The president of Fenatrado, the country’s leading truckers’ association, Blas Peralta announced that members of the Minustah peacekeeping force in Haiti are escorting Dominican freight trucks taking cargo into Haiti to ensure their safety. The route to be used is from the Jimani entry post in the Dominican Republic to the town of Croix-des-Bouquets and then on to the area near the Port-au-Prince international airport. Peralta said that the safety of truckers using other routes in Haiti to deliver their cargo could not be guaranteed. Trucks that had been retained by Customs were returned to the cargo owners last week. Peralta said there is an ongoing campaign in Haiti with a video allegedly depicting the lynching of a Haitian national in a Santiago park being widely disseminated as a way of inciting Haitians to violence against Dominicans in revenge.
Ramona Rodriguez, the governor of Dajabon, which is the second main entry point to Haiti, asked Dominicans not to cross to Haiti. “The Haitian authorities must adopt greater controls in Haiti. Until they do so we advise Dominicans to avoid entering that country,” she said.