On Thursday, August 8, 2019, the Malpasse / Jimaní border crossing point was still blocked by truckloads of drivers of the Haitian-Dominican transport union (Syn-trans-haïdo) of Fond Parisien, which prevent the entry into Haiti of all Dominican vehicles since August 1st.

The drivers protest against the failure of the Dominican authorities to respect the release of Orile Cenat, a Haitian driver, arrested in April 2019 following a traffic accident involving the vehicle he drove in the Dominican Republic and another vehicle where several Dominican citizens have died.

In fact, this delay in release was caused by the impossibility of the Haitian driver (not solvent) to sign for his release, a protocol of commitment to compensate the victims as provided in the Dominican law in the case of accidents.

Informed of the cause of this non-release, Jean Willio Siméon, General Secretary of "Syns-Trans-Haido", said that talks have been initiated between the union of Haitian carriers, the insurance company and the Dominican authorities. These talks allowed the union to achieve a 10% reduction on the sum of 200,000 pesos required by the Dominican insurance company.

Union officials announced that they had handed over on August 7, 2019, 160,000 pesos to the Dominican authorities against the release of Jean Orile Cenat, held in preventive prison in the Dominican Republic since April 26, 2019. Affirming that road activities will resume in Malpasse / Jimani after the release of Jean Orile Cenat and his return to Haiti.

Note that the Malpasse Haitian customs did not work, while on the side of Jimani in the Dominican Republic, the binational border market weekly (Monday and Friday) worked normally, however, small traders from Haiti have had to do the crossing on foot to stock up.

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-28400-haiti-social-truckers-of-fond-parisien-block-the-border-of-malpasse.html

HL/ HaitiLibre