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Informe21.com (translated)
Martín Torrijos, former President of Panama, and Gustavo Cisneros, President of the Cisneros Group, visited Haiti to meet with the President of the country, Rene Preval; the Prime Minister of Haiti, Jean Max Bellerive and his wife. The first meeting of the visit took place in Gustavo Cisneros’ home in La Romana, Dominican Republic, last February 17th, wherein President Leonel Fernandez, former Presidents George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush and Martin Torrijos; as well as businessmen, Carlos Slim and Gustavo Cisneros, arranged to meet in order to specify activities for providing immediate support in the reconstruction of Haiti, which was devastated by the earthquake two months ago.
These decisions were recently made at a meeting held at the Presidential Palace in Port au Prince, in which the Ambassador of the Dominican Republic in Haiti, Silie Valdez; the Ex-ambassador of the United States in the Dominican Republic, Hans Hertell; and the Haitian businessman, Gregory Mevs also participated.
Former President Torrijos expressed his solidarity with Haitian President, Rene Preval and acknowledged his efforts with the international Community to assist the people of Haiti. He also pointed out that European and Latin American countries; and multilateral organizations have also cooperated in response to the need of Haitian people. He added: “this process begins with the large technical meeting in the Dominican Republic, which has played a fundamental, key role.”
At the end of the meeting with President Preval, the businessman, Gustavo Cisneros, stated that the Haitian Head-of-state is in control of the situation and looks towards a new country and a revitalized Haiti. He emphasized his will to participate in the reconstruction of Haiti with the great support of the President of the Dominican Republic, Leonel Fernandez.
He indicated that “we count on the presence of businessmen as important as our Haitian friend to participate in the reconstruction with a great amount of support from the Dominican Republic, from President Fernandez, represented by his ambassador in Haiti, with the cooperation of figures such as the President Torrijos. We are all participating in this fight, confident that the final objective will be the political stability of Haiti.”
Ruben Silie Valdez, Ambassador of the Dominican Republic in Haiti, accompanied by President Martin Torrijos, and Mr. Gustavo Cisneros, and was able to affirm his interest in supporting the Haitian Government with the visit to President Preval with whom he exchanged words of commitment.
This is the third meeting arranged by Gustavo Cisneros in order to promote action to help the residents of Haiti who were affected by the earthquake which left many victims and spread pain, hunger and misery across Haiti.