On Friday, both the written press and radio and television reproduced the statements made by Dominican President Luis Abinader to the British journalist Stephen Sackur on the BBC program HARDtalk.

Regarding possible changes in the policy of his government in view of the humanitarian crisis in the neighboring country and the request of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, to suspend the expulsions, Abinader responded that the Dominican Republic will continue to apply its laws and its Constitution.

He reminded that the Dominican Republic has been warning about the ‘chaos’ in Haiti for more than three years and they cannot ask him to solve the problem in the border nation.

Listin Diario, Diario Libre, Acento, El Dia, TeleuniversoTV and other media reproduced the brief interview in English to BBC HARDtalk, in which the governor ruled out the possibility of the entry of displaced people, which the UN estimates to be around 350 000 in the last months.

In response to the proposal to allow their entry as a humanitarian gesture in response to the food crisis and gang violence, Abinader ruled out this possibility, arguing historical and security reasons.

In this regard, he said that Haiti has its own resources, such as the Gonâve and Tortuga islands, to address the refugee situation.

He reiterated that his government has the responsibility to do everything necessary to protect national security and sovereignty.

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