Haiti and the Dominican Republic: One Island Two Countries Condemned to Live Together
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Like many Haitians, I had often regarded the Dominican Republic (DR) with distrust. But the January 12, 2010, catastrophic earthquake transformed that perception as I tried to get to Port-au-Prince the very next day. The main airport was shut down and as a result, I traveled to the DR as an alternative route.
Having never been to the DR, I reached out to my Dominican friends in New York. One of them, Ileana, graciously invited me to stay with her mother in Santo Domingo. Despite the language barrier—I don’t speak Spanish—Ileana's mother welcomed me into her home with open arms. I will be forever grateful for her kindness
The next day, I continued my journey, hoping to get to Haiti but all the flights were suspended, even to the smaller airports. I met several doctors and journalists who were also trying to get to Haiti. By the afternoon, we all realized that there would be no flights that day, so we decided to hire a taxi to drive us to the border. By the time we arrived near the border, it was too late to cross, and I had to spend one more night in the DR
Since my traveling companions were going to the Cange Hospital, in Plateau Central, and I was going to the capital, we had to split up. The taxi driver contacted his cousin, who agreed to take me the rest of the way. It was the middle of the night when we met with the cousin who lived in Jimani. He took me to a cabaña, a type of motel, to spend the night. As I settled into the room, I realized that the door wasn't locking properly. Needless to say, at the moment, I was convinced that this was purposeful and that I was going to be robbed. As a strategy, I hid my passports and spread the cash I had with me at different places in the room so that if I did get robbed, I wouldn't lose everything. Needless to say, I didn't sleep well that night.
But nothing happened.
The next day, the gentleman picked me up and drove me part of the way. Then he put me on a motorcycle that took me the rest of the way because the border was far too crowded with cars waiting to get to Haiti. During that trip and the days after, I came across many Dominicans who were bringing food and fuel to help Haitians. I have also since traveled to the DR many more times to visit family and friends who have moved there because of the security crisis in Haiti.
My story does not minimize the very real and unacceptable abuses many Haitians experience in the Dominican Republic, particularly as they are tracked and mistreated by immigration agents. It also in no way erases the terrible policies affecting the hundreds of thousands of Haitians who are working on farms or construction sites in slave-like conditions.
However, I believe that it is important to share my story because it shows that there is also a side to the relationship between Haiti and the Dominican Republic that is characterized by kindness and solidarity. And my story is not singular.
Navigating Rising Tensions: A Call for Cooler Heads and Peaceful Resolutions
Estado Mayor General del Ministerio de Defensa pasa revista a la situación de la frontera (General Staff of the Ministry of Defense reviews the border situation)
This week, the Dominican Republic closed its border with Haiti and put its army on a war footing because of a disagreement over a canal being built on the Haitian side to irrigate agricultural land.
Despite high nationalistic sentiment and the increasing risk of an unintentional conflict, we should look for ways to reduce tensions, as the fate of millions of Haitians and Dominicans is at stake.
This crisis presents yet another opportunity for Haiti to redefine its relationship with the Dominican Republic and reduce its dependency. However, the high emotions among Haitians make it unlikely that any real policy changes to address Haiti's socioeconomic dynamics will be developed. I don't know how the Dominicans are feeling, but news reports indicate that some Dominican political and civil society leaders disagree with President Abinader's rapid escalation of the situation.
I believe cooler heads need to prevail and community leaders from the diaspora should be advocating for a peaceful resolution rather than confrontation. More importantly, the political leaders of both countries must take steps to de-escalate the situation and resolve the dispute.
Historical Context: The Republic of Spanish Haiti (República del Haití Español)
The relationship between Haiti and the Dominican Republic is as complex as a winding river, shaped by history, emotion, and ever-changing circumstances. Bound by geography and a shared legacy of colonization, occupation, resistance, and the search for identity, our two nations frequently find themselves in tension - a tension often stoked by political and economic elites.
In 1821, José Núñez de Cáceres, a Dominican Creole who held high office under the Spanish administration, declared the Spanish part of Hispaniola as independent, naming it the Republic of Spanish Haiti. Cáceres's declaration of independence was met with mixed reactions. Some Dominicans supported it, while others opposed it. In 1822, Haitian President Jean-Pierre Boyer unified the island of Hispaniola. However, the Dominican Republic asserted its independence from Haiti in 1844. It reverted to Spanish rule in 1861 and regained its independence in 1865. Yet, to this day, Dominicans celebrate their liberation from Haiti in 1844 rather than from Spain in 1865.
The Republic of Spanish Haiti lasted for only a few months, but it is a significant event in both countries’ history.
Contemporary Haitian-Dominican History
As tensions flare over the Massacre River, one cannot fail to see the irony, as that same river marked a period of infamy between the two countries. Former Dominican President, Dr. Joaquín Balaguer called it "the genocide of 1937" in his book Memoirs of a Courtier of the Era of Trujillo (Memorias de un cortesano de la “era de Trujillo). He wrote that President Trujillo ordered the military to "Give instructions to proceed from this very night to exterminate without contemplation all persons of Haitian nationality who are illegally in Dominican territory."
The newspaper Dominican Today reported that:
"According to historian Frank Moya Pons, the tyrant had some 18,000 Haitians hunted down and killed in all parts of the country, with only those who managed to cross the border or those who were protected in the sugar mills who 'did not want to lose their labor force' being spared. However, Balaguer stated in his memoirs that 17,000 Haitians died in the genocide, among them elderly people and women who 'fled with their children in their arms, trying futilely to reach safety in their native country.' Even dark-skinned Dominicans were counted among the victims."
In their publication "Bearing Witness to Genocide: The 1937 Haitian Massacre and Border of Lights," Edwardo Paulino and Scherezade Garcia vividly described what it must have been like for Haitians during that infamous period. They wrote that:
"many Haitians killed in the Massacre were in fact Dominicans of Haitian descent." Furthermore, they write that "some of the victims were shot, but most were macheted-to-death, not unlike Rwanda almost sixty years later....To be black and Haitian in those several weeks in late 1937 must have been as if the gates of hell had been swung open, unleashing its demons upon defenseless bodies."
In contemporary times, the rise of nationalism and xenophobia in the Dominican Republic (DR) led to a constitutional amendment that went into effect in 2010. This retroactive law immediately rendered over 250,000 Dominicans of Haitian descent stateless.
Yet, there are countless stories of communities from both sides coming together in times of crisis. During the 2010 earthquake, many Dominicans stood in solidarity with Haitians. They did so again during the 2021 earthquake that hit the areas of Grande Anse, South, and Nippes. These narratives of solidarity, unfortunately, seem to have been forgotten as tension between the two countries is at its highest level.
Border Closing and the Mobilization of the Dominican Armed Forces
The ongoing dispute over water resources, rooted in a 1929 treaty allowing shared water utilization from the Massacre River, has reignited animosities. Both countries signed the treaty, which should be the basis for resolving any dispute peacefully.
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Still, Dominican President Luis Abinader's actions, including border closure and military mobilization, have escalated a technical issue into a full-blown international crisis. Article 10 of the treaty states that the two countries cannot alter the course of the river or the flow of its sources, but each country has the right to use the water in a just and equitable manner within its territory.
President Abinader justified his decision to close the border by claiming that "the excavation of a canal on the river in Haiti would harm Dominican farmers." However, water experts interviewed by the New York Times have said that "the Dominican government is overreacting, as there are already 11 canals on the Dominican side of the river."
Using international disputes for political mileage is a well-known tactic. In this case, President Abinader's militaristic posturing appeals to his right-wing base. As he approaches the re-election campaign, he is using this old playbook to stoke nationalist tendencies and rally voters to his party.
This new crisis has also allowed the Haitian government, which is decried by its people, to take a popular pro-Haiti stance by correctly asserting its rights over shared resources. In a press release, the Haitian government stated that it has "sovereignty over the exploitation of its natural resources and that it has the full right to use the water of the Massacre River in accordance with the 1929 treaty."
Moreover, President Abinader has issued sanctions against nine Haitian figures, calling them "provocateurs" who are involved in the canal construction. Interestingly, many of those sanctioned are former senators and ministers who did not prioritize pro-agriculture policies during their tenure. Now, they have found the perfect opportunity to rebrand themselves as champions of Haitian farmers.
The Urgent Need for De-escalation and Diplomacy
Haiti and the Dominican Republic, bound by geography and history, are inextricably linked. They share a small island, which means the two have no choice but to cooperate with each other. Yet, this situation is being exploited for political posturing by both Haitian and Dominican figures who seem more interested in gaining political mileage than genuinely addressing the concerns at hand.
As social media revolutionaries talk of taking up arms, there seems to be little concern for the repercussions of an unintentional armed conflict between the two nations. Amid high emotions, the fate of the millions of people who would be affected by such a conflict is not being considered. This includes the estimated one million or more Haitians residing in the DR, as well as the hundreds of thousands of Dominicans of Haitian descent, who face heightened risks.
During an El Dia interview, Monsignor Faustino Burgos Brisman, secretary general of the Dominican Episcopate Conference “was emphatic in calling for dismissing any warlike reaction to the situation created and urged people to avoid making decisions motivated by the agitation of irrational sectors.”
He shared that “As a Church we understand that dialogue must be sought, not to agitate the people, but to speak the truth. The people must be aware that there is no possibility of a war in this circumstance."
While this crisis presents yet another opportunity for Haiti to redefine its relationship with the Dominican Republic and minimize its dependency, the moment calls for the leaders of both countries to take steps to de-escalate the situation and resolve the dispute peacefully.