The front pages of today?s newspapers carry reports on President Mej?a and his upcoming meeting with PRD party president Hatuey Decamps. Making brief comments to the press, President Mej?a said that he was in agreement with Rafael Suberv? and that a meeting with Decamps would be useful. He qualified most of his comments about Decamps as ?so much talk?. In a remark that really took the reporters by surprise, Mej?a said that the ?PPH was advancing like conquerors?, a phrase made famous by former President Joaqu?n Balaguer (?A paso de vencedores?).
In a related story carried by many of the papers, Milagros Ortiz Bosch, Vice President and Minister of Education, has apparently decided not to lose her last chance to obtain the highest office. In the article appearing in today?s Diario Libre an internal memo is cited as saying that despite whether the PPH (Hipolito?s Presidential Project) formally nominates Hip?lito Mej?a as a candidate, Ortiz Bosch would be in the running. This puts the Vice President in a difficult position; with the division of the party between re-electionists and anti-re-electionists, Ortiz Bosch must face the powerful PPH machine. At the same time, as Vice President, she must act with prudence in order to avoid rivalries that could be misinterpreted within the government.