Abinader warns that the world must act instead of speeches
In an interview with the Financial Times, the President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, called on the international community to intervene in Haiti, without delay, to stop the gang violence, instead of making speeches about helping this battered Caribbean nation.
“The international community must be more responsible,” he said.
“If you’re really worried about Haiti, you need to go and help there. You have to help Haiti against the gangs that are raping boys and girls every day, who are killing innocent people every day.”
In October, the Prime Minister of Haiti, Ariel Henrycalled for the intervention of international military forces to prevent armed gangs from continuing to terrorize the country, saying there is a risk of a major humanitarian crisis.
The United States has tried to reach an agreement on a multinational force, but has met with resistance from regional allies. They worry that this will be interpreted as support for Haiti’s interim government, which came to power after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July last year.
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They would like to see a broader political consensus within the country before committing to intervene. Abinader said that the situation requires immediate action.
“You have to help pacify Haiti,” Abinader said. “Not with speeches that we are going to help, but with real actions… Haitians alone cannot… The one who asked for a force was the Haitian prime minister. If he asks for it, it is because he needs it ”.
The growing economy, based on tourism, free zones and regional logistics, has been absorbing large numbers of Haitian immigrants in recent years, many of whom cross the border of the two island nations illegally. The Government of Abinader has responded by deporting a record number of Haitians.
Volker Türk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, last month called on the Dominican Republic to stop deporting Haitians, and the United States has criticized, for days, the mass detention of suspected illegal Haitian immigrants in what it says they are overcrowded detention centers, sometimes without access to food or toilets.
Abinader did not regret the measure that has led to the repatriation of approximately 20,000 Haitians a month since August. “We have a border with one of the poorest countries in the world, perhaps among the two or three poorest countries in the world, with a very weak government where a significant part of the territory is controlled by gangs,” he said. “As president of the Dominican Republic, I have to protect my country.”
The Government builds a security fence along the border to discourage illegal migration. The first section will be finished next year and by 2024 it will span roughly half of the border, with surveillance technology covering more mountainous areas. The president rejected the criticism of the border fence and said that “it is the same thing that the United States is doing with Mexico.”
Solidity
The Dominican Republic has been among the fastest growing economies in Latin America and the Caribbean for the past two decades, fueled by a consensus around business-friendly policies and a thriving tourism industry.
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Last week, Fitch reaffirmed the BB- rating of the country’s $36 billion of non-financial external public sector debt, three notches below investment grade. He pointed to the country’s “robust economic growth, a diversified export structure, high GDP per capita and social indicators, and governance scores that compare favorably with its peers.”
He estimated that the gross domestic product would grow between 5 and 5.5 percent this year and around 4.5 percent next. “Every month we have record tourism figures. This year we also have a record of exports from the free zones and foreign investment this year was also a record, more than $4 billion,” he explained.
This is despite the negative impact of the war in Ukraine, which Abinader He estimated it cost his country about $1 billion this year in subsidies for food, fuel, fertilizer and additional social programs. “The United States needs to help here…they should have an energy security policy for the region.”
Abinader organized a meeting of the Central American nations belonging to SICA last week and said the Dominican Republic planned to boost trade by further consolidating itself as a regional cargo and transportation hub.
The president has not yet decided whether to run again in 2024. Whether he does or not, he is confident that the country’s moderate political consensus will prevail.
“There is no extremism here,” he said. “We have differences and we have an aggressive opposition, but that is part of democracy.”
