Pedernales - Anse a Pitre Border. Photo by Andy Wilson.

By Sebastian Molano

Those of us who have had the privilege of knowing the area which geographically divides Haiti and the Dominican Republic are continually intoxicated with the sensation of experimenting with a reality completely different from anywhere else on earth. Certainly the isolated situation of these two nations, the undeniable reality of Haiti and the possibility of intervening in the dynamics of the frontier from the Dominican side, can both contribute to and exacerbate the existing conditions of this border.

However, is the Dominican Haitian border as unique as we think it is?

It is true that there is a unique geography on the island of Hispaniola, or Quisqueya, which makes this corner of the Caribbean a very special place, with its 29,521 sq miles and two nations, with very different cultures, languages and social customs. This peculiarity makes the interaction and exchanges between these two groups very enriching, with a continuous feedback loop, which does not lose its distinct national character. One can smell, touch and sense and feel this fruit of intercultural exchange.

Owing to its isolation, the island has turned its attention to the outside, ignoring the 243 mile border which marks the political dividing line between the two states. This is not a function of the recent history of the two states but one of the prevailing characteristics of their shared history.

Put in this context, the border presents a great asymmetry. The reality of Haiti, continually described as the poorest country in the hemisphere, presents a violent contrast to the border communities in the Dominican Republic. It makes us forget that these regions are the poorest of the Dominican Republic. Because of this, the border communities of Haiti are not the object of a major fight against poverty, since the dynamic commerce of cross border trade opens up the doors to earnings and to possibilities which are unthinkable in other parts of the country.

The communities on the Haitian side of the border have a population four times larger than their Dominican counterparts. This is due to the economic opportunities (formal and informal) which are available thanks to trading opportunities (which we will discuss further in the next post). The Dominican side of the border suffers a continuous exodus of its population to the more prosperous cities, which offer greater educational opportunities and better paying jobs. The border region shares the common characteristic of being neglected by both countries. Some voices are heard observing that it is the border where the nation begins and ends, others speak of the opportunities available here. Some inevitably question whether the State has indeed even arrived in this area.

The possibility of inserting oneself into the dynamics of the border from the Dominican side brings with it a vision with certain slant which is difficult to ignore; an inherited way of thinking which bears the face of a coin. The socio-historic construction has given rise to terms used in daily life and which themselves confirm an interesting reality “those of that side” (which is applied in various contexts), “And you, what are going to the border to look for? Over there, there is no one.”  “It is a peaceful invasion” or, one of my favorites, referring to the gastronomical preferences of the neighbors, “It is said that the Haitians eat children.”

Added to this, the capacity to understand (although true comprehension takes some time) the language of one side of the border, holds one back from achieving the same competence on the other side of the border. This restricts our capacity to evaluate a situation in an objective manner and hinders the process of evaluation which is linked to the experience, values, and visions of the observer and not on what really happened.

In the border region between these two countries there is confluence of situations which have arisen due to the realities previously described along with others: high rates of migration from lesser to developed nations to the more affluent nation which offer more opportunities as well as high costs of transactions due to the informality of commerce, corruption, problems of public health, access and use of medical facilities, including undocumented migrants in the educational system, and the proliferation of the trafficking of persons and arms, among other things. In a recent visit to the border between Ounaminthe- Dajabon, the former president of the United States, Jimmy Carter, stated that it would be impossible for the Dominican Republic to stop Haitian immigration. His statement was met with little reaction either pro or con.

This border is a microcosm of the development challenges which are present along borders far and wide across the world. Some have a greater complexity than others but they all share a common factor: the interaction of people under unequal living conditions who are searching to improve their standard of living.

Due to its insular situation, the tendency to think that this island is the world has given this particular border area a unique and special character. It has been necessary to construct a mantle of mystery and mysticism over this Black nation which rises up beyond the limits of the nation. Equally, from the other side, the country which welcomes thousands of Haitian immigrants has been vilified and portrayed in an unjust manner as a place where they are mistreated and attacked. While these voices are not constant, they completely ignore the reality that Dominicans and Haitians live here together, equally enriching one another.

Many of the shared spaces between these two people have a great distance in the day to day relations between Dominicans and Haitians. But in the border, there is a strip of land where the good relations and solidarity are the rule rather than the exception. In spite of this, there are many who wish to reaffirm that there is discord on the border, selling an image that does not correspond to the reality, generating a false perception in speeches lubricated with little comprehension of the complex and fascinating frontier reality.

The context described previously can apply to the great majority of the international borders-what varies is the degree of asymmetry and the complexity of the problems. The centers of power within a nation control the borders, directing attention to the principal cities and only recalling the borders areas in order to draw from them whatever benefits they can report, as a result of the institutional weakness, the informality, and the chaos.

Facing this panorama, a view of another reality can give us new answers and offer additional elements to rethink the way in which we interact and we build our border. To build on this intention, we have carried out this small report in video on the border between United States and Mexico, a region that illustrates the situation that is presented between two countries with different realities that share a tie of inseparable union: their border.

A special thanks to Elizabeth Eames Roebling for translating this article from the original Spanish version.

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