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Dominican Republic - Haiti

Military Patrol Keeps Border Crossing Peaceful

Military Patrol Keeps Border Crossing Peaceful

Haiti and the Dominican Republic have a history of conflict on the island of Hispaniola they share. Recently tensions have escalated at the border crossing. Merchants from Ouanaminthe cross over into Dajabón to sell their wares at the cross-border market.

Reports say violence has erupted between Haitians and Dominicans. But during the last border crossing no flare-ups occurred. A military presence keeps the peace and detains Haitians whom they suspect are potential trouble-makers.

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Dominican Authorities Take New Measures To Stop Illegal Haitians

Dominican Authorities Take New Measures To Stop Illegal Haitians

Here is a photo of some undocumented haitians attempting to enter the Dominican Republic border.

This is as the Dominican authorities announced new measures to stop the entrance of undocumented people from Haiti

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Martelly and Medina meet on road transport ban

Martelly and Medina meet on road transport ban

Martelly and Medina meet on road transport ban.

Haiti´s unilateral decision of import ban of 23 Dominican products since the first week of October, 2015, could choke 88.72% of US$ 467.9 million annual trade between the two countries. As per the decision, the banned items cannot cross the land border, but they can enter by boat or plane on payment of taxes to the capital of Port-au-Prince or in the northern coastal town of Cap Haitien. The Haitian government imposed the ban despite the request of the Dominican Government that Haiti should "rethink" and they even ignored European Union's warning that price of foods and other items in Haiti could go up by 40%. The Haitian merchants had threatened that they would defy the ban unless the Finance Ministry suspends the ban till October 1, because otherwise they won't be able to meet their financial commitments. On October 13, 2015, at the request of the Haitian President Michelle Martelly, the Dominican President Danilo Medina met him in a high level meeting at the airport Maria Montez, in Barahona, Dominican Republic. The two Presidents have discussed to resolve the crisis arising out of the transport ban and have decided to form a committee within a fortnight to determine ways to solve the crisis.

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Daniel Supplice fired for pointing fingers on Dominican crisis

Daniel Supplice fired for pointing fingers on Dominican crisis

Less than six Months after his nomination to replace Mr. Fritz Cinéas as Haiti Ambassador in the Dominican Republic, Daniel Supplice was fired. The Government of Michel Martelly did not like his stands on the Haiti-Dominican crisis.

On Tuesday, July 21, 2015, Daniel Supplice, the Haitian Ambassador to Santo Domingo was permanently removed from his post. The Haitian government has recalled him on Tuesday because he had made a public statement blaming own government that they were responsible for the fact that due to lack of documentation, a good number of Haitians living illegally in the D.R could not register under the regularizing plan before the deadline of June 17th. The former Haiti General Consul Edwin Paraison has termed this as routine change, does never mean the diplomatic ties between two neighboring is broken. In his letter to the Head of the State, Supplice has stated that he does not fear to tell the truth and has indicated many points in the management of crisis by the Haitian government.

Daniel Supplice made the confirmation that he has been removed but at the time was not sure if that was temporarily or permanently. However, it was obvious when that the decision was permanent once d'affaires Magalie Jeanty Magloire was nominated as interim at the Embassy of Haiti in Santo Domingo.

The real reason for revocation of Ambassador Supplice was a statement he made in which he accused the Haitian government as being responsible for what is happening today as we do not manage to identify our citizens at home.

On Tuesday, July 21, 2015, Daniel Supplice, the Haitian Ambassador to Santo Domingo was permanently removed from his post. The Haitian government has recalled him on Tuesday because he had made a public statement blaming own government that they were responsible for the fact that due to lack of documentation, a good number of Haitians living illegally in the D.R could not register under the regularizing plan before the deadline of June 17th. The former Haiti General Consul Edwin Paraison has termed this as routine change, does never mean the diplomatic ties between two neighboring is broken. In his letter to the Head of the State, Supplice has stated that he does not fear to tell the truth and has indicated many points in the management of crisis by the Haitian government.

Here is a copy of a letter that Daniel Supplice wrote to President Michel Martelly after his revocation as Haiti Ambassador in Santo Domingo:

""Mr. President,

After having for 92 days carried with honor, respect, patriotism and national consciousness the bicolor in the territory of Duarte, Sanchez and Mejia, I have the honor to return you without dirtying in its glorious folds with the patriotic feeling of having tried to be helpful.

I ask you to believe that the decision to make this symbolic gesture is not the result of fleeting emotion or calculation of any interest or even a shameful agenda. The habit of clear instructions, accurate, consistent and in harmony with the rules of diplomacy and ethics in public administration have finally do of me (after all this time) an executive conscious of results and that considers more the weight of the objective reality of things and reports.

It is with calm, wisdom and insight that will resolve in conflicts between states. The management of the relationship between Haiti and the Dominican Republic requests from the different actors reasoned attitude, reasonable and where amateurism and improvisation do not have their place. The Dominican Republic is a neighbor with whom we are doomed by geography to live together in spite of unequal development that accompanies a marginal differential access to goods and services.

I have written several letters that have remained unfortunately unanswered and, in my last report of 14 July, I took the precaution to renew the urgency that the Haitian diplomacy had to manage the crisis not only in the logic of the defense of national interests, but also always emphasize the constructive dialogue. It is the responsibility of the Ambassador of Haiti to the Dominican Republic to ensure that a balance remains between respect of our dignity of people, our values, our customs and traditions while maintaining open realistically the door to dialogue. You know why ? Because while you read this lines :

a) thousands of our brothers and sisters continue to cross the border 'anba fil' in search of wellness ;

b) dozens of women and adolescent girls of Haitian nationality give birth every day to children in Dominican hospitals ;

c) 44.310 students attend state universities and private university centers without forgetting those who, living at the border, go into primary and secondary schools in Dominican territory in the morning and return in the evening in Haiti ;

d) numerous are those who, returning to the country voluntarily for all sorts of reason during the past few days, already planning to return to resume the "job" they had abandoned and where they are awaied ;

e) hundreds of thousands of men, women and children continue to sell their day's work in the agricultural sector, in extremely difficult conditions, but do not think of returning home;

f) hundreds of thousands more are waiting in vain for promised documents that would allow them to regularize their immigration status.

That's also the other face of the reality that we have a responsibility to manage !

In 211 years, we have not managed to reduce socio-economic disparities, or to mitigate the thorny question of color. We have not managed to give our citizens a birth certificate proving that they exist and create an internal situation that would have prevented millions of Haitians to leave the country at any price and sometimes in any condition. If we do not accept the fact that there is a problem, there will be no solution.

Mr. President,

I understand the logic of Haiti's past, in the maze of history, in its missteps, with its moods, its ambitions but especially with its shortcomings, weaknesses, limitations and disappointments.

I also know our brothers and sisters with their love of life, their love of country, respect for the founding fathers, pride of African descent but also with their disdain for the truth and their often irresponsible attitude in the management of res publica.

Using a metaphor you will understand, those who ride the 'char' in the beginning of the cortege leaves at the end of the parade. In general, I do the circuit until the end, but some mishaps sometimes force me to change route to avoid unfortunate judgment of history.

Mr. President,

The country expects you to be firm and do not be a prisoner of the past reports or advice from suspicious 'officines'. The people had trusted you by allowing you to access the high magistrature of the State. He therefore relies on you.

I'm not the first Haitian ambassador to the Dominican Republic to be recalled but I hope to be the last to prevent that, precisely, on the other side of the border, one continue to believe that if the defeat of intelligence seems to be a national constant, the failure of foreign policy seems to be too.

So I go home to join the family members, find the heat of my friendships, renew with this culture that permeates me and hoping the best for Haiti.

Represent and serve Haiti in the Dominican Republic has been a great honor for me.

Please accept, Mr. President, my very patriotic greetings.

Daniel Supplice"

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Andrés Navarro, conditions for dialogue with Haiti not met

Andrés Navarro, conditions for dialogue with Haiti not met

Here is a picture of Mr. Andrés Navarro, Dominican Chancellor who stated that the conditions for dialogue with Haiti have not been met.

The Dominican Chancellor Andrés Navarro, as a reaction to the statement of Luis Almagro, the Uruguayan Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) to hold a dialogue and resolve the crisis between the Haitian and Dominican authorities on the migration issue, has said that the situation is not yet ripe since the Haitian authority has maintained an aggressive stance without meeting some preconditions necessary for the dialogue. He has further added that, two nations can never sit before an agenda while one keeps throwing unfounded allegation on the other. The Dominican authority needs to see a clear change of signal from the Haitian government that it has changed its attitude towards the Dominican Republic.

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Minustah escorting Dominican trucks entering Haiti

Minustah escorting Dominican trucks entering Haiti

As per news report dated March 9th, Blas Peralta, the President of Fenatrado (National Federation of Dominican Transportation) has said that MINUSTAH and National Police of Haiti have jointly established a safe corridor through which the Dominican trucks carrying merchandise from the Dominican Republic to Haiti can carry goods so henceforth under the protection of these two forces. Presently, the insufficient number of MINUSTAH member has forced to limit the stretch of the protective cover. Any driver deviating from the safe corridor will run on own risk. The corridor spans from Jimaní to the Haitian town of Kwadèbouke and from there to the area near the international airport in Port-au-Prince. However, Peralta has insisted for a full safety cover for the Dominican trucks until it completes its journey in Haiti.

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Haitian protesters outraged over lynching of Haitian in

Haitian protesters outraged over lynching of Haitian in

Haitian protesters outraged. The lynching of Haitian man in the Dominican Republic triggered outrage as Haitian conducted a protest of over 10,0000 in the streets of Port-au-Prince

The question of who killed Tulile, a Haitian man living and working in Dominican Republic, was at the forefront of the media when his body was found hanged from a tree in a park. While a reported three persons of interest have been questioned by the police, no arrests have yet been made. The man was employed as a shoeshine man near a hospital in the region of Santiago, and a motive for his killing has not yet been established.

The protest march was staged in the capital of Haiti on Wednesday, February 25, 2015, that, for once, had nothing to directly do with the current Haitian Government. What it had to do with was a slow-brewing issue that has long reached its boiling point with little or no interest from the international press. The march was against what is described as the 'chronic mistreatment' of Haitians who live and work in the Dominican Republic, Haiti's closest neighboring country.

The Haitian protesters met the sometimes harsh and violent treatment of their countrymen in the Dominican Republic with a relatively peaceful march in which Haitian flags, destroyed in parts of the DR of late, were waved by patrons who called for the other country to respect the basic rights of their Haitian occupants as human beings. Still, the benevolence of the earlier march turned when the group reached the consulate of the Dominican Republic, where a protester climbed the roof, took down the DR flag and burned it to the cheers of the crowd.

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Dominican Military is prepared to enter Haiti and rescue Dominicans

Dominican Military is prepared to enter Haiti and rescue Dominicans

According to the Dominican Military, they were prepared to enter Haiti and rescue their citizens and any other diplmats if requested. This announcement was made on Wednesday by Border Security Commander Guerrero Clase after learning that Presodent Michel Martelly is going to rule Haiti by decree

The Dominican Commander esetimated that there is a total of 17,000 Dominicans currently living in Haiti. He further stated that they always have an Evacuation Plan for Haiti which is based on intelligence reports shared by various agencies

Kreyol Pale, Kreyol kompran

Ki sa nou panse? Voizin-an di li gin yon plan pou li vini an Ayiti e pran citoyin li si bagay la ta dejenere.

Sa mwin ta di nan sa, me rol yon lame. Li la pou li proteje Citoyen li.

Se ki lè ke nou kapab di yon bagay konsa pou militè nou yo?

Operation shield with over 22,000 Dominican troops along border

On the second day of the new year, Dominican Republic launched their shield operation, with over 22,000 troops aimed at bottlenecking and stopping the illegal migration of Haitians across the extremely porous border of the two countries. Working in rotation, the troop work assisted by over 150 CCTV cameras, set up at vantage points to locate those trying illegally to cross into the Republic. The border monitors known as CESFRONT (Cuerpo Especializado de Seguridad Fronteriza Terrestre), since the start of the year, have returned some 25,000 people to Haiti.

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Jean-Pierre Boyer, theUnification of Haiti and Santo Domingo

Jean-Pierre Boyer, theUnification of Haiti and Santo Domingo

President Jean-Pierre Boyer had much on his plate in the early 1820s. Among them was the matter of unification between Haiti and Santo Domingo. At the time, while some in the Spanish country sought to align themselves with Gran Colombia, others, especially those who were former slaves, sought to ensure emancipation by siding instead with President Boyer. Answering the call, Boyer marched with 50,000 soldiers and took the keys to the city of Santo Domingo.

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Dominican Republic Controversy Sparks Airport Demonstration

Dominican Republic Controversy Sparks Airport Demonstration

The Dominican Republic (DR) is experiencing fallout from the ruling threatening to displace more than 250,000 Haitians, descendents of illegal immigrants.

Haitians have struck back at the DR's $4.5 billion tourist industry. At an airport terminal, they placed an image of a bikini-clad woman sunbathing on a beach. She has bloodied hands and the lettering below the image says the DR denationalizes more than a quarter of a million human beings.

The DR is under pressure from CARICOM to reverse the ruling.

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