President Luis Abinader tweeted at 2pm on Monday, 1 November urging that the international community, in particular, the US, Canada, France and the European Union, take action in Haiti and urgently.” He tagged heads of state Biden, Trudeau and Macron in the tweet. President Abinader said the country would continue with steps to enforce stricter migratory and security measures on this side of the border.
Thousands of undocumented Haitian workers employed in the DR risk deportation in January 2022 if they do not regularize their status. Likewise, the Migration Agency is reviewing the thousands of special permits issued to Haitian nationals who could not obtain identity documentation from the Haitian government and have been living in the DR for years.
Local muckracking journalist Altagracia Salazar forecasts that believe or not, the situation in Haiti could get worse. A major voodoo celebrations is taking place on 1 and 2 November to commemorate the Feast of the Dead. AccessHaiti in Cap Haitian says it is a victim of racketeering and sabotage. On Sunday, 31 October, Haiti Libre reports that the engineer, lawyer, criminologist, Professor Patrice Derenoncourt, who was kidnapped last 16 October in Port au Prince, was executed by his captors who had demanded US$900,000 in ransom for his release. The family had paid part of the amount claimed but were unable to raise all the cash.
Foreign Minister of Haiti Claude Joseph criticized the Dominican Republic saying that it also has a crime problem.
Shortly after, the Dominican government announced it was putting on hold a special program that grants student visas to Haitian students. Local universities treat students with visas as if they were local students, benefiting them with free or local tuition rates and other benefits.
Meanwhile, local media reported on the Super Tucanos flying over Dajabón and the border area with Haiti. El Caribe wrote that the aircraft are backing actions the United States would take to rescue 16 Americans and a Canadian citizen. The Dominican Army has sent three helicopters and special forces to the border. The adults work for Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries and there are five children among those kidnapped.
As reported in the Miami Herald, the US has deployed three FBI agents to Haiti and a significant number of law enforcement specialists and hostage recovery specialists to work closely with the ministry, the families and the Haitian government to try to coordinate and organize a recovery.
The missionaries and their family were returning from visiting an orphanage east of Port-au-Prince. The group was kidnapped on 16 October. The 400 Mawozo gang that operates in Port-au-Prince is asking for US$1 million per hostage to release the kidnapped people.
In a related development, Pope Francis told people gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, 31 October 2021 of the need for the international community to support Haiti. On the previous Friday, 29 October, Pope Francis had met with US President Joe Biden for 90 minutes at the Holy See.
During the Sunday Angelus address, Pope Francis called on world leaders to aid the people of Haiti as the country continues to descend into chaos due to widespread violence, economic instability and natural disasters.
“I ask the leaders of nations to support that country, not to leave it alone,” the Pope urged in the Sunday Angelus prayer to the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square. “And you, when you return home, look for news about Haiti and pray, pray a lot,” Francis noted, referring to the testimony and the things told on a television program by the priest Massimo Miraglio, a missionary in Haiti. “How much suffering, how much pain there is in that land and how much abandonment,” the Pope pointed. He urged: “Let us not abandon them!”
Kidnappings have become a major industry in Haiti. Recently, Dominican fuel truckers have been kidnapped, too. It is unclear whether they have been released. This has caused a major fuel shortage in Haiti. President Luis Abinader has insisted that security is the main problem that needs to be tackled in Haiti.
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El Nuevo Diario
2 November 2021