The announcement on February 27, 2021 by Dominican President Luis Abinader of the construction of a double physical and technological fence at the border to protect the most vulnerable border areas in order to improve security and controls https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-33130-haiti-flash-president-abinader-announces-the-construction-of-a-double-fence-at-the-border.html has been strongly criticized by many Haitians who speak of a wall, while President Abinader never pronounced the word "wall".

But who remembers that Haiti was the first to build a concrete wall at the border due to the desire of the Haitian Government to control smuggling through the Province of Elías Piña and to force the payment of customs duties on goods coming from the Dominican territory who entered Haiti.

To this end, in October 2013, the Government of Michel Martelly had a concrete wall built in the community of Carrizal alleging the need to control the traffic of goods and requiring the payment of customs tariffs for cross-border trade. This action was accompanied by a proposal to close all border crossings and to leave only the five border posts where there are formal customs posts, a proposal that never came to fruition.

The wall was built on Haitian territory in a few weeks to block the informal passages through which people could enter Haitian territory irregularly, in particular for smuggling. Near this wall, a building was constructed to house the customs and migration offices, which are still in use today.

The concrete wall is 600 meters long and 2.50m high, and is covered at the top with barbed wire.

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-33190-haiti-dr-the-dominican-fence-at-the-border-will-cost-more-than-$100-million.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-33130-haiti-flash-president-abinader-announces-the-construction-of-a-double-fence-at-the-border.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-32914-haiti-flash-nearly-1-000-cameras-monitor-the-dominican-border.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-32908-haiti-flash-the-dominican-republic-will-test-an-israeli-system-of-electronic-border.html

SL/ HaitiLibre