Blinken visits Dominican Republic as talks with president focus on economy and Haiti

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic -- The U.S. secretary of state and the leader of the Dominican Republic held private talks Friday on a range of issues, from human rights, economic prosperity and regional security. However, the crisis in violence-wrecked Haiti dominated the discussions.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in the Dominican Republic for a one-day visit after landing in neighboring Haiti on Thursday to support a U.N.-backed mission led by Kenya to fight rampaging gangs there.

Blinken said he spoke with Dominican President Luis Abinader about the latter's concerns regarding Haiti, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic.

Abinader told reporters that his administration is concerned over the apparent lack of resources for the mission and the thousands of inmates who escaped after gangs raided Haiti’s two biggest prisons earlier this year as part of a coordinated attack.

Haiti’s crisis has caused a surge in migrants trying to enter the Dominican Republic, Abinader said, adding that they’re overwhelming schools and hospitals.

Abinader’s administration has been criticized in recent years for its treatment of Haitian migrants and those born in the Dominican Republic to Haitian parents. The government has largely closed the airspace to Haiti and is building a wall along the border between the two countries.

Blinken said the United States has seen some improvement in Haiti after the arrival of nearly 400 Kenyan police in recent months to crack down on gangs that control 80% of the capital of Port-au-Prince.

“The foundation for progress in Haiti has to be security,” Blinken said. “This has to be something that the authorities, the state and ultimately the Haitian people control, not the gangs.”

Both Blinken and Abinader said they are pushing to normalize relations between the Dominican Republic and its neighbor.

“We have a strong interest in trying to help Haiti succeed,” Blinken said.

Blinken noted that the Dominican Republic has the largest economy in the Caribbean and one of the fastest growing in Latin America. In a boost to that growth, Blinken announced the first phase of a $3 million supply-chain investment via USAID to improve workforce training and build industrial parks in the Caribbean country.

On Thursday, Blinken announced an additional $45 million in humanitarian assistance for Haiti and said he supported creating a U.N. peacekeeping operation as a way to secure funding and resources for fighting the gangs and restoring security to Haiti.

Blinken is expected to return to the U.S. late Friday.