In recent weeks, we have noted with concern an increase in killings and violence against Haitians by the military, police and immigration officials, as well as by radicalized civilians, as part of xenophobic and racist agitation by government spokesmen. On March 13, Dominican soldiers murdered a Haitian known as Ti Ronel near the La Javilla checkpoint in Dajabón province. Also on April 19, Haitian worker Fritznel Dorcan was murdered and his cousin seriously injured by a Dominican soldier in San José de Las Matas, Santiago province. On June 25, another killing of a Haitian by the military was reported in Dajabón.
Illegal raids continue in Montecristi, Las Terrenas and various other regions of the country by the army, police and the General Directorate of Migration (DGM). These raids without court orders or the presence of prosecutors usually take place late at night.
On May 26, Haitian workers from the Consortium Central du Sucre demanding respect for their labor rights in the south of the country were repressed by the army and police, leaving 14 injured, two of them seriously and at risk of permanent injuries and disabilities. The DGM also arbitrarily and illegally expelled more than sixty (60) workers with regular immigration status. We reject the use of the DGM in labor disputes that should be negotiated by the Ministry of Labor in full respect of labor rights.
Another example of this racist violence in the sugar industry was the arbitrary arrest of the Dominican worker of Haitian origin, Miti Senvil, by the private security of the company Central Romana, in the province of El Seibo, in March of this year. Four months later, Senvil remains detained, revictimized as a stateless person, without having been convicted of any crime.
On July 2, landowner Hungary Díaz, father of prosecutor María Díaz Corcino, murdered two Haitian farmers, Maurice Delia and Jean Duversaint, by shooting them in the town of Paso Cena, on the outskirts of Pedernales, while they were collecting firewood. After several days of public complaints and the testimony of a survivor, a week later the killer was arrested.
The Support Group for Returnees and Refugees (GARR) denounced in a statement the death of Sainte Mira Millien, a 23-year-old Haitian woman, arbitrarily detained by DGM agents on July 3 while she was traveling to Haiti. Instead of allowing her to reach her destination, especially given her state of health, she was arrested and denied medical care, leading to her death the following day. GARR denounced the fact that immigration agents attempted to dispose of the body at the border with Haiti, in violation of binational protocols and without providing any explanation for the death that occurred in their custody.
The case of Santa Mira Millien is a striking illustration of the racist violence of the Dominican government, whose agents have carried out thousands of arbitrary arrests for the purpose of extortion, both of people with regular and irregular immigration status. The denial of medical care is a constant in detention centers, such as the Haina concentration camp, although it constitutes a form of illegal and unconstitutional torture. The denial of the right to legal defense is also a constant in immigration detentions. In this case too, the binational protocol of expulsion was violated, and even to the point of death, the Haitian migrants were not respected.
The Haitian immigrant community cannot be held responsible for the education and public health crisis
In this context of increasing violence against the Haitian immigrant community, we are concerned that on July 9, during the weekly presidential press conference, when asked by a journalist who stated that public school classrooms “are occupied by a large number of Haitian students of all age groups,” President Abinader responded by stating that “ Dominican students should have priority in Dominican schools, and after that, Dominicans take it, because the children of foreign workers who are in the country could also occupy them “This statement suggests postponing the schooling of foreign children, which constitutes a discriminatory practice.
MINERD figures for the year 2022-2023 reflect that more than 92% of the student body was of Dominican nationality, while 6% were Haitian and 1% were of other nationalities. The false news, spread with the aim of inciting hatred, according to which children supposedly immigrants from Haiti are taking places away from Dominican girls and boys, is simply not supported by reality.
We welcome the denial that the Dominican Teachers Association (ADP) and the Ministry of Education (Minerd) have published on this issue, emphasizing that the lack of places cannot be attributed to Haitian girls and boys. It is important to recognize that the right to education is universal and not to fuel fake news and hate speech that blames the immigrant community for any shortcomings in public policies.
Another statement that they present to our community as a burden is that of the director of the SNS, Mario Lama, who stated at the end of June of this year that health care for Haitian immigrants represents an expense of between 10 and 15 billion pesos. The official did not show any statistical support for this statement, which contradicts other figures put forward by himself and other officials in the recent past.
The Ministries of Defense and Public Health announced security protocols on July 21 in the face of an alleged anthrax outbreak in Haiti. These provisions led to the paralysis of border trade at the Elías Piña border crossing on July 22, as well as great nervousness and anti-Haitian rhetoric on social networks. However, there is so far no confirmation of a case of anthrax in Haiti. The Dominican School of Medicine criticized the government’s measures and the misinformation: “There is no reason to create panic or unnecessary alarms at this time,” said union president Waldo Suero.
We call on the Dominican government to listen to the ongoing calls of human rights organizations, both local and international, multilateral bodies such as the IACHR and the United Nations offices that monitor human rights and migration, as well as the calls of the Haitian immigrant community in the Dominican Republic to respect the rights of the immigrant community and abandon its discriminatory policies and hate speech.
Socialist Workers Movement of the Dominican Republic July 26, 2024
