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Solidarity with expelled Haitians from the Dominican Republic

Published Jun 5, 2005 11:19 PM

On May 16, the Dominican government rounded up and expelled at least 3,000 Haitian residents and Black Dominicans, including many migrant workers. The round-ups came just days before tens of thousands took to the streets in neighboring Haiti to celebrate the creation of that country’s blue and red flag 202 years ago on May 18.


May 23 protest against the
deportation of Haitians at Dominican
Republic Consulate in Manhattan

The Flag Day ceremonies were sponsored by the illegitimate government now in control of Haiti under United States/United Nations auspices. But the tens of thousands who came out in Port-au-Prince and elsewhere made it clear that they want democratically elected Pre sident Jean-Bertrand Aristide returned, the constitution respected, the 2,000 political prisoners currently in jail freed and an end to political repression.

Since the UN “stabilization force” protected the demonstration, Haitian police only attacked it at the end. Samuel Joseph, who lived in the poor neighborhood of Cite Soleil, was shot dead in front of his wife and two children on the same corner where another protester was killed Feb. 28. Two other protesters were also seen to fall in the police attack.

Days earlier, the Dominican Army had rounded up any Black people it found on the streets—children going to school, parents coming home, shoppers, workers—after four Haitians were arrested and charged with killing a shopkeeper.

Even when those captured had documents indicating they had legal authorization to be in the Dominican Republic, the soldiers destroyed their papers, then loaded them onto buses and trucks and shuttled them to the border. Most of those deported were women and children.

According to the Rev. Regino Martinez of the Jesuit Service for Refugees in Ouanaminthe (Wanament): “Never have we seen such a massive and indiscriminate repatriation, including boys, girls and pregnant women. The worst is that many Dominicans of Haitian descent and Haitians who have legal status were included.”

The presence of thousands of totally destitute people on the border just adds to the growing misery inside Haiti. Haitians go to the Dominican Republic, itself a very poor country, because Haiti is so much poorer. Haiti’s per capita income is one-quarter the Dominican Republic’s.

According to Haiti-Progres newspaper (May 25-31), it is likely that the Dominican government used the expulsions to get rid of easily replaced seasonal workers, while the illegitimate government in Port-au-Prince now gets a distraction, a cause and an issue it can use to hide its complicity in the misery afflicting the Haitian people.

While only one major newspaper in the United States, the Houston Chronicle, covered the expulsions, the Dominican and Haitian communities in this country have their own sources of information and responded quickly.

Dominican, Haitian communities respond

A group of Haitian and Dominican organizations in New York City jointly sponsored a May 23 picket line in front of the Dominican Consulate in Times Square.

Radhames Perez of the Movimiento Revo lucionario Nuevo Patria declared: “It is not the Dominican people who lead this campaign against our Haitian brothers and sisters. It is the reactionary policy of the government of President Leonel Fernandez and the Dominican ruling class.”

A number of North American progressives also joined the protest.

The Rev. Luis Barrios, a well-known professor of sociology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, had earlier drawn up an open letter to President Fernandez that he circulated in Spanish. The Dominican Coalition in Solidarity with the Haitian Community in the Dominican Republic translated it into English. It was presented to the consulate May 23 by a Solidarity Coalition of both Dominican and Haitian activists.

The letter states: “This case demonstrates how endemic anti-Haitianism is in the Dominican Republic and how much it is justified, promoted, and blessed within the society. To make matters worse, discrimination and racism also led to the deportation of more than 50 Dominican citizens because they are Black and minors without the appropriate protection and supervision. Racial hostility, blatantly expressed through collective panic, reflects the historic and cultural prejudices toward the Haitian community.”

It continues, “This Solidarity Coalition recognizes that it is not correct or possible to deny the fact that within the construction and sugar industries—just to mention two examples—the Haitian community throughout the years and into the present has made significant contributions to the national life of the Dominican Republic.”

Furthermore, “As a Solidarity Coalition we also understand that all this discrimination and lack of regard is nothing more than a reflection of a social crisis of xenophobic prejudices.”

The statement reminds Fernandez, “his government and the rest of the Dominican people that here in the United States we ourselves experience exploitation with every day that passes. This is why through our activism we combat the immorality that dehumanizes us.”