The Prime Minister of Haiti, Paul Evans, denied that his country had banned the entry of some Dominican products in an alleged retaliation against the latter's application to regularize foreigners, which would imply an eventual repatriation of Haitians.
"There is no ban on the sale of Dominican products in our territory," said Prime Minister Evans through his Twitter account and the website of the prime minister's office.
The senior official said his government denied any rumours circulating in the media, blogs and social networks, which have expressed that Haiti decreed a ban on Dominican products, such as beef and chicken, bananas, eggs, peppers, vegetables, fruits and meats, among others.
"The Government of the Republic of Haiti disagrees with the spread of this rumour, as the Haitian Prime Minister Paul Evans hasn’t made any statement to address this alleged prohibition."
However, Evans pointed out, the only request that Haiti has made to the Dominican authorities is they respect the mechanisms of deportation and international conventions relating to the treatment of deportees.
In that sense, he said, the Haitian government has instructed officials working in the border area with the Dominican Republic, to treat the Haitians crossing the border from the Dominican Republic with dignity and compassion.
The alleged prohibition of Dominican products to Haiti was spread by local media yesterday, after the Prime Minister visited the border area to verify the status of undocumented Haitians who were returning home from Dominican territory.
However, the Dominican Ministry of Agriculture announced that it was unaware of the alleged ban, as they hadn’t been informed of any decision in that regard by Haitian authorities.
A group of merchants in the Dominican city of Dajabón (northwest), bordering Haiti, warned today that they would block the passage to that country if its authorities enforced alleged prohibition of agricultural products and others, which are sold in this town every Monday and Friday in a bilateral market that generates billions of dollars each year.
The regularization of foreigners program of the Dominican Government contemplates the repatriation of the undocumented people that did not apply to the plan, whose registration phase concluded on June 17.
Source: eldinero.com.do