President Hip?lito Mej?a said yesterday that he would include members of the PRSC in his government, as well as ?new PRD faces?, should he win the 2004 Presidential election. He referred to PRSC members as “compatriots” and referred to his friendship with late PRSC leader and former President Joaqu?n Balaguer, which came after what he described as “40 years of conflicts”. Mej?a told students visiting the Presidential Palace that he was “proud” of his reconciliation with the late Balaguer, who he consulted on State matters on various occasions in the last years of his life.
The President also took the opportunity to slam electrical companies for excessive billing, referring to the case of a family home that received a RD$30,000-invoice for a one-month period. He attributed what he described as corruption within the electrical companies to the policies of his predecessor, Leonel Fern?ndez, and the PLD government, and said that the present government was now “shackled” to these agreements. El Caribe reports that rising electric bills have caused First Lady Rosa G?mez de Mej?a to impose austere measures at the President’s family home: she has disconnected the air-conditioning system of the quarters housing the Presidential security team.