Dominican Republic orders the closure of the border with Haiti due to its "control problems" over the population

The president of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, has decreed the closure of the maritime, air and land border with its neighbor Haiti starting at 6:00 a.m. (local time) on Friday and has ordered the Army, Navy and Air Force to be prepared to comply with the provision.

“The Haitian Government itself has control problems in its territory. If there are uncontrollable things there, they will be uncontrollable for the Haitian Government, but they will not be uncontrollable for the Government of the Dominican Republic,” Abinader said, according to the Dominican newspaper Listín Diario.

At the beginning of the week, the Dominican authorities already threatened Haiti with closing the border if it finally decided to divert the Masacre River, which, according to Santo Domingo, would violate Article 10 of the Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Arbitration between both Caribbean nations.

They have already warned that the construction carried out by Haitians in the river is being carried out unilaterally and by private individuals.. However, the Government of Haiti has stated that it neither supports nor participates in said work.

At the beginning of the week, President Abinader made the decision to resume the extraction of water from the Dajabón River in order to “guarantee the supply of water to national producers,” although the Santo Domingo authorities recognized that this was a short-term measure.