VZCZCXYZ0003
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDG #3250/01 2861756
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 131756Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY SANTO DOMINGO
TO RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHPU/AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE PRIORITY 4364
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SANTO DOMINGO 003250 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR DRL/AWH GMAGGIO, DRL/IL AANZLDUA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAGR ELAB PHUM DR
SUBJECT: CONTROVERSIAL PRIEST, BATEY ACTIVIST RECALLED TO 
NEW YORK FROM DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 
 
REF: SANTO DOMINGO 2790 
 
SANTO DOMI 00003250  001.3 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. Sensitive but unclassified -- protect accordingly. 
 
¶2. SUMMARY: Father Christopher Hartley, an outspoken and 
controversial advocate for worker rights on the Dominican 
sugar plantations (bateyes), has been unexpectedly recalled 
to New York.  Church spokesmen claim that the recall was a 
routine personnel matter and was not politically motivated. 
Curiously, Father Hartley has not responded to e-mails from 
Embassy political officers requesting clarification on the 
reassignment.  Father Hartley's efforts have met with some 
success, but it is unknown whether his Dominican successor 
will continue in his footsteps.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶3. Father Hartley was one of two foreign Catholic priests 
whose controversial efforts to improve working conditions on 
Dominican bateyes have drawn publicity from around the world. 
 The other, Father Pedro Ruquoy of Belgium, was recalled last 
year in disgrace after it was discovered that he had arranged 
fraudulent adoptions for Dominican-born children of Haitian 
descent.  The adoptions were allegedly arranged in order to 
legalize the children's status in the country, as the 
Dominican Government routinely refuses to issue basic 
documents (like birth certificates) to children born to 
Haitian parents. 
 
¶4. Father Hartley has long been a strident human rights 
advocate for the predominately-Haitian workers residing in 
bateyes near San Pedro de Macoris.  His work often brought 
him into direct conflict with both the Dominican government 
and the Vicini Corporation, which owns much of the land where 
Father Hartley ministered.  By the end of his tenure Father 
Hartley was forced to travel in the company of a Dominican 
army escort, who ostensibly provided him with protection but 
likely also tracked and reported his movements to the 
government. 
 
¶5. Although Church spokesmen in both countries insist that 
the reassignment was a routine personnel matter, the manner 
in which the move was conducted raises some questions.  As 
recently as a month before his departure Father Hartley 
appeared to have no knowledge of his impending reassignment. 
When asked during an August 25 meeting with political 
officers how long he planned to remain in the country, Father 
Hartley answered that he hoped to stay "several years more." 
He certainly made no indication that he planned to depart his 
parish anytime soon -- on the contrary, he spoke of long-term 
projects that he was only just beginning.  In recent weeks, 
Father Hartley has declined to respond to repeated e-mail 
requests, further complicating efforts to clarify the 
circumstances surrounding his departure. 
 
¶6. The Archbishop charged with managing his district here in 
the Dominican Republic has indicated that a Dominican priest 
will soon be assigned to fill Father Hartley,s currently 
vacant position. 
 
¶7. The public comments sections of online news articles 
announcing Father Hartley,s departure were filled with 
offensive and racist remarks targeting Father Hartley and the 
Haitians he assisted.  Father Hartley was called an "enemy of 
the Dominican people" (as well as other less savory things) 
by online commenters, although some did voice support for his 
efforts. 
 
¶8. Father Hartley can take satisfaction in some notable 
improvements instituted during his tenure.  Reftel notes, for 
example, that: the Vicini Corporation (the most frequent 
target of his efforts)  has taken action to discontinue 
annual importation of trafficked workers from Haiti.  The 
company no longer allows children to work its fields. 
Substandard living barracks have been bulldozed and replaced 
with more humane residences, both on Vicini property and on 
government-owned land.  Vicini workers are now paid in cash 
instead of in company vouchers.  A series of filmmakers and 
human rights activists have documented the plight of Haitian 
batey workers in books, articles, and television 
documentaries. 
 
¶9. Yet Father Hartley had hoped to accomplish much more. 
During his August 25 meeting with Embassy political officers 
he emphasized three key unmet demands:  First, that workers 
be provided with electricity.  Second, that workers be 
provided a job contract which clearly states the conditions 
of their employment (this is also a requirement under 
Dominican law).  Third, that the company provide supervision 
 
SANTO DOMI 00003250  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
at each of the weighing stations.  Hartley says that fraud is 
a huge concern at the weighing stations, and that workers are 
often shorted in the assessment of their tonnage and 
underpaid for their work. 
 
¶10. Working with local attorneys, Hartley had been preparing 
the groundwork to launch class-action lawsuits demanding for 
batey workers not only written work contracts, but also 
accountability for medical insurance deductions.  It is 
unclear what will become of these and other projects after 
the arrival of his successor at the end of the year. 
BULLEN