El Siglo newspaper editorializes today that it is surprising that in the Haitian rural communities near the Dominican frontier 50 international non-governmental organizations have opened offices. The newspaper states that ten European and American countries maintain a bunch of ONGs in areas where there is no petroleum, no stock exchanges not even entertainment centers. El Siglo alerts that so much "international presence" is surprising. The newspaper says that the personnel of these offices frequently request "humanitarian visas" for Haitians interested in traveling to the DR. The countries that sponsor the ONGs have requested that the Ministry of Foreign Relations of the DR relieve Haitians from the obligation of paying customs taxes citing humanitarian reasons. The OAS request that the DR issue birth certificates to the offspring of the undocumented illegal Haitians has put the "lid on the bottle," says the newspaper. El Siglo says: "Even the most uninformed Dominican knows that once the Dominican nationality is granted to a Haitian child, the authorities will not be able to repatriate their parents, brothers, grandparents. The international human rights conventions establish that it is not legal to separate families. And it would not be correct nor legal to deport the father of a Dominican." The newspaper goes on to point out that: "US General Charles Wilhelm has decided to remove his troops from Haiti ‘because there is enough security there.’ He says that instead of fulfilling humanitarian missions they were dedicated to being bodyguards. So out go the armed military, trained to combat, and in come dozens of ONGs, civilians that propose that Dominicans donate their territory for humanitarian reasons." "The Cardinal, Archbishop of Santo Domingo, with his habitual firmness of character, says he does not see the reason for ‘such softness’ when expressing our national position in any world forum. This country is a legacy of our founding fathers. ‘We did not win it in a lottery’, he has said. The Archbishop of Santiago, Monsignor Flores says that the ONGs are acting in a ‘perverse manner’. The newspaper favors President Fernández’s decision to formally protest before the OAS. It ends the editorial saying that Dominicans should not fear. "No country succumbs when the government, religious and academic leaders assume their responsibilities."
