Medina has support of Miguel and Hipolito on Naturalization Law

SANTO DOMINGO. President Danilo Medina met yesterday separately with Hipolito Mejia and Miguel Vargas Maldonado as he continued his consultations and efforts to achieve a consensus regarding the legislative proposal on Naturalization. Both men gave the President their support.

Medina said that probably next week the proposal would be ready to be sent to the Congress, if this week's consultations come to an end. However, he said that if it is necessary, he will continue the visits to other personalities that are not part of the political leadership.

The President said that he has promised all of those to whom he has spoken to send the proposal for the law for their analysis.

"What we want is a proposal which when sent to the Congress can have the support of the decisive parts of Dominican society so that the proposal becomes a reality, because I don't do any good by sending a project which does not obtain the desired results."

Complete support!

Former President Mejia said that he told Medina that anything that he could do at the national or international level could count on his absolute support.

"I am clear with my relations with Haiti, and what has happened with this problem. I offered my absolute and total support because unfortunately for him and for us, we are involved in something that we are not to blame, but which we must deal with and I will be part of this solution," said Mejia.

As soon as Medina left Mejia's house, he went to the apartment of Miguel Vargas Maldonado with whom he also talked with for an hour and thanked him for his understanding of the issues.

An adequate and viable law

Miguel Vargas Maldonado said that according to the explanations which were offered by the President regarding the "Law of Recognition", (he never said ‘Naturalization'), it appeared to him to be viable and adequate, but he did ask for the proposal in order to study it.

He said that he would issue instructions to the bloc of deputies of the Dominican Revolutionary Party in the Chamber of Deputies so that together with the party's legal advisors the legislation can be analyzed and weighed in order to find the solutions the circumstances deserve and merit.

"I want to reiterate the position of absolute respect for the Constitution of the Republic, of absolute respect for our sovereignty, for the international laws and also for the public powers such as the high courts and the Constitutional Tribunal. Certainly the massive immigration of Haitian citizens into the country has produced not only a problem of legal order, but also a problem of the social order which represents a true human drama, which also requires humane solutions," he stressed.

He reported that he also talked to the President about the Education Pact, about which he said that it was a positive thing to achieve a quality educational reform. He also talked about the Electricity Pact, which he said is necessary because of the deficit it generates every year.

After the meeting, Vargas said that in addition they dealt with the proposed Law on Political Parties.

With Reinaldo and Abel

In the meantime, last night Medina met in his offices with the heads of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, Reinaldo Pared Perez and Abel Martinez with whom he probably talked about the proposal on Naturalization. At the end of the meeting they both avoided meeting with the reporters.