Birdwatching in the Dominican-Haitian Borderlands
Tucked high in the mountains near the Jimaní-Malpasse border crossing is an ecological campground that caters to birdwatchers. Although this part of the border is very dry and barren, the mountains are lush and green.
In the video below, Kate describes the birds that can be seen in the area:
Why is cross-border commerce such a mess at the Haitian-Dominican border?
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.
Dominican businesses promoting cooperation with Haiti
New flyer from the mobile telephone company Orange promoting their service to Haiti
Today was an odd day for news on relations between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. On one hand, the reporting of interview that the Secretary General of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza, gave to a local newspaper focused on the “heavy weight” that Haitian migration imposed on the Dominican Republic (link to story in Spanish). On the other hand, Haitian and Dominican business leaders jointly announced a plan to increase binational cooperation.
However, my favorite item of the day was the flyer that the mobile phone company, Orange, is handing out in the Dominican border towns (shown above) that highlights their promotion of cheap phone calls to Haiti–”You can call Haiti for the same price as a local call.” This is quite a change from the normal pricing which has phone calls to Haiti at four times the cost of a local call. Not only is this a great message of solidarity, it is also accompanied by a great image.
The new progress report for the Our Border Program
We’ve just published our semi-annual progress report [pdf file, 2.2MB). This twenty-two page report includes a description of the background behind our project, our current activities, and our future plans. Although it was written primarily for our donors, we are happy to share it with anyone interested.
The Binational Musician
Charlys on the Sax
Megan Rounseville, Volunteer
UPDATE: The Peace Corps Volunteers that worked with Charly have developed a website highlighting his school and are now collecting donations to support it through paypal.
I first met Charlys when he came to the Small Business Start-up Skills class I taught as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican border town of Pedernales. Although a Dominican national, he felt strongly his Haitian roots. Three times a week he would cross the bridge into the Haitian town of Anse-a-Pitre. He would leave the Dominican community of Pedernales, where he lived in a cement house with running water and electricity and cross the border into the Haitian town of Anse-a-Pitre where nearly everyone lived in basic houses with no utilities and little employment. The border divided the two realities that defined who Charlys was—both Haitian and Dominican blood flowed in his veins.
The porous border: 1987-present
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 »
Is the Dominican Haitian border as unique as we think it is?
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?
The border becomes a wall: 1936-1987
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 »
