#2675: more HT/DR news: koudjay / dev. prog. / chauffeur / nationality / migration etc. (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: Yacine Khelladi <yacine@aacr.net>

for the list

> DR1 Daily News — Friday, 3 March 2000

> 3. Chauffeur of Dominican consul general murdered in Haiti
> Middle-aged José Rafael Jiménez Núñez, chauffeur of the Dominican general consul in Port-au-Prince, Carlos Castillo, was shot to death yesterday after leaving the Unibank branch in Petionville, Port au Prince. After he was unable to make a routine deposit of US$6,000 in the bank due to a power failure at the bank, he was making his way back to the Consulate, riding alone in the consul general’s car. Four men in a white car were seen firing at him. He died victim of six of 20 gunshots fired at him by the men that were on board the white car. The assailants stole the money.
> Jiménez was a long time resident of Haiti (some reports say he had lived there for 15 years, others for 8 years), and was married to a Haitian woman with whom he had three children. The Ministry of Foreign Relations has not issued a statement, as it is awaiting a report from Dominican ambassador in Haiti Silvio Herasme Peña.
> Jiménez was a native of Navarette, Santiago province.
> 
> 4. Presidential candidate favors giving DR nationality to all born here
> Presidential candidate for the PLD, Danilo Medina said that he is of the personal opinion any person born in the Dominican Republic should be a Dominican. He said this is regardless of whether the person is born to a Haitian emigrant. He favored modifying the Dominican Constitution to this end. The Dominican Constitution excludes those born of diplomats and non legal residents. "I believe that he who is born here, in the territory, regardless of whether he is the son of a Haitian, is Dominican," he said when the matter came up while answering questions of a panel of journalists on the "Uno+Uno" TeleAntillas, Channel 2, morning show produced by Juan Bolívar Díaz and Margarita Cordero. He announced he would be placing into circulation his government program as of 14 March.
> 

2 march 1999
> 6. Promoters of violence towards DR could be banned from visiting
> El Siglo newspaper reports that the Dominican government is studying banning from visiting the DR members of the Group Koudjay that has popularized a merengue that incites to violence against the DR. The promoter of the merengue, Benjamin Dupuy, would also be declared a persona non grata. Dupuy is the president of the Haitian Popular Party and director of Haiti Progress, a newspaper published in New York City and sold in Port au Prince. The Haitian Popular Party is said to be a strategic ally to the Lafamil Lavalas, of former president Jean Bertrand Aristide, who during his short term presidency expressed his resentment against the DR. Aristide is expected to be the next President of Haiti.
> El Siglo newspaper interviewed Minister of Foreign Relations of Haiti Fritz Longchamp who said he did not feel that the merengue could affect the present harmonious relations among both countries.
> 
>
> DR1 Daily News — Monday, 28 February 2000
> 
> 4. Haiti and the DR agree on reciprocal development program
> The Dominican government is spearheading an effort to receive from international organizations funding for major frontier development programs. The program seeks to improve investment and living conditions along the frontier.  The DR will especially benefit by improvement in Haitian standards of living with a decrease in migration of indigent Haitians while at the same time an increase in potential Haitian buyers of Dominican products. Technical Secretary of the Presidency Temístocles Montás head the talks on behalf of the Dominican government, and Minister of Planning of Haiti, Anthony Dessources did so for Haiti.
> The program calls for the investment of US$280 million in apiculture, environment, transportation, communication, power supply, potable water, sewage, health, education, sports and pre-investment funds.
> During a ceremony at the Government Council Sessions Room of the National Palace, the program was presented by officers of both governments to international organization representatives.
> Temístocles Montás, Technical Secretary of the Presidency, said, "The distribution of the investments, on one or the other side of the frontier, far from being the results of a mathematical exercise, is based on an objective analysis of needs."
> He said that the strategy of investment of the Program for the Development of the Frontier Zone is based on the new focus of Haiti-DR bilateral relations begun in 1996. The new focus seeks to establish effective cooperation to jointly resolve common problems of the island and prepare for the challenges of an interdependent world.
> Present at the meeting among others were:
> Ambassador David Ward of Great Britain
> Ambassador of Spain Jose Manuel Lopez Barron
> Ambassador Stefano Alberto Canaversio, Italy
> Ambassador Bruno Picard, Canada
> Roger Leenders, delegate of the European Union
> Leopoldo Garza, deputy director USAID
> Marco Mantovanelli, representative World Bank
> Stephen McGaughey, IDB
> Paolo Oberti, UN
> Jean Marie Cherestal, Lomé-Haiti
> Max Puig, Lomé-DR
> 

> ********************************************************************************
> DR1 Daily News — Friday, 25 February 2000
> 
> 6. DR and Haiti advance on migration talks
> The Dominican Republic and Haiti advanced on bilateral talks regarding migration. Members of the Dominican-Haitian Interinstitutional Technical Committee on Migration and Frontier Affairs met in Port-au-Prince this week for talks. As per news reports, one of the principal advances was on the rules and status regarding Haitian immigrant workers in the DR. The Minister of Foreign Relations of Haiti Fritz Longchamp and Minister of Foreign Relations of the DR, Eduardo Latorre to ratify the agreements.
> The Dominican delegation to the talks was made up by:
> Deputy Secretary of Foreign Relations, Rosario Graciano (in charge of consular affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Relations); Manuel Tapia Cunillera, Interior and Police; ambassador Wenceslao Guerrero Pou, in charge of the Division of Haitian Affairs; Amarilis López, counsellor for that division; Ivan Peña, Antonio Lora and Pablo Acosta of the Migration Department; and Carmen Ogando, of the National Frontier Council.
>