Eleven-year-old pupil Stephora died on a college journey.

The loss of life within the Dominican Republic of a woman of Haitian descent, who drowned in a swimming pool throughout a college tour, has fueled complaints from the Haitian Authorities and society, which deplore “acts of violence” and “abuses” towards Haitian migrants within the neighboring nation.

Stephora, 11 years outdated, drowned at a brief distance from a number of of her classmates, who ignored her cries for assist and the lady’s gestures, in keeping with statements to the media by the lawyer of the sufferer’s mom, Miguel Valdemar Díaz Salazar.

On that November 14, the sufferer was additionally not helped by any of the varsity displays who have been on the scene.

Her physique remained submerged on the backside of the pool for greater than thirty minutes, till it emerged to the floor stuffed with water.

“Heartbreaking stuff,” the lawyer identified.

To this point, the court docket accountable for the case has issued probation for 3 of the 4 workers of the varsity accused, whereas clearing the middle’s common director of duty.

For Diaz, it’s anomalous that it was not till Friday, December 5, that the authorities questioned the lady’s mom.

“A formal statement had not been made to the mother despite the fact that more than twenty days had passed since the death of her daughter. Normally she is the first person whose testimony is taken to find out what happened and the circumstances under which she gave up her child,” he instructed EFE.

The lawyer considers that he can visualize “a discriminatory treatment, which has been done because of this lady and her family being Haitian.”

“We have not seen such treatment in any other type of case,” he defended.

The lady’s mom had additionally denounced to the varsity that her daughter was being harassed, with insults resembling “damn Haitian,” she instructed native media.

Accusations of discrimination

The uproar generated by this case was additionally echoed by Haiti’s Presidential Transitional Council (CPT), which final week urged Santo Domingo to be clear and “apply the required measures,” and regretted the “acts of violence” and ‘abuses’ that “in recent months” have affected Haitian migrants within the neighboring nation.

For his half, the Haitian consul in Santiago de los Caballeros, Stephen Junior, is cautious and requested, in statements to EFE, that any allegation of harassment as a result of minor’s Haitian origin “must be investigated rigorously, without hasty conclusions.”

“This case must be treated with respect and without politicization. We trust in the seriousness of the Dominican judicial process and we reaffirm the importance of seeing each person as a human being with rights,” the diplomat defended.

For Junior, the important factor presently is to know what occurred “exactly” as a result of “without that there is no justice.”

“I believe that the Dominican Justice is doing a job without interference, the case is being investigated, and is on the right path to render justice,” he stated.

In Haiti, there was additionally an indication this week, at a degree on the border with the Dominican Republic, to demand justice for Stephora’s loss of life.

Additionally, the group Colectivo HaitianosRD offered a short to the Dominican Legal professional Basic’s Workplace demanding an investigation into the loss of life of the lady and 54 different deaths documented between 2021 and 2025 within the context of large deportations.

Enhance in deportations of Haitians.

Pressure with the Haitian inhabitants has been growing since October 2024, when Dominican President Luis Abinader ordered a coverage of mass deportations of undocumented migrants.

Since then, some 10,000 Haitian migrants have been deported each week regardless of calls from worldwide organizations and businesses to not return them to a rustic the place, within the first half of 2025, greater than 4,000 folks died because of armed gang violence.

On this context, Amnesty Worldwide in November requested the Dominican Authorities to revoke the protocol linking entry to well being providers for undocumented Haitians with deportation, as one of these motion “is not justified” and “is discriminatory”.

Abinader, in reference to the loss of life of the Haitian lady, declared on Monday that within the Dominican Republic “there is no racism” and that Stephora’s loss of life shouldn’t have occurred.

Thus far in 2025, Dominican authorities have deported greater than 370,000 Haitian Dominicans, a report quantity within the nation.

It needs to be famous that the issue between DR and Haiti is extra precisely described as cultural and political fairly than racial, and that the historic reality is that Haiti as soon as dominated your entire island: Haitians are of French tradition, whereas the DR is Spanish. Each nations have vital African ancestries. Haitian rule over the Dominican Republic refers back to the 22 years (1822-1844) throughout which Haiti unified your entire island of Hispaniola below its rule, following Haiti’s declaration of independence. Whereas this unified the island and abolished slavery, it introduced resentment via heavy taxes, land confiscation, suppression of the Catholic Church, and cultural clashes, fueling Dominican nationalism and resulting in their Warfare of Independence and eventual separation in 1844.