Haiti President Martelly extends olive branch to Dominican Republic despite citizenship row

Haiti’s President Michel Martelly said Haiti will not sever trading ties with the Dominican Republic in light of the chaos created by the September 23 constitutional court ruling, which renders stateless over 200,000 Dominicans of Haitian descent.

Trade between Haiti and the Dominican Republic is worth almost US$2 billion annually. Severing such ties would be a tremendous loss to the Dominican Republic. Martelly, along with the other heads of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), continues to hold out an olive branch in one hand while applying pressure with the other.

On September 23, 2013, the constitutional court in the Dominican Republic ruled that persons born in that country after 1929 who are of Haitian descent and are the children of illegal immigrants will not be termed citizens of the Dominican Republic. Essentially over 200,000 persons are rendered stateless by this ruling.

Martelly said Haiti is in discussions with the Dominican Republic and they are supposed to meet again by the end of this week, although separate reports now indicate that further meetings may have been cancelled by the Dominican Republic.

Read more: Caribbean News Now