With Naturalization Law 169-14 ordering the issuing of Dominican citizenship for humanitarian reasons to those who the JCE has determined these were irregularly issued to, the case of Roman Catholic priest Joseph Vigny Bellerive is making headlines again.
The Central Electoral Board (JCE) has brought back into the media the case of the Roman Catholic priest who declared as his 83 children of Haitian mothers who did not have any legal documentation at the time of the birth declaration. The file on the case says that Mao-based priest Joseph Vigny Bellerive used the ID 21475, series 34, that Ana Maria Fermin of the JCE’s old ID department says did not belong to him. Of the 83 birth declarations carried out at the civil registry in Mao, there is a repetition of the same document for the issuing of multiple civil registries. Several of those declared constantly request the document for different purposes. She said that at the time the priest explained that the people did not have legal documentation and he took responsibility for them. A 2005 news story in Diario Libre reports that the priest moved to the United States.
The case made headlines in 2005 when it was first known that the priest had declared the children before the JCE officers in Mao.
Sacerdote haitiano declaró en el país 83 hijos de extranjeras
http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias/2005/10/21/i77425_padre-bellerive-lleva-aos-washington.html
http://www.dr1.com/news/articles_2005/05102406.html
http://www.dr1.com/news/articles_2005/05102009.html
http://www.orlandodiocese.org/downloads/flcath/2011/20110408.pdf