Several Haitian senators are calling for the ban on the import of 23 Dominican products by land that has been in place since 1 October 2015 to be lifted, as they say it is affecting the country’s poorest citizens.
Senate Economic Committee member Jean Baptiste Bien-Aime said that he has called a meeting of the Ministers of Commerce, Finance and the Director General of Customs at the Senate to ask them to overturn the current ban.
He said that half of the Haitian senators support the initiative and that 95% of Haiti’s population was poor. He claimed that the remaining 5%, the wealthy, were the ones who are making even more money due to the overland import ban on Dominican products. The Senator added that food and construction products were increasing in price and that due to the ban a group of people in the government had been able to acquire funds for the ruling party’s presidential candidate Jovenel Moise’s political campaign.
Bien-Aime said that the restrictions that are currently in place had affected people and businesses on both sides of the border, ranging from motorbike taxi drivers to hotels, truck drivers and restaurants.
An opinion editorial in Diario Libre today also observes that hunger has talked.
Senadores Haití buscan levantar restricción productos dominicanos
http://www.diariolibre.com/opinion/de-buena-tinta/tuvieron-que-dar-la-boca-JC3325083
