Re: New West Ibdian

Hi Dr1 board,
Just wanted to translate from french to english the part concerning Amnesty international report. Here it is :

Extracts of the report 2000 published by Amnesty International. Caribbean sub-region, Dominican Republic.

Executions and abuses of the force
According to the report, more of 200 persons have been killed by the National Police in 1999. In most of the cases, the testimonies contradict the legitimate defense invoked by the Police. Several policemen were charged guilty for executions and for having used a disproportionate answer.
In his report of October, the Inter-american Human Rights Comission explained how worrying this situation was.
The police declared that 3 suspicious had been killed during an exchange of blows fire in Cayetano Germosén, in the province of Espaillat, in July, affirmation denied by the television that broadcasted a document showing the 3 men handcuffed and pushed in a police vehicle.
The police admitted afterwards having executed the 3 men in reprisals for the death of a colleague that, police said, had been killed by the same men.
An investigation was conducted, but no result has been known to this day.
After negotiations with the army and the police, 400 members of the army and the police have "resigned" for no respect of the Human Rights.

Justice and detention
At the end of December, authorities reported 14.657 prisoners of which 73% were still waiting for trial. The surpopulation makes the tensions and the bad conditions of detention worse.
In 1999 the pénitentiary administration investigated on several cases of bad treatments on prisoners. In December, the Police announced the arrest of a Colonel charged with torturing prisoners.

Haïtiens
Several reports on the bad treatments inflicted to Haïtians. The Haitian National Bureau of Immigration reported the expulsion in November of 6 000 persons, the conditions of this expulsion did not respect the international norms. It has been reported that the Dominican Authorities deported a large number of Haitians, sometimes separating the children from their parents. The two countries signed in December an agreement on the humanitarian conditions of the expulsions.

Opponents
In November the USA extradited a former Dominican Air Force sargent charged with the murder in 1975 of journalist Orlando Martinez Howley, executed after having published articles criticizing President Joaquin Balaguer.
In April, a commission which was organised to investigate the disappearance in 1994 of Narciso Gonzalez , a journalist and member of the University who opposed President Balaguer, declared to have found no proof of an abduction.
Narciso Gonzalez had "disappeared" after his arrest by the military. The investigation continues.

That's a great post!!!! It's nice to see a post that talks about the human rights and social justice issues, instead of just resorts for once.

well it's a sad fact but that's how it is here.but before picking to much on human rights violations comitted by members of the police or military take a good look at the violations of human rights comitted by the criminals against their victims. Where is this report?Where is their defense?
the actions of police are mainly answers of happenings caused by these criminals.as the justice system is more than inadequate. justice in crimial cases is rarly found or given.

also criminals today are more brutal and violent as they have been a few years ago.at least that's my feeling.

73% in jail without trial.This explains why the thieves only stay 1-30 days in jail and go free with RD$ 500,00 fine and go stealing again.next time maybe with a kill or a rape on their acount as an addition.i rather see him with the 73%!!

anybody with experiences?

Half of the criminals in the prison system are not even hard core criminals. Most of them are in there for something as simple as stealing a loaf of bread, so they won't starve, for begging on the street or selling. Is attempting to survive really a crime? Many haitians are picked up off the streets and put into jail, simply because they are Haitian. Is that a crime?
There are many social activists put into jail, for standing up for the rights of the people and the poor in the bateyes and for not agreeing with the government. Is it really a crime to want improve the conditions in which most Dominicans live in? It's a simple question. Think about it.........

how do you know this really?hearsay or own experience?where did you get the 50%?
want to know what number i have?inofficially there are 300000 criminals registered with the police.if you take the famous unknown number and raise it to 500000 as police does not have 100% of criminals registered you come to an astonishing 7%.
this means 1 in every 14 people i meet on a daily bases may be a criminal in one way or another.i personally don't hesitate to raise this number even to 10%.again personal opinion.

sounds like les miserables!stealing a loaf of bread come on get back down to earth!!
if a thief who steals merchandise in value of rd$ 6500,00 is getting caught and is free again after 30 days with only a rd$ 500,00 fine you really believe they put somebody behind bars waiting for trial for stealing a loaf of bread?who tells bs like this?

speak to business people of all brands,trades and classes and ask what exactly the police is doing against store robberies. you will be amazed by the answers.
about haitians being picked up?what about mexican or chinese illegal immigrants?be it in the states or any where else in the developed countries.they get jailed and deported!!!and this is the countries good right!!!the only reason it happens so much to haitians is as haiti is the only neighbor.if you had another nationality immigrating illegally as much it would be the same story only different name!

no it is not a crime to try to change living conditions.but also know that there are elements which you just can't change.not their way of life not the way the live.
you don't believe it?take a so called poor and put him in a good and clean place.visit 3 month later to see what you find.
let me know what has changed!!!

"Big Daddy" I don't want to start a fight at all, I'm just stating some information from individuals in the human rights system that have been jailed.
If you want to talk, e-mail me about it.

who wants to start a fight?just voicing and exchanging opinion and experience.
if you have information or knowledge i or all the others don't have it is a good idea to share it.i am very interested on what you have to say on this matter,even more interested on the persons you are referring to.it would be good to get a firsthand report on this matter if possible.

I have been trying to follow this thread, but I don't know if this is simply a typo or a name given to a group of peoples

Thanks

Tom

It's a mistake from the first post (which I can't find anymore in this board). It refers to West Indian, from the West Indies, and is apparently the name of a publication.

Thanks, it appeared so many times I didn't really know if it was a typo