Writing in today’s Listin Diario, Monday 10 March, political analyst Guarionex Rosa speculates that Vice President Joe Biden’s visit was aimed at assuaging fears following the recent meeting between President Obama and Haitian President Michael Martelly in Washington. Rosa says that the meeting in Washington took place at the insistence of the Black Caucus, a major Obama supporter group that backs Haiti in the differences with the Dominican Republic. Another purpose of the visit was to support political appointee US Ambassador James Brewster in his start as US ambassador in the country. Brewster has already mentioned that the US is satisfied with the way the Dominican Republic has managed drug trafficking, while General John Kelly recently said in the US Chamber of Representatives that the Dominican Republic is cooperating in the containment of illegal Haitian immigration to the United States. The visit also seeks to strengthen US relations in the Caribbean given the political turbulence in Venezuela.
The next Haiti-DR bilateral meeting was postponed to 20 March. The Dominican government said this was to give time for the Biden visit.
www.listindiario.com/la-republica/2014/3/8/313593/Visita-de-Biden-podria-bajar-tensiones