The Dominican Republic government is willing to grant work permits to Venezuelan migrants with expired passports, said the president of that country, Luis Abinader
The President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, indicated on Monday, August 5, that his administration is willing to facilitate work permits to migrants settled in the Caribbean nation whose papers have expired, because the diplomatic and consular representation has withdrawn from that country and there is no possibility that they can renew their passports.
Abinader asserted that this situation has already occurred on other occasions and stressed that the Dominican Republic has a “debt” with Venezuela since the 1960s.
«We have done it in the past. We have facilitated work permits, without them having the documents up to date (…) and, if we have to do it again, we will do it (…) The Dominican Republic has a debt with Venezuela, it has had it since Rómulo Betancourt, who fought for democracy against the Trujillo dictatorship, and for many years afterwards that country has also helped us fight for democracy.»
He recalled that more than 250,000 Dominicans were living and working in Venezuela, and he asserted that this is the time to be able to return the Venezuelan initiative by helping its citizens.
President Luis Abinader also maintained his position of demanding the publication of disaggregated data from the presidential elections and said that he supports democracy in the country, but avoided making comments supporting opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia.
*Read also: Venezuela suspends commercial flights to and from Panama and the Dominican Republic
After the leaders of seven Latin American countries expressed concern about Venezuela’s electoral process, in which the CNE announced the victory of Nicolás Maduro, his administration demanded that Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay “immediately withdraw their representatives from Venezuelan territory” and announced the withdrawal of its representatives from those nations on Monday, July 29.
Venezuela announced the temporary suspension of commercial flights to and from Panama and the Dominican Republic. The Minister of Transport, Ramón Velásquez Araguayán, reported on his social networks that the cancellation will be effective next Wednesday, July 31.
“In rejection of the interference of right-wing governments and based on full sovereignty, we announce the temporary suspension of commercial air flights to and from the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela with Panama and the Dominican Republic, starting on July 31 at 8:00 pm,” said Velásquez Araguayán.
On Tuesday July 30, The Dominican Republic’s embassy and consulate general in Venezuela have “closed their doors” in response to the measures announced by Caracas regarding the withdrawal of representatives from seven states, including those from this country, the Dominican Foreign Ministry reported.
In a brief statement, the Foreign Ministry provided an email ([email protected]) and contact telephone number (0424 1864464) in case “Dominicans residing in Venezuela require any assistance.”
With information from Swiss Info
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