I recently had the fortune to meet Edwin Paraison at a Haitian community event. Paraison spoke in Kreyol but there was a translator for most of the talk. He presented an overview of Dominican-Haitian relations, discussed what he calls the anti-Haitianist sector in DR politics and media, and answered several questions. His foundation, Zile came up, as well as the interdependence of Haiti and the DR. He stressed that the struggle is against the anti-Haitian sector, not the DR itself.
In addition, he criticized how Haitian political turmoil has helped the DR and the lack of balance in economic exchange. Apparently one Haitian monopolizes Texaco in the DR and the Haitian Cardozo family also invest in DR hotels and tourism. Besides these things, there was an exchange on what the Haitian Diaspora can and has done for the plight of Haitians in the DR, and a comparison of Dominicans in Puerto Rico with Haitians in the DR. One weird white guy who lived in Miami for years and knew many Haitians kept saying the US Marines need to invade the DR again, which the crowd ignored. We also discussed Trujillo, Balaguer and the DR's dependence on Haitian labor in what led to an event almost that lasted almost four hours.
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