Reprinted from Caribbean Net News
caribbeannetnews.com

Dominican Republic rejects criticism of migrant treatment

Monday, December 11, 2006

by: Manuel Jimenez

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (Reuters): The Dominican Republic government on Sunday said it would not tolerate foreign interference in its affairs after a group of visiting US lawmakers criticised the treatment of Haitians on Dominican sugar plantations.

Foreign Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso, who met on Saturday evening with the US congressional delegation, said a visit the American politicians paid to cane fields and sugar factories in the east of the country was a "sham."

"I would like them to come for a few more days to see the reality in the Dominican Republic but not a sham like this," the foreign minister said.

"As I understand it the mission was practically kidnapped inside the church of San Pedro de Macoris, by a group of nongovernmental organisations that defend Haitians and who told them their version of the truth," he said.

Faced with grinding poverty, environmental devastation and widespread unemployment, up to a million Haitians are believed to have crossed illicitly into the neighboring and far more prosperous Dominican Republic in search of work. The two countries share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.

Many Haitian illegal immigrants are employed in sugar fields, factories or on cattle ranches in conditions that human rights groups say often are not far removed from slavery.

Relations between the two countries have long been strained by racism and mistrust, and scarred by the 1937 massacre of up to 30,000 Haitian migrants in a campaign ordered by then Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo. Many were marched off cliffs at gunpoint to die in the sea.

Last year, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordered the Dominican Republic to give birth certificates to Haitians born in its territory, even if their parents are illegal immigrants, provoking protests from Dominican officials.

The US congressional delegation included Democratic Reps. Eliot Engel of New York, Donald Payne of New Jersey, Maxine Waters of California and Kendrick Meek of Florida.

Speaking for the group, Engel said the US lawmakers were convinced the Dominican government had abandoned Haitians to their fate in the cane fields.

He said the group intended to return and to learn more about the reality of the country.

"We spoke about a wide range of topics and the sugar cane factories were one of those topics. We all agreed that we would like to see improved conditions, both us and the Dominicans," Engel said after talks with the foreign minister.

Morales Troncoso said the US delegation was in no position to offer opinions after a visit of only a few hours.

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