The border between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, which was shut down last month due to a disagreement over a shared river, has been partially reopened, but only for goods.
After a meeting of the National Security Council, government spokesman Homero Figueroa announced that the legislation, which will take effect on Wednesday morning, will permit exports to Haiti but maintain the current restriction on human migration.
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Figueroa added that “strict military control” would be upheld at the border and that it would “facilitate the trade of essential Dominican products such as food and medicines, especially for children.”
The declaration was made in advance of a planned UN peacekeeping deployment to Haiti, the most impoverished nation in the Americas, which is engulfed in a political and economic crisis that is made worse by vicious gang violence.
The Dominican Republic, Haiti’s sole neighbor on the island of Hispaniola, exports 8.4% of its total exports to Haiti, amounting to over $1 billion in 2022. As a result, Haiti is significantly dependent on the Dominican Republic for imports.
The export of electronics and building supplies will still be prohibited, according to Figueroa, “to prevent the erection of structures that threaten our environmental heritage.”
Three weeks ago, the Dominican Republic declared the border closure in response to Haitian intentions to construct a canal on the Massacre River, claiming that this would be a violation of various border treaties between the two countries.
Haiti suspends visas for Dominican Republic in canal dispute
To keep undocumented migrants out, Dominican officials are constructing a 160-kilometer (100-mile) concrete wall along the 380-kilometer border with Haiti.
