Haiti - Social : The statements of Paul J. Baptiste provokes strong reactions in Dominican Republic

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Haiti - Social : The statements of Paul J. Baptiste provokes strong reactions in Dominican Republic
13/08/2012 11:22:01

Last week, the Haitian sociologist and historian, Paul Joseph Baptiste, who resides in Canada, stated that the most effective way to control the massive immigration of Haitians towards the Dominican Republic is the opening of the border, to allow free movement of citizens of both countries of the island.

Stressing that in a global economy, borders have become myths, that the majority of Dominicans do not yet understand, calling them not to fear the project of opening of the border. According to the sociologist, the border monitoring is a failure, because those who live in the West continue to cross massively towards the East and that will continue to increase due to social and economic differences between the two countries.

The statements of the Haitian sociologist provoked strong reactions of the authorities and professional of the Dominican Republic. José Ricardo Taveras, the Director of the Dominican Immigration, described of "absurd" the suggestion of Haitian sociologist, explaining that free movement is not appropriate in a situation of economic and social imbalance between the two countries, pointing out that the Dominican Republic had a GDP of 54 billion U.S. dollars and Haiti 6.8 billion and that in Haiti there were 70% unemployment against 14% in his country.

For Hugo Tolentino Dipp, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, this proposal is "ridiculous" pointing out that no country can open its borders in the manner proposed by the Haitian sociologist.

The Dominican historian Roberto Cassa "think that is is scandalous that someone of such an academic level can make a proposal in this direction..."

For the famous and highly respected lawyer dominicain, Vinicio Castillo "the proposal is unacceptable, this is madness, a situation that we must fight with all our force. He warned that this proposal is falls within the framework of an offensive national and international, in order to avoid the application of the Migration Act, confirming the intention of some organizations, of a fusion between the two countries..."

For José Ricardo Taveras, the Dominican Republic and Haiti, should sit as part of the Bilateral Commission, to address the migration issue, but the opening of the border should not be on the agenda, but that it is rather necessary to work on better border controls, on both sides.

HL/ HaitiLibre