Executive editor of Diario Libre Adriano Miguel Tejada writes about the real differences between Haitians and Dominicans in an editorial today, Friday 5 December 2014. “The Dominican and Haitian nations had very different political and economic processes that created people of different natures. Race is the least of the differences between both nations,” he highlights.
He quotes Jose Nunez de Caceres, who proclaimed the country’s first independence in 1821: “all the politicians… have always considered the diversity of language, the practice of ancient legislation, the power of the customs that are ingrained since childhood and the differences in customs from the way people eat to the way they dress… Words are the natural instrument for people to communicate: If they cannot be understood by voice, there is no communication, and that is a wall that is natural and invincible….”
He writes that renowned 19th century Puerto Rican educator Eugenio Maria de Hostos saw it as clear as day, and quotes: “the struggle that the Dominican people sustained against Haiti was not a vulgar war. The Dominican people were defending, more than their independence, their language, the honor of the families, the freedom of trade, the morality of marriage, hate of polygamy, a better destiny for the race, better luck for their work, the school of their children, the respect for the religion of their ancestors, individual security… It was the solemn fight of customs and principles that were diametrically opposed…”
http://www.diariolibre.com/opinion/2014/12/05/i913551_las-verdaderas-razones.html