Important article in today's NY TImes

?It?s kind of an unsolvable issue,? - he seems to be correct

?It?s kind of an unsolvable issue,? said Robert Maguire, a Haiti scholar at George Washington University.

Sadly Mr. Maguire seems to have that right. There is no solution, easy or difficult, to this problem that will be enacted.

One thing I dislike seeing by the often biased and liberal NY Times is the pointing out of the law that the DR got right regarding no anchor babies. That is the business of the DR government and nobody else's.

First, i take umbrance at the tone of the article, as it promotes the myth that Haitians are the victims and Dominicans are the victimizers. More so, with the mention of that hysterical historical pseudo fact of "the massacre of thousands of Haitians by the Dominican military in 1937".

Every day, around 5 am, 4 large open-bed trucks cross the Irab?n river and drive up to Las Lomas de Azua to pick up most of the young physically able male residents. They are then driven about 1 hour away to the plantations, where they work until early evening. Each worker is paid 200 pesos, and is given one single meal during the day, which usually consists of a gruel made of beans and rice. About 10% of these workers are Haitian, and according to my informants, non-documented Haitians are paid 150 pesos, and are given no food. Nobody complains. Not even the Haitians. There's no other alternative work available in the region.

Hysterical?
Historical pseudofact?

So it is becoming like a myth - apocryphal perhaps?

not that it did not happen.... just that 1937 was a very long time ago and it appears that NOTHING that the DR does will ever erase that incident. And there is never a mention of the fact that the Haitian government at time accepted reparation payments for the deaths. So let us move on. It is not as if every article on the DR and Haiti points out that the DR spends about a third of its health budget caring for Haitians.

One of the biggest obstacles to the reconstruction of Haiti is that donor countries do not want to give cash. Cash get lost or stolen, but once you pour cement or asphalt, it has to stay where it was placed. If the Hatian government cannot exert control over their people, who can? It is not the Function of the DR to provide food, lodging, health services, and jobs to the Hatian people. The fact that the DR is a hospitible nation, and is trying to ease the pains of many who lost everything, should not be taken as an act of weakness, but of heart. How about if the Dr sends a bill to the UN for the $ amount of its expenditures on behalf of the Hatian people? Do you think that the member nations would pay it, or as usual they would just say screw you?

The number one reason why things aren't getting better in Quisqueya is the fact that the Haitian politicians are making it impossible for the reconstruction work to begin because they want the money to go through them or be part of the vetting process. With regard to the latter, they aim to make it a "pay to play" process because this is how it has always been in Haiti. The ironic part is the foreigners always get the blame and yet the common Haitian man is the one paying the price.

AJL6767 said:

How about if the Dr sends a bill to the UN for the $ amount of its expenditures on behalf of the Hatian people? Do you think that the member nations would pay it, or as usual they would just say screw you?

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This is not such an outlandish idea. The French international cooperation minister may even have set a precedent in January 2010 when he told the DR health authorities that they would be reimbursed for the health expenses incurred in the aftermath of the earthquake - providing the DR presented the accounts. Was this done?

Look the bottom line is that DR is not first world country with first world resources. It can barely take care of it's own let alone all of these refugees. The rebuilding of Haiti if and when it begins in earnest should provide enough economic opportunity and incentive for these people to return home. In the aftermath of the earthquake DR did God's work in taking care of it's neighbor and for that everyone should be eternally grateful.

May I suggest that some informed person here write a rebuttal to the NYTimes... OPED section ? ...expressing some or all of these views.

It was eye opening for me to read these educated and somewhat first hand opinions.

I think the financial burden that RD has shouldered - when it can hardly afford itself - is significant and admirable.

It goes further than that - there was a lot of love around when in happened....
It was one of the best things to come out of that sh!tty mess.

I agree - M.A. write a piece to the NY Times - tell them what is really what.

pedrochemical said:

It goes further than that - there was a lot of love around when in happened....
It was one of the best things to come out of that sh!tty mess.

I agree - M.A. write a piece to the NY Times - tell them what is really what.

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love is good.

Wave of the future . . . .

Chirimoya said:

This is not such an outlandish idea. The French international cooperation minister may even have set a precedent in January 2010 when he told the DR health authorities that they would be reimbursed for the health expenses incurred in the aftermath of the earthquake - providing the DR presented the accounts. Was this done?

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With the world economy such as it is, the cost of caring for illegal immigrants will be more and more an issue on a worldwide scale.
US Presidential hopeful Rick Perry (current Texas Govenor) is billing federal government $349 million for cost of incarcerating some of the undocumented in Texas prisons.
Governor Perry bills federal government $349 million for incarcerating illegal immigrants | abc13.com

As resources continue to become more scarce in the DR, there will be more angst expressed toward Haitians.

Introduce a new rat into a badly overcrowded cage and see what happens...

pedrochemical said:

It goes further than that - there was a lot of love around when in happened....
It was one of the best things to come out of that sh!tty mess.

I agree - M.A. write a piece to the NY Times - tell them what is really what.

Click to expand...

not for the NY Times, alas

Haitian Mothers Find Care in Dominican Republic, but Future Is Bleak - IPS ipsnews.net

but the work is there whenever I want it and my editor is always full of praise

cobraboy said:

As resources continue to become more scarce in the DR, there will be more angst expressed toward Haitians.

Introduce a new rat into a badly overcrowded cage and see what happens...

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Fresh FOOD !!!

mountainannie said:

not that it did not happen.... just that 1937 was a very long time ago and it appears that NOTHING that the DR does will ever erase that incident.

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Killing that many innocent men, women and children tends to stick around in peoples memories. How could you erase that incident other than by bringing those killed back to life? 1937 is not a very long time ago. Charlemagne slaughtering the Saxons was, but some of those people killed in 1937 could still be alive (and some of the murderers probably are).
Pointing out the many good things the DR has done after the earthquake and the difficulties it has in shouldering the refugee problem is necessary (and was done in the article). But acting as if the massacre and the deep rooted resentment Dominicans harbor for Haitians are not an issue here is ridiculous.

I also don't see what the problem with that article is. It is pretty well balanced in my opinion and not at all judgemental. They mentioned the massacre, so what? It happened, it still has an influence on Dominico-Hatian relations, so there is a point in talking about it. They also talk about low wages, police taking skin color as an indication for being Haitian, bad living conditions of the refugees and people who have been born in the DR being denied citizenship. Those are all facts, whether you like it or not. They were pretty neutral in their analysis, and you can easily make an argument for the use of much harsher words in the description of Mr Taveras, his party or the people who put up the signs in Santiago.