13140: Archer posts: Military accused of complicity in people smuggling (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Merrie Archer <MArcher@nchr.org>



DR1 Daily News -- Wednesday, 11 September 2002
www.dr1.com

Military accused of complicity in people smuggling
Belgian Priest Pedro Ruquoy denounced that members of the army and officers
of
the migration department are in complicity with the privatized sugar mills
to
smuggle in field hands from Haiti. As reported in the Coctelera column of
Hoy
newspaper, the priest said that in a recent visit to Puerto Escondido, on
the
border of Haiti, he visited installations used to temporarily lodge the
Haitians
prior to their distribution to the sugar mills. The priest revealed that
some
30,000 undocumented Haitians have been smuggled through this center. He said
that only one person has recruited 7,000 Haitians and processed these at a
cabaņa that is located a short distance from an army facility. The priest
says
those recruiting the Haitians receive RD$150 for each. Haitians recruited
for
work in the sugar mills usually do so for only one harvest, and then remain
in
the Dominican Republic, securing other better-paying jobs in construction.