Dominican Republic President Orders Border Closure With Haiti

On Thursday, the president of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, decreed the closure of the maritime, air and land border with neighboring Haiti as of 6:00 am (local time) on and has ordered the Army, Navy and Air Force to be ready to comply with the provision.

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"The Haitian government itself has control problems in its territory. If there are uncontrollables there, they will be uncontrollable for the Haitian government, but they will not be uncontrollable for the government of the Dominican Republic," said Abinader.

According to official data, Dominican authorities had already warned Haiti earlier this week that they would close the border if it finally decided to divert the Masacre River.

Furthermore, according to Santo Domingo, diverting the Masacre River would violate Article 10 of the Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Arbitration between the two Caribbean nations.

The tweet reads, "The president of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, ordered the closure of all borders with Haiti, due to the failure to reach agreements on the conflict over access to water from the Masacre River."

The Dominican Presidency has already warned that the construction carried out by the Haitians on the river is being carried out unilaterally and by private individuals.

Moreover, in that sense, the Government of Haiti has affirmed that it neither supports nor participates in such work.

President Abinader made the decision earlier this week to resume water extraction from the Dajabón river in order to "guarantee the water supply to the national producers," although the authorities in Santo Domingo recognized that this was a short-term measure.