The United Kingdom’s former Prime Minister Tony Blair was in Santo Domingo to meet with President Luis Abinader in an effort to mediate in the impasse over the construction of an irrigation canal in Haiti. The acting President of Haiti, Ariel Henry, had requested the support of Blair when meeting with him during the Saudi Arabia-Caricom summit. The canal would divert the waters of the Dajabon/Masacre River that originates in the Dominican Republic.
In protest of the intention to divert the waters, the Dominican Republic closed its border gates with Haiti. New migratory measures were implemented, including the stop to issuing new visas to Haitians and requiring all persons crossing the border to have at least biometric identification. Most Haitians crossing the official border gates on foot on market days had been doing without legal identification. Most Haitians do not have legal identification because there has yet to be political will for this human right to be respected in Haiti.
The Dominican government has reopened the border gates with the new biometric identification but the Haitian government has demanded that the Dominican government restore allowing the free flow of persons from Haiti to reopen the Haitian side border gates to trade.
The biometric identification lets the Dominican Republic government know who has crossed and who did not return to Haiti. Previously, all people could enter on market days and there were no controls on who exited. The biometric identification is key at times when criminal gangs control Haiti.
Presidency spokesperson Homero Figueroa on the Blair-Abinader meeting stated: “The President and Mr Blair discussed a range of important issues, including the continued expansion of the regional economy, international relations and the need to achieve a positive resolution to the ongoing dispute over the Haiti canal.”
There is pressure on behalf of merchants on both sides to resume trade. The question is whether the Dominican government will give in to the requirement and remove the new biometric registration control.
Read more:
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
Paudal
Haiti Libre
Haiti Libre
CEPR
Loop News
27 November 2023