Soldiers and members of the intelligence service (S-2), assigned to the 4th brigade of the Dominican army based in Mao, arrested a Haitian, Erwing Pierre Louis, an employee of a money transfer company, with in his possession 92 Haitian passports and 11,000 US dollars during a search of the car he was driving, at the military checkpoint of El Rodeo, in El Pino, between the provinces of Dajabón and Santiago Rodriguez.

A senior military official reported that the arrested man told members of the intelligence services that he was on his way to hand over the passports to an employee of the Dominican consulate in Ounaminthe, identified as Jairo Estevez and said, "Jairo told me to bring the passports and that he would come on the road to meet me so that I can hand over the passports and put the visas ensuring that Jairo is in charge of granting the visas to Ounaminthe."

Reacting to the statements of Erwing Pierre Louis, the Consul General of the Dominican Republic in Ounaminthe, José Valenzuela, dissociated himself from any maneuver that a former employee of the consular headquarters might have planned, in granting visas to citizens Haitians. He clarified that the named Jairo Estevez had been dismissed from his functions at the Consulate for 15 days following several complaints filed against this employee.

Valenzuela recalled that two months ago a visa issuance system began to be set up via a digital platform on the internet which is the only means currently available in the granting of a visa. He confirmed that this consulate grants between 60 and 80 visas per day at US $ 200.

Erwing Pierre Louis was taken to Beller Fortress at the Army's 10th Battalion Headquarters in Dajabón, and after questioning he was handed over to Dajabón Migration Chief Evelio Alcántara for the corresponding purpose.

SL/ HaitiLibre