The Armed Forces have defined the protection of the border as a priority to guarantee national sovereignty.
The Ministry of Defense (MIDE) considered that there are no conditions for the armed groups that bring unrest to Haitian society to create an environment that allows them to operate in Dominican territory because the land, sea, and air borders “are guarded and safe.” A written statement from the MIDE explains that “security on the border with Haiti is the priority of the Armed Forces and is the main destination of its human and material resources, without undermining the surveillance of maritime and air spaces.”
He maintains that “these tasks and the intelligence work, to take care of national security, are carried out by the most skilled and experienced men and women of the Ministry of Defense and its armed forces.”
It points out that armed gangs “that operate in Haiti are a cause for concern due to the environment of insecurity and instability that they have generated in Haitian society, with whose authorities, the Dominican armed forces maintain a close channel of communication that has allowed for an exchange of timely information in both directions.”
He considers that the gangs in Haiti “are a threat to the Haitian people and their social and productive structures,” but “there are no conditions for the armed groups that bring unrest to Haitian society to create an environment that allows them to operate in Haitian territory.”
Referring to the information about a fugitive from Dominican justice arrested by the Haitian police, the MIDE states that in Haiti, “there are thousands of Haitian nationals who have lived or visited the Dominican Republic, generating ties with Dominican citizens.”
He explains that these people are mostly “integrated into productive activities, such as commerce, construction, agriculture, among others, but it is possible that in this interaction, elements linked to criminal activities also arise from both parties, but these are not the generality.
The MIDE observes that a sample “of the tranquility that is observed in our land border is the daily celebration of the binational markets, which even with the situation that prevails in the neighboring country, march without major setbacks, which can only be done when it breathes an environment of security, of which the Armed Forces are guarantors.”
The MIDE statements come a day after the government issued a report identifying a Dominican bandit captured in Haiti as a fugitive from justice in the country who has lived in Haitian territory for ten years.
The bandit was identified as Luis Alejandro Ortiz (Molaï), who would have fled the country after participating in a kidnapping in 2013.
Dangerous KEYS
Public transport drivers in Haiti denounced that they have to pay daily tolls to heavily armed gangs on highways between Port-au-Prince, Cap Haitien, Lemonade, Trou Du Nord, Milot, the entrance to Fort Liberté, and other cities.
“May God free the Dominican Republic from those gangs that plague Haiti, I hope they never enter, because the people in my country are having a very bad time, they even enter the patios of the houses,” revealed evangelist Johnny Auguste.