12482: Trouble at the border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic over used clothing ban (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

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

Trouble at the border over used clothing ban
05/07/02 DR1

International commerce ground to a halt yesterday at Dajabon when hundreds
of Haitians rebelled over new Dominican Customs restrictions banning used
clothing from Haiti. Hoy reports that some of them threatened to burn trucks
transporting merchandise into Haiti, as retribution. Dozens of vehicles were
held back by authorities at Dajabon to prevent them from being damaged by
the protesters. As well, burning tires were placed in the road on the
Haitian side of the border.
Today, Haitian merchants are waiting by the border to see if the ban will be
lifted in time to allow the usual Friday Dominican/Haitian market to
proceed.
Nevertheless, yesterday President Mejia reiterated that he will not allow
the country to be filled up with used clothing coming across the border from
Haiti because, as El Caribe reports, the competition threatens local
clothing companies. Mejia says he has given instructions to Customs Director
General Vicente Sanchez Baret to halt the “invasion” of second-hand clothes.
He says the so-called “pacas” or bundles of clothing were originally allowed
into the country to help alleviate poverty in the border area, but nowhere
else.
“I can’t allow the country to be filled up with this material. We have
enough problems and I won’t permit the national marketplace to be
threatened. They (the used clothes) have already arrived in the barrios of
the capital and in the eastern zone,” said the President.
It’s been almost a month since Customs suspended the importation of used
clothing from Haiti, which has provoked protests from merchants along the
border near Elias Piña and Dajabon.