Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Agenzia Fides) - The Church has no doubts: the neighboring peoples of Haiti and Santo Domingo are joined by acts of brotherhood and solidarity, they are two countries that are experiencing the same reality on the same island of Hispaniola. The Archbishop of Santo Domingo, Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez, in an interview published on May 6 by a national newspaper in the Dominican Republic , categorically states that a "wicked conspiracy" of different nations and political and economic powers is underway, with the intention of humiliating the Dominican Republic due open questions with Haiti. On the same day Fides Agency met the National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS) in Haiti, Father Clark de la Cruz, in Rome for the annual general Assembly of the PMS (see Fides 29/04/2014), who commented the reality experienced by the communities that are situated on the border between the two countries.
Father Clark tells Fides: "Everything you read in newspapers about hatred among populations is not true. I myself have seen citizens of the Dominican Republic come to buy rice, shoes and other goods from the Haitians, who sell them in the market. And I must say that they do it just to help the Haitian people. There is solidarity, there is brotherhood, there is awareness to lend a hand to families who sell their products in these border areas. Authorities themselves do not apply strict regulations, because they see peaceful people who help other peaceful people. We share the same island and the same nature, and we are grateful to the people nearby who try to help us".
Both the Cardinal Primate of Santo Domingo and the Haitian priest, National Director of the PMS, are convinced that the two nations, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, have taken the right path, committed to working in different ways to promote solidarity and brotherhood. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 08/05/2014)
