The local authorities of Ouanaminthe (North-East of Haiti), put pressure on Friday December 1st, 2023 to maintain the closure of the border with the Dominican Republic, following the incident of November 28 where individuals sawed the chains which maintained closed the border gate on the Haitian side, allowing Haitians to transport large quantities of goods to Haiti in trucks and 3-wheel motorcycles for a few hours before the intervention of Haitian police authorities and the installation of new chains.

Josélite Mondestin, the Deputy Mayor of Ouanaminthe insisted on the need to establish new bases for binational trade, after Santo Domingo decided in mid-September to unilaterally close the border in retaliation for the construction of a canal irrigation on the Haitian side in the shared Massacre River.

"To reopen the border, they will have to pass over my body," declared Luma Démétrius, Mayor of Ouanaminthe, who claims to have received death threats.

The Haitian authorities maintain their conditions for reopening the border, including the resumption of delivery and the reduction of the price for traders affected by the partial fire of the Dajabón market https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-40989-icihaiti-dajabon-market-fire-haitian-merchants-demand-50-million-pesos-in-compensation.html and reduction of accommodation costs

If tension reigns and trade is almost impossible in the North, in the South despite some shortcomings in the market structure and the absence of certain Haitian products, a considerable flow of Haitian sellers and buyers was observed after the reopening of the bilateral market in Pedernales

In addition to the exchange of products, trucks of used clothing from the free zone were in the parking lot... Various goods loaded on three-wheeled motorcycles crossed the border without incident towards Anse-à-Pitre with goods purchased in Pedernales without being worried by the Haitian authorities without knowing why

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SL/ HaitiLibre