Caribbean & Central America - August 2013 (ISSN 1741-4458)

The Partido de la Liberación Dominicana (PLD) government led by President Danilo Medina may boast substantial progress on various fronts since taking office in August last year, enabling it to achieve a high level of popularity [RC-12-06]. However, as Medina marks his first full year in office, he appears to have made only tentative progress with regard to his pledges to improve public security which include his much touted plans to overhaul the local security forces, primarily the national police (PN).

In line with the regional trend in recent years, the Dominican Republic (DR) has witnessed rising levels of criminality and violence. Local and foreign experts have long highlighted that the DR’s security forces are ill-equipped to tackle insecurity given that both the PN and military date from the Rafael Trujillo dictatorship (1930-1961). International human rights organisations like Amnesty International (AI) in particular note that the PN is in desperate need of reform given both its inefficiency and, more worryingly, the fact that it is held responsible for the majority of human rights violations in the DR. Last year AI released a damning report and urged the PLD government of former president Leonel Fernández (1996-2000; 2004-2012) to reform the PN [RC-12-03]. No doubt reluctant to embark on such a complex task in an electoral year, the Fernández administration failed to heed AI’s call. However during his presidential campaign, Medina declared that tackling insecurity would be a priority, that he would be prepared to overhaul the DR’s entire security apparatus as part of these efforts and upon taking office, he promised a comprehensive police reform.

The Medina government took months to prepare a PN reform proposal, finally submitting one to the senate in late May. However, just days later, before the senate’s plenary had a chance to analyse the proposal, Medina recalled it. He said that while the initiative had been discussed with the PN, the interior & police ministry and the attorney general’s office, after consulting his advisors, he decided it required further work. This prompted speculation that the reform had met with resistance from certain influential political forces. While full details of the proposal to make the PN “more efficient, accountable and transparent” were not released, the local press reported that it called for the PN’s complete reorganisation into separate administrative, preventive and investigative branches. Another change reportedly called for the anti-drugs directorate (DNCD) to be transferred from the PN to the attorney general’s office. It is easy to see how such significant changes could arouse resistance and, following its withdrawal from congress, the initiative appears to have returned to the draft stage. On 16 July interior & police minister, José Ramón Fadul, told reporters that the proposal was being analysed by a bicameral congressional commission which would then hold consultations with all interested parties.

While the Medina government may have encountered obstacles in pushing the PN reform initiative through congress, other measures – like a shake-up in security personnel – are starting to make a difference. On 25 June Medina issued a decree naming General Manuel Castro Castillo as the new PN chief to replace Major General José Armando Polanco Gómez, who has become Medina’s police advisor. Air force Colonel Julio César Souffront Velásquez was promoted to the rank of general and named the new DNCD head to replace Major General Rolando Rosado Mateo. While Medina failed to explain the unexpected shake-up, since assuming their posts both Castro and Souffront have wasted little time in making changes. On 6 July Castro, who after his appointment said that he would not tolerate any abuse of force or corruption by the PN, dismissed 29 PN officers including two majors and five captains. Meanwhile Souffrant, who on 30 June said that he would sack any DNCD personnel who failed polygraph tests, announced on 17 July the dismissal of 20 DNCD officers. Souffront also reshuffled the entire DNCD command, bringing in a number of new subordinates in the process.

• PN high command “must be renewed”

On 17 July, at a public event, the newly appointed chief of the national police (PN), General Manuel Castro Castillo, highlighted the need to overhaul the PN’s high command in order to change the philosophy of the institution. He also more generally recognised the need for police reform in order to do away with its “antiquated schemes which date back to the Cold War and Trujillismo” – efforts which have taken place in many other Latin American countries.