Hipolito Mejia
Rafael Hipólito Mejía Domínguez (Santiago de los Caballeros, February 22, 1941) is a Dominican politician and businessman. He was the 64th President of the Dominican Republic from August 16, 2000 to August 16, 2004. Prior to his presidency, he served as Secretary of Agriculture in the government of Antonio Guzmán (1978-1982).).
Born and raised in the community of Gurabo, Santiago de los Caballeros, Mejía earned his bachelor's degree from the Loyola Polytechnic Institute. In 1964 he obtained his degree in agricultural engineering and later specialized in tobacco agro-industrial processing at the University North Carolina State. At an early age he joined the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD). In 1965, he served as Director of the National Tobacco Institute, with the rank of Undersecretary of State during the government of Héctor García Godoy. In 1971 he was president of the National Association of Agricultural Professionals (ANPA) and in 1973 he was named president of the National Association of Agricultural Professionals.
Subsequently, he was appointed as Secretary of Agriculture during the government period of Antonio Guzmán (1978-82). In the 1980s he dedicated himself to consulting multinational companies and managing Family businesses. In 1982, he was a candidate for the Senate of the Santiago province. In the 1990 Dominican Republic general elections, he was a vice-presidential candidate alongside José Francisco Peña Gómez. In 1999, he won the primary elections of his PRD party and was elected in the 2012 Dominican Republic presidential elections with 49.87% of the vote and together with Milagros Ortiz Busch as Vice President, being the first woman elected to the position.
The first half of his government was characterized by the construction of works spread throughout the country, including the infrastructure for the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, maintaining macroeconomic stability despite the international recession, the drop in tourism, the free zones and the high cost of oil as a result of an external shock that consequently led the country to a strong international indebtedness. In addition to the approval of important laws such as the Monetary and Financial Code, the money laundering law and Stock market as well as the creation of the Ministry of the Environment and Women. Other achievements are the creation of the National Social Security System, a tax reform that increased income and the approval of the Education and Health codes, together with the effects of a better distribution of public investment, reflected in the electoral success in the elections. parliamentary and municipal elections in 2002. Likewise, in 2003 the government gave its support to George Bush in the Iraq war, by sending troops to participate in a humanitarian mission, although it ordered their withdrawal in April of the year following
During the second half of his government, the country was affected by a financial crisis, standing out mainly for the fraud of the Baninter bank, which generated capital flight and a progressive deterioration of the economic and social indicators of the country that brought as consequence of high inflation rates, devaluation of the currency, which was causing an increase in local poverty from 2003. The persistence in the increase in current spending, the deterioration of the energy system, put an end to a decade of growth sustained economic growth. In addition, the increased general perception of corruption, accusations of nepotism and complicity of the authorities in bank fraud, institutional deterioration together with two general work stoppages in protest of the high cost of living caused a substantial decrease in the indices of approval and popularity. In the 2004 presidential elections, he ran for a second consecutive term as a candidate of the Dominican Revolutionary Party enabled by the 2002 constitutional reform promoted by the PPH fraction (Hipólito Presidential Project). The campaign It was marked by high social tension, infighting within the party, protests over the high cost of living, and shortages of basic services. Mejía was defeated by former opposition president Leonel Fernández of the Dominican Liberation Party, finishing in second place with 34%.
Enabled by another subsequent constitutional reform in 2009, Mejía presents a new candidacy for the presidency of the country in the 2012 presidential elections, again facing his rival from the year 2000, Danilo Medina of the Dominican Liberation Party, who is elected on this occasion. In 2014, he was expelled from his PRD party and became a founding member of the Modern Revolutionary Party. In 2015 and 2019 he was a pre-candidate for the presidency for the same party, being defeated by Luis Abinader.
Family and early years
Mejía was born on February 22, 1941, at the José María Cabral y Báez Hospital in Santiago de los Caballeros. His parents were Hipólito de Jesús & # 34; Polín & # 34; Mejía Díaz and María Josefa "Marina" Domínguez Viñals , both natives of La Chichigua in Gurabo, the place where he was raised. In his hometown he was known as & # 34; Cabuyita & # 34;, diminutive of cabuya, due to his blond and straight hair that he had during his youth.
Despite being born in Cibao like their father, the Mejías were originally from Baní. There were prominent "white ranchers" well-to-do, linked to the small colonial aristocracy of Spanish origin since the XVI century. Inbreeding was the custom in those small communities, so almost every generation of Mejías married relatives, meaning that Hipólito Mejía's lineage includes several cousin marriages. The president himself was also married to a cousin until his death in 2022.
The Domínguez and the Díaz are natives of Gurabo, being of colonial Canarian origin. These families were traditionally farmers and merchants.
Through his ancestors Báez, Villar and Soto, President Mejía is distantly related along many lines to President Danilo Medina, through his paternal grandfather, José María Medina Báez, who, like the Mejía's paternal grandfather was also from Baní. Three of all the grandparents of Medina Báez had the last name Báez. Their shared ancestors include Lorenzo Báez de Cuéllar-Albornoz (seven times seventh cousins through him), Pedro del Villar María (four times seventh cousins through him), María de la Cruz de Arambule Maldonado (four times cousins sixth through her), Esteban Peguero Gómez (seven times ninth cousins for his part), and Antonio de Soto and Hernández de Andújar.
On his mother's side, María Josefa, President Mejia was the grandson of Altagracia Domínguez Viñals, born in the Spanish province of Lérida, and Pablo Nuñez, born in Gurabo.
Mejía received his diploma from the Loyola Polytechnic Institute in San Cristóbal, graduating in 1962. Two years later, he attended special programs at North Carolina State University in the United States. He married Rosa Gómez Arias on July 4, 1964. They had four children, including Carolina Mejía de Garrigó, vice-presidential candidate in 2016.
Political career
Beginnings
In 1965, at the age of twenty-four, he was appointed director of the National Tobacco Institute, with the rank of Undersecretary of State.
Between 1967 and 1978 he worked in the private sector, first for the US fertilizer company Rohm and Haas and later for Industrias Linda. In 1971 he was president of the National Association of Agricultural Professionals (ANPA).
In 1978, he was appointed Minister of Agriculture during the government of President Antonio Guzmán Fernández. During this period, agribusiness law programs were created and incentives were approved to promote the development of rural agriculture and its modernization. In addition, he had to face the consequences of Hurricane David, tropical storm Federico and African swine fever. He also organized tobacco cooperatives and worked on the improvement of native tobacco varieties and the variety of blond tobacco was introduced in the industrial production of tobacco. cigarettes.
In 1982, Mejía aspired to his first elective position, that of senator for his native Province of Santiago, but he was not elected. He continued his work in private companies, but he continued to participate in politics as vice president of the Dominican Revolutionary Party. He was a member of the internal current called the Institutional Bloc headed by the PRD leader José Francisco Peña Gómez, whom he accompanied as vice-presidential candidate in 1990 with the PRD divided by the creation of the Independent Revolutionary Party headed by former President Jacobo Majluta and coming in third place with 23% of the vote, after Joaquín Balaguer (35%) and Juan Bosch (33.8%).
In 1987 , won the primary elections of the Dominican Revolutionary Party with more than 74.3% of the votes, against Fello Suberví (13.8%), Milagros Ortiz (5.8%), Hatuey De Camps (4.8%) and José Rafael Abinader (1.3%).
2000 Presidential Election
Mejía's campaign was based on appealing to the humble and patriotic feeling, especially of the Dominican peasant. In an atmosphere where the government of the Dominican Liberation Party (outgoing) was described as "eats alone" and corrupted by his detractors and taking advantage of the situation, Mejía together with his vice-presidential candidate Milagros Ortiz Bosch convinced the electorate through a program to improve health, education, social services and increase citizen security, they defeated their opponents with a 49 87% of the votes. His main opponents were Danilo Medina (Dominican Liberation Party) and Joaquín Balaguer (Social Christian Reform Party), who obtained 24.94% and 24.65% of the vote, respectively.
According to Dominican law, a second round between Mejía and Medina was necessary, since 50% plus one had not been reached (current Dominican electoral rules require a "50 plus 1" of the votes to win); however, Medina withdrew from the electoral contest according to her statements at a press conference & # 34; to preserve peace and tranquility in the country & # 34; . It was also indicated that one of the factors that influenced her decision was that Balaguer ruled out his support in a second round and recognized Mejía's victory.
Mejía officially took office on August 16, 2000.
Presidential term (2000-2004)
During his tenure, Mejía supported many popular sectors such as social security, helping small businesses, agriculture, improving education and helping to allocate housing. Mejía received considerable support from the population during the first two years of his term, which caused his party to win the congressional and municipal elections, practically taking control of the Senate with 29 of the 32 senators.
External indebtedness was moderate, however it was widely criticized starting in 2002 when the country received 1 billion dollars in sovereign bonds issued in September 2001.
During this first period of his term, the macroeconomy remained stable, which in turn led to a stable exchange rate. During his government, several bills were approved, such as the social security law, the monetary and financial code, the money laundering law, among others. The 2003 Pan American Games were also held.
Mejía tried to distribute government resources and services to thousands of small rural communities scattered throughout the country instead of concentrating on large cities. He established the country's first type of social security retirement system, and created a flat tax of 1.5% to help government revenue. During his government period there was an increase in illegal trips to Puerto Rico, due to the inflation that caused the bankruptcy of banks.
In the 2004 presidential elections, he ran for re-election for a second term, being defeated by the opposition candidate of the Dominican Liberation Party, Leonel Fernández.
Sending Dominican soldiers to Iraq
In 2003 Mejía decided to accept the request of the United States government for Dominican soldiers to participate jointly with coalition forces in the battlefields of Operation Iraqi Freedom in Diwaniyah, southern Iraq. The Dominican soldiers formed the so-called "Fuerza de Tarea Quisqueya", made up of approximately 600 men who left for Iraq and carried out two rounds of duty in two groups of 300 in the provinces of Al Qadisiya and Najaf.
The Dominican troops did not suffer any casualties during their stay in Iraq and were under Spanish command.
Banking crisis and economic repercussions
During Mejía's tenure, the country's second-largest private commercial bank, Baninter, went bankrupt due to the embezzlement of funds by its owners and executives, and political complicity in the long duration of the fraud since the year 1995.
Despite the macroeconomic stability that was verified during the first two years of his government, the discovery of bank fraud, the largest in the modern history of Dominican banking, together with sociological and speculative factors put an end to the stability of the exchange rate which rose by approximately 150%, increasing from RD$18 to US$1, to close to RD$50 to US$1 in 2004.
Between 2003 and 2004, due to the magnitude of the crisis whose cost exceeded the nation's budget, as well as the possibility of contagion to the entire bank, a domino effect was created that led to an increase in basic necessities, including those derived from petroleum. The effects of the global economic crisis were further exacerbated by the bankruptcy of three banking entities whose savers were protected by the government, which financed this situation which, as a side effect, brought inflation. Bank sabotage was approximately 800 thousand savers by the government. Some sectors questioned said bailout, arguing that it did not adhere to the monetary law, which established a limit of half a million Dominican pesos per saver for the bailout, which was not observed. This caused a strong economic crisis accompanied by capital outflows, an instability that led to the bankruptcy of many companies. Some defenders of Mejía assure that these measures, equally, prevented the Dominican Republic from facing the situation that Argentina experienced around the year 2001, after the freezing of bank deposits.
During his administration, the owners of bankrupt banks were brought to justice, and they were sentenced by the country's courts. the responsibility of the bank bailout on the shareholders of the financial entities things not contemplated in the law until the moment of the frauds.
Alleged conspiracy against Chávez
In 2003, the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, denounced an alleged conspiracy against him by officials of the Mejía government and former Venezuelan president Carlos Andrés Pérez, who was residing at the time in the Dominican Republic. Because of this, in September of the same year the Chávez government suspended the export of oil to the Dominican Republic.
When interviewed by journalist Jorge Ramos and asked about it, Mejía denied the accusations and jokingly replied: "If he knows they are going to kill him, what he has to do is not come.". The information was denied by the Secretary of Foreign Relations Francisco Guerrero Prats. and by former President Leonel Fernández in a conversation with officials from the US Embassy leaked by WikiLeaks.
Conspiracy against Jean-Bertrand Aristide
At the end of March 2004, in Santo Domingo, the preliminary results of an investigative commission on Haiti led by former United States Attorney General Ramsey Clark were published. There it is revealed that "the governments of the United States and the Dominican Republic would have participated in the supply of weapons and in the training of the 'rebels' in that country"; Haitians". The commission verified that 200 US special forces soldiers had been sent to the Dominican Republic to participate in military exercises in February 2003. These exercises, which had the authorization of then-President Hipólito Mejía, were held "near the border, precisely in an area from which ex-Haitian soldiers regularly launched attacks against Haitian State installations".
Amendment of the Constitution
When he was president of the country and with his political party as the majority in congress, the Constitution of the Dominican Republic was reformulated to reintroduce presidential re-election with the American model of two single terms. Consecutive re-election had been abolished in the constitutional reform of 1994 to make way for intermittent re-election with a term in between. Given the language used in the text, it was interpreted that this only allowed for reappointment and "never again", which apparently had ended Mejías career post-2004 by not being re-elected. But a later reform in the government of Leonel Fernández returned to the 1994 text of intermittent re-election, allowing Hipólito to present future candidacies.
PRD primaries and subsequent division
This reform caused problems within his party, causing a division within its main leaders, especially with Hatuey De Camps with whom he had serious political disputes to the point that the latter left the party and created his own. In the primary elections of the Dominican Revolutionary Party in 2004 a group of dissidents from the party united to go against it. The so-called Group of Seven had the objective of avoiding Mejía's re-appointment as a candidate for the presidency in 2004, promoted by the faction called PPH (Hipólito Presidential Project). During the internal struggle, surveys placed Fello Suberví as the main presidential candidate for the party outside the PPH, but he ended up reaching a political agreement with Mejía and agreed to be his running mate for the presidential elections. Other members of the group of the seven such as Milagros Ortìz Bosch also supported the candidacy with the exception of De Camps.
2012 presidential bid
Mejía immediately expressed his intention to run for the presidency of the country for the third time, finding himself in an internal struggle and questions over the nomination of the candidacy of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD) with other leaders of that political organization, including his current President Miguel Vargas Maldonado.
On June 6, 2010, Mejía made his candidacy for the 2012 presidential election official.
In a PRD convention held on March 6, 2011, Mejía was victorious with 494,100 votes (53.30%) over 432,972 (46.70%) of his co-party and party president Miguel Vargas, thus becoming the candidate for the presidency of the Dominican Republic in 2012. Mejía chose Luis Abinader Corona as his running mate for the vice presidency of the Republic.
Despite starting as a leader in the polls, his candidacy for the presidency came in second to his opponent from the Dominican Liberation Party, Danilo Medina. The PRD and allies with Mejía at the head reached 2,129,991 votes for 46.95%.
Personal life
Mejía was married to Rosa Gómez Arias since July 4, 1964, from whom he was widowed on March 21, 2022. The couple had four children: Carolina, Lissa, Felipe and Ramón Hipólito.
Mejía is a prosperous businessman from the Dominican Republic, in the agri-business sector such as the distribution of high quality genetic seeds, agrochemicals and technologies applied to agriculture.
Personality
Mejía represents the rural man, but with an academic level. His easygoing personality was a striking contrast to what Dominicans had traditionally seen in their Heads of State. Mejía defines himself as a person without mincing words who says what he thinks , which is applauded by some while others interpret this attitude as inadequate for the image of a president.
In his time, Mejía obtained both very high and then very low approval ratings before and after the financial crisis respectively. Mejía's first presidential campaign in 2000 was won under the new electoral rule that requires a "50 plus 1" (50 percent plus one of the total votes to win in the first round).
Throughout his presidential term, Mejía had differences with Dominican journalists because of his way of expressing himself. Through an interview with Mejía by journalist Jorge Ramos in November 2003, Mejía defended himself by saying that people did not understand his way of being, that he was "clear and did not mince words" . Ramos asked him several questions regarding his (Mejía) relationship with his political opponents and with the journalists, where he asked him: Do you say that his opponents are slimy and dinosaurs? And that the journalists are Taliban?, to which Mejía replied: "Those who speak slime must be called slimy, I think that is the grammatical word that fits in that case&# 34;.
In his electoral campaign in 2004, Mejía popularized, among many others, the phrases "Mama Belica's dog", "I'm going to grab him by the pichirri& #34; and "Pinocchio is a real boy". His phrases are popularly known as "hipolitaneous".
His followers refer to him as "Dad," and in his latest political campaigns the exclamation "Dad has arrived" is very common.
Acknowledgments
Doctor Honoris Causa
He has Honoris Causa Doctorates from the following universities:
| Country | University |
|---|---|
Dominican Republic Dominican Republic
| Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo |
| Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña | |
| Technological University of Santiago | |
| South Technological University | |
| Organization and Method University | |
| Batalla Military Academy in Las Carreras | |
Venezuela Venezuela
| Instituto Universitario Tecnológico Rodolfo Loero Arismendi |
 United States
| University of North Carolina |
| Mercy College | |
.svg){kind=small} France
| Institute of High Studies |
Spain Spain
| University of Alcalá |
Japan Japan
| Soka University |
| Kansai Gadai University |
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Decorations
Hipólito Mejía has obtained a large number of decorations and recognitions, among which are:
| Country | Decoration |
|---|---|
Costa Rica Costa Rica
| Order Juan Mora Fernández at the Grade of Gran Cruz Placa de Oro |
| SpainSpain
| Necklace of the Order Elizabeth the Catholic |
| Venezuela Venezuela
| Necklace of the Order of Freedom |
Chile Chile
| Collar of the Order to Merit of Chile |
Honduras Honduras
| Order of Francisco Morazán (in the Grade of Grand Cross Gold Plate) |
China China
| The Great Cord of the Order of the Shining Jade |
Uruguay Uruguay
| Medal of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay Grade of “Gran Cordón” |
 Argentina
| Necklace with Gran Cruz de la Orden de Libertador San Martín |
Nicaragua Nicaragua
| Order General José Dolores Estrada. Battle of San Jacinto at the Collar Grade |
| Order of Reuben Darius in the Grade of Great Cross | |
| Pan American Olympic Necklace | |
Ecuador Ecuador
| National Order to Merit in the Grade of Great Necklace |
| National Congress of Ecuador | |
| National Order of San Lorenzo Gran Cruz | |
Morocco Morocco
| Great Necklace of the Order of Mohamadí |
Ukraine Ukraine
| Grand Necklace of the Order Yaroslaw El Sabio |
| Central American Parliament | Orden Francisco Morazán |
Guatemala Guatemala
| Quetzal Order in the Grade of Great Necklace |
Puerto Rico Puerto Rico
| Great Extraordinary Medal |