The border at Elias Pina-Belladere

Daniel O’Neil

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.

Last year, we convinced the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to give us a grant to study this mess. We told them that we wanted to find out the rules that govern imports and exports on both sides so that we can publish them in Creole and Spanish. We figured if everyone knew what the rules were; it would be easier to insist on fair treatment. USAID agreed and we conducted the study. Rather than finding a clear set of rules that we could publish, we found a complicated set of requirements which could not be fulfilled by the officials in the border region.

On the Dominican side, we found that most of the goods that Haitians are importing are prohibitied by different rule:

• Animals: Can only be imported through the airport and seaport in Santo Domingo as per law 43-55.
• Fruits: Can only be imported through either Santo Domingo or Puerto Plata as per resolution 84-96 from the Secretary of State for Agriculture (SEA).
• Vegetables: Prohibited except with specific authorization from the SEA which is no available in the border.
• Beans and chickpeas: Prohibited except with specific authorization from the SEA which is no available in the border.
• Used textiles (re-exported from the United States): Prohibited as per law 458-73.
• Rice (re-exported from the United States and elsewhere): Prohibited except with specific authorization from the SEA, which is not available in the border.

The Dominican government also prohibits the re-export of fuel. The full report can be downloaded by clicking here (PDF document in Spanish).

The Haitian government does not have specific laws that ban certain products. Instead, the process for clearing customs is very complicated and requires many approvals that are not available in the border. They also require that payment be made only at the Banque de la République d’Haiti which does not have any offices in the borderlands.

We went back to our donor and said that we had a problem. We couldn’t publish a simple guide to importing and exporting across the Haitian-Dominican border because too much of the commerce is illegal. Rather than helping to facilitate cross-border trade, our study would provide ammunition for officials seeking bribes.

As we discussed our findings with our donor, the Trade Office of the Organization of American States, and representatives from both governments; we came to realize that the path towards transparent trade will be a complicated one. Both countries will need to revise their own laws and regulations to create a workable structure that could be implemented at the border. However, before they can revise their laws, both countries need to understand the current flow of goods across the border and to decide how they wish to manage it.

Improving management of commerce is a win-win situation for both countries. The governments’ should be able to recover more customs duties from a larger flow of legitimate goods. Exporters should be able to export more efficiently. Consumers in both countries would be better protected by a better phytosanitary controls. Finally, by reducing the amount of legitimate goods that are smuggled  across the border, the officials in both countries will be better able to focus on the smuggling that threatens national security—that of drugs and weapons.

In my next series of posts, I will explore how the border currently works, what goods are imported and exported, and finally the steps that both countries would need to take to establish fair and transparent rules for managing cross-border commerce.

We are helping the Haitian government to build a new complex at the Belladere-Elias Pina border that will allow Haitian officials to properly supervise this border crossing

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.

As we concluded in the previous post, the reopening of the border in 1987 was to have promoted a new era of cross-border cooperation. The Haitian dictator, Jean-Claude Duvalier (“Baby Doc”) had fled Haiti and the country was developing a new constitution to put Haiti firmly on the path of democracy. Unfortunately, that path to democracy was far trickier than anyone had anticipated. Haiti was not able to hold fair elections until 1991. These elections brought Aristide to power and he was overthrown after only seven months in office leading to a OAS-imposed embargo against the military junta that ran the government. Aristide was restored to office in 1994, but the Haitian government seemed to face a continual string of crisis that prevented it from focusing on broader policy issues. (A report by the IMF cites this lack of progress on policy reform as the fundamental reason that Haiti is so much poorer than the Dominican Republic.)

On the Dominican side, President Balaguer came back to power in 1986 where he remained until he finally stepped aside in 1996. After the OAS had imposed its embargo against Haiti in 1991, the Haitian-Dominican border became the weak link in the cordon around Haiti when it openly allowed for goods to be sold across the border. When the embargo was lifted in 1994, the Dominican government allowed the trade to continue. Neither country ever developed any new policies or regulations to control the flow across the border.  As a result, a series of Dominican laws and regulations ban most exports from Haiti:

• Law 4030-55 stipulates that animals can only be imported in the Dominican Republic through Santo Domingo.
• Law 4990-58 stipulates that fruits or vegetables can only be imported if accompanied by a fitosanitary certificate from the country of origin (not available on the Haitian side of the border) accompanied by a certified non-objection from the Dominican Ministry of Agriculture (not available on the Dominican side of the border).
• Law 458-73 prohibits the importation of used clothing.
• Decree 505-99 stipulates that rice can only be imported by licensed importers with a specific permit and based on national need. No permit has ever been issued for the importation of rice across the Haitian border.

During the late 1990’s during the first terms of Presidents Fernandez and Preval, the two governments relaunched the Bilateral Mixed Commission. Through a series of meetings held between 1996 and 2000, they developed various memorandums of understanding on migration, repatriation, and tourism, but none related to trade. These efforts ended with the collapse of the Aristide government in 2004. There has been talk of relaunching the commission, but it has yet to happen.

Despite the lack of progress on policy or regulations, there have been significant changes in how the border functions.

On the Haitian side, two events coalesced to focus the government’s attention on the border. The first was the creation of the bicameral parliamentary commission for the development of the border. PADF is proud to have played a key role in bringing together the parliamentarians and helping them to understand the importance of the border region. At the same time, there was a strike by the Haitian and Dominican transporters against the higher customs tariff’s being charged at the Malpasse border crossing. In early 2006, the entire staff of the customs office in Malpasse was replaced. In the first month, the new management was able to double the customs receipts. The second month, he doubled them again. The transporters complained that these tariffs were unfair and went on strike. Initially the strike was pacific, but by August, they began burning tires and throwing rocks at any passing vehicles and thereby closed the main road between Santo Domingo and Port-au-Prince. The Parliamentarians investigated the problems and reported back to President Preval that the new director was doing his job properly. Finally, in September, the MINUSTAH sent their forces to reopen the road. The Haitian government went on to replace all of the customs directors along the border and at the sea ports. As a result, the Haitian government has succeeded in dramatically increasing all of its customs revenues. The interest of the parliamentarians in the border region coupled with the increased customs revenues gave the Haitian government the incentive to begin investing in its borderlands.

On the Dominican side, the biggest change came from the creation of a new military force for the border. Based on his interest in professionalizing the control of the border and the recommendations made by the US Southern Command, President Fernandez created the Cuerpo Especializado Fronterizo (the Specialized Corps for the Border or CESFRONT) in August 2006 with the mandate of enforcing the government’s policy towards the border. When they took control of the border on September 27, 2007, they attempted to do just that. They prevented any foreigner without a proper passport and visa from crossing the border and closed the border markets. Naturally, this caused quite an uproar on both sides of the border, especially in Dajabón. Eventually, the CESFRONT sat down with the mayor of Dajabón and members of the local civil society to negotiate new rules to manage the market. These included the restriction that Haitians vendors could not arrive the night before the market as had been the practice and that the market had to be closed before the border closed.

This conflict highlights the main problem that faces the border today. Cross-border trade has become very important for both countries, yet it operates in a policy vacuum. Without clear rules, the local authorities and the military are forced to make them up as they go along–a situation ripe for corruption and abuse. Both countries have an economic and security interest in properly managing their border. In an upcoming post, we’ll look at what the two countries need to do to improve the management of their border.

Daniel J. O’Neil

The History Series:

Part 1: Gold, cows, and pirates: the story of the of how the island of Hispaniola (or Quisqueya) ended up split into two countries: 1492-1777

Part 2: The birth of the Haitian-Dominican border: 1777-1936

Part 3: The border becomes a wall: 1936-1987

Part 4: The porous border: 1987-present

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.

President Truijillo then began a policy of “Dominicanizing” and strengthening the border. He created new provinces with the border towns as the provincial capitals (see the table below), built a string of military observation points along the border, and providing incentives for Dominicans to live in the border region.

The origin of the main Dominican border provinces. Source: http://www.jmarcano.com/mipais/indice.html#indice

The importance of a strong border region is the third section of the 1955 Constitution with phrasing which has been repeated in every subsequent revision of the constitution including the current 2002 version:

SECTION III: Economic and Social Regime in the Border

Art. 7.—It is declared of supreme and permanent national interest the economic and social development of the territory of the Republic the length of the border line, as with the diffusion of the culture and the religious tradition of the Dominican people. The agricultural and industrial improvement of the border rivers will continue, regulated based on the principals consecrated in the article 6 of the Protocol of Revision of the 1936 Treaty of the Border of 1929 and the article 10 of the Treaty of Peace, Amnesty, and Arbitrage of 1929.[1]
(source: http://www.consultapopular.gov.do/reformas-anteriores.html ):

On the Haitian side, the government did little to reorganize the territories to reflect the new division of the island. As a result, the Department of the West is on the eastern side of the country below the Department of the Northeast and above the Department of the Southeast. None of the border towns are departmental capitals and, with a brief exception in the 1940’s, there was little government investment or focus on the border region until recently.

Map of the Haitian Departments, source: www.geology.com

Although Haiti did not reorganize its geographic divisions, President Dumarais Estimé (Haitian President from 1946-1950) did start the process of strengthening the border in 1948:

Another Estimé project was the rebuilding of the border town of Belladère opposite Elias Pina, the town that Trujillo had rebuilt on the Dominican side of the border. Belladère was on the main road from Port-au-Prince to the Dominican Republic.  At a cost of $600,000 Estimé paved the main street, put in a new hotel and new homes, supplied them with electricity and drinking water.  It apparently made Trujillo unhappy to see such progress next door. In opposition, he rerouted Dominican traffic through the town of Jimaní, a more southern border exit, and Belladère was left isolated. (Diderich and Burt, p62)

Belladère remained a relic of its former glory until 2008 when the Haitian government undertook an ambitious project to repave the town streets, restore electricity, and rebuild the public buildings.

After the fall of the Trujillos in 1962 and the election of Juan Bosch as President in the Dominican Republic, anti-Duvalier forces began using the Dominican Republic as a base in their plots against the Haitian President. On April 26, 1963, the year that President Francois Duvalier’s term was to end, a former supporter of Duvalier shot the bodyguards and driver of Duvalier’s two children, Jean-Claude (age 11) and Simone (age 14) while the children were being dropped off at school. One of the suspects of the shooting took asylum in the Dominican Ambassador’s house. President Duvalier sent his Presidential guard after the suspects. The guard and some Tonton Macoutes forced their way into the Dominican Embassy and then into the yard of the Dominican Ambassador’s residence and stayed (Diderich and Burt, p192-205).

The following day, President Bosch issued an ultimatum to President Duvalier stating that if he did not withdraw the Haitian forces from Dominican embassy, the Dominican Republic would invade Haiti. Over the next several days as tensions increased, President Bosch worked with his army and air force to develop an invasion plan. The OAS was called in to investigate. While the investigation went on, the war fever died down in the Dominican Republic and the invasion never happened. Anti-Duvalier forces continued to work out of the Dominican Republic through the rest of President Bosch’s term and the Dominican civil war until the former Trujilloista, Joaquín Balaguer, won the Presidential elections in 1966.

From 1966 until the fall of the Duvalier government in 1986, the border remained open to trade, but little trade occurred. Although there were no paved roads to the border on the Haitian side, both countries maintained customs and migration facilities at the main border crossings. In an effort to stimulate trade, the governments of Presidents Antonio Guzmán Fernández and Jean-Claude Duvalier negotiated a free trade agreement in 1979. This agreement was ratified by the Dominican parliament in 1981, but never by the Haitian parliament.

Summary of the Commercial Agreement between the Dominican Republic and Haiti (December 13, 1979)

Article 1 states; “The two parties have decided to create, under this present agreement, a free trade zone between both countries for products that originate in their respective territories.” The accord provides for the elimination of quotas and the exoneration on all import taxes. (Art. 2)

The agreement applies only to products that are totally produced within the country of origin (Haiti or the Dominican Republic) or those that have an added value of at least 35% (Art. 8 ) with the exception of the production within free trade zones (Art. 5). Additionally, each country has excluded a short list of products. For the Dominican Republic, these were ceramics, refined salt, white cement, and pharmaceutical products. For Haiti, these were sisal wire, fruit juice (guyaba, pineapple, and mango) and artisanal products (except textiles). The agreement also prohibits the re-exportation of products that benefited from these exemptions (Art. 10).

The agreement stipulates that the commercial operations must follow each country’s procedures and requirements for customs, diplomatic, health and any other non-tariff barriers (Art. 7).

During this period, trade flows was roughly equal in both directions. For example, in 1983, the Dominican Republic exported to Haiti $US 5.4 million and imported more than $US 11 million. (Frontera en Transición, Dilla, 2007). During the collapse of the Duvalier regime in 1986, the Dominican closed the border for security reasons.

On March 13, 1987, the Foreign Ministers from the Haitian and Dominican governments signed an agreement [2] to reopen the Haitian-Dominican border with a promise to promote the open border “in a regular manner, the transit of people, personal effects through the border points of Dajabon-Ouanmainthe and Malpasse-Jimani” (source: El Nuevo Herald, March 29, 1987). However, for the next twenty years, the government in Haiti struggled with crisis after crisis and neither country focused on developing rules and procedures for the border region. Paradoxically, it was during one of Haiti’s greatest crisis, the time following the 1991 coup against President Aristide, that cross-border trade began to grow.

Part 4 will cover the modern situation on the Haitian-Dominican border.

Daniel J. O’Neil

The History Series:

Part 1: Gold, cows, and pirates: the story of the of how the island of Hispaniola (or Quisqueya) ended up split into two countries: 1492-1777

Part 2: The birth of the Haitian-Dominican border: 1777-1936

Part 3: The border becomes a wall: 1936-1987

Part 4: The porous border: 1987-present

[2] We were unable to locate this agreement, but did talk with a member of the commission to verify its existence.

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.

The French success came from their participation in the infamous, but very profitable, triangular trade: manufactured goods from Europe were sent to Africa in exchange for slaves, slaves were sent to the Caribbean, and the sugar and rum produced with their labor was sold back to Europe. In 1789, just before the outbreak of the wars on Hispaniola, the French colony of Saint Dominque was the richest colony in the world. It produced 40% of the world’s sugar—more than all of the British colonies combined.  The population of the colony had swelled to include 430,000 black slaves, 30,000 Europeans and 25,000 of mixed descent (mulattos). In the Spanish colony, the population was only around 125,000, mainly of European decent but including some slaves. Ships were sailing on a regular basis between five ports in the French colony and Europe while only one ship a month sailing between Europe and Santo Domingo.

The revolutionary war in the French colony began as a power struggle between the ruling classes in 1788 and later flared into a slave revolt. The 16 year war destroyed Haiti’s economy and the brutal fighting left deep scars. Haiti’s first ruler, General Dessaline had been a field slave and hated his former masters. Through his constitution of 1806, he declared that no white could own land (Article 27) and declared the entire island to be part of the Republic of Haiti. His sudden death and the infighting between his successors led to a two decade-long power struggle and delayed any attempt to control the rest of the island.

In 1821, as Haiti was emerging from its internal power struggle, the Dominican Republic simply declared its independence and no one objected. The leader of the movement, Nuñez de Cacerez wanted to have the newly independent country join the Gran Colombia that was being established in South America by General Simon Bolivar. However, other leaders preferred to align the new country with Haiti. Within a year of the Dominican independence and on the pretext of an invitation from the Govenor of Santiago, Haitian troops were sent to occupy the former Spanish colony.

The Haitian domination of the island lasted for 22 years. The Haitian government conscripted the Dominican youth into the army and used this army to control the country. They abolished slavery and redistributed State and church land. President Boyer also negotiated recognition of Haiti’s independence by France. This involved a substantial payment that was not fully paid off until 1947. To begin payment of this debt, he encouraged heavy logging of the forests and imposed stiff taxes on the entire island. Beginning in the 1830’s, Juan Pablo Duarte began organizing a clandestine opposition to the Haitian presence that ultimately resulted in the independence of the Dominican Republic on February 27, 1844 (February 27^th is celebrated as the Dominican Independence Day).

Between 1844 and 1861, Haitian armies invaded the Dominican Republic several times. Finally in 1861, the Dominican President, Pedro Santana, negotiated the return of the Dominican Republic to the status of a colony of Spain—the only time in history that a free country voluntarily gave up its freedom.  Shortly after losing their independence, the Dominicans began pushing to restore it. With help from the Haitian government, the Dominican Republic won its independence on August 16, 1865 (August 16 is celebrated as Dominican Restoration Day).

In 1874, thirty years after the Dominican Republic won its independence from Haiti, the two countries finally signed and ratified a formal peace treaty. The treaty also provided for free access to each other’s ports (Article 5) and free trade for national production that is exported across the border (Article 10). The free trade provisions had a sunset provision of 25 years (Article 39), but remained in force until the United States took over customs collection in both countries in the early 1900’s and required the countries to collect customs equally at all of their ports.

Although the 1874 treaty formalized the relations between the two countries, it did not define the border. Up until the early 1900’s the border was only fixed in the far north (Massacre River) and the far south (Pedernales or Anse-a-Pitre River). The 1777 Treaty of Aranjuez , signed by the French and Spanish, had defined the border to begin and end at these points, but it bowed significantly to the west in the middle, keeping most of the middle of the island in Spanish hands. After the Haitian occupation of the island, Haitians had settled in this area and the Haitian government continued to administer it. The first treaty that sought to define a new border was not signed until 1929, during occupation of both Haiti and the Dominican Republic by the United States, and then only after the Dominican Republic had changed its constitution to renounce its claims on the border that had been defined in the 1777 treaty and Haiti changed its constitution to drop claims on the entire island.  The 1929 treaty and the clarifications in the 1936 revision were based partially on the idea that the county, whose citizens constituted the majority in an area, should be given jurisdiction for that area. The end result of these negotiations was that the Dominican government gave up rights to a significant amount of territory.

The current border is shown as a black, solid line while the border established by the 1777 treaty is approximated by the dotted line.

In the next installment, we’ll look at the Dominican government’s policy of strengthening its border lands and the Haitian government’s historic neglect of the region.

slaves; slaves were sent to Haiti; and the sugar and rum produced with their labor was sold back to Europe.

Drawing of the finale of Act I of The Pirates of Penzance, found in Wikipedia

In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue

When Christopher Columbus claimed the Spanish Island (Isla Española or Hispaniola), it was to have been their capital in the new world—hence the founding of the first university and the construction of the first Cathedral of the Americas in Santo Domingo. However, in less than 200 years, the little gold that had been found was gone. Spain’s interest turned to its newer, richer colonies in Central and South America. However, the Spanish crown maintained a tight monopoly on trade with Hispaniola.

By the 16th Century, Spanish ships were regularly traveling back and forth from the wealthy Central and South American Colonies and Spain, but they rarely stopping in Hispaniola. The Spanish Galleons returning home laden with gold and silver became prime targets of Spain’s enemies: the English, Dutch and French. These pirates, as they were considered by Spain, prowled the Caribbean waters looking for the returning ships.  While the pirates were waiting around the Caribbean, they of course needed supplies.

Meanwhile the Hispaniola residents had taken up farming. Since the efforts to enslave the local Indians had resulted in the deaths of the Indians and few slaves had been imported from Africa, the Spanish turned to cattle ranching (cows), which required relatively little labor. Lacking any other market for their cattle, the Spanish settlers began selling beef and leather to the passing ships, to the pirates. The Spanish authorities were, or course, strongly opposed to this trade. In a failed attempt to block this trade, the authorities made the decision that ultimately caused them to lose a third of the island: in 1605 they ordered all of the colonists to resettle to the areas around the towns of Santiago and the capital. This decision caused two serious consequences. First, it further impoverished the colony since the settlers could not move with all of their cattle. Secondly, the 100,000 cattle that were abandoned throughout the North became easy targets for the pirates–the pirates were now able to round-up cattle and no longer needed to pay for them.

Over time, these temporary raiding camps became permanent settlements. The Spanish authorities would hear of them and send soldiers to attack. The soldiers would succeed in destroying the settlement and chasing away the pirates and then would return to Santo Domingo. It was for one of these massacres of pirates that the river that currently forms the northern border with Haiti, the Massacre River, was named.

Eventually, the French pirates, established a presence on Tortuga island, off the north coast, that was too strong for the Spanish to dislodge. From this base, they colonized the north-western portion of the island. Finally, as part of the end of the War of the Grand Alliance, Spain acknowledged France’s presence on the western end of the island in the Treaty of Rsywick (1697). The border was formalized in the treaty of the Treaty of Aranjuez (1777).

By the end of the 18th Century, France had control of the Western portion of Hispaniola, while Spain controlled the eastern two-thirds. Spain continued its policy of neglecting Santo Domingo in favor of its more wealthy central and South American colonies. France, without easy access to gold, looking for other means to get rich, developed large plantations of sugar cane using slave labor imported from Africa. They were very successful with the plantations and developed the infamous, but very profitable triangular trade: manufactured goods were sent to Africa in exchange for slaves; slaves were sent to Haiti; and the sugar and rum produced with their labor was sold back to Europe.