The Dominican government on Sunday began building a wall that is to cover almost half of the 392km border with Haiti, its only land neighbor, to stop irregular migration and the smuggling of goods, weapons and drugs.
While the two countries share the island of Hispaniola, they are worlds apart in terms of development. Crime-plagued Haiti is one of the poorest nations in the Americas, while the Dominican Republic, a popular Caribbean tourist destination, has prospered in the past few decades amid marked political stability.
Many Haitians cross the border clandestinely in search of work in the fields or in the construction industry in the Dominican Republic.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“The benefit for both nations will be of great importance,” Dominican President Luis Abinader said shortly before pushing the button to begin pouring concrete into the foundations of what is to be the wall in Dajabon Province, about 230km northwest of the capital.
About 500,000 Haitians and tens of thousands of their descendents live in the Dominican Republic, a Spanish-speaking nation of about 11 million people, the most recent immigration survey conducted in 2018 showed.
Abinader predicted that the border wall would reduce the smuggling of commercial goods, weapons and help fight organized crime in both nations.
He started the project to build a 164km wall ahead of the anniversary of the Dominican Republic’s independence from Haiti on Feb. 27, 1844.
Abinader said the first phase of the project would be completed within nine months at the latest.
The 20cm-thick concrete wall topped by a metal mesh is to be 3.9m-high and have fiber optics for communications, movement sensors, cameras, radars and drones.
The project also includes the construction of 70 watchtowers and 41 access gates for patrolling.
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