CARICOM acts on Dominican ruling on citizenship – to discuss course of action

A special meeting of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Bureau will be held in Port of Spain, Trinidad, early next week to address the recent court ruling in the Dominican Republic, that renders Dominicans of Haitian descent stateless.

The CARICOM Bureau comprises of Trinidad & Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persaud-Bissessar, who is also the chairperson of the 15-member regional is grouping; St. Vincent & the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, Haiti President Michel Martelly and CARICOM Secretary General Irwin la Rocque.

Gonsalves has been openly critical of the September 23 ruling by the Constitutional Court in the Dominican Republic ruled that has the effect of rendering stateless, thousands of people of Haitian descent living in the Spanish-speaking country.

Gonsalves has written 2 letters to the President of the Dominican Republic, Danilo Medina, warning that St. Vincent & the Grenadines would oppose his country’s application for membership to CARICOM grouping, as well as seeking its suspension from the Caribbean Forum (CARIFORUM) grouping.

St. Vincent & the Grenadines said it had also written to Venezuela’s President Nicolas Madura urging that the Dominican Republic be suspended from the Caracas led Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) and the PetroCaribe, the oil alliance initiative. -(CMC)