El Siglo newspaper today denounces Haitian merchants for exporting charcoal produced in the DR to Haiti. It is illegal to cut trees to produce charcoal in the DR. The charcoal is transported in trucks and sailboats from the border zones where it is processed. A bag of charcoal sells for 160 pesos in Port au Prince, says the newspaper. Reportedly, the charcoal is purchased by Haitian merchants in the Tierra Nueva and Boca de Cachón areas of Independencia province. Haitian forests have been destroyed by the same practices and has led to the need to import charcoal. This practice could deplete Dominican forests like those in Haiti. Haitian merchants told El Siglo reporters that some of the charcoal is manufactured in Canoga, a small Haitian village located near the border town of Jimaní. Minister of Environment Frank Moya Pons has on two occasions publicly denounced the tree cutting in the mountains along the border (Pedernales, Enriquillo Lake area and Independencia province). He said this is being carried out in complicity with Dominican military and government officials in the area. Apparently the transactions take place in the open, while government authorities and military look the other way or participate in the business. El Siglo claims that the first major charcoal warehouse is in Tierra de Nadie (no man’s land strip which is neither Haitian nor Dominican territory), only 150 meters from the Dominican border crossing at Jimani. For more information, see http://www.elsiglord.com (5 June 2001 front page edition).
