The Haiti-Dominican Republic bi-national fair held on Mondays and Fridays in the northwestern border town of Dajabon was suspended yesterday, Monday 7 January after the Dominican Armed Forces closed the frontier bridge over the Masacre River to halt the influx of crowds of Haitian farm workers to the Dominican Republic, which has increased tensions along the border. Father Regino Martinez, S.J. claims that the farm workers had traveled home to Haiti to spend the Christmas holidays with their relatives but when they tried to return the Migration Office denied them entry. The priest also warned that he would hold a vigil on the frontier bridge until the authorities allowed them to return.
Special Operations troops from the National Police stationed along the border were reinforced with a contingent from the Northwest Command, headed by the Brigadier General Pilarte Perez. Dominican authorities led by the mayor of the city of Dajabon, Miguel Tatis, together with Cesfront and National Police officers have called for the Haitians to withdraw from the bridge so that people could attend the fair, but Father Martinez refuses to allow this. The priest also complained of alleged violations of human rights and aggression against Haitians who tried to cross the Masacre River.
The local Migration authorities deny any mistreatment of the Haitians and said that they are only stopping foreigners who do not have the correct documentation. The Haitians, who are stranded in Juana Mendez (Ouanaminthe), the Haitian border town across the river from Dajabon, said that they work on farms that produce bananas and other crops in the northwest of the Dominican Republic.