Friday several hundred Haitians angry, living in an irregular migratory situation in the Dominican Republic, demonstrated in front the Consulate of Haiti in Santiago, to denounce the inaction of the Haitian government to provide them with essential documents, so they can register in the National Plan for the Regularization of Foreigners (PNRE), which expires on 17 June.

Visibly exasperated and desperate, protesters carrying placards and chanting slogans, said the Haitian authorities were responsible for the situation they are currently facing in the Dominican territory. The demonstration caused a major traffic jam on Sadhala Star Avenue, where is located the Haitian Consulate in Santiago. However, there was no confrontation with the heavily Dominican Police present at the scene, or arrests.

The protesters believe that the Haitian government is not aware of the consequences that sould have the repatriations for social and economic stability of Haiti, because with the money they earn from their work in the Dominican Republic, their families can survive in Haiti [nearly $500 million transfers/year]

Claude Paul Baptist, one of the protesters said that since the Dominican government began to implement the PNRE [over a year], he visited the Haitian diplomatic representations to be provided with a birth certificate and a ID card, but in vain...

The protesters say they worried because from Thursday, June 18, they will be liable to be deported to Haiti, because most have not succeeded to obtain an identity document, the first condition of the PNRE to register and begin to provide other documents required by PNRE, to complete their file...

SL/ HaitiLibre