Former Dominican leader looks to Catholic Church in standoff

Santo Domingo.- Former president Hipolito Mejia, who in the recent past had locked horns with cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez, revealed Wednesday that he asked the Catholic Church’s mediation to strike a pact that reaches beyond the opposition party’s (PRD) current standoff.

"I had already spoken to monsignor Agripino Nunez Collado and a few days ago we sent a letter to cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez," the former chief executive said, noting that there’s no possibility he would meet with PRD president Miguel Vargas.

"I do not want to talk to him. For what? I tried to talk with him twenty times for him to rejoin and what he did was to sell himself," he said.

Mejia fielded reporters’ questions prior to heading a graduation of the José Francisco Peña Gomez Institute, held at the Santo Domingo Catholic University (UCSD).