ARTICLE - RISK OF DOMINICAN-HAITIAN CLASHES

RISK OF DOMINICAN-HAITIAN CLASHES ON JANUARY 3
(HaitiLibre)

"Today, we are invaded by Haitians. They are responsible for most thefts and assaults committed in our neighborhoods. They throw garbage in the streets, live in boarding houses with no bathrooms and defecate in plastic bags that they throw in front of houses, schools, businesses and other places. We are desperate" reported José Francisco Consuegra President of the Council of district of La Mina.

He stated that a survey conducted by community groups in San Jose and La Mina estimated at between 1,800 to 2,700, the population of undocumented Haitians living in these neighborhoods, without counting another 400 who arrived last Saturday, said Consuegra.

Residents of the neighborhoods of San Jose, Mina and Cristo Rey in the south of Santiago (North) in Dominican Republic, explained in the Dominican press, that if on January 3, 2011 the Directorate General of Immigration did not take steps to arrest and repatriate illegal Haitian populations living in their neighborhoods, the population would expel them by force.

José Francisco Consuegra has insisted that the attitude of people is not racist or discriminatory, but now the Haitians outnumber Dominicans in their neighborhoods.

An officer of the immigration authorities, under cover of anonymity, acknowledged that its services actually receive dozens of complaints each day from these communities concerning crime or incivility of Haitians, recalling that its services can not follow all these complaints. Its' office is being mobilized on the prevention and control of illegal border crossings.

The same source said that what the people intended to do was dangerous and that immigration services could not tolerate it, and were not excluding taking steps to protect Haitians facing deportation in order avoid unwanted confrontations.

For their part, residents of San Jose and La Mina complained that some of the undocumented Haitians carry knives and threatened the Dominicans to use them if people tried to evict them.

However, before the risk of confrontation and threats of Dominicans, hundreds of Haitians have left "voluntarily..." these areas indicated José Francisco Consuegra, but there remain more than 2,000... He reiterated the determination of the population to deport Haitians on January 3rd if they are still there. "They outnumber us, threaten us and challenge us, but we will win..." said Consuegra.