More than a thousand Haitians have voluntarily left Mao and its vicinity recently, as a response to the pressure exerted by the local district attorney German Diaz Bonilla. The villages of Remate and Jinamagao in the Guatapanal section of Valverde province were the object of the official’s demand that property owners forcefully remove any illegal aliens living on their land. Nonetheless, local residents told Listin Diario reporters that the exodus was the result of fears arising from the murder-robbery of a Dominican committed by several Haitians. Previous acts of violence committed by Haitians against Dominicans have exacerbated decades-long tensions. District Attorney Diaz Bonilla told the press that he was trying to control illegal immigration, and reduce the tensions in his province.
Diario Libre reports today on tension in the southeastern town of San Jose de los Llanos, San Pedro de Macoris, where Dominicans and Haitians dispute the right to ownership in a housing complex built by the government with international assistance. In a blitz operation lead by priest Christopher Hartley Sartorius, Haitians occupied 26 dwellings of 52.