President Luis Abinader of the Dominican Republic announced this Thursday the closure of the border with Haiti in response to the construction of a canal intended to divert water from the neighboring country’s common river and sell it to local farmers.
“From 6 o’clock in the morning [10h00 GMT]Tomorrow, Friday, the entire land, sea and air borders of the Dominican Republic will be closed,” the president said at the military camp where he delivered the armored vehicles.
“It will remain closed for as long as necessary to eliminate this provocative behavior.”
Luis Avinado
President of the Dominican Republic.
Since the beginning of this month, the Dominican government has condemned the construction of the system, which channels water from the Massacre River, which the two countries share, for a private Dovish company to sell to its own farmers. Uncertified work from Port-au-Prince.
Santo Domingo certifies that this work violates the Treaty of Peace, Permanent Friendship and Arbitration of 1929, the Border Agreement of 1935, and the Border Review Protocol of 1936.
“This is a totally inappropriate construction, without any engineering skill, and a provocation that this government has no intention of accepting,” Abinader claimed. Mr. Abinader has maintained tough policies toward Haiti, including large-scale raids against illegal immigrants and construction of Haiti. A border fence.
The Security Council had already suspended the issuance of visas to Haitian nationals on Monday, and last week closed the Dajabon crossing, one of the most important crossings and where the bilateral market also operates twice a week. .
Abinader indicated that negotiations with Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, are continuing. Haiti has been mired in economic, political and security crises for years, exacerbated by the loss of control of parts of the territory to violent criminal organizations.
Abinader lashed out, saying, “If there are people out of control, it’s out of control for the Haitian government, but it’s not out of control for the Dominican government.”
The Dominican Republic argues that the mechanism would affect producers in both countries, proposing the construction of a dam and a “bilateral water table meeting to agree on a final solution.”
Source: Diario.Elmundo
