Dominican Commandos in Haiti

What a screwed up country. I renounce being Dominican forthwit. From now on I'm just a member of the human race nationality undesignated a.k.a. the wanderer.

It would be good to hear the source. In any case as I understand it, it means that Haitian exiles have returned from the DR to take part in the rebellion. Not Dominican commandos. No?

Chiri

Drudge Report with the AP link

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Today: February 14, 2004 at 18:35:09 PST

Dominican Commandos Gird Haitian Rebels
By IAN JAMES
ASSOCIATED PRESS

GONAIVES, Haiti (AP) -

Haitian rebels seeking to topple the president brought in reinforcements from the neighboring Dominican Republic, including the exiled former leader of 1980s death squads and a former police chief accused of fomenting a coup, witnesses said Saturday, as police fled two more northern towns.

Twenty commandos arrived, led by Louis-Jodel Chamblain, a former Haitian soldier who headed army death squads in 1987 and a militia known as the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti, or FRAPH, which killed and maimed scores of people in the early 1990s.

Guy Philippe, a former police chief who fled to the Dominican Republic after being accused by the Haitian government of fomenting a coup in 2002, also arrived in Gonaives to help the rebels prepare for an expected showdown with the government. It was unclear when the volunteers arrived.

Those Caca heads that wrote that

don't know one side of the island fromthe other.

Poor Haiti. they are really suffering now.

I have not been able to talk to my friend for over four days..

HB

I think the journalist knew what he was talking about, but the headline writer? Clueless.

Chiri

Those Caca heads that wrote that

"Dominican Commandos" per the AP press release of Feb. 14 is one example of how the media twists information to grab headlines and your attention. You would think from the headline the Dominican Military is crossing the border and supporting the rebels. The jerks, AP, do not execise the common sense to know applying the "Dominican" tag to the news article creates in the reader's mind a military conflict between the D.R. and Haiti. A conflict that does not exist. At least they could have used "Rebel Sympathizers" instead of "Dominican Commandos" for the banner.

Hippo must be loving this.

Getting down off my soapbox now.

Regards,
PJT

"INTERNATIONAL | February 14, 2004
Dominican Commandos Gird Haitian Rebels
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (AP) News"

The above from NY Times. WWW.nytimes.com

Under this banner in the online edition of the NY Times one can click on the link and obtain a new story under the softened banner of:

"Haitian Opposition to Protest Aristide"
dated Feb 15 AP

Help!!! Is it me, or is it a media bait and switch routine?

Regards,
PJT

i just read a news story in which DR officials said two dominican soldiers were killed fighting in la vigia, on the broder with northern haiti.

does anyone know who killed them? were they fighting with haitian paramilitaries trying to leave the DR into haiti, or were they murdered by an armed gang leaving haiti?

has anyone else heard about this?

First time posting here and this is the topic that has caught my attention due to the "Dominican Comandos" being headlined in some news sources just like some members have mentioned here already .....it's sad what's going on in haiti, yet by mass media using this headline one will think that it really is Dominicans going into haiti when in reality it's just haitian exiles that where hiding in the D.R. (Dominican Comandos are part of the Dominican military's elite forces, one of their headquarters are in my hometown of San Jose de Las Matas), I knew this from the start that it wasn't Dominicans because my uncle is a highly respected official in the Dominican air force, which is not currently patrolling the border region but knows the real facts going on; not to mention that i also have cousins and friends in the Dominican military some deployed around the border region as well.
In regards to the 2 Dominican soldiers being killed, as far as i have read and heard, it was said to be a trap against these soldiers to steal their weapons (one died on his way to the military hospital in Santo Domingo), it has yet to be proven if it was Haitians or Dominicans and Haitians, regardless the Dominican intelligence unit has detained 12 people for questioning. Let's just hope things don't get out of hand where the Dominican military will have to take action, the caos in haiti is getting out of hand by the day.

P.S. Very nice and informative website, keep up the good work on informing Dominicans and non-Dominicans on D.R. related news in English.

BBC and CBC

Just heard that Canada, USA, France and some others caribbean nations are pondering the idea of creating an International Force to restore the order.

My take on this news is that somehow the DR will be part of this ( Our # 1 macho man would like to go to this gallera too for sure, provide he also supplied forces for Irak).

I have been following this saga on daily basics here in Montreal, and have noticed a very limited mentioning of the DR in all of this. Nothing about the domincan soldiers killed at the border, nothing about the free zone that was attacked.
I also noticed that there has not been any massive demostration from the haitian community here, which is quite large ( actually much larger than the dominican).

Zorrilla Ozuna and Soto Jimenez already said it is all under control over there but the International press says the border could see a massive flock to the DR ( I guess that because they are paying to this now is when the notice the migration) because this is going to turn into a humanitarian crisis. The Red Cross is also very preocupied about this because they cannot move wounded people around, get medications or food to those areas affected

Guys, ladies; with ALL the nameless problems we already have in the DR, I fear the crisis in Haiti is going to mean hell in the DR.

We have already seen the examples and results of similar crisis in African countries and how it affects its neighboruing countries.

AJ,

"France to send troops to Haiti!"

Or at least that was the headline on the afternoon newspaper for sale on the streets of Santo Domingo today!I hope they bring lots of "Neutron Bombs"! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Living in WA right now

People here have no idea what is going on in Haiti, haven't heard anyone discuss it once. Seem to be echoing the sentiment of Colin Powell:

"There is, frankly, no enthusiasm right now for sending in military or police forces to put down the violence that we are seeing,"

m

It would be funny to see thousands of Haitians crossing the border. I hope it happens. What would pro- Pena Gomez pres. Hippo do? Absolutely nothing. The PRD loves Haitians and wants to take care of them. I wonder how the Dominican masses would react. Actually there is no border. Its so porous that elephants could cross undetected.

joel pacheco said:

i just read a news story in which DR officials said two dominican soldiers were killed fighting in la vigia, on the broder with northern haiti.

does anyone know who killed them? were they fighting with haitian paramilitaries trying to leave the DR into haiti, or were they murdered by an armed gang leaving haiti?

has anyone else heard about this?

Click to expand...

Accordingto my unimpeachable sources (local gossips), the two soldiers were killed while at their guard posts near the border. La Vigia is about 7k NE of Dajabon. The guard's weapons were taken and no-one knows who did the deed. Military supposition is that the guards were killed for their weapons and the matter is being investigated by the local Military Commander under the direction of the Military head honcho of the DR.

Evidence observed in Dajabon this AM indicated a dearth of Haitians in the area. The border was closed, but evidence of many military wasn't observed.

There were a few Haitians around as usual. Keeping a low key and grouped near the border crossing. No evidence of violence was observed.

I'm going back later today and will try to glean more informaation from a few of the locals as to what the situation actually is. Then I'll post the results here on DR1.


Texas Bill

Texas Bill said:

Accordingto my unimpeachable sources (local gossips), the two soldiers were killed while at their guard posts near the border. La Vigia is about 7k NE of Dajabon. The guard's weapons were taken and no-one knows who did the deed. Military supposition is that the guards were killed for their weapons and the matter is being investigated by the local Military Commander under the direction of the Military head honcho of the DR.

Evidence observed in Dajabon this AM indicated a dearth of Haitians in the area. The border was closed, but evidence of many military wasn't observed.

There were a few Haitians around as usual. Keeping a low key and grouped near the border crossing. No evidence of violence was observed.

I'm going back later today and will try to glean more informaation from a few of the locals as to what the situation actually is. Then I'll post the results here on DR1.


Texas Bill

Click to expand...

Check my post on 'Border Closed' segment under General for the update promised.

Texas Bill