#5366: More Dominican-Haitian News. (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Yacine Khelladi <yacine@aacr.net>


> DR1 Daily News -- Friday, 20 October 2000
> ********************************************************************
> 
> 7. Haitian governments wants police agents back
> The Haitian government formally requested through its Ministry of
> Foreign Relations the repatriation of six policemen that fled to the
> DR, crossing the border legally. The Haitian government accuses them
> of conspiring to overthrow the Preval government. The group would like
> to be allowed to continue on to Ecuador, where they studied and
> several have family ties.
> The Haitian policemen (Guy Philipe, Mesilor Lemais, Seide Didier,
> Dormel Jacques Patrick, Fritz Gaspar, Noel Godwork) told the Dominican
> press that they are sought because of the internal struggles for the
> control of the Police in Haiti. They accuse a former Police chief,
> Danny Toussaint and senator elect Medard (Joseph) of wanting to
> control the Police. Toussaint is said to be a former head of the
> Haitian Police and former chief of security of former President Jean
> Bertrand Aristide and owner of a private security company.
> The Ministry of Foreign Relations of the DR says the group has not yet
> requested political asylum, and that it is studying the legalities of
> the case. The group is in the custody of the Dominican military.
> 
> 
> 1. President Mejía signs Caracas Pact
> President Hipólito Mejía and nine regional statesmen signed the
> Caracas Energy Pact in Caracas, Venezuela yesterday. The agreement
> adds 20,000 barrels of petroleum to the 28,000 the DR is already
> purchasing in Venezuela. The agreement also establishes Venezuela will
> finance 25% of purchases at 2% interest rate and 15 year terms.
> Petroleum will be purchased at world market prices. The agreement
> contemplates barter as a form of payment.
> Statesmen from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica,
> Panama, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Belize were also in Caracas to sign
> the agreement.

DR1 Daily News wro[Fwd: DR1 Daily News -- Thursday, 19 October 2000]
> 1. Preval and Mejía meet in Caracas amidst rumors of aborted coup
> Hoy newspaper reports that President Rene Preval and President
> Hipólito Mejía met for half an hour in Caracas, Venezuela. Both were
> in Caracas for the signing of the Caracas Energy Cooperation Pact,
> sponsored by the Venezuelan government. Mejía said that during the
> meeting with Preval, he spoke on the phone with former President Jean
> Bertrand Aristide, the most influential man in Haiti. Mejía was aware
> that six Haitian police officers had crossed the frontier, two driving
> Cherokee Jeeps. The police agents entered legally, using travel visas.
> Mejía said that Preval did not request that the Dominican government
> return the Haitians.
> The group is under investigation by the Ministry of the Armed Forces
> and the Ministry of Foreign Relations. Reportedly, the Haitian
> government accuses them of conspiracy. El Siglo newspaper says that
> the Haitian political opposition is skeptical about the accusation by
> the government that the group was involved in an aborted coup. The
> opposition speculates this could be but a political move on behalf of
> the powerful Lavalas movement that is head by Aristide.
> Meanwhile, the military are under the protection of the Dominican
> military after legally crossing the frontier. They are held at the
> Dajabón military headquarters for investigations. Chief of the Army
> Major General Manuel Polanco Salvador and Chief of the Army
> investigation department (J2), General Hernández traveled to the
> frontier to meet with the Haitians.
> Wenceslao Guerrero Pou, in charge of Haitian affairs at the Ministry
> of Foreign Relations traveled to the frontier to talk to the Haitians.
> Guerrero Pou told El Siglo newspaper that the Haitians had not
> requested political asylum. The Haitians want to be allowed to travel
> to Ecuador, they say they are not interested in staying in the DR.
> They explained they studied in Ecuador, speak Spanish and two of them
> have family in Ecuador.
> Meanwhile, Minister of the Armed Forces José Miguel Soto Jiménez said
> that the frontier security has been reinforced.
> The history of Haiti is one of constant political turmoil, so the
> later is nothing new.

> DR1 Daily News -- Tuesday, 17 October 2000
> ********************************************************************

> 8. Haitian beggars take to city streets
> While the numbers of Dominican beggars on city streets are
> significantly low, Santiago and Santo Domingo are witnessing a surge
> in Haitian beggars. Haitian beggars are primarily women with small
> children in arms, or the little children themselves.
> The Listín Diario interviewed a Marie Pierre Baisson in Santiago who
> said that she couldn't be molested by the authorities. In her opinion,
> she is legal here. She paid RD$800 to be transported from Fort Liberte
> to Dajabón, then to Navarette. "I?m not one of those who came in by
> the hills," she explained.  "I paid to come, I owe no one anything,"
> she said. In her eyes, since she paid, she is legal. Baisson like most
> of Haitians that come to the DR has no identification papers on her.
> She says that she has no plans to return to Haiti and that there is a
> man and two women that direct an organization that will fight for her
> rights and that is assisting her. She told the Listín Diario that they
> are guiding her to stand by the story that her children were born here
> and that they should be recognized as Dominicans. "There are many
> Haitians with their children born in Haiti that have moved to Gurabo
> and Navarrete and have gotten their birth certificates, why can't we
> do the same," she said. The reporter watched as a lady driving past in
> a Mercedes Benz felt sorry for the women with all her children and
> handed her a RD$100 bill. "How can I leave this country, I just came,
> but we will die in Santiago, this is where God is," said the Haitian
> newcomer.
>