Santo Domingo Sit Rep 8 - Haiti Earthquake Response

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