The government’s handling of the corruption cases against several senators and former Balaguer administration officers seems to depend more on political negotiations than the correct application of justice. Political analysts feel that the government is using different judiciary officers as players in a ping pong-type game where the end justifies the means.The behind-door negotiations may explain the contradictory press declarations of the nation’s attorney general, Dr. Abel Rodríguez del Orbe; District Attorney Francisco Domínguez, and director of land registry (Catastro), Picky Lora, all close to the inner circles of the National Palace.Two of the corruption cases that have occupied most space and front page headlines in the daily press involve the president of the Senate, Amable Aristy Castro, and the senator for the province of Pedernales, Antonio Pérez Féliz, among others. It seems that prosecution is intensified, press declarations stepped up in tone, or contradicting government officers press declarations are issued depending on the political gains or government objectives sought.Two key items on the agenda are the passing of the National Budget through Congress and the need of the government party, the PLD, to reach agreement with either the PRD or the PRSC in order to increase its presence in congress in order to win municipal positions in the 1998 elections.Already, the "negotiations" seem to be working since the PRSC president of the Senate, Amable Aristy, has favored that the government-congress reach an agreement for the passing of the National budget, which totals RD$38,749.98 million.While PLD politicians flirted with the PRD after the first PRSC corruption cases reached the judiciary, Gustavo Olivo Peña, a political analyst of Hoy newspaper, feels that it is more likely that the government party will seek a repeat of the pact with the PRSC that brought it to the National Palace in 1996. The journalist says that orthodox sectors within the party oppose an alliance with the PRD. Reportedly, the pact would also incorporate small parties, such as the Fuerza Nacional Progresista of Dr. Marino Vinicio Castillo (Vincho), and some members of the Acuerdo de Santo Domingo, the coalition of parties that supported the presidential candidacy of the PRD in the 1996 election.Furthermore, it is more likely that the weaker PRSC will pact with the PLD than the stronger PRD. Polls have shown little interest on behalf of most Dominicans in the municipal and congressional elections. For the first time, candidates will be running on their own and their party’s merits and not on the strength of the presidential candidate. This means that the party that has the strongest allegiance to its constituency, in this case the PRD, is in the better position to win.Corruption cases pending in the judiciary include those against the former director of the Instituto Agrario Dominicano, Jaime Rodríguez Guzmán; deputy Adriano Sánchez Roa, for the case of the Banco Agrícola (agrarian bank); Manuel Antún-Batlle, brother of the political secretary of the PRSC, for corruption while assisting his father who was administrator of the National Lottery; the case against senator Antonio Pérez Feliz for the Bahía de las Aguilas lands in Pedernales. PRSC Senator Tito Hernández for San Cristóbal has also been mentioned as involved in illegal appropriation of Dominican Institute Agrarian government land. Most of these cases are being handled on a push-pull basis as explained above.
