From Tim Schwartz

I am back in the DR for a few days. There are some things that should be known about DR deal­ing with Haiti.

On the one hand, the Domini­cans have made com­mend­able efforts to help. The gov­ern­ment send mobile food kitchens that are mak­ing 60,000 hot meals per day. It was the ear­li­est food dis­tri­b­u­tion on the ground–day after the quake–and is the most effi­cient I have seen. They went to SODAPA (sp) indus­trial park, rather than the air­port, and so avoided the botle­neck prob­lems that so many other groups had. They get sup­plies dri­ven in daily, directly to them. There were many Domini­cans who loaded trucks and brought food over for direct distribution.

But there is regretable prof­i­teer­ing as well. The bor­der cus­toms has upped the entry fees for Haitians to $35. So while for­eign­ers get waved through at no charge, the thou­sands of Haitians, with pass­ports, des­per­ately try­ing to get to Miami or else­where are pay­ing more than 3 times what they are sup­posed to pay. [They were already charg­ing $20–which is dou­ble what they are sup­posed to charge. My basis for say­ing this is that I have been pay­ing $20 for ten years. Sev­eral months ago, Jimmy Carter was at the bor­der at the same time as I, and one of the cus­toms guys ran me down and gave me $10 of my $20 back]. Now they have kicked it up to $35 I sus­pect this is unau­tho­rized because the bus is only charg­ing pre­vi­ous cus­tom entry fees.

Then there is the kids who were in the DR hos­pi­tal grounds. Very dis­turb­ing. They appar­ently have been send­ing kids back, bro­ken limbs, infec­tions, and all.

Lots more to say if you are interested.….