Yesterday, Monday 5 January 2015, the bi-national market in the southwestern border town of Pedernales did not take place following a series of violent confrontations between Haitians and Dominicans last week.
The gate that allows access to Anse-a-Pitres in Haiti stayed closed while the shopkeepers hung around hoping that the market would open.
At the same time the municipal market was jam-packed with Dominican vendors and Haitian vendors who live in the Dominican farming communities and the stalls in the bi-national market stayed empty out of fear that more trouble might erupt.
On Friday, 1 January 2015 there was looting in the market by undocumented Haitians who were allegedly demonstrating against the confiscation of two boats and the subsequent kidnapping of two Dominican fishermen in Anse-a-Pitres in Haiti.
Last Saturday the authorities, represented by Dominican Senator Dionis Sanchez, Governor Angel Odalis Zabala Segura and Consul Martin Feliz, and on the Haitian side by Deputy Governor Deronnette Emaro, tried to settle the conflict that had degenerated into throwing of sticks and stones and even firing of weapons. The Haitians were protesting the arrest of two Haitian fishermen who had been caught fishing in Dominican territorial waters.
http://www.listindiario.com/la-republica/2015/1/5/351433/Suspenden-otra-vez-el-mercado-binacional-en-Pedernales-para-evitar