DOMINICAN TRUCKERS PROTEST KIDNAPPINGS IN HAITI
(Reuters) - By Kevin Gray
SANTO DOMINGO - Truckers in the Dominican Republic blocked a key border crossing into neighboring Haiti on Friday, bringing trade between the two countries to a virtual halt to protest a string of trucker kidnappings in Haiti.
Blas Peralta, the president of the Dominican Republic's leading truckers union, said three Dominican truckers were kidnapped on Thursday near the Haitian town of Fond Parisien after delivering cargo in Haiti's capital.
The abductions followed media reports in the Dominican Republic this week that armed men robbed and shot a cement truck driver while he drove through a Haitian slum.
On Friday, truckers parked their vehicles along a road in the Dominican city of Jimani, a busy border crossing between the two countries.
Peralta said truckers were refusing to travel into Haiti until Haitian authorities took additional steps to ensure their safety.
"We are not going to risk our lives," he said. "Going into Haiti is like going into hell. There is no security."
The foreign ministry of the Dominican Republic said the country's ambassador in Haiti was working with Haitian authorities to help the truckers.
The Dominican Republic and Haiti together make up the Caribbean island of Hispaniola and trade between the two countries last year totaled $1.2 billion.
(Reporting by Manuel Jimenez; Writing by Kevin Gray; Editing by Anthony Boadle)
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