Foreign Minister Roberto Alvarez speaking for his 15th time in four years at the United Nations National Security Council spoke this time of the gruesome 378 registered cases of sexual rape in Port-au-Prince, with lives destroyed and people terrorized. “The international community needs to respond to this humanitarian emergency,” he pleaded once more.
“Are we perhaps waiting for the governing body to be displaced by uncontrollable movements that force us to negotiate with criminal groups? This is the decisive moment for coordinated action and shared responsibility. It is crucial for the restoration of peace and sustainable development in Haiti,” said Alvarez.
He once again stressed the seriousness of the threats for the Dominican Republic, the only country that shares a land border with Haiti. “Recently, we declared terrorists the Haitian criminal groups that are becoming more efficiently organized. In recent days, two gangs occupied a Dominican consulate building. Fortunately, the security had been removed previously. The criminals have threatened to move to the Dominican border,” he alerted.
He explained that the conflict and dangerous advances to our border have led to an extreme alert and the taking of drastic measures on behalf of the Dominican government to protect land integrity and preserve the renowned political and economic stability in the country.
As never before, the border is militarized to check migratory flows and combat transnational crime.
Alvarez understands more can be done. He once again spoke of the trafficking of weapons and drugs and its impact on Haiti and the Dominican Republic. “Without an effective control of firearms and munitions, it is not possible to advance in the combatting of organized crime in Haiti that at this time are more organized and coordinated and have superior weapons than the National Police and the multinational security support forces,” he stated. He said that the contraband has been strengthened with the private operation of two ports serving Port-au-Prince. The weapons come from the United States. He said there is now piracy off Haitian coasts.
Alvarez said: “These are alarming levels of coordination that imply a strong connection and complicity with transnational criminal agents. It is imperative to immediately enforce sanctions against individuals and institutions that finance and protect organized crime in Haiti. We must double the surveillance to strengthen the arms embargo and municipal controls. A strategy against organized crime must be developed. It is inconceivable that only five criminals have been sanctioned, without identifying the individual and institutional facilitators.”
He lamented the recent deaths on duty of Haitian police and two Kenya officers.
He supported the recent statements by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. He called for strengthening the security mission and that there be specific objectives backed by solid logistical and operational support. “It is urgent to strengthen political will from the UN and countries to stop disappointing Haitian society and end the mockery from organized crime,” he said.
“If this situation continues, we risk it evolving into an international conflict of unpredictable proportions. The International Crisis Group advises addressing this strategy before it intensifies; we cannot wait for it to spiral out of control before working towards peace,” he concluded.
Speaking during the La Semanal press conference, on the same day President Luis Abinader also addressed the flow of weapons from the United States to Haiti. He said that in 2023 during a meeting of the Summit of the Americas Latin American and Caricom group in Bahamas with Vice President Kamala Harris the issue was brought up with promises of the US government to follow up. With the change of government this has not happened, but Abinader said it is an important issue on the Dominican-US agenda.
President Luis Abinader once again said that the lack of action in Haiti is leading to the “Somalization” of that country.
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22 April 2025