Dominican Republic will send diesel to hospitals in Haiti

The Dominican Republic approved a request from a commercial firm to export 20,500 gallons of diesel fuel to Haiti for primary use in hospitals, according to letters seen by Reuters.

Fuel shortages in Haiti, created by a criminal gang blockade of a distribution terminal, have left the country’s hospitals without diesel for their generators, the only resource they have to keep electricity flowing amid cuts and blackouts. .

Most hospitals have recently scaled back or suspended operations amid a cholera outbreak adding to a humanitarian crisis caused by food and water shortages.

A firm called AFA Trading requested permission in an Oct. 17 letter from the Dominican industry ministry to export fuel overland across the Haitian border, with the intention of distributing it to three hospitals and a manufacturing facility.

The ministry approved the request in a separate letter of the same date seen by Reuters. The document describes the operation as a re-export, indicating that the fuel in question was originally imported into the Dominican Republic.

The Dominican industries ministry did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters and the agency was also unable to obtain a comment from AFA Trading.

The United Nations has discussed sending a military force to Haiti to confront gangs blocking access to the fuel distributor.

Fuel shortages have halted almost all commercial activity in the Caribbean nation.

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