Archive for category History of the Borderlands
Why is cross-border commerce such a mess at the Haitian-Dominican border?
Posted by ONeil in History of the Borderlands on November 19th, 2009
The border at Elias Pina-Belladere
Transporting goods across the Dominican-Haitian border is a mess. Large trucks are queued from the border far down the road into the Dominican Republic. There is no clear process to the inspections. Haitian market women stream through the border with goods on their heads. Little documentation is provided to anyone.
Whereas Dominican airports quickly and efficiently process large numbers of people, the border is a mess. This mess and confusion is also a significant source of conflicts. Both Haitian and Dominican exporters complain of arbitrary fees, excessive delays, and expropriation of merchandise. Haitian market women complain of their treatment by Dominican authorities and Dominican exporters complain of their treatment by Haitian ones. The arbitrariness of the treatment stems from the lack of clear rules governing cross-border trade. Although both countries have clear rules for imports, these rules were written for the ports in the main cities and require inspections and approvals that are not available in the border–this is the result in the odd process through which the border went from being a wall to being porous. Without clear policy guidance and in violation of their own laws, each country has developed procedures to allow for goods to flow through their border. These procedures are neither documented nor fixed. This lack of transparency and consistency creates confusion for importers and makes it easy for officials to solicit bribes.
The porous border: 1987-present
Posted by ONeil in History of the Borderlands on October 22nd, 2009
CESFRONT soldier on the Pednernales-Anse a Pitres border on market day. Photos by Karl Grobl
In previous posts, we looked at how the the “Spanish Island” became divided between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, how the current border was formed, and the fifty year period when the border became a wall. Today we look at how the border went from being a wall to the sieve that it is today.
There has been a spate of news stories in both the Dominican press and later in the US press about the growing Haitian presence in the Dominican borderlands. Former President Carter invigorated this debate when he called the illegal flow of Haitians into the Dominican Republic “unstoppable.” Cross-border trade has become a significant issue for both countries and there are a growing number of Dominican investments in Haiti. Unfortunately, this growth in cross-border exchanges have happened in a policy vacuum. The rules that govern the border are still those that were developed when the border was largely closed. Therefore, most of the cross-border exchanges violate Haitian and Dominican law. Today we look at how this mess developed. Read the rest of this entry »
The border becomes a wall: 1936-1987
Posted by ONeil in History of the Borderlands on September 29th, 2009
This is part three of a four part series on the history of the Haitian-Dominican border (parts 1,2,3,4)
The border gate at the Dajabon-Ouanaminthe border crossing. Photo: Ciudades y Fronteras
Following the signature of the 1936 border treaty, the Dominican President, Rafael Truijillo, began tightening restrictions on Haitians in the Dominican Republic and stepped up deportations in an effort to reduce the number of Haitians. He visited the border region in August and September 1937, and concluded that his policy was not working. On October 2, 1937, he gave the order that resulted in the massacre of tens of thousands of Haitians in the borderlands (Eric Paul Roorda, The Dictator Next Door: The Good Neighbor Policy and the Trujillo Regime in the Dominican Republic (Durham: Duke University Press, 1998), p. 131). This massacre is brilliantly portrayed in Edwidge Danticat’s haunting fictional narrative, The Farming of Bones. Read the rest of this entry »
The birth of Haitian-Dominican border: 1777-1936
Posted by ONeil in History of the Borderlands on September 22nd, 2009
One of the concrete "bornes" that mark the Haitian-Dominican border
In last week’s post, we looked at how Gold, Cows, and Pirates led to the division of Hispaniola between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. We left off in the story with France building up the economy of its sides of the island through the development of large sugar plantations while the Spanish continued to neglect the eastern side of the island.
Gold, cows, and pirates: the story of how the island of Hispaniola (or Quisqueya) ended up split into two countries: 1492-1777
Posted by ONeil in History of the Borderlands on September 2nd, 2009
Drawing of the finale of Act I of The Pirates of Penzance, found in Wikipedia
The Amazing Hispaniola
Posted by Molano in History of the Borderlands on August 7th, 2009
Spring watering in Haiti
Ryan Alexander – Volunteer, Pedernales.
As a volunteer with PADF on the border I have had the good fortune of being able to travel within the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The following story recaps a trip that I took into Port au Prince that most certainty impacted my life positively.
On Sunday July 5th, I spent the afternoon at a natural spring/watering hole 20 minutes outside of Port au Prince, Haiti. As we entered the premises, everyone looked at us mostly because this was a Haitian hangout spot, and we weren’t Haitian. We were approached by many but understood no one, nor could they understand us. All of the Haitians soaking up the sun and swimming in the natural spring spoke Creole and not French. This created a language barrier between us and them, and at the same time may have triggered some feelings of discomfort due to their uncertainty for the reason of our presence. Read the rest of this entry »
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