
(U) August 16, the national holiday of Restoration Day, 
marked the mid-point of President Leonel Fernandez,s term in 
office.  This holiday and the February 27 national day are 
the customary dates for changes in the cabinet and in the 
armed forces.  This year,s changes were limited, and they 
were generally non-controversial appointments of qualified 
individuals.    Police Chief Santana Paez, whose ouster had 
been predicted for weeks, escaped this round of 
reappointments, but tensions remain. 
 
(U) Fernandez changed his Attorney General, Defense Minister, 
the Director of National Intelligence, Chiefs of Staff of the 
Army, Navy and Air Force,  the Secretary of Agriculture, the 
Director of the Presidential Council on HIV/AIDS, and the 
Military Attach in Washington Army and Navy. 
 
Elected, Departed 
- - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
(U) Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito had taken 
several months of leave for his successful campaign for the 
post of Senator of Santiago, an election that the PLD 
believes was stolen by the PRD in the 2000 elections. 
Fernandez chose to replace him with Radhams Jimnez Pena, 
the attorney who has run the President,s private law 
offices, a PLD senior member but better known as a practicing 
lawyer.  Jimenez has little prosecutorial experience.  He is 
known to be a tough boss but is generally regarded as honest, 
and early indications point to strong support for the Police 
and the National Drug Control Directorate (DNCD).  Jimenez 
received the Ambassador and country team members on August 22 
(septel follows). 
 
(U)  Amilcar Romero of the PRSC, elected Senator for Duarte, 
was replaced by Salvador Jimenez, known as "Chio," director 
of the Agriculture Institute (IAD) and earlier Under 
Secretary of agriculture. "Chio" has a degree in agricultural 
 
SIPDIS 
engineering and owns successful agricultural holdings.  Hoy 
newspapers carried warm endorsements of him by the private 
sector Agricultural Council and by representatives of 
ranchers, farmers, rice growers, and the dairy industry. 
 
 Military and Security Moves 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
(S//NF) Defense Minister Vice Admiral Sigfrido Pared Perez 
leaves to become Director of National Intelligence (DNI). 
Pared Perez worked well with the Embassy in his previous 
position, building a reputation for avoiding conflict and 
successfully finding common ground in disagreements. This 
switch is likely to do much to repair the deterioration in 
bilateral intel relations during the short tenure of his 
predecessor, Major General Luis Castro Cruz.  The Embassy had 
raised with the administration concerns about mismanagement 
of the DNI, including the director,s evident closeness to 
known and suspected Cuban intelligence personnel. 
 
(S//NF) Without notice to the Embassy, Fernandez appointed 
Castro Cruz as Military Attache in Washington.  The media has 
carried reports that the Embassy had revoked Castro Cruz,s 
nonimmigrant B1/B2 visa -- but in fact his visa had already 
expired and we had advised him privately that he had few 
prospects for another one.  The new appointment will qualify 
him for a diplomatic visa for Washington.  If he does take up 
the attache position, it could be something like a tour in 
Siberia, where he would be in no position to influence 
relations greatly. 
 
(C) The new Defense Minister is Major General Ramon Aquino 
Garcia, previously head of the president,s guard, both in 
his first administration and since 2004.  Aquino Garcia has 
long been recognized as the armed forces officer with the 
most influence within the Office of the President.  His 
appointment is unlikely to result in any significant policy 
changes.  He remains something of a mystery; no official bio 
has been published. 
 
(C) The Dominican Navy is likely to face a house cleaning, 
since its new head Vice Admiral Ivan Pena Castillo comes 
directly from heading the Anti-Narcotics Agency, where the 
Embassy found him to be tough and honest.  We welcome this 
appointment. 
 
(S//NF) The new Chief of Staff of the Army, Juan Campusano 
Lopez, comes to his new position after serving as Commander 
of the First Brigade in Santo Domingo.  We know little about 
Campusano Lopez; one source links him to narcotics 
trafficking, but we do not yet know how reliable that 
particular source is. 
 
(C) Police Chief Bernardo Santana Paez remains in his 
position, despite his frequent differences with his putative 
boss, Interior Minister Franklin Almeyda.  Rumors had 
circulated for months concerning a possible ouster.  But 
fighting crime in the neighborhoods has been a growing 
preoccupation over the past year, and Santana Paez has 
increased police patrols in most neighborhoods in the 
capital, with notable results.  Tensions remain, and his 
future is far from assured, particularly since his deputy 
Gen. Guzman Fermin, son of a former police chief, regards 
himself as the heir apparent. 
 
HIV/AIDS 
 
(C) Dr. Humberto Salazar was named the new Director of the 
Presidential Council on AIDS (COPRESIDA).  He comes to the 
position from a background as an anesthesiologist and as a 
member of the Reformista Party (PRSC).  He replaces Alberto 
Fiallo, whose confused administration of international funds 
for the HIV/AIDS program had been an ongoing frustration to 
donors. 
 
COMMENT 
 
(SBU)  At mid-term and with a congressional sweep behind him, 
President Fernandez appears comfortable with his governing 
team and intent on carrying out his program of government. 
He may have less time for it than he wants, since the 
opposition PRD has set November, 2006 for its internal 
balloting for a presidential candidate. 
 
¶2.  (U)  Drafted by Ted Bryan, Michael Meigs. 
 
¶3. (U)  This report and extensive other material can be 
consulted on our SIPRNET site, 
BULLEN