Will Washington Repsond to this Humanitarian Crisis? [View all]

[Skwmom]

Makes you damn proud to be an American, doesn't it? There is something seriously wrong with our government when no action is taken after 550 former peace corp workers and 3 former directors write our SOS.

The End of U.S. Complicity In the Dominican Republic

The exodus is in large part the consequence of a 2013 ruling by the Dominican Constitutional Court that effectively stripped some 200,000 Dominicans of Haitian descent of their citizenship, thereby creating the largest stateless population in the Western Hemisphere. Since then, thousands of ethnic Haitians have resettled on the Haitian side of the border, including the family of 28-year-old Molene Charles, which lives in a squalid settlement with 700 other families in Anse-à-Pitres. Their home in the Dominican Republic, the AP reported last week, was burned to the ground by locals.

Such grim reports contrast sharply with the initial assessments of U.S. officials. In July, during a visit to the Dominican border town of Pedernales, just two miles from Anse-à-Pitres, U.S. Ambassador James Brewster, who had posed for photos with the heads of the Dominican army, border patrol, and migration directorate, praised the Dominican security forces and denied that Santo Domingo was violating human rights.

In the face of U.S. inaction, more than 550 former Peace Corps volunteers and three former country directors for the Dominican Republic wrote to Secretary of State John Kerry on August 7, urging the United States to cut off its security assistance to the Dominican Republic, worth some $17.5 million since 2013, until Santo Domingo improved its record.

Washington has strong economic ties with Santo Domingo and is the Dominican Republic’s largest trading partner. Indeed, many of the Haitian workers whose descendants now face expulsion were brought to the Dominican Republic to work in its sugar industry, which has deep connections to the United States, the largest importer of Dominican sugar. In 2013, U.S. exports to the Dominican Republic totaled $7.2 billion.

The $17.5 million in aid that the United States has provided to the Dominican Republic’s security forces over the past two years has included weapons and training for Santo Domingo’s border patrol agency, CESFRONT...

Indeed, many of the Haitian workers whose descendants now face expulsion were brought to the Dominican Republic to work in its sugar industry, which has deep connections to the United States, the largest importer of Dominican sugar. In 2013, U.S. exports to the Dominican Republic totaled $7.2 billion.

State Department human rights reports have also documented extrajudicial killings and torture at the hands of Dominican security forces, actions that clearly constitute gross human rights violations; its 2013 report, for instance, noted that Dominican police and migration officials had beaten a 31-year-old Haitian immigrant named Jean Robert Lors to death.

Tens of thousands of ethnic Haitians face a worsening human rights catastrophe, but Washington has so far settled on little more than an expressed commitment to observing the crisis.

Observers fear the situation will become dire as refugees languish without adequate access to food, water, and medicine.

Indeed, Santo Domingo has staunchly defended its record, even hiring a prominent U.S. lobbying firm to argue that its actions reflect viable immigration policies. (Some people will do anything for a buck.)

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/dominican-republic/2015-08-20/end-us-complicity-dominican-republic

Read on, now it really gets good. Who cares about the truth when lies and distortion will sell - bring in the lobbyists and public relations firm.

http://sentinel.ht/politics/articles/international/6436-dominican-government-hires-pr-firm-to-rebuild-reputation

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (sentinel.ht) - More than a million dollars for Steptoe & Johnson to lobby the U.S. Congress is not enough for the Dominican Republic. It has reached out to MWW, a public relations and reputation building company for a contract through early next year.

According to a document filed with the US Department of Justice, MWW’s work for the Dominican Republic also includes messaging, media training, and developing and implementing a plan to engage analysts and US opinion leaders "to craft the reputation of the Dominican Republic and influence official decisions."