Dominican's Grievances Against Haitians

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I do not think Haitians care about the consequences of their actions.

1. Some Haitians want Dominicans living in Haiti to be deported.

This would be in retaliation for the recent deportations of Haitian nationals from The Dominican Republic.

The problem is that the number of Dominicans living in Haiti pale in comparison to the estimated 1.2 million Haitians living in DR. Haiti would be the biggest loser in a war of deportations with The Dominican Republic.

2. Some Haitians want to boycott Dominican products and services.

First, the economy of The Dominican Republic (GDP 58.95 billion USD (2012) is relatively stronger than that of Haiti (GDP 7.843 billion USD (2012).

Second, many Haitian merchants do business with The Dominican Republic and would be affected by the boycott.

Third, if the purpose of the boycott is to inflict economic losses on The Dominican Republic, the estimated 1.2 million Haitians living and working in the DR will also be affected.

Fourth, we are stuck in the same island and the economies of both countries are interconnected to some degree; if the Dominican Republic's economy goes down, Haiti will be affected too.

3. Some Haitians want Dominican tourists in Haiti to be manhandled...to be treated rough.

This is not how you grow the tourism sector in a country.

Such actions will reflect negatively on Haiti as a tourist destination.

Business is business.

If affluent Dominicans go to Haiti to spend money and they are respectful of your country, laws, people, and culture, they should be treated with dignity.

4. Some Haitians cannot stop reminiscing about that time they invaded and occupied the Dominican Republic and talk about taking it back one day. For some Haitians, it seems as if the invasion and occupation of The Dominican Republic was their biggest accomplishment as a Republic.

They dwell on with malicious satisfaction about that occupation, while living in abject poverty in the poorest country in the western hemisphere.

Considering the current economic situation in Haiti, it is not hard to imagine what would have become of the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola if it had remained in the hands of Haitians.

With respect to taking it back, you can simply forget about it, because The Dominican Republic has a well-established army, the support of the United States and Latin America, and the support of powerful multinationals that would not want to lose their investment in the DR.

5. Some Haitians never miss an opportunity to smear the Dominican Republic in international forums such at the UN and CARICOM.

Those forums are not going to resolve all of Haiti's problems.

The UN and CARICOM can only do so much to address Haiti's grievances against the Dominican Republic, its constitution, and the rulings of its Supreme Court.

6. Some Haitians think it is their god-given right to dump thousands of poor Haitians in The Dominican Republic and the latter should not do anything about it. They are wrong.

While The Dominican Republic should grant temporary work visas to Haitian laborers (for economic and humanitarian reasons), the DR should not be forced to welcome, house, feed, and provide jobs to an uncontrolled number of illegal immigrants that bring diseases and decrease wages.

7. Some Haitians think that The Dominican Republic should grant automatic citizenship to the sons and daughters of illegal Haitian immigrants, in contravention of what it is stipulated in the Dominican constitution: The Dominican Republic does not grant automatic citizenship to "immigrants in transit" and their offspring born in their territory.

Consequently, the Dominican Republic has the right to expel all illegal immigrants from their territory, irrespective of color, race, or nationality.

8. Some Haitians want Haiti to rebuild an army it cannot afford for the sole purpose of resisting a perceived threat from the Dominican Republic and to bully Dominicans into providing better treatment to Haitian immigrants.

The Dominican Republic has an army for defense purposes, not for offensive operations.

It would be completely absurd for the Dominican Republic to invade and occupy Haiti, for that would entail facing economic sanctions, possible military actions from other countries, and having to manage the affairs of a failed state and its 10.17 million inhabitants.

With respect to the idea of creating a Haitian army to bully The Dominican Republic, that did not worked in the past and it will not work now. The creation of a Haitian Army will only create political and economic instability in your country, which is why it was dissolved in the first place.

You can create an army once the concepts of Democracy, fair elections, and presidential successions are deeply rooted in Haitian society.

9. Some Haitians cannot stop obsessing about the Dominican Republic.

If Haitians spent as much time fixing their country as they spend attacking the Dominican Republic and dumping their problems on others, Haiti would be in much better shape economically.

Now that Haitians do not have an army to brutally oppress them, they should take to the street and demand, jobs, better economy and educational opportunities, etc. It would also help to demand an end to government corruption, nepotism, and catastrophic leaderships.

10. When a deadly earthquake struck Haiti, The Dominican Republic was the first nation to assist Haiti: We used our scarce resources to tend their injured in our hospitals.

We offered military support (which was refused).

We relaxed government migration controls on the border.

We offered our expertise to build a university.

We planned the necessary logistics to provide international aid. The Dominican government went so far as to send food, medicine and rescue crews to Haiti (Among the aid were 10 mobile cafeterias that can produce 100,000 meals a day, and heavy equipment).

What did we get in return from Haiti?

A ban on Dominican eggs and poultry under false pretenses, and the usual smear campaign against DR on international forums.

Then the Haitians had the audacity to feign indignation when The Dominican Republic started to deport illegal Haitian immigrants and exerted its constitutional right not to grant citizenship to their offspring.

All of the aforementioned points have helped exacerbate Dominican's suspicions, hatred, and distrusts of Haitians.

Ricart, December 5 2013, 4:04 PM

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