The president of the Playa Dorada Hotel Association, former Puerto Plata senator Rafael Silverio Galán denounced that a mafia seems to be behind the trucking into Puerto Plata of indigent Haitians that are begging in the main public areas. He said the beggars harass both Dominicans and tourists. In a report in the Listín Diario, he urged the authorities to put a stop to the trafficking with the Haitians and the waves of beggars. "There is a rumor that those Haitians are transported here by a gang of Dominican and Haitian traffickers that seek to profit from the miserable aspect of the beggars. The women come with small children in their arms, and then disappear at days end. The next day a different group of beggars is brought in," he denounced.
