Haitian undocumented immigrants would be using Monción Dam to avoid military checks on the road from Haiti to Dominican cities. Diario Libre reporters interviewed fishermen in the dam who said that the authorities are aware of the schemes. The fishermen expect security measures be taken after a recent tragedy in which four Haitians died.
According to sources, the undocumented Haitians pay RD$1,000 to be transferred by boat from Monción Dam in Santiago Rodríguez province to communities in San José de las Matas where the Haitians expect to find jobs in farms. Others continue on to construction jobs in the cities.
The investigators are now looking into the quadruple homicide in the Monción Dam that has exposed the illegal trafficking of Haitians taking place from the northwestern border communities using the artificial lake.
The president of the Fishermen’s Cooperative of the dam, José Peralta told Diario Libre that the transfer of undocumented Haitians by boat is an old practice, of which the authorities are aware.
He said that he has informed the Dominican Council of Fisheries and Aquaculture (Codepesca) on several occasions about this situation.
He said that there had been many confrontations between fishermen and the people-trafficking gangs in the dam.
The Haitians cross the lake in boats to avoid the searches at the checkpoints of the Dominican Army (ERD) installed on the roads leading from the border border into the northern and central provinces.
Diario Libre interviewed Santiago Rodríguez prosecutor Aura Gomez who said she was not aware that this dam was used for human trafficking. She spoke when interviewed after the four corpses were recovered from the dam’s waters.
The victims, three of whom had their feet tied, drowned after the boat in which they were sailing capsized last Friday, supposedly while they were being illegally transferred from Monción to the municipality of San José de las Matas, in the province of Santiago.
The discovery of the bodies took place after two days of work with the support of Civil Defense rescuers and members of other organizations.
As reported, there were nine people in the boat, eight of whom were Haitian nationals and the Dominican captain. Two of the foreigners who survived are in custody. The survivors are under investigation to establish responsibilities. The National Police is searching for the boat captain who has already been identified.
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Diario Libre
El Caribe
23 February 2022