New flyer from the mobile telephone company Orange promoting their service to Haiti

Today was an odd day for news on relations between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. On one hand, the reporting of interview that the Secretary General of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza, gave to a local  newspaper focused on the “heavy weight” that Haitian migration imposed on the Dominican Republic (link to story in Spanish). On the other hand, Haitian and Dominican business leaders jointly announced a plan to increase binational cooperation.

However, my favorite item of the day was the flyer that the mobile phone company, Orange, is handing out in the Dominican border towns (shown above) that highlights their promotion of cheap phone calls to Haiti–”You can call Haiti for the same price as a local call.” This is quite a change from the normal pricing which has phone calls to Haiti at four times the cost of a local call. Not only is this a great message of solidarity, it is also accompanied by a great image.

Daniel J. O’Neil