The unveiling of an intimidation
As it is noticeable at first glance, Haitian migration in the Dominican Republic has ended up gaining a dizzying pace that has become a synthesis of the multiple problems of the national community.
Certainly, behind the process lies the aggravation of the atrocious living conditions of the Haitian people, although the weight of other causal components has been changing. In addition to the demand for cheap labor in our country, to rationalize a scheme of social exploitation, increasing international pressure has been superimposed so that the Dominican State allows the indefinite expansion of the migrant population under illegal conditions. As a result of these pressures, migration has spiraled out of control, fueled by the endemic corruption that corrodes the functioning of the political system.
For the first time in a long time, President Luis Abinader has proposed to impose corrective measures to this phenomenon. It is not an improvised position in him, since it was a campaign issue, in manifestation of the awareness of the incessant worsening of the problem.
What is proposed as an objective for the generality of Dominicans is very simple and incontrovertible in its convenience: that the existence of illegal migrants cease, so that there is a regularization of their status and a minimum organization of the labor market, and that the repatriation of illegals in compliance with legal mandates is carried out.
It has been enough that the set of provisions started to be applied in this direction for the pressures on the Dominican State externalized in unknown ways. Except for minor exceptions, as far as the capacity of daily memory goes, the questioning to the application of the legal precepts of the State were made from international organizations supported by nuclei of Haitians abroad or through subtle diplomatic channels that were out of reach of the knowledge of the population. But, beyond the versions about specific situations, there was irrefutable evidence about more serious attempts, such as a plan for the establishment of refugee camps that was not carried out before due to the position of Joaquín Balaguer. It would have implied the influx of many tens of thousands of “refugees” and accelerated the migratory chaos that is currently being experienced.
In recent weeks, the harsh truth has emerged about the origin of the design for the Dominican Republic to receive a much greater volume of migrants from the neighboring country in permanent and non-revocable refugee status. The allegations of a UN "high commissioner" were not enough, according to the patterns until now basically used, whose allegations were accurately described by President Abinader as irresponsible. Surprisingly, the following act opened with a combination of sanctions, one directly economic for the export of sugar, based on the alleged mistreatment of workers by Central Romana, and the other on tourism with the exorbitant imputation, in a shameless falsification. , that tourists of dark color are mistreated.
The quintessential racist country of the developed Western world, in which millions of members of extreme right formations express hatred and train in the exercise of ethnic violence, has the luxury of accusing Dominican Republic of practicing racism.
Now is not the time to analyze the validity of the accusation. But it is clear that, although there are still criteria associated with racism or color prejudice among minority sectors of Dominicans, they have no point of comparison with what is characteristic of the "great democracy of the north." Contrary to the country of self-constituted judges of the world, since ancient times, tolerance in terms of color diversity has prevailed among Dominicans, to the extent that it has operated as one of the foundations of the structuring of the nation. Moreover, also contrary to the prevailing ideological intolerance among the ruling elites of the leader of the "free world", after the fall of Trujillo's tyranny among Dominicans there is a capacity for dialogue resulting from tolerance towards the opinions of others.
The allegations show with crystal clarity what lies behind this unseemly condemnation to Dominican Republic: that the massive entry of Haitians into the territory of the State that shares the island operates as an escape valve so that they do not emigrate to the country where the right to intervene in the affairs of others is exercised, even through the use of warlike aggression (Iraq or Afghanistan, not to mention Vietnam). The purpose of the operation is long-standing, but it is reinforced in the present conditions. It is more than revealing of the double standards involved that concomitantly in several of its state demarcations has been decided to implement measures that allow the deportation of illegals with the flagrant violation of human rights that they claim to defend on a planetary scale as moralizing imperialism.
A delicate panorama opens for Dominican Republic. The small and weak national economy gravitates around the powerful giant: half of the income from tourism, the destination of the vast majority of exports, the even greater proportion of remittances from residents abroad. This relationship has been based on a geopolitical order implemented since the early years of the last century, for which two military interventions were required.
But Dominicans continue to be constituted as a nation, and therefore with the prerogative of exercising sovereignty through an autonomous order.
At the same time, as a result of the avalanche of illegal migration, a consensus has emerged in the country that tends to put a stop to it. This auspicious phenomenon is what has led to the sharpening of imperial interference. Dishonestly, the state of opinion has been disqualified, outside and also here, as an expression of racism and xenophobia. In truth, on the contrary, the call of the Duartiano Institute responds to the persistence of patriotism. It is not true, therefore, that the questioning of illegal immigration comes from a fascist extreme right, as has been alleged from a coalition of "leftists" or "liberals" supported by NGOs instrumented by international organizations and magnates of world power encouraged by shady goals.
Thirdly, what is underlying is not anti-Haitianism, but the demand for immigration control, a demand that can only be questioned on the limit of lack of responsibility.
Now is not the time to discuss the implications of a migration policy either. What is required is, purely and simply, the return of the illegals to their country of origin.
Until now, no one has advocated for the expulsion of all Haitians, the unfounded specter of the search for "ethnic cleansing" for an alleged obsession with color among Dominicans. Nobody has tried in recent decades to "mess with Haiti" or anything like that, as the presidents of Cuba and Venezuela asserted, in a demonstration of at least a convenient distraction. Haiti's undoubted condition as a victim of the imperial system also calls for thoughtless confusion. Meanwhile, without exception, Haitians arriving in Cuba are interned at a facility in Guantánamo before being returned.
t is sufficiently established that a serious problem lies behind the migration agenda, because the incessant expansion of the Haitian population would lead to a national duality bound to degenerate into growing tensions that could lead to disastrous consequences.
Worse still, if things continue like this, the foreseeable demand for national duality, encouraged by imperial power, would result in the disappearance of the nation in the terms in which it has been constituted since the 19th century as a result of prolonged struggles of the entire population.
Consequently, an unprecedented dilemma has opened up. Something too sad because it involves poor immigrants from a neighboring country that must be a friend. It is not just any challenge. But at least a state of opinion has been created that migration must be stopped, diminished and regulated. This demand is not directed against the Haitian people. It responds to a survival requirement of the Dominican people, sovereign over the territory of their State.
On the other hand, is fallacious the allegation that the return of illegal migrants is not appropriate at the moment due to the humanitarian crisis that Haiti is going through. In truth, migration only operates as an escape valve for the preservation of the ominous status in which the Haitian people have been subjected. Even if more millions of Haitians were received here, the foundations of the current catastrophic humanitarian situation in the neighboring country would not be altered, to which are no strangers the powers that now demonize Dominicans .
IIt is precisely the opposite: to the extent that the expectation of emigration is reproduced, the reproduction of an order that subjects almost all of a people to the most appalling misery is facilitated.
The neuralgic problem involved should not lead to forgetting the Haitian people. President Abinader's call for the international community to assume the duty of contributing to overcoming the existing fear in the neighboring country is also absolutely correct. However, the realization of an action of this nature is fraught with difficulties. First, because of the indifference to the absence of risks within the chess of struggles between the powers. On the other hand, for a long time, clearly since the ascension of Michel Martelly, the hegemonic powers of the West have compromised themselves with the worst interests in Haiti, seen as a paradoxical guarantee of stability. The intervention variants have been useless, or rather have contributed to making things worse. Thus, we are faced with the challenge of difficulties in producing auspicious aid that respects the sovereign attributes of the Haitian people.
Although it may seem paradoxical, Dominicans must exempt themselves from meddling in any aspect of the affairs of the neighboring country. They must offer the example, in the first place to the countries of Latin America, of a unilateral and disinterested action. What can be done from here could contribute to opening a viable cooperation dynamic. The spontaneous popular reaction to the 2010 earthquake surprised not a few Haitians who may well have good faith convictions but who do not calibrate the position of the generality of Dominicans.
Unfortunately, even in the best of cases, reversing conditions in Haiti is a long-term matter. Apparently, nothing announces for the moment the establishment of an order prepared to undertake a reconstruction of the neighboring country. The damage that mafia politicians and business groups manipulated by international interests have inflicted for decades is too severe. Ultimately, any solution will only be the result of the action of the Haitian people themselves, with whom they have a human duty of solidarity. But it will never be overemphasized that foreign interventions will bring nothing convenient and that the key to solutions is in the hands of the Haitians in Haiti.
It is inevitable that the correction of the migratory chaos feeds back reasons for resentment in Haiti. The influx of Haitian nationals to the Dominican Republic has operated as one of the bow flags of power holders of all orientations since Jean Bertrand Aristide. It is not, therefore, a new subject, and requires a specific examination."
Translation from: https://acento.com.do/opinion/develamiento-de-una-intimidacion-9135613.html