The US State Department Issued a warning in November of 2022 regarding “being delayed, detained, or subject to heightened questioning at ports of entry”. The Dominican government, pundits, and others have decried this as an intervention in the sovereignty of the Dominican Republic, retaliation for not collaborating on the security issues in Haiti, etc.
Today, a new story was released after social media networks were flooded with a video showing the military in the remote province of Valverde, far away from the airports and touristic beaches that tourist to the Dominican Republic normally flock to visit, this video depicts the brutal attack and beating of a black Dominican lawyer after he is confused with being an undocumented Haitian.
he participants of the attack are a part of the 4th Infantry Brigade of the National Army based in Mao. They attacked the man who works as a lawyer after mistaking him for a Hatian national. The man is indentified as Fausto Taveres.
The Dominican Bar association representative in Valverde Juan Rodriguez announced that they will sue the for the mistreatment in which his colleague suffered. At the same time he denounced that in the aformentioned province “there is a lot of mistreatment by the National Army”. Rodriguez also reports of “illegal searches, physical abuse, and other travesties.”
Here is a screenshot of the video circulating on social networks that was posted on Listin Diario depicting Dominican Military personnel kicking the mistaken lawyer after he is already on the ground.
The participants of the attack are a part of the 4th Infantry Brigade of the National Army based in Mao. They attacked the man who works as a lawyer after mistaking him for a Hatian national. The man is indentified as Fausto Taveres.
The Dominican Bar association representative in Valverde Juan Rodriguez announced that they will sue the for the mistreatment in which his colleague suffered. At the same time he denounced that in the aformentioned province “there is a lot of mistreatment by the National Army”. Rodriguez also reports of “illegal searches, physical abuse, and other travesties.”
So back to the question? Should African Americans who travel to the Dominican Republic be worried about detentiona, abuses, etc. The Dominican Republic is a country without any law or accountability, please review the case that has been presented in the media with regards to Pivot Airline crew from Canada, the crew reported suspicious contraband had been loaded onto their plane. They contacted both Dominican and Canadian authorities using normal channels. This resulted in the crew of 5 being arrested and incarcerated in a Dominican prison with criminals, death threats, and inhumane treatment. That is after they did their jobs and averted a potential air disaster by alerting authorities of the presence of what turned out to be hundreds 210 kilograms or almost 500 pounds of cocaine. These stories are not separate, they are part of continuum, imagine that the military can abuse a citizen in their country, a lawyer even only because he is black. The military and police can arrest and detain a 5 member airline crew and keep them in a hostile situation for months, after they followed international norms of reporting illegal contraband. While the crew is being hunted down by a drug cartel seeking to assinate them for losing their shipment of drugs. Imagine what could become of an African American citizen who is visiting the Dominican Republic, some unfortunate person is likely to face illegal and unlawful detention, torture, arrest, and even worse after one mis-step. Yes, African Americans, and all Americans should avoid the Dominican Republic or face their peril, after after these cases the US State Department should increase their alerts of the security situation in the Dominican Republic, because yes the crime is bad but the Dominican Military and Police are actually the worse offenders.
