Judge Jose Alejandro Vargas of the National District court has sent Haitian national Garib Joseph to preventive custody at the La Victoria jail, after being accused of operating a ring that exploited Haitian children by forcing them to beg on city streets. They are being investigated for people smuggling. His wife Roselette Louis, also from Haiti, was released after posting bond of RD$1 million, on the grounds that she is breastfeeding.
Since Thursday 16 May, the governments of the United States and Haiti, the Organization for International Migration, together with the Dominican authorities, have been taking part in an operation that rescued 58 Haitian children and teenagers, described as victims of people smuggling. The minors lived in Los Alcarrizos, in western Santo Domingo.
As reported in Listin Diario, prosecutor General Francisco Dominguez Brito said that the government would not allow children of any nationality to beg on city streets, and described them as victims of lucrative networks. “Not only are these mafias with criminal structures that force the minors to beg on city streets, but there are also parents who do the same, and we will be calling for their arrest in each case,” said Dominguez Brito.
Prosecutor Moises Cordones accused Joseph and Louis of bringing six minors from Haiti to beg. The couple was arrested at Calle Juan Isidro Jimenez in Los Alcarrizos.
To put an end to the business, prosecutors are urging city dwellers never to give money to the beggars to stop the lucrative element of the exploitation. Prosecutor general Dominguez Brito emphasized that most of what is collected by the beggars goes directly to the pockets of their exploiters.
www.listin.com.do/la-republica/2013/5/19/277581/Pareja-de-haitianos-acusados-por-usar-a-ninos-para-mendigar
www.eldia.com.do/nacionales/2013/5/19/114513/Ninos-recibian-golpizas-si-no-les-llevaban-dinero-a-sus-verdugos