Les Caraibes

Haitians are filling the country, Evangelical leader warns

SANTO DOMINGO.- The head of the Dominican Evangelical Unity Council (Codue) warned that undocumented and unregulated Haitians are filling the country, and called for heightened control at the border.

Fidel Lorenzo said the situation stems from the authorities’ negligence, which has been allowing this for years. "We’re also concerned about this, what we would like to see is more responsibility in the control of the border, the control of illegal immigration."

He said Dominican Republic has been very lenient with the Haitian issue, which in  his view the international community doesn’t acknowledge when it accuses the country of abuse and of violating foreigners’ rights.

Interviewed by Federico Mendez on Santo Domingo TV on Sunday, the religious leaders said the day the government wants to put things in order, the situation will become difficult, because it will have to face international organizations which represent nations which haven’t fulfilled their commitments with Haiti.

Lorenzo said entire Haitian families have been crossing over the Dominican border, a flow which he affirms has intensified since the January 2010 quake.

Source: Dominican Today
25 June 2012