The Dominican Republic would never have authorized Canada to set up an office in this Caribbean country to coordinate international assistance to the Haitian National Police.
At least that’s what Roberto Alvarez, the Dominican Minister of Foreign Affairs, who seemed incredulous in a tweet published Friday, in response to an announcement by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, Mélanie Joly.
“The Dominican government confirms that it has not discussed, accepted or granted authorization for the installation on its territory of a coordination office for the support of the Haitian national police, as indicated by a media Canadian,” he said.
El Gobierno dominicano confirmed that no ha discussed, agreed or concedido authorización alguna para la instalación en nuestro territorio de una oficina para coordinar apoyo a la Policía Nacional Haitiana, como indica una información de un medio canadienne.
— Roberto Alvarez (@RobalsdqAlvarez) June 16, 2023
Radio-Canada revealed Thursday that Canada would take the lead in an operation to coordinate international aid in Haiti, while avoiding deploying troops in this country plagued by a serious political and humanitarian crisis.
Mme Joly said hours later that she wanted to “support Haitian-led solutions” on the sidelines of a special ministerial meeting. This is why the Trudeau government chose to settle in the neighboring Dominican Republic.
At the time these lines were written, neither Mélanie Joly nor Global Affairs Canada had reacted to Mr. Alvarez’s message.
For several months, the United States has been asking Canada to lead a multinational force to support the Haitian government, while criminal gangs are terrorizing and looting the country. However, Canada had always refused to set foot there.
Thursday, M.me Joly also announced that Ottawa would add $13 million to its funding for law enforcement in Haiti. This amount was added to the $100 million promised by Justin Trudeau during Joe Biden’s visit to Ottawa last March.