VERON, Dominican Republic — As growing violence and political unrest grip neighboring Haiti, the Dominican Republic will hold elections on Sunday that have been defined by calls for more crackdowns on immigrants and ending a border wall dividing the countries.
Politics in the two Caribbean nations that share the island of Hispaniola have long been intertwined. The spiral of chaos in Haiti in recent years has coincided with harsh repression by its Dominican neighbor.
President Luis Abinader, a clear favorite in his quest for re-election in the presidential race, has begun building a border wall similar to Trump’s along the border with Haiti and carried out mass deportations of 175,000 Haitians just last year. past. Dominicans will also elect members of Congress.
“We will continue to deport all those who are illegal from any country,” Abinader said in a debate at the end of April. “A society that does not do that is chaos and anarchy.”
Abinader, who has also pledged to strengthen the nation’s economy, said he would finish construction of the border wall with Haiti. His closest competitors – former President Leonel Fernández and Santiago Mayor Abel Martínez – have echoed his calls to intensify actions against migration.
The crackdown has marked an intensification of long-standing policies by the Dominican government that human rights groups say are discriminatory and put vulnerable people at risk.
Fernández, of the People’s Force party, said Dominicans were “afraid to take to the streets” despite Abinader’s policies. He also said that he would continue the repression while respecting human rights.
Dominican voters appear to be rewarding Abinader for the repression, with the incumbent being the favorite to obtain more than the 50% support needed to win in the first round of voting. If no candidate reaches the 50% mark, a second round would be held between the top vote-getters.
Ana Pagán, a 34-year-old supervisor at a communications company in Santo Domingo, the country’s capital, said she approved of the construction of the border wall and the measures taken by the government.
“No foreigner who wants to stay here in the Dominican Republic should do so illegally, and that is what (the government) has said,” he said.
However, Pagán said that the wall does not solve all of the country’s problems and referred to what have been other key electoral issues for Dominicans: crime and endemic corruption. Pagán said many of the country’s security problems come from corrupt officials who enable smuggling and other crimes.
While Dominican voters want the government to continue its crackdown on immigrants, many of the hundreds of thousands of Haitians in the Dominican Republic live in fear.
Long plagued by tragedy, Haiti has fallen into a downward spiral since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021. Gangs have struggled for power, injecting terror and turmoil into the lives of many in the Caribbean nation.
In recent weeks – following the resignation of the prime minister – a transitional council tasked with electing Haiti’s new leaders has offered a small dose of hope of alleviating some of the country’s many problems.
The current violence has forced many to flee their homes and seek refuge in places like the Dominican Republic and the United States. The Dominican government’s policies have raised concerns among both newly arrived immigrants and Haitians who have long called the Dominican Republic home.
Yani Rimpel, a 35-year-old Haitian businesswoman from the eastern city of Verón, has lived in the country for 20 years. She told the AP that she had never seen so much uncertainty among Haitian communities, something she attributes to Abinader’s immigration policy.
Two weeks ago, he said immigration agents burst into his home at dawn with heavily armed soldiers in tow. She said they searched the house and stole the money she had saved to buy and sell goods, leaving her with no means to support herself.
“If (Abinader) remains in power, I cannot live here. I’m going to have to return to my house in Haiti. Because I have no value here. I’m not safe. I have no way to live here if he continues” as president, he said.
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Megan Janetsky reported from Mexico City.
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