Dominican Republic ready to build border wall with Haiti
President Luis Abinader announced the construction of a dividing line between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, as a new measure to reinforce security, which will combine physical and technological means, and will include a double perimeter fence, motion sensors, facial recognition cameras, radars, and infrared ray systems.
“Within two years, we want to put an end to the serious problems of illegal immigration, drug trafficking, and stolen vehicle traffic that we have suffered for years and achieve the protection of our territorial integrity that we have been seeking since our independence”, said the Dominican President on his first rendering speech at the Congress.
Works are set to begin in the second half of 2021.
He stated that they are determined to maintain a mutually beneficial relationship with Haiti, which a month ago signed an agreement where it is contemplated to support the identification with documents from their country, the sale of energy, and the installation with international collaboration and in coordination with their government, from maternity hospitals on the Haitian side of the border.
The first of these hospitals will be located in Juana Méndez, Haiti, on the northern border where “we already have the land located and the approval in principle from the Haitian government and in the coming months we could begin construction with the contribution of the international community”, assured the head of State.
The Dominican Republic and Haiti share a border of almost 400 kilometers where reports of human trafficking and the smuggling of weapons and animals are frequent.
In the Dominican Republic, it is controversial that nearly 30% of deliveries in public hospitals correspond to Haitian women, a figure that exceeds 60% in border regions.
Most of these women in labor, however, are Haitians residing in the Dominican Republic, although many of them do not have a visa or immigration permit.
The Dominican Republic is home to hundreds of thousands of undocumented Haitian workers, most of whom work in agriculture and construction.