http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/28/AR2009012803306.html
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Fla.), the highest-ranking Republican member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, suggested that Obama add Haiti to his list of destinations. "Sometimes, the impact of that first visit can transcend a particular region and reverberate globally," she said. "I believe this can happen with Haiti." Several members of Congress said they had already lodged their requests with the transition teams or with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton

http://www.kwameraoul.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2&Itemid=2
Senator Raoul was born in Chicago, Illinois on September 30, 1964, to Haitian-born immigrants Janin Raoul, M.D. and Marie Therese Raoul.

http://www.haitianinternet.com/articles.php/404

Roland Martin also revealed, during the Obama Inaugural Ball, a project he is working on along with Haitian-American State Senator Kwame Raoul, who replaced President Barack Obama in Illinois, to travel to Haiti to report and to contribute in improving the living condition of the Haitian people


Question: If this does happen, do you think the Haitian cause will benefit without this turning into more anti-DR propaganda?

That will depend on many factors, USADR. For one thing, the NGO's could use the opportunity to stir more trouble to the DR. The other party that the DR needs to be wary about is the CBC, which could also use the event to steer the taxpayer's attention away from the not so tidy performance that some of them have had on the state. My fear is that, as always, the dominican state will be caught off guard by the machinations of those parties.

Sometimes I can't figure out when Republicans are being earnest, shrewd, or cynical. Are all three possible at once? First this week we get Mr. Steele as the first black party chairman. And as for this bit well I don't know how cunning Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen but it may be that she understands all too well the ethnic sensitivities involved and the potential to cleave away some support + sow seeds of division.

One thing I think patently obvious is that Pres. Obama is a shrewd operator, and he may see right through this and not go for the bait.

It might be that, with the traditional hostility to the cuban regime dying down on the part of the executive, the exile hardliners that she represents are desperate to find another "causa celebre" that would justify the continuance of the stranglehold that they have exerted over the US foreign policy regarding the western hemisphere's affairs (the eastern being the exclusive domain of AIPAC and their surrounding cronies). This move of hers have the footprints of desperation all over it.

Why is it that it seems that DR is always caught off guard and fail to defend itself?
It's not about covering up anything, it's about properly defending the country against rather one sided damning attacks from outsiders and those 'insiders' (traitors) who benefit from it.

The other thing that I don't understand Lautaro is, when it comes to having an illegal immigration problem, DR is relatively rather lax and casual about the issue in comparison to other regions of the world. The one thing that should stand out to anyone who looking at this is how low the incidence of violence and aggression are. I'm for protecting the rights of fellow human beings, but don't exaggerate and make DR to be sometype of Apartheid S. Africa/Nazi Germany.

For those that want to have sometype of comparison, just look up the following:

-Russian skin-heads/neo-nazis attacking immigrants (regardless of their color/race). Yes, this includes people who would be considered 'white'.

-Sudanese immigrants in Egypt..

-Somali Bantus. These are not actually immigrants, but descendants of Bantu people who live in Somalia and are not actually of native Somali stock.

-Afghan immigrants being literally bused out and kicked in the ass by Iranian authorities.

-Hungarians in Romania, Albanians in Italy & Greece, etc.

Where are the Dominican Neo-Nazi/Skin-Head/Hate organizations?

That's what I'd love for those NGO's to answer me, USADR. Heck, the case could be made that the haitians on the DR actually live like kings, at least compared with the hell on earth from which they are escaping from. Here's a sample: did you know that there are only 2,240 medical personnel to cover the needs of the entire haitian country (the population of which is estimated to be of 10.5 million), 700 of those doctors being cubans, 1,040 of the native ones only giving their services to the rich, leaving only 600 natives to attend to the countryside and, unlike the DR, there's no law forcing them to give services to the countryside? It baffles me the fact those blasted NGO's (and the CBC along with the rest of american liberal left) can't see this when making an analysis about the island's affairs.

As for the dominican gov. being caught off-guard, unfortunately, this is one of our fatal national flaws, that is, the policy of the ostrich: to shut our eyes, ears and mouth, hoping that by doing so the problems will go away, when in fact this only contributes to their worsening. So don't expect it to change that ingrained attitude to banish anytime soon. I predict that, if things continue as out of control as they are, there will be an islandwide humanitarian disaster in less than a decade, cuz' the dominican territory will not be able by then to keep doing as it is right now, that is, being drained of resources in the maintainance of the population of BOTH countries, a population that, specially on the western side with a population growth rate of 4.5 children per family, is starting to exert a lot of pressure on the existing resources, and this is no small warning, being Hispaniola the most populated island on the Caribbean right now (20 million strong).

Damn that is an eye opener Lautaro. Depressing scenario indeed. Is there anyone at all in DR (government / non-government) that sees this and addresses it? Or is everyone just thinking no farther than tommorow when they can 'react' when it's too late.

The more DR progresses, the more of a problem it'll be unless Haiti itself progresses. It's just unfair.

My single advice is this: don't expect a solution to this issue under the PLD admin.. As far as the political admins. have gone after Trujillo's death, the PLD is the party that have been the less strict on the enforcement of any migration regulation whatsoever, so I think that, yes, expect the disaster to happen under their watch.

The Haitian "cause" has always been only about looking for others to blame. They already expect more from President Obama so I think there's less of a possibility for DR to get blamed for things. In order to avoid more potential anti-DR propaganda anyways, it is important that the constituents here in the US pressure all legislators to just keep their noses out of DR's business regarding this matter, since the US together with other superpowers have been the ones that have left Haiti to sink or swim - and it seems to be sinking deeper each day. Our organization has updated its website with a letter to the US State Department questioning the double standard of supporting their immigration in DR but rejecting it here. It is available at:

http://www.dominicansforthetruth.org

Print version will go out to the US State Department in the next few days, comments and suggestions are always welcome, and of course if anyone wants to send their own (since the more protests they receive, the better), please do that as well.

Thanks for the info DominicanChic!