VZCZCXYZ0001
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDG #0132/01 0210132
ZNR UUUUU ZZH (CCY AD11CA38 TOQ6197-695)
O R 210110Z JAN 10 ZDS
FM AMEMBASSY SANTO DOMINGO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0574
INFO RHMFIUU/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS
RUEHDG/AMEMBASSY SANTO DOMINGO
RUEHKG/AMEMBASSY KINGSTON
RUEHPU/AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE
RUEHSP/AMEMBASSY PORT OF SPAIN
RUEHUB/USINT HAVANA 0056

UNCLAS SANTO DOMINGO 000132 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
C O R R E C T E D   C O P Y - ORIGINAL SUBJECT LINE INCORRECT; REFTEL 
NUMBER ADDED. 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL EAID CMGT ASEC AMGT DR HA
SUBJECT: Santo Domingo Sit Rep 8 - Haiti Earthquake Response 
 
REF: SDO 116 
 
¶1.  Embassy Santo Domingo Sitrep 8, further to reftel A: 
 
¶2.  Border Issues Update: 
 
a)  The border is open between 07:00 and 19:00, with GODR officials 
permitting USG and humanitarian groups' conveys to go through 
without inspection, although this approach may change with time. 
While nighttime crossings are not permitted, the USG has assets 
that can help if needed. 
 
b)  As of midday 20 Jan, a USG official in Jimani reported that the 
DR border remains open to medical emergency cases, patients are 
receiving treatment, and more serious cases requiring advanced 
orthopedic care are referred to other cities like Barahona or Santo 
Domingo. More patients continued to arrive from Haiti throughout 20 
Jan; reports indicate the border is busy, but the GoDR is doing its 
utmost to ensure efficient flow of relief supplies and people into 
Haiti, and rapid movement of humanitarian personnel entering the DR 
 
from Haiti. 
 
c)  The USG official also stated that NGOs such as the American 
Refugee Committee and World Vision are in the area assessing needs 
and talking to Dominican local health officials; the International 
Organization for Migration (IOM) is also in the area.  As reported 
in reftels, local officials have expressed concern about where 
displaced earthquake victims will go after receiving medical care 
and being stabilized in clinics in Jimani. 
 
d)  The same official reported that some very preliminary 
discussions have centered around providing shelter and assistance 
in nearby Fond Parisien, Haiti -- a site that already is home to 
international missionary charities and would avoid Dominican 
sensitivities about having new Haitian settlements on DR territory. 
(Note:  This does not/not imply that Dominican authorities are 
currently denying entry to displaced earthquake victims with urgent 
medical needs.) 
 
e)  Dominican daily Listin Diario, which has recently taken a 
strident tone on Haitian migration, published a story, 20 Jan, from 
 
the northern border town of Dajabon alleging that Haitians were 
using bird blood to feign injuries in order to pass Dominican 
border controls without documentation; the USG official on the 
border in Jimani reported no sign of such activity. 
 
f)  There were reports from USG sources that the UN does not have a 
re-supply depot at Jimani and media reports that Canadians had 
crossed into Haiti and were working to assist people in the 
southern Haitian city of Jacmel. 
 
g)  On 21 Jan, post's Charge d'Affaires and other members of the 
country team will travel to Jimani to examine the situation 
firsthand; USAID and consular officials are in the process of 
establishing an outpost in Jimani.  Meanwhile, two buses were sent 
from Embassy Santo Domingo to PAP to pick up evacuees (see 
Evacuees/Consular, below). 
 
¶3. Political Scene: 
 
First critiques expressed:  Presidents of two opposition parties in 
the DR - Miguel Vargas Maldonado from the leading opposition 
Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD) and Hatuey Decamps from the 
Revolutionary Social Democratic Party (PRSD) - both criticized the 
possibility of the DR sending Dominican troops to Haiti under the 
auspices of MINUSTAH, claiming that such an act would endanger 
relations between the two countries.  Vargas Maldonado said 
Dominican solidarity with Haiti should be nonmilitary.   (Note: The 
number of DR forces, if any, that might go to MINUSTAH is 
uncertain; media reports have provided numbers between 315 and 800, 
but Embassy sources note that the mandate, if any, would be 
"narrow" and that the very concept is still uncertain.  There were 
press on 20 Jan indicating the GOH may have rejected the idea.  End 
 
Note) 
 
 
 
¶4. Communications / IRM: 
 
a)  Santo Domingo IRM section has accepted responsibility to 
receive and transfer Diplomatic Pouch and Mail to PaP on a daily 
basis, commencing Friday, 22 Jan. 
 
b)  Awaiting customs clearance on 40 UHF radios, chargers and 
ancillary communications equipment that arrived via DHL today. 
Once received, items will forwarded to PaP as quickly as possible. 
 
c)  Awaiting the arrival of 10 Satellite phones that were to be 
FedEx-ed to post. 
 
d)  Awaiting the arrival of two High Frequency (HF) mobile radios 
to be installed in convoy vehicles. HF flyaway kit will be 
installed at the airbase control center to allow uninterrupted 
radio communications with convoy. 
 
e)  IRM section arranged with Codetel to have a cellphone tower set 
up in PaP and provide Post with 25 cellphones for use in PaP with 
roaming capabilities. 
 
f)  On 19 Jan, an Information Management technical Specialist 
(IMTS) transited Santo Domingo to PaP. 
 
g)  Saturday an additional Information Management Specialist (IMS) 
will transit Santo Domingo to PaP, to relieve one person. 
 
 
¶4. Evacuees / Consular: 
 
a)  Consular operations continued, in reduced capacity, 24/7, 
including assistance to the occasional Amcit who auto-evacuated and 
reached Santo Domingo 
 
b)  The effort to bring back two bus-loads of evacuees (a/o 98 
people) began at 03:00 with buses departing the Embassy for 
Port-au-Prince.  Outbound from SDO, the buses carried 4 FSOs, and 2 
FSNs for the round-trip, and 16 aid workers one way.  Drive time to 
The border from SDO the morning of 20 Jan was 7 hours.  The 
Consular section has been in touch with Dominican immigration and 
they will process us coming through provided the evacuees have 
passports or travel letters. The RSO's office helped provide 
security for the bus convoy.  Evacuees, who were being loaded onto 
the buses by a/o 14:00 SDO-time (13:00 EST), are expected to arrive 
in SDO after midnight, early on 21 Jan. 
 
 
 
¶5. Other: 
 
On 20 Jan, Charg???? and A/DCM met with representatives from the 
Transportation Security Administration (TSA).  The TSA team will be 
here until o/a 08 Feb to provide technical assistance to local 
airport officials to ensure that proper screening techniques are 
being observed when processing evacuees. 
 
Minimize Considered. 
 
Lambert