The Central Electoral Board will not file charges against priests Pedro Ruquoy and Vigny Bellerive, accused of declaring Haitian children as Dominicans. According to El Caribe, JCE president Luis Arias Nunez announced that the decision was based on the institutions “discretion and convenience”. The JCE has annulled the birth certificates issued irregularly in these cases. Arias claimed that the JCE did not receive any calls about this case when asked whether the Catholic Church had pressurized the JCE to make this decision. Bellerive alone is accused of declaring 87 Haitians.
The director of the Department of Migration, Carlos Amarante, criticized the decision, commenting that all persons should be equal under the law.