Above: Haitian President Michel Martelly at the press conference Thursday (Photo: OP)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

With a controversy over dual citizenship dominating Haiti’s political arena, Haitian President Michel Martelly released his travel documents and eight Haitian passports seeking to prove he is a natural-born Haitian in a press conference Thursday.

Martelly’s presentation came following a meeting with the religious group Religion for Peace.

“After several meetings with the moral and religious group, Religion for Peace, I agreed to present my travel documents in order to stop the speculation,” he said.

Under the country’s 1987 constitution, dual citizenship is prohibited for elected officials.

The President said he believed that by presenting the documents “in front of the world,” he would show he is “not a liar” and that his government would maintain transparency.

The gesture came in the presence of a number of foreign ambassadors, including US Ambassador Kenneth H Merten, who said that Martelly was not an American, but a Haitian, according to the National Palace.

Also attending were Haitian lawmakers and the French, Spanish, Canadian and Venezuelan ambassadors to Haiti.