Reuters, Sunday 20 February 2022
SANTO DOMINGO (Reuters) — The Dominican government on Sunday began building a wall that will cover almost half of the 392-kilometre border with Haiti, its only land neighbour, to stop irregular migration and the smuggling of goods, weapons and drugs. While the two countries share the island of Hispaniola, they are worlds apart in terms of development. Crime-plagued Haiti is one of the poorest nations in the Americas while the Dominican Republic, a popular Caribbean tourist destination, has prospered in recent decades amid marked political stability.
Dominican President Luis Abinader said at the border in the province of Dajabon: “The benefit for both nations will be of great importance.” The project aims to build a 164-kilometre wall — a 20-centimetre-thick concrete wall topped by a metal mesh, 3.9 meters high, with fibre optics for communications, movement sensors, cameras, radars and drones, 70 watchtowers and 41 access gates for patrolling. Abinader estimated the first phase would be completed within nine months. About 500,000 Haitians and tens of thousands of their descendants live in the Dominican Republic, according to the most recent immigration survey. Many Haitians cross the border clandestinely in search of work in the fields or in the construction industry. Abinader said the wall would start ahead of the anniversary of the Dominican Republic’s independence from Haiti on 27 February 1844.