Hoy newspaper reports that President Rene Preval and President Hipólito Mejía met for half an hour in Caracas, Venezuela. Both were in Caracas for the signing of the Caracas Energy Cooperation Pact, sponsored by the Venezuelan government. Mejía said that during the meeting with Preval, he spoke on the phone with former President Jean Bertrand Aristide, the most influential man in Haiti. Mejía was aware that six Haitian police officers had crossed the frontier, two driving Cherokee Jeeps. The police agents entered legally, using travel visas. Mejía said that Preval did not request that the Dominican government return the Haitians. The group is under investigation by the Ministry of the Armed Forces and the Ministry of Foreign Relations. Reportedly, the Haitian government accuses them of conspiracy. El Siglo newspaper says that the Haitian political opposition is skeptical about the accusation by the government that the group was involved in an aborted coup. The opposition speculates this could be but a political move on behalf of the powerful Lavalas movement that is head by Aristide. Meanwhile, the military are under the protection of the Dominican military after legally crossing the frontier. They are held at the Dajabón military headquarters for investigations. Chief of the Army Major General Manuel Polanco Salvador and Chief of the Army investigation department (J2), General Hernández traveled to the frontier to meet with the Haitians. Wenceslao Guerrero Pou, in charge of Haitian affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Relations traveled to the frontier to talk to the Haitians. Guerrero Pou told El Siglo newspaper that the Haitians had not requested political asylum. The Haitians want to be allowed to travel to Ecuador, they say they are not interested in staying in the DR. They explained they studied in Ecuador, speak Spanish and two of them have family in Ecuador. Meanwhile, Minister of the Armed Forces José Miguel Soto Jiménez said that the frontier security has been reinforced. The history of Haiti is one of constant political turmoil, so the later is nothing new.
