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PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) – The Dominican Republic said on Tuesday it would beef up security on its northern border with Haiti following an incident described as a “provocation” in which a Haitian organization entered Dominican territory and interfered with an army patrol.
Dominican government spokesman Homero Figueroa said on the X messaging platform that fortunately the scenario has worsened, but that the army will increase, as a preventive measure, the number of infantrymen and cars patrolling the area.
“The scenario turns out to be due to an obvious false impression in the Haitian citizen component regarding the border barriers that separate the two countries,” Figueroa said, adding that the Dominican military “has full authority to patrol this area. “”
Defying the Dominican government’s line, Haitian media reported that Dominicans had crossed the border into Haiti and pointed guns at residents.
Unverified videos shared on social media showed a helicopter flying over the border as Haitian and Dominican infantrymen stood near a border wall and a burnt tire emitted a plume of black smoke.
A Haitian government spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
“The Dominican Republic considers this action a provocation aimed at generating a confrontation with unpredictable consequences,” Figueroa said.
In recent months, Santo Domingo has beefed up border security and deportations of migrants amid worsening gang violence in Haiti, and announced in mid-September that it would close its border due to the structure of a shared river channel.
The Dominican government recently built a border wall on its territory, leaving a strip of land in the west for patrols, leading to misunderstandings about the precise border on both sides.
Tuesday’s incident comes days after Dominican President Luis Abinader met with U. S. President Joe Biden at the White House, where they discussed security in Haiti.
(Reporting by Harold Isaac in Port-au-Prince, Octavio Jones in Tampa and Sarah Morland in Mexico City; editing by Jonathan Esposito and Leslie Adler)
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