In simple language in order to appeal to the masses, PLD Presidential candidate Leonel Fernandez chose his words carefully yesterday. Speaking at his party?s closing campaign event, under a constant stream of rain, the former President rallied Dominicans to get to their polling stations early and bring a victory to the PLD in a first round. ?This win is not only a win for the PLD, but also a victory for the Dominican people,? he said.
He spoke of how for the past four years the Dominican people have demonstrated great civic maturity, and mentioned that in other countries affected by major economic crises, such as Argentina, Bolivia, and Ecuador, the heads of state were not able to complete their mandates. He again avowed he would win the election in a first round, a theory supported by the most recent Gallup poll that showed Fernandez leading by 25 points, with 54% of voters? support. ?We will win in good faith, but if they want to stay on with bad faith, we will get them out with bad faith.?
He said the people are aware of who is responsible for the present crisis that affects the Dominicans. ?It has nothing to do with the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers, or the Iraqi war, or the Afghanistani war, or King Juan Carlos?s cold, or the aging of Pope John Paul, or the death of President Clinton?s dog,? said Fernandez. ?It has to do with the lack of capacity, ineptitude, mediocrity and corruption of the present government of the PPH,? he stated. He mentioned that the people have felt the crisis to such a degree that, according to the most recent United Nations study, there are 1.1 million more poor Dominicans in 2004 than in 2000 ?thanks to the government of the PPH.? Throughout his speech, Fernandez did not refer to the ruling party as the PRD, using instead the PPH initials of the movement that promoted Mejia?s rise to office in 2000 and his aspirations for re-election in 2004.
Fernandez appealed to the nation?s poor, with whom his popularity is less solid, holding up for everyone to see grocery items that today cost several times more than before. To illustrate, he raised an egg, whose cost was RD$4, and reminded that under his government with RD$4 Dominicans could purchase eight eggs, which he showed to the crowd one by one, to which the crowd responded ?E Pa Fuera Que Van? (Out They Go). The biggest applause was received when he demonstrated that while he was in office you could buy an entire chicken for RD$34, while under the Mejia government Dominicans had to pay RD$36 to purchase just the ?pichirri? or the chicken tail. [During the 2000 election campaign, Mejia had jibed that he had PLD candidate Danilo Medina by the pichirri.]
Fernandez called the Mejia government lacking in sensibility, for having removed the subsidy from propane gas, burning rice fields to protect rice smugglers only to have to import rice from Taiwan and abandoning asylums, orphanages and public hospitals.
He mentioned that Dominican people are familiar with the modus operandi of the Mejia government as it suggests it will now lower taxes, when in the past four years they increased the sales tax (ITBIS), the tax on gross earnings, the exchange surcharge, the import surcharge and the tax on exports. ?How barbarous, what liars!? exclaimed Fernandez.
He mentioned how the Mejia government is now promising to increase wages, but has systematically forgotten to raise the wages of teachers, physicians and nurses throughout the span of its four-year term.
In response to the PRD criticism of the Fernandez government for privatizing of the State Sugar Council (CEA), Fernandez said that it has not been privatized but rather leased. ?What they do not mention is the assault and plunder of CEA lands so they may be distributed to top-ranking officers of the PPH,? he said, dubbing Mejia a sort of ?tropical King Midas? in that everything he touches, he destroys.
?This government is so corrupt that wherever you look puss is seeping out,? he said. ?Never in the history of the Dominican Republic had there been a government as corrupt, from top to bottom, as this government of the PPH.?
?What is most important is that we understand the true nature of this political struggle. It is not a contest between white and purple. It is a struggle between hunger and the right to eat. On Sunday, 16 May we will win in a first round so that decency may defeat vulgarity, so that respect may impose itself on abuse and justice on arrogance, and so that transparency may dominate corruption.
In his closing words, he promised a tolerant government, one that is open, plural and unified, and one in which ?nobody is excluded for his opinions or beliefs.? He continued: ?So that any Dominican anywhere may walk with his head held high and proud to be from this land of Duarte, Sanchez and Mella.? As a call for peace, he and First Lady hopeful Margarita Cedeno released several doves and promised a government based on harmony, which with everyone?s help would be able to confront the serious obstacles on the path to the Dominican people?s ability to live with dignity.
He ended by saying: ?Long live the Dominican Republic and its tri-color flag! Let us go ahead with victory on 16 May.?