Minister of Foreign Relations Roberto Alvarez complains that the United Nations has been very slow in hearing the calls for support from the government of Haiti.
Jose Singer is honorary advisor to the President on foreign policy. Previously he was the Dominican ambassador before the United Nations Security Council. He writes in Diario Libre on 26 October 2022, giving his opinions on the possible solutions to the Haitian crisis.
He accepts that past international interventions in Haiti failed. He instead now calls for humanitarian aid. “Peacemaking in Haiti is essential as a first step, but this will not be possible if the hunger of the Haitian people is not met,” he writes. He said the error of the international community is to focus on the gangs. “I am of opinion that the talk needs to change to a discourse on proposals for humanitarian aid accompanied by military backing of the Police in Haiti,” he writes.
“Haiti is of no geopolitical interest to the international community. It has no wealth to dazzle the major nations,” he points out.
He is especially glum in his forecast. “Eventually, aid to Haiti will come when thousands of Haitians die of hunger, of disease or at the hands of gangs. Obviously, the international community understands that Haiti has not hit enough bottom for emotions to move people to act,” he writes.
He urges that the Dominican Republic continue to motivate the global community in all international forums. He insists it is urgent the country implement the biometric survey of all foreigners. “Once we know who they are and where they are, then adopt firm controls. And one of these controls is to make sure that migration is in tune with the requirements of the economy in specific areas. Never everywhere, as it has been so far,” he writes.
An editorial in Diario Libre on the same day, says Haiti is not news. “The possibility of a foreign intervention in Haiti has gradually cooled and has become distant, as none of the major powers seems willing to take on the package,” writes the editorialist.
Diario Libre explains that the European Union has made it clear that it does not have a plan on the table to send an armed force to intervene in the neighboring country and the discussions on the matter in the UN Security Council were not inclined in that direction, with Russia and China putting their thumbs down on that alternative.
The Diario Libre editorial wraps up the situation: “What will happen now? That is what everyone is wondering. It looks as if they will collaborate with the Haitians in order to, as a first option, give them another opportunity for self-pacification, something that many people believe will never happen. Meanwhile, fuel will be sent from the Dominican Republic to save hospitals and other critical institutions, through a private company that will run the high risk of outwitting criminal gangs.”
The conclusion: “Once again we are left alone in this problem, no matter how much the international community clucks to the contrary. The truth is that nothing will prosper at the UN, because Russia is determined to block anything the United States does.
“We depend on the desire of the United States to avoid a migratory or political crisis with this issue in the short term, which does not look like it will happen, because CNN does not talk about Haiti.”
Read more in Spanish:
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
El Nuevo Diario
27 October 2022