Dominican Republic has long history of using Haitians as political foils

Patrick SylvainOne would hope a country with institutional memories tries to avoid mistakes from the past by using the past as guiding posts for policies, and, or, as teaching tools so that future generations can learn from mistakes, as well as from achievements worthy of celebrations in order to uplift or maintain a national narrative.

Unfortunately, the reverse is also true. A country without institutional memories is doomed to repeat past mistakes due to the fact that guideposts are either non-existent, or ignored, and therefore procedural continuities or crucial historical learning moments are categorically ignored.

USA v. Haiti Gold Cup game tonight at Gillette Stadium

As the preview above- produced by CONCACAF— suggests, Haiti is certainly considered the major underdog in tonight's Gold Cup match-up against the USA. But Haiti surprised many in their 1-1 draw of Panama on Tuesday night in Texas. See the highlights of that game below.

Tickets for tonight's 8:30 match at Gillette Stadium are still available for purchase at http://www.goldcup.org. If you're coming to the game, meet up with other Haitian fans at the "Base Camp Haiti" tailgate at the Rodman Ford parking lot, right across from the stadium at 53 Washington St., Foxborough. Join us for free give-aways, t-shirts, drinks, food and Haitian music. Sponsored by Digicel, Boston Haitian Reporter and I AM KRÉYOL with support from Caribbean Apparel. Look for the Haiti flags!

Boston protestors march to the Dominican consulate

On the march in Boston: More than 200 marched from City Hall to the Dominican consulate at Park Plaza. On the march in Boston: More than 200 marched from City Hall to the Dominican consulate at Park Plaza.

More than 200 people marched from Boston City Hall to the Boston consulate of the Dominican Republic on Thursday afternoon in protest of the Dominican Republic's immigration policy that critics say is creating a humanitarian crisis for Haiti. Marchers waved Haitian national flags, held signs that read “Stand Up for Human Rights” or “Don’t Travel to Dominican Republic,” and chanted “no more deportations in DR” and “one island, one people.”

Late goal gives Haiti life in Gold Cup opener vs. Panama

Action in the Panama-Haiti Gold Cup match on July 7. Photo: Mexsport

FRISCO, Texas -- Duckens Nazon scored a dramatic late equalizer to give Haiti a 1-1 Group A draw in the opening match of the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup at Toyota Stadium on Tuesday.

Defending champion United States beat Honduras 1-0 in the second game of the doubleheader later in the evening.

The 21-year-old Nazon struck in the 86th minute, receiving the ball down the right flank, twice turning Panama’s Harold Cummings and putting a low shot inside the far post from eight-yards out.

What We Saw: Delegation reports back after visit to DR-Haiti border

Human Rights Delegation Encounters Hundreds Fleeing the Dominican Republic into Haiti in Harrowing Conditions

Bus prepares to cross border into Haiti.In 2013, decision 168-13 by the Dominican Constitutional Court set in motion a series of events that have led to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Dominican Republic (DR), which has spilled, into Haiti. The 2013 decision retroactively stripped citizenship from anyone born in the DR to undocumented parents since 1929. This ruling effectively rendered about a quarter of a million people, who mostly worked in the sugar cane fields or on the construction projects across the DR, stateless.

Amid backlash from the international community, the Dominican government adopted Law 169-14, allowing many of these Dominicans of Haitian descent a legal pathway to retain their citizenship, as well as Decree 327-13, allowing Haitians in the DR without status to be regularized. Nevertheless, these processes were expensive and burdensome and very few had the means to obtain all the proper documentation before the application deadline. Consequently, many were forced across the border to a country that many barely knew.

On 25 June 2015, a delegation of nine human rights lawyers and law students from the United States, Haiti, Australia, and Canada visited the border between Haiti and the DR. Delegation members were drawn from the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) and the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH). Over just four hours, the delegation witnessed hundreds of people crossing between the towns of Comendador (DR) and Belladère (Haiti).

Preview: Panama v. Haiti in Gold Cup first-round action tonight

A preview of this evening's first-round Gold Cup match-up between Panama and Haiti. The Panamanians, as the video suggests, are the favorites in tonight's game, but Haiti— led by 27-year-old goalkeeper Johny Placide— are intent on proving the skeptics wrong.

While Placide directs the Haitian defense, 23-year-old forward Kervens Belfort will be counted on to score the goals. Belfort netted five times during the team’s Carribean Cup campaign and will again need to be at his dynamic best if Haiti is going to crack the Panamanian code.

Haiti comes to Boston next for a huge match-up against the USA at Gilette Stadium on Friday evening.

For more on tonight's game, see this website. The game will be shown live on FoxSports and Univision.

Coalition decries 'humanitarian crisis'; calls for tourism boycott of DR

Speaking out against deportations: Senator Forry, Congressman Capuano and former Rep. St. Fleur along with Rep. Dan Cullinane on the steps of the State House.Warning of a worsening humanitarian crisis, Haitian and Dominican community leaders in Boston joined forces with a multi-ethnic coalition of immigration advocates yesterday on the steps of the Massachusetts State House to denounce large-scale deportations of Dominicans of Haitian descent from the Dominican Republic. The denationalization situation has been escalating in the Dominican Republuc since 2013, when a constitutional court ruling retroactively eliminated birthright citizenship laws, leaving many Dominicans of Haitian descent, many of whom are second or third generation Dominican, stateless.

Surrounded by colleagues holding signs that read “Stop Humanitarian Crisis in Dominican Republic,” State Senator Linda Dorcena Forry began the press conference with a sharp rebuke of the the Dominican government’s policies and a statement of solidarity with both the Dominican and Haitian people.

“I stand here today with our allies, calling on the government of the Dominican Republic to end the humanitarian crisis which it has created. The prospect of large-volume deportations is troubling, especially given the historic mistreatment of fellow Dominicans of Haitian ancestry. In addition to disrupting the lives of hundreds of thousands of hardworking people in the Dominican Republic, it is also creating hardship for many more in Haiti, which is not well equipped to handle the influx of refugees along its borders,” said Forry.

Boston leaders speak out against Dominican deportations

Haitian and Dominican community leaders came together at the State House on Tuesday to denounce what they described as the unhumanitarian deportation from the Dominican Republican of people of Haitian descent. Despite the unity on display, however, community and political leaders differed over whether to call for people in the United States to boycott travel to the Dominican Republican to exert economic pressure on the government to reconsider its policy.

State House press conference to focus on DR 'humanitarian crisis'

State Senator Linda Dorcena Forry (D-Boston) has announced a press conference will be held on Tuesday, June 30 at noon to address the humanitarian crisis developing in the Dominican Republic and Haiti as the government of the Dominican Republic implements a series of new naturalization laws specifically aimed at ridding the country of Dominican citizens of Haitian descent.

Dominican Republic certifies citizenship of 55,000

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — The Dominican Republic announced Friday that it has certified the nationality of about 55,000 people who had spent eight years in bureaucratic limbo because their citizenship was in doubt.

The locally born descendants of Haitian immigrants had been on the point of losing their citizenship because the government and courts argued their parents had been in the country illegally. Tens of thousands had trouble enrolling in school, travelling, getting formal work, marrying or registering children for lack of residence documents.

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