Haiti was not visibly represented at a hemispheric forum on operations against cartels and narco-terrorist organizations held in Santo Domingo on October 26 and 27, Le Nouvelliste reported. The Dominican Republic hosted the meeting, which brought together defense and public security leaders from 19 countries of the Western Hemisphere.

No Haitian representative appeared in the forum's official group photo, the paper noted. It called the absence striking because the United States has designated Haitian gangs as terrorist organizations and Haiti appears on lists of drug-transit countries.

No official explanation for Haiti's absence had been reported.