A Naval coastguard ship arrested 44 Haitians three hours after six Dominican fishermen were assaulted and their nine fishing boats stolen in the Monte Cristi area on the border with Haiti. Environmental prosecutor Ramon Madera Arias said that the Haitians had also stolen four outboard motors. As reported in Hoy newspaper, the Navy arrested the group after a four-day operation in Punta Presidente, Punta Luna and the Siete Hermanos cays following up on information on the assaults and environmental damage by the Haitians.
Meanwhile, Monsignor Tomas Abreu Herrera urged Dominicans to leave justice up to the authorities because “we live in a civilized country.” Monsignor was also referring to the murder by machetes of a mother of a 12, 10 and 4 year old in Monte Cristi in an attempted robbery of her small grocery shop that spurred the community to forcibly expel Haitian residents. Her husband was also seriously injured.
The Bishop of the diocese of Mao-Monte Cristi said that these events could threaten social order. He urged that the authorities reinforce immigration controls. “We have to place controls on migration that in reality can create problems such as these, arising from difficult situations and nevertheless the country can avoid these with greater controls,” he said.
He mentioned another incident in Moncion, where the community was stirred by the murder of a local merchant by Haitians in another attempted robbery. At the time the army also had to evacuate Haitians when the community sought revenge.
Hoy newspaper reports that in Gozuela, another community in the border province of Monte Cristi, an armed group of Haitians stole seven motorcycles.
El Nacional newspaper estimates that 85% of the farm laborers in the main banana plantations in the area are Haitians. The newspaper reports that Haitians are willing to accept RD$200-RD$250 a day for farm labor, while Dominicans will not work for less than RD$400 a day. The newspaper also reported that so far this year, four people in the area have been murdered by Haitians.
However, today’s Diario Libre says that Haitians were willing to work for RD$80 pesos per day, while Dominicans had to be paid RD$150. Diario Libre says there is a shortage of farm hands in Hatillo Palma since the Haitians’ departure.
The Bishop also said that the events in Hatillo Palma could be the trigger for confrontations between Dominicans and Haitians that could threaten diplomatic stability between both countries. The bishop said that the matter is very serious and needs to be treated as such by national authorities.
In an opinion piece in Hoy today, Bonaparte Gautreau Pineiro suggests that the DR could be on the threshold of a repeat of the Kosovo-Serbia crisis, while stating that the DR does not have the wealth of the US and Europe to absorb indigent immigration. “What we have is sharing of hunger, difficulties, but the Haitians have even less. There is a serious human problem, but do we have the resources with which to resolve the Haitian problem, when we have not been able to solve ours? “What are the governments doing that they do not create, apply or supervise serious politicians that contain Haitian illegal migration? Up to where will the disorder at the border continue (contraband, drug smuggling, weapon smuggling, fake medicine trafficking, trafficking in Haitians, Chinese, Cubans and Colombians)?