Haiti: Government Says Border River Canal Must Be Built

On Thursday, the Haitian government reaffirmed that the construction of the controversial canal on the Masacre River, this country's natural border with the Dominican Republic, must go ahead and has decided to support the works, despite the conflict that has arisen with Santo Domingo.

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"Yes, the canal must be built. Yes, efforts must be made so that the water reaches the canals as it should. Yes, it is through solidarity and unity that the land of (the Maribahoux plain) can be irrigated," the Haitian Ministry of Agriculture said Thursday in a statement.

The note adds that "the ministry has decided to support the construction of the canal, as a way to ensure that technical standards are met and that it does not have an impact on the lives of people and plantations" of the Maribahoux plain.

In addition, the department denies the versions that it would have shared a secret document with the Dominican Republic that would give this country the reason about its position on the canal, whose construction has led the Dominican president, Luis Abinader, to adopt various measures, including the total closure of the borders between the two countries since last Friday.

"The Ministry denies this rumor, which has no basis whatsoever," indicates the portfolio, which assures that it always defends positions that favor the farmers of the Maribahoux plain.

Therefore, it stresses, "in all meetings, the ministry has always defended Haiti's right to benefit in a balanced way from the resources it shares with its Dominican neighbor."

In this regard, steps are being taken through the Northeast Departmental Directorate to accompany the construction of the canal, as requested by the Government in a statement on September 13.

Furthermore, the Department of Agriculture also stated that it is willing to sit down "with all the sectors involved in the construction of the canal for a better planning of the works" and adds: "The mobilization is an expression of the solidarity and patriotism of a population that wants to show the world that Haiti is free."

The canal works have generated a crisis with the Dominican Republic, which, in addition to closing the borders, decided to halt the issuance of visas to Haitians, prohibit the entry of "the promoters" of the controversial project, build a dam, start the reactivation works of a water intake in the border river (started on Wednesday) and reinforce the military presence in the demarcation zones.

For the Dominican government, the construction of the canal on the Haitian side of the river contravenes the Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Arbitration of 1929 and the Protocol of Revision of 1936, whose articles state that "both contracting parties undertake not to carry out or consent to any work likely to change the current of the river or to alter the product of the sources of the same."