Julian Serulle, the lawyer of the working class
Profile. Candidate for the presidency of the Republic nominated by the Broad Front
Diario Libre
SD. The Licentiate Serulle began a little late, but ....I think that he could become President." This is what Evelyn Santos, the secretary for Julian Serulle for the last 24 years, says. Serulle, a presidential candidate for this year, 2012, was nominated by a collective of leftist parties called the Broad Front (FA).
At 65 years of age, Angel Julian Serulle Ramia had spent more than 36 years as a member of the government's Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), the organization in which he was a member of the Central Committee and the president of the Santiago branch. He wanted to be a senator in 1994 and 1996, but he was not elected.
He was the director of the Dominican Social Security Institute in 1996, a post he held for barely six months. According to what Serulle says, he was fired from the position due to his fight against the corruption inside the institution.
Unhappy because he felt that the PLD has distanced itself from the policies taught by its founder, Professor Juan Bosch, he left the ranks, but not politics since he has set his sights on fighting for the welfare of the people.
And it is because politics is in his veins. Like himself, the oldest of 13 children, his brothers Haffe, Jose, Rafael, Sigfredo, Miguel and Gilberto (the mayor of Santiago for the PRD), all participate in politics.
In a conversation with Diario Libre, Gilverto says that his brother Julian is the "greatest." "Ever since we were kids and when we were young, we had a wonderful relationship. At times, he would take on the role of my father with me. I do not have anything to complain about and nothing to criticize. He made the decision to aspire to the Presidency of the Republic and I hope he wins," he says.
Julian is considered to be sincere, responsible and with a strong character when he has to be. He is also known for his poetic airs, although he is not a poet. The use of a formal way of speaking, with quotations from literature, distinguishes him from the other presidential candidates. In his Twitter account, @JulianSerulle, he wrote on 19 April:"On occasion fear takes over my body, the injustices that weigh on and punish millions of humans feed the spirit to go on fighting."
His running mate for the vice-presidency, Fidel Santana, comments: "Perhaps because he comes from a humble beginning and from another political culture, I like things more direct. Comrade Serulle uses a discourse embellished with the colors of flowers; he is a very careful man even when he has to talk about realities. Not that I consider this to be a bad thing, but rather I find it a different style."
A defender of the poor
On the day of the interview, Serulle comes in with a bodyguard. At least that is how many decided to come out. He explained that he does not like the show of a lot of security since it "impedes my ability to be close to another human being."
Based on his idea of being plain, he has proposed during this campaign to eliminate the Presidential Chair. On one occasion he said that hunger can be fought easily as he gave the example of the fact that he dined on roasted eggplant, which he called "nutritious and cheap."
His political life has alternated with his profession as a Lawyer, doing graduate work in labor and social security law at the Sorbonne in Paris, France. This was the profession that he father helped pay for growing rice and "juggling a lot." He was even the president of the Santiago Lawyers Association.
It is precisely in Santiago where his political propaganda is most visible. Street signs and banners in yellow are seen on every corner.
It is in this city of Santiago where the main offices of Serulle & Associates are located; it has been here for 41 years. They have offices in Santo Domingo and a total of 12 lawyers. During the years of his practicing law, the majority of the clients of the candidate are workers that want support in order to receive their worker's compensations.
"When workers go to my office and they ask me what they should get if they resign, and I tell them "nothing" I can feel that volcano of hot lava becoming tears," he said.
This interest in helping the unions and the labor class has kept him on the radio for the last 11 years. During the broadcasts he talks to listeners over a network of 34 stations for half an hour. His aim is to provide guidance on several issues. And he does this as a not-for-profit exercise, telling reporters that his network is the result of his friendship with the station owners.
Serulle in person
For the last 16 years the candidate of the Broad Front has lived in El Limonal, Santiago, on a 3,700 m2 lot watched over by six Belgian Sheppards and surrounded by farms.
Jason Gonzalez, a 18 year old neighbor, says that Serulle likes to stop and talk to the young people when he returns to his house and give them advice.
The aspiring candidate to the Presidency also notes that among his assets is the three-story building that houses the main offices of his law firm."We have two apartments that I received through an inheritance. My wife has a small apartment that she rents, I have my debts like any human being and a lot in the mountains of Jarabacoa," he pointed out. He did not say how much this was worth, "so as not to give a number that was not real."
In spite of the fact that today he has achieved a comfortable life, he recalls that in La Piña of Cotui, where he lived until he was 19, he slept behind the counter of a small country store when he was small. His mother cooked in the patio on an open fire with three stones holding up the pots. "There I met country people and the "bohio"(hut)...I remember them getting old at 25. The kitchen in my house had a dirt floor and a mud brick stove. We had to go to the river to bathe. We carried water in jugs and put it into water jars (tinajas)...I knew what a latrine was," he recalled.
He explained his genealogy by saying: "My father-a merchant-descended from Palestinians, he came in my grandmother's belly, from Palestine, from Nazareth. And my mother, a housewife, was the descendant of Lebanese." His parents saw him born in San Francisco de Macoris on 6 June 1946.
He was educated for eight years under the discipline of the Jesuits at the Padre Fortin School in Santo Cerro, La Vega.
He is married to Ming Lling Joa, and is the father of Asiaraf, 35; Angel Julian, 33 and Alberto Jose, 24. All of them are lawyers.
Alberto Jose remembers what it meant for his father to support his uncle Gilberto when he was a candidate for mayor of Santiago after leaving the PLD and going over to the PRD. "More than just important, I think it was an impact, since in them it shows the warmth and the need of a united family seeking a common goal, having as the starting point the ideals of honesty and dignity," he says.
The candidate at rest
An informal Serulle reveals a person that collects figures of horses in his office, while he enjoys baseball and going to the mountains or to the beach.
"I love Gardel and Libertad Lamarque, the music from long ago. I like to listen to Lucho Gatica; I love to listen to those songs that feed the spirit and that allow you to dance close to a woman," he said as the interview ended.
What they say about him....
Evelyn Santos (his secretary). "Licentiate Serulle has his ups and his downs, but he never, never takes it out on the personnel in the office. He is very nice with the people that come in here....Since I have been here, he has been with the workers from the Tabacalera, from the Bermudez Tannery, to discuss the union agreements. On strike, until the problem was not resolved, he never slept."
Fidel Santana (Vice-presidential candidate) "Comrade Julian...now shows a profound political victory, since he is the only one of the candidates that, starting from zero, has managed to bring forward the Broad Front, spread his ideas and let the symbols be known. Now the issue of electoral performance is something else, because in politics you need to sow in order to reap and as in agriculture, there are short cycle crops and others that take a lot longer."
Alberto Serulle (son). ‘For me as his son, and for my brothers, to know that a man like him it out there trying to be different and fight for what he believes in, and this fills us with pride and hope and likewise, it transmits to up the necessary force to be different and be good men."
At 65 years of age, Angel Julian Serulle Ramia had spent more than 36 years as a member of the government's Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), the organization in which he was a member of the Central Committee and the president of the Santiago branch. He wanted to be a senator in 1994 and 1996, but he was not elected.
He was the director of the Dominican Social Security Institute in 1996, a post he held for barely six months. According to what Serulle says, he was fired from the position due to his fight against the corruption inside the institution.
Unhappy because he felt that the PLD has distanced itself from the policies taught by its founder, Professor Juan Bosch, he left the ranks, but not politics since he has set his sights on fighting for the welfare of the people.
And it is because politics is in his veins. Like himself, the oldest of 13 children, his brothers Haffe, Jose, Rafael, Sigfredo, Miguel and Gilberto (the mayor of Santiago for the PRD), all participate in politics.
In a conversation with Diario Libre, Gilverto says that his brother Julian is the "greatest." "Ever since we were kids and when we were young, we had a wonderful relationship. At times, he would take on the role of my father with me. I do not have anything to complain about and nothing to criticize. He made the decision to aspire to the Presidency of the Republic and I hope he wins," he says.
Julian is considered to be sincere, responsible and with a strong character when he has to be. He is also known for his poetic airs, although he is not a poet. The use of a formal way of speaking, with quotations from literature, distinguishes him from the other presidential candidates. In his Twitter account, @JulianSerulle, he wrote on 19 April:"On occasion fear takes over my body, the injustices that weigh on and punish millions of humans feed the spirit to go on fighting."
His running mate for the vice-presidency, Fidel Santana, comments: "Perhaps because he comes from a humble beginning and from another political culture, I like things more direct. Comrade Serulle uses a discourse embellished with the colors of flowers; he is a very careful man even when he has to talk about realities. Not that I consider this to be a bad thing, but rather I find it a different style."
A defender of the poor
On the day of the interview, Serulle comes in with a bodyguard. At least that is how many decided to come out. He explained that he does not like the show of a lot of security since it "impedes my ability to be close to another human being."
Based on his idea of being plain, he has proposed during this campaign to eliminate the Presidential Chair. On one occasion he said that hunger can be fought easily as he gave the example of the fact that he dined on roasted eggplant, which he called "nutritious and cheap."
His political life has alternated with his profession as a Lawyer, doing graduate work in labor and social security law at the Sorbonne in Paris, France. This was the profession that he father helped pay for growing rice and "juggling a lot." He was even the president of the Santiago Lawyers Association.
It is precisely in Santiago where his political propaganda is most visible. Street signs and banners in yellow are seen on every corner.
It is in this city of Santiago where the main offices of Serulle & Associates are located; it has been here for 41 years. They have offices in Santo Domingo and a total of 12 lawyers. During the years of his practicing law, the majority of the clients of the candidate are workers that want support in order to receive their worker's compensations.
"When workers go to my office and they ask me what they should get if they resign, and I tell them "nothing" I can feel that volcano of hot lava becoming tears," he said.
This interest in helping the unions and the labor class has kept him on the radio for the last 11 years. During the broadcasts he talks to listeners over a network of 34 stations for half an hour. His aim is to provide guidance on several issues. And he does this as a not-for-profit exercise, telling reporters that his network is the result of his friendship with the station owners.
Serulle in person
For the last 16 years the candidate of the Broad Front has lived in El Limonal, Santiago, on a 3,700 m2 lot watched over by six Belgian Sheppards and surrounded by farms.
Jason Gonzalez, a 18 year old neighbor, says that Serulle likes to stop and talk to the young people when he returns to his house and give them advice.
The aspiring candidate to the Presidency also notes that among his assets is the three-story building that houses the main offices of his law firm."We have two apartments that I received through an inheritance. My wife has a small apartment that she rents, I have my debts like any human being and a lot in the mountains of Jarabacoa," he pointed out. He did not say how much this was worth, "so as not to give a number that was not real."
In spite of the fact that today he has achieved a comfortable life, he recalls that in La Piña of Cotui, where he lived until he was 19, he slept behind the counter of a small country store when he was small. His mother cooked in the patio on an open fire with three stones holding up the pots. "There I met country people and the "bohio"(hut)...I remember them getting old at 25. The kitchen in my house had a dirt floor and a mud brick stove. We had to go to the river to bathe. We carried water in jugs and put it into water jars (tinajas)...I knew what a latrine was," he recalled.
He explained his genealogy by saying: "My father-a merchant-descended from Palestinians, he came in my grandmother's belly, from Palestine, from Nazareth. And my mother, a housewife, was the descendant of Lebanese." His parents saw him born in San Francisco de Macoris on 6 June 1946.
He was educated for eight years under the discipline of the Jesuits at the Padre Fortin School in Santo Cerro, La Vega.
He is married to Ming Lling Joa, and is the father of Asiaraf, 35; Angel Julian, 33 and Alberto Jose, 24. All of them are lawyers.
Alberto Jose remembers what it meant for his father to support his uncle Gilberto when he was a candidate for mayor of Santiago after leaving the PLD and going over to the PRD. "More than just important, I think it was an impact, since in them it shows the warmth and the need of a united family seeking a common goal, having as the starting point the ideals of honesty and dignity," he says.
The candidate at rest
An informal Serulle reveals a person that collects figures of horses in his office, while he enjoys baseball and going to the mountains or to the beach.
"I love Gardel and Libertad Lamarque, the music from long ago. I like to listen to Lucho Gatica; I love to listen to those songs that feed the spirit and that allow you to dance close to a woman," he said as the interview ended.
What they say about him....
Evelyn Santos (his secretary). "Licentiate Serulle has his ups and his downs, but he never, never takes it out on the personnel in the office. He is very nice with the people that come in here....Since I have been here, he has been with the workers from the Tabacalera, from the Bermudez Tannery, to discuss the union agreements. On strike, until the problem was not resolved, he never slept."
Fidel Santana (Vice-presidential candidate) "Comrade Julian...now shows a profound political victory, since he is the only one of the candidates that, starting from zero, has managed to bring forward the Broad Front, spread his ideas and let the symbols be known. Now the issue of electoral performance is something else, because in politics you need to sow in order to reap and as in agriculture, there are short cycle crops and others that take a lot longer."
Alberto Serulle (son). ‘For me as his son, and for my brothers, to know that a man like him it out there trying to be different and fight for what he believes in, and this fills us with pride and hope and likewise, it transmits to up the necessary force to be different and be good men."
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