The president of the main opposition PRD party, Miguel Vargas Maldonado, and former President of the Republic Hipolito Mejia, are due to meet this week to discuss a draft of a memorandum of understanding in the hope of ending the internal conflicts within the party. Party stalwart Jose Joaquin Puello confirmed the plan last night, Tuesday 4 June, after a meeting between the two leaders at his house in Santo Domingo’s Naco neighborhood. Neither Vargas nor Mejia made any statements to the press as they left the apartment building.
“The agreement they have reached is that groups from the two sectors will meet in order to try and organize an draft agreement that will then be studied by both men,” Puello told reporters, but did not go into details.
This is the second meeting between Vargas and Mejia. On 3 May they met in Jose Miguel Soto Jimenez’s country residence in the town of Pedro Brand, in the province of Santo Domingo. As he was leaving the building where Puello lives, Vargas – who was the first to leave – was seen in the company of lawyer Eduardo Jorge Prats. Later on, Mejia left in the company of PRD general secretary, Orlando Jorge Mera. “A cordial meeting, as it should be between educated people,” said Puello, describing the atmosphere at the meeting between the two leaders.