Minister of Economy says there is a discourse of hatred and rejection against migrants in the country

Santo Domingo, D.R.
Pavel Isa Contreras, Minister of Economy, when approached about the irregular migration faced by the Dominican Republic, said there is a discourse of hatred and rejection against migrants.

“I think it is against Haitians because they are black and poor, there is a deep racism in this society that is cultivated since Trujillo, and there is a deep anti-Haitianism, that our own educational system echoes, there is an inflammatory discourse that points in a racist line and there are sectors that are betting on that, let’s lower the tone and sit down to discuss,” expressed Isa Contreras.

He clarified in the interview made to the program “Verdades al Aire,” which is broadcasted by CDN 37, produced by journalist Adolfo Salomón, that a few weeks ago, he did not refer to the patriotic march that was celebrated at the Altar de la Patria. “I am referring to the fact that there is an inflammatory discourse on the part of certain sectors of society, that some were in the march, others were there because of legitimate concerns, here there is a discourse of hate, rejection, and irritation towards migrants.”

He said that “there are two sides, there are people who have a legitimate concern for migration, that should be the concern of all, to demand and demand from the State a more effective migratory policy, there is no doubt about that, and it is unobjectionable, but inciting hatred, rejection, and denigration of migrants, that should not be the basis of a good public policy.”

On several occasions, Pavel Isa Contreras made references to the fact that even authorities of the current and past local governments have handled an “inflammatory discourse.”

“The inflammatory discourse is not healthy, it is not good, even authorities of the country, of certain local governments, what it does is to inflame the population, but that does not mean that a policy should not be demanded and that the State has an obligation to apply a much more rigid migratory policy,” Isa Contreras opined.

To close his intervention in the television program, Pavel Isa added, “what I want is that we stop the discourse of hate, of rejection, that we sit down to discuss a national migratory policy, irregular migration affects the migrant, who is trafficked and his receivers. This does no good to anyone. We must have a rational policy that discusses not only border crossings…It is not only the border crossing issue; we cannot base it on inflammation but on rationality.”