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ERIKA SANTELICES FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
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The Caribbean island of Hispaniola, shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, has been divided for centuries, sometimes bitterly, by language, race, history and culture. As Haiti descends further into chaos and collapse, the divides are becoming concrete—literally. The Dominican Republic is speeding up work on a wall along the 250-mile border cutting across the interior of the island.
Dominican President Luis Abinader is aiming to block human smugglers or criminals from crossing the border.
He has long warned the United Nations and other international forums about what would happen if Haiti collapsed. In the past few weeks, the Haitian government has spiraled into anarchy, its prime minister has been unable to return from a trip abroad and large tracts of Port-au-Prince are under the control of warlords and gang leaders such as Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier, who is pushing to uproot the entire political system.