Comendador.- The XII version of the Haitian Diaspora Week was launched in the main municipality of Elías Piña, Comendador, on the eve of the commemoration of the Dominican Day of the Dominican-Haitian Fraternity, an anniversary recorded on April 14, every year by virtue of law 1105, issued in 1936.

The provision authorizes celebrating the date in public schools, together with Pan American Day. “Article 1.- Article 2 of Law No. 26, promulgated on November 22, 1930, is modified so that it reads as follows: “Public schools, when celebrating Pan American Day, will highlight the significance particular that this date has for the Dominican people and they will also celebrate it as “Dominican-Haitian Fraternity Day.”

The opening ceremony of the Diaspora Week was held during a Dominican-Haitian fraternity lunch in the hall of the Elías Piña Governorate, the anthems of the two nations of the island were sung. Haitian and Dominican authorities participated.

The annual event, which on this occasion has as its theme “For a good neighbor policy”, takes place in four cities: Puerto Plata, Santiago, Santo Domingo and Comendador. Likewise, on a day scheduled to end on the 20th, conferences, panels and sports, religious, artistic and cultural activities in a general sense will be held.

For this Sunday, the 14th, a binational prayer chain for peace was held, led by Pastor Lima Confiance and the end of the IX Vimenca Cup “for good Dominican-Haitian neighborliness,” at the Puerto Plata sports center.

The activities, coordinated by the Zile Foundation and Haitian and Dominican community organizations, have the support of the Haitian Embassy and its consulates in Santiago and Higüey, as well as Vimenca Western Union and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Personalities who attended:

Representatives of the United Nations Refugee Agency ( UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency ), the United Nations Children’s Fund ( UNICEF ), the Dominican Ministries of Women and Public Health, participated in the activity. the Government, churches and civil society. Also representatives of CESFRONT and the General Directorate of Migration . For Haiti there were the current governor, former governor Yvanosky Joachim (Vava), representatives of the Consulate, the Police and civic groups. Spokespersons from both nations for the transporters’ associations and the Dialogue Table also participated.

Benigno A. Faña acted as master of ceremony and Lilian D. Ogando acted as translator; The evangelical pastor Eliseo Valdez blessed the event, whose local coordination was in charge of Toanma Estevez