Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Santiago de los Caballeros (Agenzia Fides) –Tension grows among the Haitians resident in the Dominican Republic because the Haiti government refuses entrance to its own citizens residing illegally in the neighbour country and have not completed the process of adhesion to the plan for the regularisation of foreign citizens undertaken by the government of the Dominican Republic government.
Every day Fides is informed of many sad and complex situations of numerous Haitians in irregular situations in Santo Domingo and Santiago. Scores of Haitians queue in front of the Offices responsible for public order in Santiago to obtain a paper attesting that they have initiated the process of becoming a legally registered citizen.
However many Haitians criticise their own government authorities for refusing entry to Haitian citizens anxious to obtain valid id papers such as an identity card, indispensable for starting the process for becoming regularised citizens in the Dominican Republic.
A report sent to Fides reveals that many Dominican intellectuals and politicians criticise the Haitian authorities for disregarding the plight of their own citizens, now immigrants in the Dominican Republic, leading world public opinion to think that only the Dominican government is to blame.
The local Catholic Church has repeatedly expressed a willingness on the part of the Dominican people and the local Church to find a solution to the question (see Fides 12/06/2015). Only days ago emeritus Bishop Jesús María de Jesús Moy of San Francisco de Macorís (Dominican R.), said : "Our republic is clear on the question of Haiti, because the Dominican people and the local Church are most sympathetic with the Haitians and clear regarding the question Haiti, we love these people sincerely and guarantee them proper pastoral care, therefore it is time for international organisations to stop saying what is untrue ".
(CE) (Agenzia Fides, 04/08/2015)
