In the White House, the US Congress, before the Permanent Session of the Organization of American States (OAS) and this Friday at a press conference for the Dominican people, President Luis Abinader addressed the Haitian issue and emphasized that he will continue to do so for it represents in terms of costs and threats to national security.
The head of state spoke in these terms following referring to the progress made during his visit to the United States, among which he highlighted having achieved the project that seeks to build two maternity hospitals in Haitian territory.
In this regard, Abinader reported that the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) will donate the funds for the hospital buildings that will be located in towns in the north and south of Haiti near the border with a budget of around 440 million dollars.
According to the president, the IDB promised to lead the construction of the facilities and provide the necessary resources for their maintenance for at least five years, in conjunction with an American NGO that handles donations and works from Haiti.
Attention and reaction to crisis
Regarding the government’s reactivity and preventive measures in the face of the prevailing instability in the neighboring nation, Luis Abinader guaranteed that “the Army is prepared for any situation that arises on the Haitian side.”
He also said that they have “all kinds of alternative plans” to maintain the permanence of peace.
However, the leader of the Executive Power reiterated to the Dominicans the call to refrain from traveling to Haiti, given the insecurity that exists in the adjoining territory.
“I do not believe that any Dominican, unless they have an emergency, which he or she will know personally, the government’s recommendation is not to travel to that country where there is absolutely no security,” the president said.
Similarly, he expressed that the Dominican-Haitian border is calm and will continue in this way because the Dominican Army and the Armed Forces carry out constant monitoring to guarantee peace “at a high cost to the country.”
“We don’t have any worrying situation, the important thing is to be prepared,” added Abinader.
international support
In relation to the international community, he assured that they are having an opening regarding the situation that has been warning for a year and that the Dominican Republic is the one that is pressing for action.
Abinader also reported that during his recent visit, US congressmen expressed their intention to identify Haitians who, for allegedly being part of gangs, are prohibited from entering the Dominican Republic, in order to take “coordinated and joint” actions.
On the other hand, he did not want to refer to the former Haitian Prime Minister, Claude Joseph, who is also prohibited from entering the country.
“I have no comments regarding that person (Claude Joseph), we will have to listen to him by tweet from afar,” Abinader said.
Perimeter believes
Another of the edges touched by the President was the perimeter fence on which he denounced that there are politicians from other parties who are interfering in the negotiations that the Dominican State has with the owners of the land where the barrier is being built.
“Many politicians stop playing politics with a work that is very vital for this country; because there are politicians from another party acting as moneylenders and telling them that they are going to charge them amounts of money and charging amounts of money at extremely high prices, here we also have to be and have a sense of Dominicanness and nationality; It is also smart for them that there is a fence that protects their properties, ”said the head of the Executive Power.
The president took the opportunity to report that the first stage of construction of this fence will be “delivered on time” and that they are already in the bidding process for the second stage that “has more to do” with technological elements.
