User:KEDstudent/Dominican Republic–Haiti relations

The closure (and militarization) of the border with Haiti is retaliation for the construction of the irrigation canal Pittobert in the binational river known as Dajabón or Masacre. The Dominican government alleges the construction of the Pittobert irrigation canal in Haiti violates the 1929 Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Arbitration between DR and Haiti. This stance is based on the non-consultative nature of the canal and the fact its plans involve a diversion of the binational river, which forms the entire northernmost part of the border between the Dominican Republic and Haiti.The canal was designed in 2011 by Cuban state company DINVAI. According to the North American Congress on Latin America(NACLA), “A former director of the INDHRI stated that the Haitian State's requests to use water from the binational river for irrigation were rejected in 2013, 2015 and 2017.” In 2018, the canal’s construction began. In April of 2021, Dominican soldiers gained illegal entrance into Haiti to stop the construction. The Dominican government applied pressure with threats, and the work was stopped shortly before the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. Then, in August 2023, a peasant movement and the Assembly of Communal Sections restarted construction(ASEC). Hundreds of Haitians volunteered as workers and held mass vigils. Jesuit priests and social and leftist organizations who work on the Dominican border have both spoken out in favor of fair use of the Masacre River water by both countries. They also denounced mining exploitation plans that consume and contaminate enormous amounts of water, set to take place in the same Dominican border province of Dajabón(as the Pittobert irrigation canal)(Rodriguez, 2023).