During a joint operation involving six special raids, 113 Haitians were arrested in the provinces of Monte Plata, Bahoruco, Santiago, La Vega, Monseñor Nouel, El Seibo, Hato Mayor, Sabana de la Mar, San José de Ocoa, Barahona, San Juan, Duarte, and Sánchez Ramírez for environmental offenses in national parks.

Agents from the General Directorate of Migration (DGM) arrested 113 Haitian nationals in an irregular immigration situation. They will be prosecuted for being caught clearing and burning trees, practicing slash-and-burn agriculture, illegally occupying land, and fishing illegally in protected areas—all acts constituting environmental crimes.

These actions were carried out as part of a joint operation by the Armed Forces, the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources, the National Environmental Protection Service, the Ministry of Defense, the Dominican Army (Army/Air Force), the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Office of the Special Prosecutor for the Defense of the Environment and Natural Resources.

The 113 arrests took place in the national parks of Valle Nuevo (9), José del Carmen Ramírez (11), José Armando Bermúdez (36), La Humeadora (13), Sierra de Bahoruco (9), and Los Haitises (19), as well as in the natural monuments of Pico Diego de Ocampo (8) and Saltos de la Tinaja (8).

During these operations, five vehicles were seized, eleven shacks and nineteen small farms were dismantled, 496 tareas (approximately 77 acres) of illegally occupied land were recovered, 71 tools were seized, and 54 animals were also confiscated.

IH/ iciHaiti