Haiti: Senator Boulos Faces Dismissal For Deceiving Authorities About Citizenship

Those documents have shown that Boulos had been using lately a U.S. passport, confirming that he has U.S. citizenship – which disqualifies him to occupy a seat at the Haitian senate. But he continues to claim he is Haitian. “I have never renounced my Haitian nationality,” Boulos told reporters. “I have been targeted for political reasons, because I stand against a plan uttered by certain authorities to restore a dictatorship in the country,” he said. But Haitian officials maintained Boulos – who is part of a family with a long tradition of doing business in Haiti – is a U.S. citizen and should leave Parliament. “We have documented evidence that Mr. Boulos is a U.S. citizen. Therefore he is not allowed to seat at the Haitian senate,” said a high-ranking government official who spoke to CMC on condition of anonymity. “



"If Mr. Boulos does not give up the senate seat he has obtained fraudulently, he runs the risk of being arrested and prosecuted,” the same authorized source told CMC. “He still has time to choose”. The Haitian constitution provides any Haitian citizen who has obtained a foreign citizenship loses the Haitian nationality and therefore is banned from running for parliament offices and for president. In a document signed by Boulos before immigration authorities, he admitted that the Haitian passport he has obtained in August 31, 2005, was his very first Haitian passport. But Boulos – who was born in Manhattan ( New York ) on April 28, 1951 – had been living in Washington for years and has gone on numerous trips during the past years. The president of the senate, Joseph Lambert, said he was expecting official notification of the fact from judicial and government authorities before acting and has announced the senate would launch its own investigation. “If it is confirmed that senator Boulos possess a U.S. passport, he will be simply dismissed,” said Lambert inviting Boulos to voluntarily resign if he really holds a U.S. passport.