NewsWhore
03-12-2010, 04:30 PM
Raul Yzaguirre, US ambassador nominee to the DR, appeared before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday in a confirmation hearing. Yzaguirre, a human rights activist, said during the hearing that one of his primary concerns, if confirmed would be public security and safety. He said he would work closely with Dominican authorities on anti-corruption and counter-narcotics programs.
Yzaguirre announced that an integral part of the US government assistance would be the development of the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative, or CBSI, which US President Obama proposed at the 2009 Summit of the Americas, and has been funded by the US Congress. This initiative seeks to combat corruption and narco-trafficking in the region.
Yzaguirre also said that while he acknowledges the strain that migrants place on Dominican social services, if confirmed, he would work to resolve the status of long-term Haitian residents in the DR.
Referring to the 12 January earthquake in Haiti, he said: "I want to be able to use this historic opportunity to encourage a stronger, more mutually beneficial relationship between these two countries, as well as to encourage solutions to long standing issues faced by people of Haitian descent in the Dominican Republic".
According to Dominican law, Dominican nationality is not granted to the offspring of foreign tourists, or those giving birth without legal residence status in the DR. Nevertheless, loopholes in the system and lenient civil registry authorities have resulted in hundreds of thousands of descendants of Haitians receiving the citizenship over the years.
He also said he would work to stimulate that the Dominican diaspora invest in the DR.
http://santodomingo.usembassy.gov/yzaguirre_statement.html
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#11)
Yzaguirre announced that an integral part of the US government assistance would be the development of the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative, or CBSI, which US President Obama proposed at the 2009 Summit of the Americas, and has been funded by the US Congress. This initiative seeks to combat corruption and narco-trafficking in the region.
Yzaguirre also said that while he acknowledges the strain that migrants place on Dominican social services, if confirmed, he would work to resolve the status of long-term Haitian residents in the DR.
Referring to the 12 January earthquake in Haiti, he said: "I want to be able to use this historic opportunity to encourage a stronger, more mutually beneficial relationship between these two countries, as well as to encourage solutions to long standing issues faced by people of Haitian descent in the Dominican Republic".
According to Dominican law, Dominican nationality is not granted to the offspring of foreign tourists, or those giving birth without legal residence status in the DR. Nevertheless, loopholes in the system and lenient civil registry authorities have resulted in hundreds of thousands of descendants of Haitians receiving the citizenship over the years.
He also said he would work to stimulate that the Dominican diaspora invest in the DR.
http://santodomingo.usembassy.gov/yzaguirre_statement.html
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#11)