The RD-Haiti statement released yesterday contains the most important agreement reached by the two countries in a long time, which consolidates President Luis Abinader as a leader in the region facing the problems of the neighbor and raises the Caribbean nations a new approach.
The agreement had to be reached even though the situation in the neighboring country is unstable and his government, chaired by Jovenel Moïse, is in turmoil, with an active opposition that wants the elections to be held as soon as possible and a constitutional reform. with firm social bases.
As a negotiation of relevance that preceded the declaration, Abinader took great care that it was leaked, but it is known that it was the product of talks held privately by Chancellor Roberto Alvarez in Port-i by the two presidents last week to Elias Pinya .
The 9-point document is the most prominent diplomatic action since the re-establishment of DR-China relations, but at the same time leaves pleased the sectors that complained about the saturation of Haitians in Dominican hospitals and the lack of controls in the border.
Perhaps more pleased could be the so-called nationalists and many Dominicans concerned about the mass entry of Haitians to find that the two governments are willing to work on the process of identification and registration in the Haitian civil registry of all its citizens who are in Dominican territory. (Point 1).
It is certain that President Abinader will want to reduce the weight of his many problems, seek a solution to issues that can only be resolved through negotiation involving countries called “friends of Haiti” and international organizations.
Haitians have always been elusive when the Dominican side makes proposals to it as it did a few years ago when international organizations suggested the two governments unite to build hospitals on the Haitian side of the border.
If this had been done, the Dominican Republic would now be in better hospital condition and would not have to bear the heavy burden of midwives and other Haitian patients who for humanitarian reasons have to be cared for in Dominican hospitals.
The timing of the COVID-19 pandemic is a perfect opportunity for the construction of these hospitals to become a reality in the near future with the support of the United Nations, the OAS, the IDB, the United States, France and Canada, which have interests there.
Abinader is doing his part all he can in very difficult circumstances for the RD and when perhaps he will risk his prestige and popularity in the face of murmurs and what the adversaries who always have their own proposals will say.
Curb smuggling
One of the reservations that Haiti has had for some time is the illicit trafficking of goods across the border. In 1983 the Haitian government closed the border for this cause and had previously asked the DR Embassy to watch over its consuls crossing the line.
The illegal trafficking of goods across the border has caused great losses to Haiti and left its customs without revenue due to the high volume of bilateral trade. At the time of Dr. Balaguer and later the business belonged to the military.
It was consented to on the Haitian side as part of the “all-inclusive” package that was considered implicit in the Dominican side’s pay policy of several thousand Haitian workers crossing the border to work in CEA cane fields.
Then, during the crisis that followed the coup against President Aristide and which gave way to the military regime of General Raoul Cedrás (1991-1994), fuel smuggling was rampant across the border favored by Port-au-Prince regime and tolerated by the RD.
This type of smuggling to evade the sanctions imposed on the Haitian dictatorship by the United States government, as pressure to get back on the constitutional regime, enriched, more than drugs, many senior officials in both countries.
Still the porous border is a source of wealth for the military sector of high and low rank, something that deals with the document in its point 4, that is a silent annoyance for the regime of Abinader although it has handled it from half of August with much caution.
Through this point 4 of the declaration, the two countries undertake to use state-of-the-art technologies that facilitate the elimination of irregular migratory flow, human trafficking and trafficking, arms flow, drug trafficking and livestock theft.
This part of the statement will also satisfy the United States at a time when President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris are taking over, both committed to giving new focus to relations in their Latin American and Caribbean country.
In point 7, the two countries undertake to “continue negotiations in a sustained manner until a general trade agreement is reached, in order to establish transparent, stable, fair and predictable rules for both parties and to smuggling that erodes the tax base of both countries. “
The resilience of Haiti
Despite this country’s great problems stemming from its ancestral poverty, pandemics, hurricanes and the earthquake that destroyed Port-au-Prince in 2010, Haiti has enormous resilience as ancestors of African countries rising to bit by bit.
This is not the way to explain the eagerness of schoolchildren to walk long distances in order to reach primary school, the tenacity of university students to read under the streetlights of the capital’s central parks when the electricity service fails.
Haiti has one of the most recognized jazz festivals in the region. This year the Port-au-Prince Jazz Festival, despite the street demonstrations, is scheduled to be held between 16 and 26 of the contestant, with the participation of local musicians, from Cuba, Spain, United States, Canada, Trinidad and Tobago and the Nordic countries.
Four years ago, when the famous American popular singer Tony Bennett turned 90, one of the attractions of the huge televised party in which the great singers and musicians participated, was the presentation of the tenor Andrea Boccelli performing Shubert’s Ave Maria, with the Haitian Children’s Choir.
With riots, kidnappings and armed people on all sides, Haitians are struggling to survive. They know that their politicians, eternal aspirants to the presidency to catch the public coffers, will continue with the speeches without providing solutions.