Dominican Republic rebuffs US envoy nominee’s stateless claim

Santo Domingo.- The US nominee to ambassador in the Dominican Republic on Thurs. told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that, if confirmed, will work so that the rights of descendants of Haitians affected by the 2013 Constitutional Court ruling are respected.

But as expected, the statement by Robin Bernstein was immediately rebuffed.

Foreign minister Miguel Vargas denied that there are stateless people in the country.

“We have reiterated that here there are no stateless persons, that this is a country that is governed by the Constitution and Dominican law and that our commitment is to enforce them. Each country has the right to manage its immigration status in the way it deems most convenient and this is managed through the laws that govern it,” the official said.

“We will have to properly and correctly apprise the ambassador at due time, but we understand that the Dominican Republic is a sovereign country,” Vargas said.

Bernstein, an insurance magnate based in Palm Beach, Fla., appeared before the Committee during a confirmation hearing of the post. The session was recorded by the C-SPAN network.