Dominican Republic to close all borders with Haiti in a dispute over a canal

The Dominican Republic's president announced Thursday he would close all borders with neighboring Haiti starting Friday in a dispute over a canal on the Haitian side that would use water from a river along their frontier.

The Dominican Republic's president announced Thursday he would close all borders with neighboring Haiti starting Friday in a dispute over a canal on the Haitian side that would use water from a river along their frontier.

President Luis Abinader said air, sea and land borders would close at 6 a.m. local time Friday and would remain shuttered "until necessary," signaling that last-minute talks between the countries had failed to head off the closure. It is a rare move for the Dominican Republic, and could hit economies in both countries, though it will be most acutely felt in Haiti.

The closure is a response to the excavation of a canal by a farming group on the Haitian side that targets waters from the Massacre River, which runs along the border shared by the two countries on the island of Hispaniola.

The International Crisis Group said work on the canal had been suspended since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise, and that it resumed based on inaction by the Haitian government, "which has failed to respond to the problems created by the drought in the agricultural area of the Maribaroux plain."

The organization has seen no evidence "that suggests there are any major politicians or powerful businesspeople behind it, as the Dominican government has claimed," according to Latin American and Caribbean consultant Diego Da Rin.

Abinader in recent days suspended issuing visas to Haitians and closed the border near the northern town of Dajabon, paralyzing a key economic lifeline for Haitians who buy and sell goods there several times a week. Those who live in Haiti but work in the Dominican Republic also cross the border daily.

"They are suffering a lot here in Dajabon, and in Haiti, too, because there are a lot of goods that are spoiling," said Haitian businessman Pichelo Petijon. "There are millions of dollars in losses."