Fr. Mario Serrrano Marte, S.J. Arrested

Fifteen activists were arrested Monday while conducting a peaceful protest outside the Dominican Republic’s Central Electoral Board (JCE by its Spanish acronym) in the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo. 

Among those arrested was Jesuit Father Mario Serrrano Marte, Executive Director of Centro Bonó, and several members of Reconoci.do. The protest was to bring attention to the discrimination suffered by Dominicans of Haitian descent in the Dominican Republic, and the actions of the JCE which have denied many of them access to their identify documents, placing them at risk of statelessness. Late in the evening on March 11, four police vans arrived at the protest and police began confiscating the belongings of the protesters. 

Shortly thereafter, those who were still protesting were arrested and taken to a police station on the outskirts of Santo Domingo. An hour later, the group was released without being charged. At no point did the police provide any verbal or written reason for the arrest. Later that evening, after the group returned to the site of their arrest without most of their belongings to continue their peaceful demonstration, Father Serrano recounted the events of the evening and then offered these words via email: "The sunrise here is beautiful. We are about to being the morning prayer, and entreat you to pray along with us."

Link (here) to Jesuit Refugee Service

Jesuit And A Cardinal

Dominican Republic’s cardinal on Friday said neither the Catholic church “nor anybody else” has to get involved on immigration issues, because it’s up to the government to decide on the matter. Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez made the statement when asked about the attitude of the Jesuit priest Rogelio Martinez, whose failed effort to get hundreds of undocumented Haitians across the border roiled Dominican Republic. Nonetheless Lopez noted that the priest’s conduct doesn’t merit a reprimand. “No one has to get into that; neither ambassadors nor priests, it’s up the State to dictate migratory policy,” the senior prelate said, warning that the situation with the Haitians seeking to enter the country irregularly could’ve led to fatal consequences. Speaking at the Marcelino Velez Hospital, the Cardinal stressed however, that Haitian and Dominican authorities should find a solution, to issue documents which regularize their status in Dominican territory.

Link (here) to Dominican Today

Dominican Jesuit, "Haitians Are Better Off In Haiti"

The charity organization Dominican Border Solidarity, characterized for the defense of human rights of Haitians immigrants in the Dominican Republic, opposes the International Organization for Migrations’ (OIM) alleged attempt to build in this country a refugee camp to house 100,000 victims of Haiti’s quake.

The Jesuit priest Regino Martinez, Solidarity coordinator, said there are enough places in Haiti to shelter people in the camp which the IMO proposes.

He said the Dominican Government has supported the Haitian people with solidarity after the catastrophe and the help for Haitians to respond to their calamity, but in their own country, is the effort which should prevail for now.

The prelate said beyond thinking of refugees, what’s needed is to help them work based on looking for an alternative different from what Haiti was before the quake, "because if before there was a Failed State, there’s now a buried State."

He added that medicine and food would be sent to the northern Haiti towns Gonaives, Cape Haitian and Wanament and for the injured and refugees who arrive from the various areas.

Link (here)

A General And A Jesuit

Dominican Republic’s border guard (CESFRONT) commander today said he’s surprised by the Jesuit priest Regino Martinez’s allegation that a colonel must pay RD$ 350,000 to get assigned to the frontier town Dajabón (northwest).

Brigadier general Francisco Jose Gil Ramirez asked from where the Jesuit priest “gets that information which is daring” and demanded that the priest reveal which colonel has been coerced to pay and who received the alleged money.

He said accusations without proof tarnish reputations and jeopardizes the work he described as serious. “I as CESFRONT commander can guarantee categorically that the situation that denounced Regino father not gives in this institution”.

Gil, who affirms he’s Martinez’s friend, regrets the prelate’s comments before verifying their veracity, “I’ve always respected father Regino and we have a good relation, but I couldn’t remain silent because what he said is not the truth.”

Link (here) to the full story.

Photo is of Fr. Reginio Martinez Bretan, S.J.

Jesuits Border Blues

Dominican border official says Jesuit priest could face charges
January 7, 2009

Santo Domingo.- National Council Border (CNF) president Radhamés Batista Tuesday said the immigration authorities may file charges agaisnt the priest Regino Martinez, for the smuggling of alien into a church at Dajabón (northwest).

He said Martinez’s attitude is “incoherent” because he denounces an alleged conspiracy by the border’s civilian and military authorities of trafficking with aliens, while committing a criminal action in broad daylight.

The CNF president said Martinez can’t act as a priest to violate Dominican immigration laws. "We believe no one is above the law and though there’re no rules to implement the Immigration Act, in cases such as those in Dajabón, no one can argue that they’re working on this side and are entitled to remain in the country illegally, because they went to visit their family on the other side."

Link (here)

Jesuit priest slams the Dominican Government’s policy on Haitians
26 June 2008

SANTO DOMINGO. - “Until there is a Migration Law or regulation by consensus, adapted to our Constitution, while there isn’t institutionality the problem of the immigrants is never going to be solved,” said the priest Regino Martinez, director of the Jesuit Refugee and Immigrants Service.

The prelate, in reference to the current increase in undocumented Haitians who beg in the country’s streets, said “what anarchy and the lack of laws generate is disorder, violence and repression.”

He said it’s a national problem which must be faced by the State. “It’s not a question of whether Immigration director Carlos Amarante has the sufficient human, economic or technical resources to control the situation; the issue of the children begging can’t be individualized.”

Martinez said the traffic of illegals shouldn’t be treated “in a gross, violent manner, nor with corrupt or repressive controls,” and denounced that in Palo Verde, Hatillo Palma and Villa Vásquez the immigrants are taken with or without ID cards and their rights are violated.

Amarante said that the routine sweeps of Haitian immigrants will continue, within his entity’s possibilities.

Link (here)

More human trafficking alongside the Haitian-Dominican border

by Rene
Oct 31, 2006

Hoy Digital reports today that Regino Martinez S.J. denounced that human trafficking alongside the Haitian-Dominican border still goes on, using trucks, buses and motorcycles.

According to the same source, Martinez declared that Haitians gather around an area called La Gorra, in Dajabon, from where they are taken to other points within the Dominican Republic; also, that in one particular case, corrupt authorities at a border check-point resorted to detention only when the driver of a vehicle loaded with Haitians offered a final amount of 20k pesos as bribe, instead of the 50k the authorities demanded.

Link (here)

Haitian Workers Face Abuses in Dominican Republic, Says Priest

Feb 8, 2006

Despite the Dominican Republic's poverty, its relative economic and political stability attracts neighboring Haitians, who slip across the border looking for work, said Jesuit Fr Regino Martinez, who has lived for 31 years along the Dominican-Haitian frontier. He directs Border Solidarity, a Jesuit-run organization in the Dominican Republic working with Haitian immigrants.

The Haitians' illegal status makes them vulnerable to abuses, including death, said Fr Martinez, who buried 24 Haitians whose bodies were found January 11 along a road on the Dominican side of the border.

Dominican police said the dead were thrown from a van after they had suffocated in it. The van was transporting the Haitians to Santo Domingo after they slipped across the frontier with the help of professional smugglers, police said.

Fr Martinez said that although accords between the neighboring countries allow Haitians to work in the Dominican Republic, many Haitians are so poor they do not have the identity papers needed to get a Haitian passport or a Dominican visa. Yet the demand for Haitian manual labor in the sugar cane and tourism industries continues to be so great that Haitians illegally move to the Dominican Republic, he said.

A major problem caused by the Haitian influx is that the Dominican Republic is also a poor country and "it is hard for it to take care of all these people," the priest said.

Fr Martinez was forced to bury the Haitians in a mass grave after protests on the Haitian side of the border became riots, preventing him and several other Jesuits from returning the bodies to Haiti.

Fr Martinez estimated that there are several hundred thousand Haitians in the Dominican Republic illegally; he said one of Border Solidarity's main activities is to try to legalize the status of Haitians born in the Dominican Republic

Link (here)

Fr. Regino Martinez, S.J. mentioned in The History of Haiti By Steeve Coupeau (here)

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Centro Montalvo

The Centro Montalvo, run by progressive Jesuits, has been a center for research and activism on social issues, including urban services and mass evictions, for decades.
Link (here)

Started Out As A Jesuit Church

The Panteon Nacional, which started out a Jesuit church but is now, after several incarnations, the resting place for some of the island's most distinguished public figures. A tour guide solemnly identified each person as we walked past rows of flags and marble-lined tombs. He spoke of Concepcion Bona, who helped design the Dominican flag (the only one to feature an open Bible, he said); and of Emilio Prud'homme and Jose Reyes, credited with creating the national anthem.

Dictator Rafael Trujillo restored the pantheon around 1955, and symbols of his friendships throughout the world are still present. Spanish dictator Francisco Franco donated the copper chandelier, and iron grills near the ceiling may have been a gift from the German government.

Link (here) to the original article.

Poor Jesuit, Rich Jesus

From a Jesuit in formation named Emilio Travieso.

An excerpt.

My Jesuit community is located in one of Santo Domingo’s poorest neighborhoods, because we’ve opted to live among and in close relationship to the poor, inspired by Jesus’ example. For all our authentic solidarity, though, everybody knows that the “padres” live quite well compared to the poorest people in the neighborhood.

In contemplating the Incarnation recently, I was surprised to notice that Jesus was also relatively rich among the poor for a good part of his life. We always emphasize that he was born in a manger, but it’s more significant that Jesus grew up in a loving two-parent home. Joseph had a trade by which he earned an income for the family, and he surely served as a healthy role model for Jesus. Jesus also knew how to read, and belonged to a tight-knit community. Compared to lots of people living in situations of extreme poverty, family dysfunction, and social exclusion, Jesus was pretty privileged.

Link to the full blog post entitled Conditions for Kenosis at the blog called This Ignatian Life.

Jesuit Advocates "Law And Order" In The Dominican Republic

Jesuit priest slams the Dominican Government’s policy on Haitian

Jun 26, 2008
SANTO DOMINGO. - “Until there is a Migration Law or regulation by consensus, adapted to our Constitution, while there isn’t institutionality the problem of the immigrants is never going to be solved,” said the priest Regino Martinez, director of the Jesuit Refugee and Immigrants Service. The prelate, in reference to the current increase in undocumented Haitians who beg in the country’s streets, said “what anarchy and the lack of laws generate is disorder, violence and repression.” He said it’s a national problem which must be faced by the State. “It’s not a question of whether Immigration director Carlos Amarante has the sufficient human, economic or technical resources to control the situation; the issue of the children begging can’t be individualized.” Martinez said the traffic of illegals shouldn’t be treated “in a gross, violent manner, nor with corrupt or repressive controls,” and denounced that in Palo Verde, Hatillo Palma and Villa Vásquez the immigrants are taken with or without ID cards and their rights are violated. Amarante said that the routine sweeps of Haitian immigrants will continue, within his entity’s possibilities.

Link (here)