a804: BBC: Dominican Republic: Minister protests about illegal imports of rice from Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Robert Benodin <r.benodin@worldnet.att.net>

Dominican Republic: Minister protests about illegal imports of rice from
Haiti
BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Feb 2, 2002


Eligio Jaquez, the Dominican secretary of state for agriculture, has told
the newspaper Listin Diario that lorries from Haiti carrying cargoes of rice
have crossed the border with the complicity of officials who control this
area.
The agriculture secretary does not rule out the possibility of imposing
heavy sanctions against the civil servants who are guilty. The Dominican
minister considers such an operation an act of brigandage against Dominican
products. Jaquez supports the position of Dominican rice producers in the
northwestern region of this country. These producers say that the illegal
entry of this rice into the Dominican market will cause hundreds of
Dominicans who earn their living from rice production to go bankrupt.
Jaquez also explains that Dominican officials will not allow these products
to cross the border without customs duties and sanitation controls. He adds
that the illegal importing of rice from Haiti represents a conspiracy, a
plot against the efforts of Dominican agricultural producers. For their
part, Dominican farmers are protesting forcefully against the smuggling of
rice that is going on in the border area.
Source: Radio Vision 2000, Port-au-Prince, in Creole 1700 gmt 1 Feb 02
/BBC Monitoring/ © BBC.