 DominicanToday.com - A classified cable released by WikiLeaks Tuesday of a routine communication to the U.S. State Department, ex U.S. ambassador Hans Hertell calls the ex Justice Minister and ruling PLD party presidential candidacy hopeful Francisco Domínguez, a person of principles, after a conversation of two hours with the ex official.
In the correspondence Herell said: ”Domínguez Brito is widely considered as a possible presidential candidate, if not in 2008, 2012 or later.”
In the cable he also comments several times on the extraditions of Quirino Paulino and the Ulloa brothers, people trafficking, possible corruption in the political parties, police killings, the Haiti situation, drug trafficking and money laundering.
The Ambassador also asked Domínguez about evidence from the DEA on two prominent politicians - PLD General Secretary Reinaldo Pared and the then General Secretary of the minority PRSC party, and now Deputy Victor Gomez Casanova, who had acquired luxury apartments allegedly paid in cash to the Ulloa brothers, later extradited to the United States on drug trafficking charges.
Domínguez had stated that a major investigation wasn’t conducted on either of the two politicians for lack of evidence.
The cable dated February 1, 2006, classified as Confidential praises Domínguez’s work on law enforcement, judicial reform, the respect for human rights and against drugs and people trafficking.
In Hertell’s cable also figures the Presidency’s Chief of Staff, Cesar Pina Toribio, whom Domínguez calls “an ethical and honest person, legal expert who favors an institutional approach, and has strong links with civil society groups and the Supreme Court.”
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THE CABLE:
SUBJECT: DOMINICAN ATTORNEY GENERAL TO RUN FOR SENATE; REACTIVATES ALEMAN CASE REF: A. SANTO DOMINGO 0287 ¶B. SANTO DOMINGO 0273
Classified By: Ambassador Hans Hertell for Reason 1.4 (b) and (d).
¶1. (C) Summary: On January 26 Dominican Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito previewed for the Ambassador that, at the request of his political party (the ruling PLD), he will take a three-month leave of absence to run for senator from Santiago in the May 16 election. He is responding to the request of the ruling PLD. He plans to announce this decision February 2. If elected, he will reassume his AG duties from May 16 only until the August 16 inauguration of the new legislature. An eventual possible replacement as AG is respected presidential legal adviser Cesar Pina Toribio. Dominguez Brito told us he has just called Nicaragua's Attorney General to obtain documents needed to investigate charges of money laundering here by Nicaraguan ex-president Aleman. The two-hour meeting touched additionally on extraditions, combating trafficking in persons, the Quirino Paulino narcotrafficking cases, possible accession to a multilateral treaty for transfer of prisoners, progress in reducing killings by the police, and Haiti. End summary.
¶2. (U) On January 26 Dominican Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito accepted the Ambassador's invitation to drop by the Embassy to discuss his political plans as well as law enforcement and human rights issues. DCM and poloff attended. Attorney General to Make Senate Run - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
¶3. (C) Dominguez Brito said that his party, the ruling PLD, had asked him in the May 16 elections for senator from his home province, including Santiago, the nation's second largest city.
He was initially reluctant, but President Fernandez was granting him a leave of absence from February 16 to May 16 for the effort. If Dominguez Brito wins the election, he will reassume his current duties for the three months until the August 16 inauguration of the new legislature.
If defeated, he will retain the post of Attorney General. He said the PLD faces a difficult situation in contending with a probable opposition alliance of the PRD and the PRSC. "My party's generals have told me I'm needed on the front where the battle is raging. How can I say no?" The campaign poses some risk to him personally, he said, because an election loss would have a high cost for his political future. He will conduct an intense campaign.
The PLD planned to announce most of its candidates for the congressional and municipal elections on January 30 (Note: This announcement was subsequently postponed until February
¶5. End note.); Dominguez Brito said he would announce his bid separately. He asked the USG to hold this information closely until then.
¶4. (SBU) Dominguez Brito is generally regarded as an individual of principle, a view shared by the Ambassador and Embassy staff. He ran for the same senate seat in 2002 and narrowly lost. He believes that operatives from he PRD, his opponent's party, carried out electoral fraud. "And they are still there." Dominguez Brito is widely viewed as a potential presidential candidate, if not in 2008 then in 2012
UPDATE:
Top Dominican politicos admit Wikileaks accusations
National District Senator and general secretary of the ruling PLD party Reinaldo Pared Pérez has admitted to the purchase of an apartment from drug-trafficker Luis David Ulloa, as recorded in a cable from then-US ambassador to the Dominican Republic Hans Hertell and revealed by the Wikileaks site earlier this week.
Nonetheless, the high-ranking PLD member says he had made the commercial transaction without knowing that Ulloa was a criminal, and maintained that all was made clear at the time, and this is why he has kept his US visa in his diplomatic passport, due to his status as senator, as well as in his private passport.
Meanwhile, opposition PRD deputy Víctor Gómez Casanova admitted that when he was general secretary of the PRSC party he bought an apartment from the same drug traffickers, who were subsequently extradited to the United States.
Echoing the words of Pared Pérez, Gómez Casanova claimed he was not aware that the Ulloa brothers were involved in criminal activities. The legislator was speaking at the Chamber of Deputies after being questioned by journalists.
Pared Pérez also made a written statement, reiterating that due to his upbringing he would never become involved with anyone from the criminal world.
“When I bought this apartment from the DAPS CxA construction company nobody told me who the owner of the building was, because there was no sign identifying its owner”, said Pared.
The Wikileaks transcript also mentioned that the Attorney General at the time, Francisco Domínguez Brito, told ambassador Hans Hertell that “many high-ranking military officials in the (Hipólito) Mejía administration, such as former Army Chief general Jorge Radhames Zorrilla Ozuna, had received money from Quirino’s gang and from other drug traffickers”.
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