27212: Karshan (News): DR1News items re Haiti - smuggling/border control/deaths/US efforts (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

Submitted by Karshan

January 12, 2006
DR1 News

The following items relate to Haiti/Haitians:

1. Focus on people smuggling tragedy
2. A horrendous crime
4. U.S. official visits

1. Focus on people smuggling tragedy
Government investigative sections are giving priority
to the people smuggling tragedy in which 24 Haitians
died of asphyxia in a truck on Tuesday. What is known
is that the Haitians, most from Cap Haitien, had paid
to be transported from Dajabon to Esperanza and then
to Santiago.
The police has already arrested 20 people in
connection to the case and searched one of the
suspects' homes where 49 of the illegal migrants had
stayed, prior to their taking the tragic truck
journey. During a press conference, Migration Director
Carlos Amarante Baret said that among those arrested
in Santiago, Dajabon and Mao were the two men who had
rented the container truck. El Caribe reports that the
number of detainees in this case is 26.
The Police Chief reported that according to Fane Ube
the group was composed of 61 men, 6 women and 2
minors.
Thirteen bodies were found behind a monument to the
Heroes of La Barranquita, near the Guayacanes
intersection. Another eleven bodies - 10 men and one
woman - were discovered in La Mina in the municipality
of Esperanza, where five survivors were also found.
The survivors are being looked after in several
medical centers across the region.
The authorities have only been able to identify two of
the deceased, as the others had no documents on them.
The bodies were taken to the morgue at Jose Maria
Cabral y Baez Regional Hospital in Santiago.
The police report given by General Santana Paez during
the press conference, explains that the bodies were
left in the locations by Elvis Rafael Rodriguez Ortiz
and his helper Esteban Martinez Rosario, who were
driving a Daihatsu, closed container-type truck, with
license plate No. L-166444. Both men are in custody.
The vehicle is officially registered in the name of
Anthony Leonel Acevedo Batista, according to the
police. Also detained is German Antonio Tatis, who is
accused by Haitian Fane Ube of keeping 69 illegal
migrants, including himself and those deceased, in his
house in Dajabon prior to the next tragic part of the
journey as they crossed over the border.
Listin Diario reports that the victims had been in the
container truck for four days on the Haitian side of
the border, according to intelligence reports quoted
by Armed Forces Minister Pared Perez. Some of the
survivors have said they paid between RD$1,500 and
RD$2,500 to be taken to Santiago. Pared Perez told the
Listin Diario that the Haitians had spent four days
enclosed in the truck.

2. A horrendous crime
The tragic outcome of the attempted border crossing
has caused widespread disgust among Dominicans and
demands that the authorities get to the bottom of the
profitable people smuggling operations that are known
to be ongoing in the border area.
President Fernandez expressed his condolences to the
Haitian people and guaranteed that there would be a
thorough investigation to locate those responsible for
this tragedy. Earlier, his Presidential press
director, Rafael Nunez had said the case was
"horrendous." He highlighted that the Attorney
General's office is in charge of the investigations.
"It does not matter if the responsible are government
officers, high ranking military or influential
civilians," he stated, as reported in the Listin
Diario. "Any person involved will receive the maximum
penalty," he stated. Spokesman Roberto Rodriguez said
there would not be any "sacred cows" in this case and
the responsible will be sent to justice.
Cardinal Nicolas Lopez Rodriguez regretted the tragedy
and stated that the Armed Forces security personnel
should have never allowed the vehicle to enter. "This
shows the soldiers are not fulfilling their duty...
the Armed Forces informed that there were over 5,000
soldiers on duty on the border. This is very serious,
controls must be revised," stated the leader of the
Catholic Church.
Meanwhile, Armed Forces Minister Sigfrido Pared Perez
assured that "the fact that these people spend several
days trying to get into Dominican territory indicates
that there is heavy surveillance along the border. In
this case one can tell they used all means to evade
surveillance," he stated. As reported in the Listin
Diario, Pared Perez said that an investigation is
ongoing to determine if there was complicity of the
military stationed in the border.
Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito announced
that those involved would be accused of violating Law
137-03 on illicit trafficking of immigrants. He said
these face the maximum penalty, or sentences of 30
years in jail.

4. US official visits
US Joint Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere
Affairs, Patrick Duddy, stated last night that the
international community is working to re-establish
democracy in Haiti. According to a report in Listin
Diario, Duddy stated that "the international community
has not abandoned the Haitian people, it is there,
working for democracy to be re-established, and for
the social situation to improve and the economy to
recover". Duddy made these comments after a meeting
with the presidents of the Senate and Chamber of
Deputies, Andres Bautista and Alfredo Pacheco. He was
accompanied by US ambassador Hans Hertell.





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