On Wednesday during surveillance operations, members of the National Environmental Protection Service (SENPA) arrested 28 Haitian nationals in the act of clearing and burning trees to produce coal for the Haitian market in the National Park "Los Haitises" a protected sanctuary located in the North-East of the Dominican Republic.

Recall that since the arrest in mid-March of 69 Haitians in the same Park, who engaged in clandestine activities of production of charcoal, https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27183-haiti-dr-69-haitians-arrested-for-cutting-trees-in-los-haitises-national-park.html , SENPA had strengthened its surveillance operations in the Park "Los Haitises" in order to prevent cutting and clearing of green spaces for charcoal production.

The Haitians were handed over to the Directorate General of Migration (DGM) for the corresponding purposes. Ángel Francisco Estévez, Minister of the Environment, says he will act accordingly and severely to minimize violations of the law and protect the environment.

Learn more about the plague of charcoal production in DR :

According to a study by the Dominican Ministry of the Environment, these environmental destruction operations are managed by groups of Haitian and Dominican businessmen who finance the illicit manufacture of charcoal and who benefit from complicity among those responsible of the border surveillance. This study estimated in 2009 more than 200, the number of clandestine producers of charcoal on the border, mostly of Haitian origin. This study estimated that more than 30,000 bags of coal were produced each month for US $2.5 million ($30 million annually). Generally, producers receive 50%, truckers or carriers by boat 25%, local intermediaries 13% and bribes represent 12% of turnover.

By the end of 2017, the military seized 18,000 bags of illegal wood carbon destined for Haiti. Every month Dominican agents seize smuggled charcoal produced in their forests.

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27183-haiti-dr-69-haitians-arrested-for-cutting-trees-in-los-haitises-national-park.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-23248-icihaiti-flash-dr-haitians-burn-the-dominican-forest-18-000-bags-of-charcoal-seized.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-13115-haiti-environment-haitians-deforest-illegally-the-dominican-border-area.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-12141-haiti-environment-the-fight-against-the-predators-of-the-environment-strengthens.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-10764-haiti-environment-first-bilateral-meeting-on-environmental-monitoring.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/article-4538-haiti-environnement-surveillance-environnementale-aux-frontieres.html (in french)

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-2311-haiti-environment-33-illegals-charcoal-kilns-destroyed-on-the-border.html

HL/ HaitiLibre