While the media reports that the foreign ministers of the DR and Haiti have only been communicating via diplomatic notes, the ministers will both be attending two regional meetings on Monday 9 and Tuesday 10 March 2015.
Minister of Foreign Relations Andres Navarro and his Haitian counterpart Pierre Duly Brutus are both expected to attend the Central American Integration System (SICA) meeting in Guatemala on Monday, 9 March 2015. Their paths will cross again at the Association of Caribbean States meeting in Antigua on Tuesday, 10 March 2015.
While no formal meeting is on his agenda, Foreign Relations Ministry spokesman Miguel Medina says that Navarro is open to talks with Brutus “in any setting where bilateral issues are being discussed.”
Amidst major political issues to be resolved in Haiti, including the dissolution of Congress given the continued postponement of elections, and demands for the resignation of President Michel Martelly who is ruling by decree, the Haitian government has suspended bilateral talks with the Dominican Republic that had been monitored by international organizations.
A spate of attacks on Dominican consulates escalated last month when a group of protestors entered the premises and symbolically raised the Haitian flag over the Dominican consulate.
In response, on Wednesday, 4 March 2015, the Dominican Foreign Relations Ministry ordered the temporary shutdown of its five consulates in Haiti, in Port-au-Prince, Ouanaminthe, Anse-a-Pitre, Cap-Haitien and Belladere.
The decision complicates matters for applicants for visas and other consular services both for Dominicans living in Haiti as well as for Haitians who want to do business or travel to the Dominican Republic. As reported, only business attache Pastor Vasquez was left at the Dominican Embassy in Port-au-Prince and only consular security personnel have stayed in the consulates.
In a note addressed to Pierre Duly Brutus, Navarro informed that the consulates would remain closed “until President Michel Martelly’s administration provides assurance of adequate protection.”