The President of the Dominican Republic Luis Abinader on Sunday launched with great fanfare the construction of a 160 km wall along his country’s border with Haiti, a controversial project which, according to him, should help to “control” illegal immigration and the crime.
This barrier “will benefit both countries, since it will allow much more effective control of bilateral trade, regulation of migratory flows to fight against human trafficking mafias, fight against drug trafficking and illegal sales of weapons, Abinader said during a ceremony in the Dajabon border area (northwest).
Elected in 2020, the president, whose fight against illegal immigration is one of the hobbyhorses, promised to build this wall a year ago. The work will cost $31 million and will last nine months.
The first stage launched on Sunday will have 54 kilometers of fence “in the most populated and sensitive areas of the border”, according to the president. A second stage will extend the wall by 110 km. The wall will thus extend over 164 of the 380 kilometers of the porous border between the two neighbors who share the island of Hispaniola.
The reinforced concrete wall on which a metal structure will be placed will be 3.90 meters high and 20 centimeters thick. There will be, the army added, 70 surveillance and control towers.
“The serious institutional and security crisis in Haiti has led its population to “a worrying situation of political and social instability, as well as an endemic economic and food crisis”, declared during his speech Mr. Abinader, referring to the upheavals that are going through Haiti since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse on July 7.
“Whenever Haiti has suffered a disaster, we Dominicans have always been the first to come to its aid. However, the Dominican Republic cannot take charge of the political and economic crisis of this country nor solve the rest of its problems,” he said.
This crisis “must be overcome by the Haitians themselves and supported by the international community,” he added.
Migrant advocacy organizations criticize the construction of the wall, saying it will cause “xenophobia and racism”.
The mayor of Dajabon, Santiago Riveron, told AFP that he did not agree “with this type of wall”, because “the real wall is that of the economy” and the corruption, accusing “soldiers of taking bribes of 100 or 200 pesos (2 or 4 dollars)” per illegal immigrant.
The Dominican Republic (population 10.5 million) hosts some 500,000 Haitians seeking better living conditions in the much more prosperous neighbor, according to the National Survey of Immigrants.