Cardinal hails resumed Haiti-Dominican Republic talks, but ruling looms

Santo Domingo.- Dominican Republic’s Cardinal today hailed theresumed talks between Haiti and the Dominican Republic governments, agreed toWednesday morning by both leaders at the Petrocaribe Summit in Caracas, but warned thatthe Constitutional Court ruling on the conditions for Dominican nationalitymust be respected.

Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez said Port-au-Prince hasshown a hostile attitude against Dominican Republic and has violated theagreements between the two Hispaniola countries.

He said everything can be dealt with in a dialogue basedon the ruling’s content, such as continuing with Santo Domingo’s plan to regularizeforeigners.

Lopez Rodriguez stressed that the ruling has to berespected and the plan should be conducted with the greatest transparency and fairness.

The cardinal, speaking after a mass in the Dominican NavyBase at San Souci, added that until now the population agrees with the government’sefforts to control the presence of undocumented immigrants.