Dominican Republic calls canal construction 'provocation', shuts down border with Haiti

[Eugene]

Source: Miami Herald

Dominican Republic calls canal construction ‘provocation’, shuts down border with Haiti

Jacqueline Charles
Thu, September 14, 2023 at 6:21 PM EDT·7 min read

Calling Haiti’s construction of a canal on a river the two nations share “a provocation,” the president of the Dominican Republic said Thursday he is making good on threats to close the entire border.

As of 6 a.m. Friday, all land, sea and air traffic between the two countries, which share the island of Hispaniola, will be closed, Dominican President Luis Abinader announced Thursday. The shutdown means that at least three daily flights between the two countries will cease, and thousands of Haitian traders who rely on commerce at markets along the border will see their business come to a sudden halt.

The latest conflict between the two neighbors erupted earlier this week when Abinader issued an ultimatum to Haiti: Stop the construction of a canal along the Massacre River in Haiti’s northeast, or risk the border closure.

Hoping to defuse the crisis, Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry dispatched a team of technicians and mid-level diplomats to Santo Domingo on Wednesday. But the delegation returned home Thursday after failing to convince Abinader, who is campaigning for reelection, to back off of his threat.

-snip-

Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/dominican-republic-calls-canal-construction-222101379.html

[marble falls]

1. It there any more possible insults and injury anyone can possibly think to inflict on Haiti ...

... all this abuse is from French and US exploitation and injurious state policy towards Haiti.

[Judi Lynn]

2. You're right. Close the border, stop airline traffic to the D.R. from Haiti, also. So dirty.

The D.R., at other times has harbored men who comprised U.S. supported death squads who used the country as a place to organize attacks on Haiti before they would come storming back and start slaughtering and terrorizing Haitians who protested U.S. supported brutes like Papa Doc, and Baby Doc Duvalier, and later Presidents. D.R. also allowed them to gather there, even outfitted in uniforms they got from the US, before they returned and lay waste to villages, leaving dead Haitians lying in the streets, as they marched toward the capital on their way to assassinate Pres. Aristide. This was during George W.'s time, as you remember, and his government people approached Aristide and told him they could save him from being murdered if he agreed to take a US plane to South Africa and stay there in exile. Some of the men had also terrorized Aristide during George H W Bush's term, and were known as members of the deadly Ton Ton Macoutes, feared by everyone, as they were the original henchmen used by the first Duvalier to keep the island living in terror of him and his nightmarish Ton Ton Macoutes.z

It's absolutely unconscionable that Washington backed both Duvaliers and their successors. Haiti is a hell for the abjectly helpless poor.

Insulting, injurious are exactly the right words. Doesn't look as if anyone will EVER come to help Haiti, as it suffers decade after decade while the world simply watches.

[Judi Lynn]

3. UN urges re-opening of Dominican Republic border with Haiti

Sep 19, 2023 4:59 pm

UNITED NATIONS, United States, (AFP) – A top United Nations (UN) official on Monday urged authorities in the Dominican Republic to re-open its border with Haiti and use diplomacy to resolve a dispute over a shared river.

The Dominican Republic announced the border closure on Thursday in response to Haiti's plans to build a canal on the Massacre River, arguing it violates several border treaties between the two nations, which share the island of Hispaniola.

William O'Neill, the UN's top official on human rights in Haiti, said the border must be reopened.

"I urge the government to reconsider its decision which will have serious impacts on people on both sides of the border," O'Neill said in Geneva.

He added that many businesses in the Dominican Republic depend on trade with Haiti and rely on Haitian workers.

The consequences of the border closure will be even direr for Haiti, which imports much of its food and medical supplies from its neighbor, according to O'Neill.

More:
https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/latest-news/un-urges-re-opening-of-dominican-republic-border-with-haiti/