Foreign Minister Roberto Alvarez says the Dominican government is in talks with Spanish and Israeli companies for the construction of a fence on the border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The border is over 300 km. The fence construction would have a length of 190 kilometers, and is estimated to cost more than US$100 million, or about RD$6 billion. Right now, there are only small stretches of border construction, primarily at the Jimaní and Dajabón.
Alvarez said the 180 km extension is a long-term project for the government. He said the government has contracted for the construction of 23 kilometers of the fence between both countries. He said by the end of the year, there should be around 30 km of border fences in places of easy access. Alvarez said the project calls for the construction of a “technological and physical” border. The Dominican authorities intend to install sensors and drones to secure the physical fence.
Alvarez made it clear that the perimeter fence’s objective is to facilitate trade with Haiti, avoid irregular migration, stop the smuggling of all kinds, and guarantee peaceful coexistence between the two nations.
Alvarez was interviewed for “El Día,” hosted by Huchi Lora, Carolina Santana and Edith Febles on Telesistema, Channel 11.
The migration problems are likely to continue until the economy improves in Haiti. Gustavo Sanchez, spokesman for the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) in Congress says that the Dominican government can build all the walls it wants and the Haitians will then build tunnels under to enter the country. In Sánchez’s opinion, as long as the Haitian people remain in a “state of social decomposition” and with “high figures of rampant poverty”, Haitians will continue to cross the border to settle in the country.
With the famous phrase “pigeons always fly where there is bread”, the opposition congressman expressed himself on the situation of famine prevailing in Haiti. He added that until the Haitian authorities do not solve this problem, its inhabitants will continue to cross the border because survival is the first human instinct.
Haitian women in labor flock to Dominican maternity hospitals to take advantage of the free medical services. Local physicians complain the women usually suffer from anemia and other medical conditions.
According to statistics from the Hospital Universitario Maternidad Nuestra Señora de La Altagracia in Santo Domingo, the number of births to Haitian mothers outnumber the number of births to Dominican citizens. The hospital is the largest maternity ward in the country. Of 2,283 births at the largest maternity hospital in the capital city, 1,050 have been to Dominican mothers, or 47%. Another 1,196 births have been to Haitian mothers or 53%.
As reported, waiting rooms are crowded with pregnant women, most of whom do not speak Spanish and sometimes do not even understand what they are told. Listin Diario reporters say the La Altagracia Maternity Hospital and the San Lorenzo de Los Mina Maternity Center are the public hospitals where the largest number of births are registered in the country. Haitian women come to give birth in the Dominican Republic motivated by the no-cost services.
Thousands of Haitians also give birth in border hospitals. There Haitian women in the waiting rooms outnumber those of the Dominican Republic. In some border town, nine out of ten women giving birth are Haitian, according to the report in Listin Diario.
The Airport Department (DA) is preparing the draft for the authorization of the development of the Pedernales International Airport project. The government is seeking a public-private partnership to build the airport. The airport would be built in Cabo Rojo, described as the next great Dominican beach destination. The Pedernales Development Plan envisions the construction of 3,000 lodging units in the southwestern area. Pedernales is most famous for its Bahía de las Aguilas beach area, a strip of pristine white sands, and crystal clear shallow waters. The province is on the border with Haiti.
Victor Pichardo, of the Airport Department, says that while the international airport is built, the government is contemplating the construction of a control tower and a small terminal to service the first tourists.
Rosa Elcarte, the local representative for United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, acknowledges governments are sovereign in making decisions such as when to return to in-person learning in schools. She said the recommendation of Unicef is for schools to reopen under hygiene protocols.
She said the Unicef has recommended that schools reopen as soon as possible in all countries. Interviewed on La Cuestión radio talk show on 107.7FM, she said that students have fully returned to in-person learning in Costa Rica, Paraguay, Nicaragua, and Belize in the Americas. These countries have fewer active cases than the Dominican Republic, yet higher 1M death rates.
Elcarte stressed the risk of keeping children out of school is primarily in that in boys, it increases child labor and in girls, the number of early cohabitation and child pregnancies. “It is a serious problem and one that has to be confronted comprehensively,” said Elcarte.
She mentioned the Dominican Republic has been slow in reopening school and has been proceeding against the global trends for the return to school. She stressed the Unicef could recommend, but each country is sovereign to make its own decisions.
Elcarte says she would have liked to see a faster return to in-person schooling in the Dominican Republic. But, she said the country has taken a step in this direction with the announcement on Friday, 5 March 2021 that school would reopen in the pre-school and elementary levels. She said studies show small children do not spread the disease, while teenagers 16+ spread the disease as adults do.
Education Minister Roberto Furcal announced a protocol for the gradual reopening of schools starting with those eight years and younger. Furcal limited the reopening to municipalities where the positivity rate is 5% or less. Other requirements are that the school has potable water, that the local committee approves the reopening, and that each child has written parental approval. So far, this means that only three provinces qualify, Elias Piña, Monte Plata, and Independencia.
Elcarte expects schools in rural areas to open before schools in the cities. She said it is up to adults to continue preventive measures to reduce the spread. The virus spread has been dropping. Elcarte is concerned that there could be a spike again as people gather for the Easter holidays.
Elcarte said that Unicef recommends for countries that had closed fully to in-person learning start with the pre-school and elementary children to get accustomed to the Covid-19 back-to-school safety protocols.
The three grounds for exceptions to the banning of abortion in the Dominican Republic are a trending topic on the International Day of Women. Protest groups have urged Congress to include the three grounds in the Penal Code. The Chamber of Deputies president Alfredo Pacheco (National District -PRM) has instead favored a separate bill drafted for the three exceptions. Yet, women groups advocate that first the criminalizing of abortion needs to be removed from the Penal Code that is being reviewed in Congress.
The three grounds are:
• The life of the mother is at risk.
• The fetus is unviable.
• The pregnancy resulted from rape or incest.
Senator Faride Raful (National District-PRM) called for the deputies to remove the criminalizing of abortion from the Penal Code if the legislators insist on sending a separate bill on the three grounds. She says if the legislators want a special bill, then they need to first eliminate the mention of abortion in the Penal Code.
The Gender Institute at Intec university in Santo Domingo issued a statement advocating for the passing of the three grounds for voluntary interruption of pregnancy and other measures in favor of women’s rights on the occasion of International Women’s Day. The statement goes a step beyond and demands the human rights of women to make their own decisions.
The National Council of Business (Conep) has issued a statement expressing concern over the price increases in many of the most basic staples. Many prices are at all-time highs. Fuel prices, natural gas, corn, soy, and other cereals are up across the board, affecting transportation, farming, and foodstuffs.
Conep also takes note that Covid-19 has grossly interrupted supply chains, causing a major increase in bulk and container ship rates. Costs of imported goods are up in general. Pedro Brache, of Leche Rica, and president of the Conep, said that the organization would cooperate to the fullest with the Abinader administration to guarantee macro-economic stability, public health, and economic growth.
Rancho Montana is a unique place in the Dominican wilderness where you can take a tour or just visit to have a relaxing time in nature. The rancho has been in operation since 1986 in the mountains of Veragua, Gaspar Hernandez (Puerto Plata province).
Thousands of horseback riders with and without experience have tried this unique ecological park. Here you can go on one of the most exciting horse trekking tours on the island, a great escape from busy tourist areas into the virgin Dominican wilderness. This can be the perfect cultural, ecological, and scenic adventure for your holiday. Ride western style through “Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones” – like vegetation of rain forest, river crossings, mountains, canyons, and meet Dominican people.
The original foot trails used centuries ago by native Taino Indians today serve local farmers to move cattle.
If you decide to take a tour then your trip includes:
Transportation to and from your hotel/ multilingual guides, small groups, healthy well-trained criollo horses
Morning: Fresh country coffee, bottled water, swimming in the river
Noon: Soft drinks
Recommended: Camera, sun cream, sports clothing and shoes, swimsuit, towel
You are also welcome to visit this park privately.
Opening hours:
Mon-Sun 9 am – curfew finish
On-site there is a nice Restaurant offering Dominican, Indonesian, International cuisine.
The nation’s economic authorities forecast 6% growth for 2021. Manufacturing, free zones, mining, construction have recovered. Yet, the tourism industry has been the slowest to return to normalcy. In 2019, the DR received 6,446,036 million non-resident tourists, for around 17% of all tourism to the insular Caribbean and Central America.
In 2020, airports closed to international tourism in March, reopening in July. Central Bank statistics indicate that 1,011,224 tourists visited. Of these 348,464 came in December. The number of tourists, nevertheless, fell below expectations. Local authorities explain the faster spreading Covid-19 caused flight cancellations from the UK and has reduced travel in general from source markets.
In 2020, non-resident arrivals was 2,405,315 tourists, a 62.7% decline compared to 2019. Of these 1,699,194 were foreigners and 706,121 were non-resident Dominicans. This adds up to the 1,011,224 tourists for the July-December 2020 period.
PUERTO PLATA.- A 60-year-old Canadian citizen was arrested by members of the National Police as he was being followed for committing document falsification and attempted fraud. The arrested man was identified as David Nigel Kersteman who resides in Santo Domingo Oeste and will be brought to justice as in the company of Ezequiel who is a fugitive, they made false titles for the Villa Colibrí Boutique Hotel property located in Sosúa. This foreigner was detained in some bushes near kilometer 7 of the Sosúa-Cabarete highway while he was pursued by a police patrol when he tried to escape aboard the grey Ford Escape SUV without a license plate. Inside the vehicle, several items were seized, such as a National Police cap, a black bulletproof vest, a kangaroo-style wallet which contained 3 cell phones, cologne, and a thousand pesos in cash. In addition, within a folder, he had two title records in original form, a registered and falsified title in the name of David Nigel Kersteman and two copies of those titles, two title plates, and three copies of passports. According to police investigations, in addition to falsifying the titles, the defendant tried to finance and mortgage the villa owned by the businesswoman Chissell Altagracia Hernández Reyes de Merette, who filed a complaint.
