Quote:
Originally Posted by swelldaddyo
. . . From all reports in the field, the ports are not an option.
. . . My simplistic thoughts were we could just sail down, avoid the problematic ports, and unload at a friends house on the beach. I now realize that this is actually smuggling. I am not asking people to break any laws, sorry for giving that impression. I am simply looking for solutions to a problem.
. . .Does anybody have experience with shipping goods into Haiti, or the Dominican Republic lately? Any creative solutions to this problem?
. . . There is no such thing as a legitimate, "honest" way to ship to Haiti.
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In other words you were, in fact, asking people to engage in smuggling, clear and simple. And to risk their own boats and personal freedom to do it. Personally, I doubt you are naive about this subject since you say your live and
work in Haiti and from your other comments above. But just maybe - in that case the suggestions from others above should give you some ideas of a better way of bringing in your material.
- - The suggestion to
purchase your own
boat - which can be done very inexpensively in
Florida as there are a lot of small sailboats that are almost free for the asking would be the logical way for you to accomplish your objective without asking others to risk their lives and property. The US
Navy, USCG, and DEA actively patrol the waters between Haiti and the
Bahamas and the US out of their massive base on Great Inagua and Guantanamo.
- - I have lived in the
Dominican Republic for awhile and am very familiar with the problems of importing anything. There are charities who bring materials and volunteers in to the country to assist the poor people, but it is done legally with appropriate
fees and political "considerations" taken care of.
- - In 3rd World Countries the vast majority of the
income of the
government is obtained by
Customs Duties on imported items. Since the governments have no real idea of who in their populations earns
money and how much, the only
taxes are from legitimate businesses, tourist operations and mainly
Import Duties.
- - This is true in all the other islands/countries of the
Caribbean Basin, except those associated or owned by a 1st World Country. What all that means is that anybody trying to circumvent the primary source of
income for the
government (politician's pockets) of the island is committing a crime - probably worse than murder - that will not be tolerated and severely punished.
- - In the Dominican Republic, which is marginally a 3rd World country
import duties - although supposedly controlled by NAFTA-DR - and bribes to get the items out of
Customs runs over 100% of the value of the shipment. Bribes are a way of life (in the US they are called "User Fees") in these countries as the officials are paid less than a living wage. Without the "gratuities" for
service rendered by the official he would not be able to feed his
family.
- - Ten years or so ago there was a
family who pissed off a
Caribbean Island
head of government and spent over a year in a prison loosing over 50% of their body weight. If you have no friends to bring you
food or cannot afford to pay for it you starve. At that time, beside loosing their
boat, the going "fee" for getting out of prison was US$25,000 per person - this bought you
passage to the
airport from prison. I am sure the cost of "get out of jail" has risen significantly since then.
- - FACT OF LIFE for all world cruisers - your home government (USA, E.U.,whatever) does not have the
power, ability or desire to get involved unless you are a major bigwig in your home country. You are on your own and although there are folks who do get away with illegal activities, they are normally very skilled at it and know who and how much to pay for protection. Everybody else is engaging in an activity like checking the gasoline level in your
dinghy tank by using a cigarette lighter flame.