Santo Domingo.– The Government of the Dominican Republic will continue with the construction of the wall in the border with Haiti In this new four-year period, said the Dominican Minister of the Presidency this Friday, Jose Ignacio Paliza.
“You can be sure that the government of President (Luis) Abinader will maintain the wall construction project for the next four years because it helps, it collaborates greatly with the efforts made by the Ministry of Defense, to protect the border, to protect our territory,” Paliza said when visiting a free trade zone industrial park in the border area.
He said that this also contributes to “formalizing the commercial exchanges that usually occur between both countries.”
After pointing out that the current phase of the perimeter fence in the border area of Dajabón (northwest of the Dominican Republic) should be inaugurated in the next few months, Paliza assured that this is “a project that will not be completed.”
“The Ministry of Defense is already making preparations for this wall, which entails larger extensions in terms of linear distances,” he said.
In this way, he explained, cattle theft, among other actions, will be avoided and national security will be contributed to.
With this smart fence between the two countries, whose construction began in 2021, the Dominican Republic seeks to curb irregular immigration and control drug and arms trafficking, as well as ensure security. The Dominican Republic and Haiti, which share the island of Hispaniola and have a border of almost 400 kilometers, have historically had a complex relationship marked by ups and downs.
A year ago, relations suffered a major deterioration due to the construction by Haiti of a canal in a bordering river, which the Dominican government called illegal and led it to impose a series of measures such as the complete closure of the borders or the suspension of the issuance of visas to Haitian citizens, among others.
