Hipólito Mejía, Dominican politician, 52nd President of the Dominican Republic
Rafael Hipólito Mejía Domínguez (born 22 February 1941) is a Dominican politician who served as President of the Dominican Republic from 2000 to 2004.
During his presidential term in office the country was affected by one of the worst economic crises, generated by the bankruptcy of three major commercial banks in the country, which resulted in high inflation, high country risk rating, currency devaluation and increasing local poverty. Further damaging to Mejía's reputation was the arrest of ex-army captain Quirino Paulino. Quirino was arrested after being linked to a large drug trafficking ring, and in the legal and political aftermath, connections to Mejía were discovered. Mejía sent 604 Dominican troops to fight in the Iraq War.In the presidential election of 2004, he ran for a second term as the candidate of the Dominican Revolutionary Party but he was defeated by Leonel Fernández, whom he had succeeded as President in 2000, from the Dominican Liberation Party.