(Santo Domingo) The border between the Dominican Republic and Haiti will remain closed until the Haitians abandon their canal project supplying the Massacre River, which marks the border between the two countries, announced Sunday the Dominican President Luis Abinader.
“The measures will remain in force until we obtain a definitive halt to the canal under construction,” announced the president in a televised message to the Nation.
These measures, he recalled, include the “closure of land, air and maritime borders” with Haiti, “the ban on stay [en République dominicaine] of the promoters” of the project, and the “deployment of the army all along the border”.
This is a “strong response”, he said.
“Our goal is to ensure national security and national interest as well as the protection of our rivers, the environment and agricultural production,” Abinader said.
This diplomatic crisis comes at a time when relations between the two countries are already strained due to Haitian immigration.
The president, who has made the fight against illegal immigration one of his hobbyhorses, closed the border on Thursday in retaliation for the construction of the canal.
This is a project by private developers for irrigation purposes. Haiti “can sovereignly decide on the exploitation of its natural resources” and “make catches” in the river, reacted the government of Port-au-Prince in a press release.
The Dominican president insisted on Sunday that the Massacre River, also called Dajabon, was born in Dominican territory and measured 55 km, including 9 km of border and “2 km in Haitian territory”, where the canal is built.
“Haiti and its lack of planning have meant that almost all of the ecosystems on its territory are destroyed,” he said, speaking of “bad (Haitian) management of natural resources” which, according to him, results in projects like the channel.
“This is not a conflict between two peoples,” insisted Mr. Abinader, who pointed the finger at “the uncontrollable people who maintain insecurity in Haiti.”
“They are conspiring for their particular interests against the stability of their government and the security of our resources,” he lambasted.
Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, has been mired for years in an economic and political crisis worsened by gang violence.