Manhattanite previously said:

The NGOs can go overboard, but I imagine it must be worse when the full strength of the NGO/humanitarian interventionist/activist/corporate-media complex puts a place in the spotlight, as they would if DR militarized too drastically on this border.Also if you bring men from the situations you chose I don't think professional, disciplined forces is what you'd get. The teachers are from a place where restraint is not the highest priority due to conditions. Remember who and what we got when peacetime US national guardsmen last trained disciplined professionals in DR? Imagine if in the place of those guardsmen it were IDF vets. In fact it doesn't take too much imagination, it isn't as if Israel has not already played a role elsewhere in Lat-Am.

Cib's point sounds about right...the goal you want, control, is within the means of DR without this nightmare scenario.

Manhattanite previously said:

The NGOs can go overboard, but I imagine it must be worse when the full strength of the NGO/humanitarian interventionist/activist/corporate-media complex puts a place in the spotlight, as they would if DR militarized too drastically on this border.Also if you bring men from the situations you chose I don't think professional, disciplined forces is what you'd get. The teachers are from a place where restraint is not the highest priority due to conditions. Remember who and what we got when peacetime US national guardsmen last trained disciplined professionals in DR? Imagine if in the place of those guardsmen it were IDF vets. In fact it doesn't take too much imagination, it isn't as if Israel has not already played a role elsewhere in Lat-Am.

Cib's point sounds about right...the goal you want, control, is within the means of DR without this nightmare scenario.

cibaeño75 previously said:

"Are the conditions similar? Who would you blame for this and what do you think the ultrerior motive is? "

From the lack of boat people leaving haiti today I would assume that the situation was much more chaotic after arisides ouster then it currently is,hence the dominican military was able to seal the border under more strenuous circumstances than exist today.Mind you there were also no foreign troops on haitian soil back then as there is now. Who's to blame? The military, business leaders and oligarchs who need the cheap labor provided by the haitians and quite possibly to use the haitians as potential scapegoats if the need arises. Do you think the people like the vicinis care if the country is overrun by illegal foreigners? They don't care. They need arms to cut cane. Last time I was there in construction sites across the country I saw haitians at work. I have freinds who are from the border regions (la linea) that have related to me seeing military trucks packed like slave ships with haitians who were being brought in clandestinely in the dead of night by our own military!

Oh I said it before and I'ma say it again. You've been had. you've been hoodwinked. You've been bamboozled.

HAYkickyouintheSHIN previously said:

Here's my take on the issue: I agree with most on here that the DR actually needs to properly manage its border and that the only reason the border hasn't been regulated and tightly enforced as well as it should be is because of many factors that several have brought up on here. Companies and business need cheap labor to maximize their profits. Therefore they will always welcome Haitian laborers in replacement of their Dominican counterparts. The government officials will exploit the position of these Haitian workers and migrants by using them as scapegoats for problems that afflict the poor Dominican and Dominican society in general and by amassing popular support from the Dominican population, they will affirm their election. The biggest issue to the DR, Haiti, and nearly all countries in the region is CORRUPTION. It is human nature to desire profit and power and unfortunately the power of the dollar and the power of rule beckons much more strongly than national pride or morality does. Cibaeno you are correct in your assumption that it is less chaotic in Haiti now than right after Aristide's ouster. In fact it is much much much less chaotic and actually normal. Excluding the recent kidnapping crisis, security in general has increased a whole lot and there have been several new contingents of expertly trained Haitian police put into action (along with the UN forces). The whole Haiti/Dominican issue regarding border control is a serious one which obviously affects the people of the Dominican Republic however the migrants that cross are poor desperate people. It is not a war zone and the Dominicans cannot be compared to Israelis and Haitians to Palestininians. There is no shelling and rocket attacks and their is no real tension, therefore the extremist methods and views stated by some on here is absolutely ridiculous, laughable, and absurd. The border is porous because there are groups within the island that have the influence and say-so to allow it to remain as is.

arcatype previously said:

Militarazation of the border will be the best thing that the Dominican Republic can do to enforce and discourage this pervasive invasion. The threat from Haiti is very real we share the border with the poorest country in the western hemisphere, the policy of the haitian goverment is very simple and is to export it's poverty to the Dominican Republic. Haiti is a failed state with many problems, the country lacks a viable infrastructure it has serious environmental issues like deforestation, lack of water, food production is very low, because the arable land is disappearing. Haiti's population remains very high, it's the country with the highest birthrate in Latin America. So the country remains overpopulated do to the fact that Haiti is a very mountainous country. Over 2 million haitians reside and work in the Dominican Republic illegaly, the native dominican population is about 9 million. The presence of illegal haitians creates a myriad of problems for the dominican state it strains basic services like healthcare, energy consumption lack of good paying jobs for the poor masses. By creating a culture of competition between a low wage worker from Haiti to the local citizen who should be granted a living wage, these effects will further damage the progress of the dominican economy. The expulsion of haitians is the key tool to erradicate the many problems that the dominican society faces, also very importantly is to create a barrier or wall to impede illegals from crossing the border. Good enforcement is also key even with a wall in place. The dominican goverment should sanction the companies or firms that hire illegal haitians and if they break the law, they should be sent to prison fined and lose their license as a construction company or any other enterprise that employs illegal haitians.

Consuello previously said:


The 2 million Haitians you are talking about is inaccurate as it is a political over exaggeration on DR's government part and the misleading data they have given the Dominican people to fuel anti-semitism and resentful anger into the heart in the Dominican populace.

Lautaro previously said:



Are you sure about it? because, from what I have heard from some acquaintances living near the border, in some provinces (like Montecristi, Dajabon, Elias Piña, Independencia and Pedernales) the haitian inmigrant population living on those provinces actually surpass in numbers the native dominican one. If you're going to disprove the 2 million number, please do it with proofs, because your denial is making you look as bad (and as foolish) as those people that you're trying to disprove (i.e. Arcatype, Carlos Franco, etc.). So it might be that, in reality, the people sustaining the 2 million fact could be erring on the side of conservative estimates, which would be highly ironic in itself, don´t you think?