During the weekly televised press conference on Monday, 27 November 2023, President Luis Abinader called “non-negotiable” the application of biometric registration in the border area for the passage of Haitians on binational market days. He said the measure is now part of the national security strategy. “Simply put, the biometric record is non-negotiable,” he said.
He said there have been tense situations on the border because Haitian nationals and those in control of the border gates have conditioned opening the gates on the Haitian side to the elimination of the biometric registration.
During the meeting with the media, the head of state pointed out that the border remains closed to immigration and that for commercial purposes, it is open but with the condition that the person entering at least have a biometric registration or perform the procedure at the entry point.
“I told them, and they were the ones who started this issue, that the border was not going to be the same and it is not going to be the same and everyone who passes through that border with any permit has to register from a biometric point of view and that is part of the national security design that we have for now, for tomorrow and after,” stated the President.
He said that the visit of former British Minister Tony Blair had been scheduled before the announcement Ariel Henry had asked him to mediate. Blair did bring up the Haitian impasse in the talks.
“He had planned to come to the Dominican Republic before the mediation…in Saudi Arabia he requested and said that he wanted to mediate on that issue and taking advantage of his visit to the Dominican Republic, he took the opportunity and met with Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry and then met with us,” the President explained.
The impasse with Haiti came about when private persons in Haiti resumed the construction of a canal that would divert the waters of the Dajabon River that is born in the Dominican Republic and then passes for two km through Haiti as the Masacre River before continuing on its course back to the Dominican Republic as the Dajabon River. Dominican authorities indicate the canal would become an environmental threat, causing damages to farms and businesses located in the border area on both the Dominican and Haitian side in the case of intense rains.
The Dominican Republic has demanded the stop to the construction and that experts review the construction and its viability.
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Listin Diario
28 November 2023