Haitians living on the border near Comendador, the capital of Elias Pina province, are complaining that their income has declined after the government of Haiti built an eight-foot high wall near the Customs and Migration offices, where they charge taxes for merchandise exported from the DR to Haiti. Haitian traders import the goods to sell them in Haiti. As reported in El Dia, the wall was built to reduce informal trade. Traders who walked through the formal entry points now have to pay up or use other, more difficult crossing points to evade Haitian taxes.
The Haitian government started building the wall in October 2013. It starts at the Carrizal River and ends at the Haitian Veladero military post. It is 600 meters long and eight feet high and is topped with barbed wire. El Dia publishes a photo of the wall stretch on its 18 June 2014 front cover.
The newspaper reports that according to the Migration Agency representative on the border with Haiti, Paulino Lorenzo, only 10% of the Haitians who cross the border do so with a Haitian passport. He said the wall should be extended as a way of controlling contraband. However, the mayor of Comendador, Luis Minier told El Dia that the money could be better spent on other areas like health and potable water. They also spoke of the high cost of public health for the Dominican government at the Rosa Duarte Hospital to treat illegal migrants who cross the border for healthcare. All patients are treated for free at the hospital, regardless of their status. El Dia reports that of 10 births at the hospital, eight are to Haitian mothers.
For more on the topic in Spanish:
Haití termina muro levantó en Elías Piña para cobrar aranceles