Hipolito Ganara!!!

That's right, President Lardass' team is doing all the right things to assure his reelection. Those of you who think Leonel has him licked just because of little things like disasterous economic and financial policies and an embarrasingly incompetent administration don't understand a thing about DR politics. Here's how the campaign has gone and will go:

- The PRSC is already neutralized. Peynado is in the dust. Eduardo who? Estrella will sell his support to the highest bidder after the first round of elections, and that highest bidder will be His Hipponess! Hundreds of millions of dollars in unmonitored, high interest, short term international bank loans gives him quite the nefareous "leg up" on campaign dollars (and in destroying any long term hope for the country thanks to you Europeans, Canadians and Americans).

- The PRD "opponents", like Fello Subervi and Hatuey de Camps, will all either be bought into the PPH or will make only enough noise to keep their names in the papers and then stay on the sidelines. After the Hippo's next disasterous term, DeCamps will be able to say he was the voice of reason; but he will alway work within the PRD. There will be no party split because everyone's afraid of the PPH and it's a party of lambonosos anyway. Milagros? Who cares, she has nothing!

- Who in their right mind would vote for another 4 years of this turkey? The answer to that question depends on the economic desparation and level of education of the person you ask. Hippo's group has by far the most resources to BUY CEDULAS (voting cards) from the poor (thanks to Citibank, Banco Santander, DeutcheBanc, etc). I've already ordered cement, cement blocks and zink roofing for my new kitchen from my local PRD bagman. He was kind enough to stop by last week to remind me that Hippo will be seeking reelection and to ask me about my needs for construction materials. I told him I didn't need the offered rice, beans and cooking oil. I'll want cash, though, for my cedula come election day. 500 Pesos should do it (more if the Peso continues to devalue).

- And, with all of the above, Hippo will still lose the actual popular vote in the second round of elections. Ah, but who cares about the "actual" popular vote? Since the Hippo controls the Junta (election board), he would have to lose by more than 6% or 7% of the vote before the fraud that the Junta intends to commit would become too obvious and shamefull for even the political hacks serving on it (at least that was a reasonable percentage spread by which Balaguer used to be able to retain control) and for the US Embassy (if even they care anymore - after all, it ain't Jimmy Carter sleeping in the White House these days). The PRD always has a firm 45% to 48% of the popular vote.

Sorry about that folks, but the new Balaguer has sneaked up on us and he ain't going anywhere soon.

Buy My Vote

Yes, you may offer to buy my vote and the votes of my large loyal group. We will consider the following:

- Bids higher than 500 pesos per cedula.
- Five "no show" jobs with impressive titles in the ministries of your choice. These jobs must pay at least RD$10,000 per month.
- A new apartment in a government-owned project near Las Americas.
- One of those Plan Renove loans for a new Nissan guagua - you know, the kind that I don't have to ever pay back. Wink, wink, nod, nod.
- We can discuss my job in your administration. If consul for New York or Miami is asking too much (it would surely make me a multi-millionaire), I might settle for a position in government procurement.
- Would I be pushing it if I asked for one of those Baninter Visa cards?

It is reported today that His Hipponess has announced that he will NOT accept any IMF instructed financial changes. In other words, he SAYS that he will not allow any 1980s style IMF-ordered austerity plans to put the country back on its financial feet.

The hillarity in this, of course, is that it is The Hippo who through total reckless indifference to the financial health of the country created the crisis in the first place.

As I've written before, Hippo's crew are NOT STUPID. This statement by President Hipocrito is a tactical CAMPAIGN POSITION. Of course, it's mierda del toro. It's purpose, though, is to set a stage. Now every time that Leonel Fernandez accuses The Hippo of being financially reckless and corruptly indebting the nation, His Hipponess will counter that Leonel seeks an IMF austerity plan that will cost thousands of jobs, increase prices, create misery and lead to civil unrest.

The further irony is that, once elected, His Baldness will, OF COURSE, have to enter into an austerity agreement with the IMF. President Hippo learned from his infamous "paquetazo" (i.e. plan to help the poor from the last campaign that never came to fruition) that naked lies during a campaign are nothing to be afraid of.

Now I have to decide who I hate more, Hipolito or the (fully aware) banks and G7 (plus Spain) governments that lent him the money in the first place. My scorn for the IMF has already been well established.

SamIAm,

Excellent analysis, I think. I believe you correctly state the power, not just of armed force but finanial, that comes with having ties to the Dominican military. More so now than in years previous, the US seems to be trying to pump up the importance of (and cash/weapons flow to) the DR military, as part of its misguided antidrug efforts and as part of a worldwide antiterrorism plan. I suspect that US plans for Haiti also play into the picture.

I have never understood the close relationship between the White House and the Hippo. They certainly have nothing philosophically in common (does Hippo have a political philosophy?) I think, though, that the US ambassador, an "entrepenuer" and "campaign contributor" from Puerto Rico, may simply be a tiguere himself, and therefore has a natural bond with His Baldness.

keithrogan said:

Still, they must lay claim to an ideology, yet in all the hundreds of posts I've read nobody has really commented on any of that.


Keith in Kodiak

Click to expand...

Kodiak! I love your state.

In your research, you must have missed some postings on this very topic. I have personally commented twice that the parties in the DR only ostensibly have ideologies. As in other Latin American countries, they are really just crony/patronage cliques. Still, if you want to know the phony political alignments, they are:

Partido Reformista Social Cristiano (aka "PRSC" or "Reformistas") - This is the party of former long-time President/reformed dictator Juaquin Balaguer and considers itself right of center. It is part of the international Christian Democratic movement.

Partido de Liberacion Dominicano (aka "PLD") - This party has left of center origins, but became the centrist party under the presidency of Leonel Fernandez (1996-2000). It was founded by the late leftist President Juan Bosch (who also was a founder of the PRD), who was deposed in the early 1960s and kept out of power by a US invasion in 1965. The party splintered from the PRD. If any party has any real philosophy at all, it is this one, and that philosophy is one of pro-economic and social progress.

Partido Revolucionario Dominicano (aka "PRD") - This party was founded to oppose the Trujillo dictatorship, and is the party currently in power. They consider themselves left of center and are part of the international social democrat movement. They constantly control more than 40% of the vote, but were kept out of power through fraud and intimidation for many years by Balaguer. A notable clique within the party is the PPH, which is President Mejia's pro-election group. In my opinion, the leaders of this party, and the PPH in particular, have proven that they have no interest in the national wellbeing of the country.

The PRSC and PRD can really only be described as populist and cronyist, with no noticeable philosophical difference between them.