One hundred and ninety temporary workers in the sugar industry in Barahona have been issued with new Haitian national passports and an immigration card that regularizes their status as temporary workers in the Dominican Republic. Migration Director Jose Ricardo Taveras Blanco made the announcement on Tuesday 10 December. International Organization for Migration (IOM) mission head in the Dominican Republic Cy Winter, Central Sugar Consortium (CAC) president Virgilio Perez Bernal, general manager of the local sugar center Jaime Bonifasi, Haitian consul in Barahona Pierre Philipe Brunet and the ambassador for Guatemala, Alejandro Buitron also took part in the legalization drive. Minister counselor Gloria Gasso and Luis Emilio Pena, in charge of consular affairs for the Embassy of El Salvador and the governor of Bahoruco province also attended the ceremony to hand over the passports and work cards to the legalized Haitian workers.
The 190 are the first to receive passports out of a group of 420 temporary sugar cane workers whose paperwork is being processed.
Taveras Blanco said that that the world does not know the history of the Dominican Republic which is why the public image has worsened recently overseas, but he said that the country did know that it needed to sort out the migration system which was now happening according to the law.
CAC president Virgilio Perez Bernal said that this ceremony showed they were complying with the law and they wanted to be fair to all their employees and would continue to support the socio economic development in the southwest area.
www.listindiario.com/la-republica/2013/12/10/302960/Migracion-regulariza-estatus-de-190-trabajadores-haitianos-del-ingenio