Peacekeepers ride shotgun on Dominican Republic trucks into Haiti

Santo Domingo.- The head of the Dominican Republic’s biggest truckers’ union (Fenatrado) on Wednesday said rigs began crossing into Haiti since Monday, guarded by UN peacekeepers (MINUSTAH) and Haitian police.

Blas Peralta said 160 Dominican trucks enter and leave the neighboring country with different cargo daily and noted that the north border area near Dajabón is the most dangerous for truckers.

In that regard Peralta proposed construction of five storage facilities in Haitian territory but next to the Dajabon border crossing, where Dominican truckers can deliver the freight, so the Haitians themselves can distribute it from there.

The union leader met with the Chamber of Deputies committee which investigates the alleged kidnapping of several truckers in violent incidents where a peacekeeper was shot dead near the Haiti town Ouanaminthe.

Just last week Peralta called the life of a truck driver who enters Haiti worthless. “They know they’re safe only when they cross back into Dominican territory.”