The former ambassador of Haiti to the Dominican Republic, Paul Arcelin, He explained that gangs have existed in his country since the occupation by the United States, when they sent 20,000 soldiers to Haitian territory.
He said that what Haiti needs to put an end to these armed groups, which in five months have carried out more than 500 kidnappings and have killed more than 600 people, is for the Army of their country to be rebuilt, arming the soldiers.
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“We must destroy those gangs that threaten the Dominican Republic because they are close to the border and many of them have secretly entered the Dominican Republic and their wives live in the Dominican Republic,” warned the former diplomat, who added that they have even bought residences in Dominican territory.
Arcelin pointed out that the Haitian gangs have more weapons than the Haitian police and that it has already been suggested that in 15 days they could destroy these groups if there was the will to arm the Army.
He warned that the situation is so delicate that even of the Haitian police itself, 40% of its members are involved with the armed gangs of their country.
“But 60% of that Police can do the job, that’s what they have said, they have come to visit me here,” Arcelin pointed out during his participation in the Reseñas program, which is hosted by journalists Rafael Núñez and Adelaida Martínez R. for Entelevisión. on Saturdays at 9:00 p.m.
He stated that because of the insecurity that exists in Haiti, he is living in Santo Domingo, since he cannot return to his country due to the chaotic situation in which he lives.
The former ambassador assured that weapons arrive in Haiti from the Dominican Republic as well as from Jamaica and the United States, for which he suggested that the Dominican government place a border cordon to prevent their trafficking.
“There is a way to control the containers when they cross the border, verifying them. A month ago a container full of weapons crossed this border and they were distributed to bandits”, he denounced.
He stated that his country is suffering from the chaotic situation in which it is currently living, where “more than 60% of Haitian territory is controlled by gangs, the rest is not controlled by anyone and we have a prime minister who was imposed”.
He stated that today the gangs are stronger and that they recently attacked the Palace of Justice in Haiti, selling its furniture and burning the documents that were there.
He pointed out that the situation is so chaotic in the neighboring country, that Haitians prefer to receive their money via the Dominican Republic and that he owes this to the rise in remittances by more than 40%.
He also said that the ports of Haiti are in the hands of five families, where everything enters.
Haiti is a rich country, but Haitians are poor
Regarding the future of Haiti, former ambassador Paul Arselin recalled that President Joaquín Balaguer told him that his country was richer than South Africa because it has mines everywhere.
“Haitians are poor, Haiti is not,” said the former ambassador, recalling what the late former president Balaguer told him. He added that Haiti even has more gold than the Dominican Republic, which is considered a power in this area.
“So we don’t understand why Western countries don’t help Haiti to get out of this chaos, why they don’t help us to exploit these mines so that the people can get out of that poverty,” asked Paul Arcelin.
The death of Jovenel Moise
Regarding the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, the former diplomat assured that he destroyed Haiti’s institutions and that his death was expected because he was beginning to “have wings.”
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“We must know that the four Haitians who have organized this crime (Moise’s) officially all, without exception, were members of the DEA and the 21 Colombians were members of the United States military organizations,” he said.
Arcelin pointed out that the UN has police in Haiti, so he considers it impossible that these organizations did not know about the murder plot against Moise.
Historical relations between the DR and Haiti
On the historical relations of both countries and where they are going, the former diplomat described them as “up and down”, depending on who is in power.
He recalled that the dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo even imposed the leaders of that time in Haiti, such as the case of Duvalier, for whom he had to take refuge in Canada as an exile.
He stated that Trujillo was half Haitian, since his mother and grandmother were originally from Haiti. However, he recalled that despite this, the dictator was the author of a massacre of Haitians to carry out “ethnic cleansing” despite the fact that Haitian blood ran through his veins.
“Their children… they even call me cousin… they are very nice,” Arcelin joked when referring to Trujillo’s children and added that what the dictator did was a criminal act by massacring 20,000 Haitians.
Duvalier helped Balaguer to return to the DR
He pointed out that despite what Trujillo did, relations between the two countries progressed, citing that in the case of Joaquín Balaguer, when he had to go into exile in the Vatican embassy, it was Duvalier who helped him return to power.
“Relations are extremely very close in the good and in the bad,” said Arcelin, who will soon release his book “The Dance of the Saltimbanquis”, in which he illustrates the history of his country, reveals state secrets and abounds about the relations between the two countries.
At the end of the interview on the Reseñas program, hosted by journalists Rafael Núñez and Adelaida Martínez R., former ambassador Paul Arcelin stated that he is not afraid of the things he has revealed and that will appear in his book, because since he was 18 years old he has been fighting for freedom and peace in his town.
