VZCZCXYZ0020
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDG #0768/01 0941946
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 041946Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY SANTO DOMINGO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7870
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHPU/AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE PRIORITY 4554
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 0347
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SANTO DOMINGO 000768 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA, WHA/CAR, DRL, L/HRR:EAMORY, 
PRM/PIM/MIG:SDENTZEL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB PGOV PHUM PREF SMIG KWMN DR HA
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON MANEUVERS AGAINST SONIA PIERRE, 
HAITIAN-DOMINICAN ADVOCATE 
 
REF: SANTO DOMINGO 732 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  In the days following the release of an 
internal report to the Central Elections Board (JCE) by 
investigators who recommended stripping a prominent 
Haitian-Dominican activist of her citizenship, numerous 
domestic and foreign groups have mobilized in Sonia Pierre's 
defense. Government officials have stated that any eventual 
revocation would be the outcome of a judicial process, in 
which Pierre would be allowed to defend herself. The JCE 
plenary has not indicated whether it will formally consider 
the staff recommendation.  Choosing Pierre as the test case 
for a retroactive application of a 2004 migration law would 
make it more difficult for the government to use that law to 
strip other Dominicans of Haitian descent of their 
citizenship, as some officials and politicians had reportedly 
intended to do.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) During the evening hours of March 29, the Dominican 
media reported that investigators for the Central Elections 
Board (JCE) had delivered an internal report recommending 
that Dominican-Haitian activist Sonia Pierre be stripped of 
her Dominican citizenship. The JCE generally exercises final 
authority over all matters relating to elections and to civil 
registration. Sonia Pierre is a prominent advocate for the 
rights of persons of Haitian descent in the Dominican 
Republic. The investigation into the basis of her citizenship 
was requested by the xenophobic splinter political party of 
congressman Pelegrin Castillo, and they were almost certainly 
responsible for leaking its results. 
 
¶3. (U) JCE Judge Roberto Rosario, PLD-affiliated and chair of 
the JCE administrative court, forwarded the report to the 
plenary.  Proponents of the investigation and revocation 
probably did not anticipate the strength of the reaction that 
the report provoked from both foreign and domestic groups. 
Ethel Kennedy of the Kennedy Memorial Foundation personally 
phoned President Fernandez's office on repeated occasions; 
Senator Ted Kennedy sent a letter to the Dominican Embassy to 
the United States complaining about the investigation; 
editorials in major newspapers (including nationalist 
periodicals) came out strongly against revoking Pierre's 
citizenship; and more than a hundred international 
institutions that met on April 3 in Montevideo, Uruguay 
jointly expressed outrage in a letter to President Fernandez. 
 
 
¶4. (SBU) JCE President Julio Cesar Castanos Guzman, two other 
JCE judges and the Vice President of the Dominican Supreme 
Court (SCJ) have moved to distance themselves from the 
report's recommendations. They have said that the JCE lacks 
the legal authority to strip a citizen of their nationality, 
and that only the regular courts, where Pierre is allowed to 
defend herself, would have the authority to decide such a 
drastic measure. SCJ Vice President Luciano Pichardo told 
journalists that if Pierre's case reaches the Supreme Court, 
he and his colleagues would decide the matter objectively, 
and would not be "influenced by outside pressures." He did 
not characterize "outside pressures" -- which include human 
rights NGOs, many Dominican editors and op-ed commentators 
who have expressed scorn at the recommendation, and the 
xenophobic Fuerza Nacional Progresista party of congressman 
Pelegrin Castillo. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Groups on both sides of the debate are beginning to 
show that they understand the stakes. Any consideration of 
whether to revoke the nationality of Pierre would have 
implications for tens or even hundred of thousands of 
Dominicans of Haitian descent. In 2004, the government 
implemented a migration law that excluded children born to 
non-resident foreigners from eligibility to acquire Dominican 
nationality at birth, by classifying their parents as "in 
transit."  This classification was upheld by the Supreme 
Court. The legal question that would be determined in this 
dispute is the following: is it constitutional to apply that 
2004 law retroactively so as to revoke the nationality of 
persons born prior to 2004? Castillo and his allies have come 
out in favor of such a retroactive application as the 
Dominican government's right to enforce its laws and 
constitution. Pierre and her organization have warned 
publicly that they believe that the case against her is an 
indication that the Dominican government intends to strip the 
nationality of all persons of Haitian descent in the country. 
 
¶6. (SBU) COMMENT: The fact that the investigation into 
 
Pierre,s nationality proceeded as far as it did is 
disturbing and indicative of a serious problem -- 
discrimination against people of Haitian descent and 
harassment of the NGOs that advocate for them.  This will 
take decades to address. However, the great irony here is 
that the nationalists' campaign against Pierre may serve to 
strengthen the position of advocates for persons of Haitian 
descent in the Dominican Republic. By selecting Pierre as 
their test case for a retroactive application of the 2004 
Law, the nationalists have appeared to all to be engaged in a 
discriminatory political campaign targeting Haitians, rather 
than an effort to define civil identity. The world is now 
watching, and it will be far more difficult to revoke 
Pierre's nationality than it would have been to revoke that 
of hundreds, even thousands of anonymous, marginalized 
sugarcane cutters. As SCJ Vice President Pichardo told the 
press yesterday, at this point a decision to strip Pierre of 
her nationality would create more harm than good for the 
country. 
 
¶7. (U) Drafted by Alexander T. Bryan 
 
¶8. (U) This report and extensive other material can be 
consulted on our SIPRNET site, 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/santodomingo/  
HERTELL