The background of a water crisis that tends to get worse

Santo Domingo — The convulsions of all times between the two nations of the island of Hispaniola resulting from disparities in levels of development, idiomatic uses, cultural practices, and historical conflict tend to be exacerbated by the institutional collapse in process on the West side where the most important and critical natural resources seem to live the last years of their existence by ravaging depredations on river basins and streams.

With less intensity in the abuse of irretrievable goods and making a little common cause with its neighbors, the Dominican Republic has seen 28 rivers, almost 638 streams, and more than 12,000 springs and runoffs disappear for decades. However, the construction of reservoirs allows for obtaining considerable benefit from the water from successful private and official efforts to defend the water wealth, glimpsing a better future under the watchful eye of the environmentalists.

On the other hand, Western countries inherit the early destruction of their vegetation as a permanent cause of thirst. Large-scale deforestation and soil erosion caused by man began in colonial times when forests were cut down for the production of coffee and sugar cane and continue in the present with crop substitution for corn and beans. However, on that side, there is a lack of everything.

Since 1826, Haitian governments have enacted 1001 laws and policies aimed at protecting trees and fertility and devoted money to encouraging farmers to evolve towards sustainable commercial exploitation of the land; however, according to a 1990 report issued by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), most of those efforts produced disappointing results.

Haiti has been subjected for nearly a century to accelerated urbanization of mostly squalor, increased destructive agricultural activities, land degradation, high population concentrations, and poor waste disposal, which affects freshwater availability. The degradation problem is considered to have remained intact. It continues to make the greenery of the countryside disappear, and it is now a mere memory.

Admission of failure
The institutional collapse that makes democracy impossible in the neighboring nation arrives, with repercussions to severely touch the Dominican Republic with the imposition of the unilateral decision of politicians and businessmen who, behind the back of the little that remained of authority in Haiti launched the construction of a canal connected to the Dajabón or Masacre river in violation of a binational treaty of 1929, This work is accompanied by a massive extraction of materials from rivers and plains bordering the national territory while the restoration of internal order on the other side seems more and more distant. A desert threatens to cross the geographic limits.

“The impact of the sanctions imposed by the UN against the leaders of armed gangs in Haiti is minimal, and the application of the embargo on the importation of arms (which arrive in spurts from the United States) is “mediocre,” according to a group of experts in charge of supervising these measures applied under the auspices of the powers that insist on passivity and on seeing the severe crisis from afar.

It is recalled that the United Nations Security Council implemented sanctions, such as travel bans, asset freezes, and selective arms embargoes, in 2022. The ineffectiveness of these sanctions was evident since they only affected the leader of the gangs that severely anarchized Haiti, Jimmy Cherizier, and despite the fact that more recently, the pretense of fighting the chaos included five more leaders of the criminal gangs that continue to reign.

MIGRATORY PRESSURE
The Dominican Republic is now feeling the intensifying pressure to welcome without restrictions every Haitian fleeing the violence of the increasingly well-armed gangs who are spreading their aggressions everywhere, including repeated raids to seize the government palace in Port-au-Prince, as well as destroying schools, hospitals, and pharmacies among other facilities of social interest.

The UN admits that the riots cast a shadow of despair. Although it was described as a possible option for the masses to seek refuge in all parts of Haiti, it only attacked with extreme diplomatic and media demands to accept them in the nearest country. At least he admits that last month, about 13,000 migrants were returned from different parts of the region whose authorities do not accept them as unconditionally as the multilateral organization demands.

However, the social aid of the UN and other foreign entities reaches important areas of Haiti itself, which has become a mosaic with regions that escape the control of criminals concentrated in vital points of the capital and of naval and air communications and tends to repeatedly attack with deadly results the area of the wealthy Haitians of Petionville.

The International Organization for Migration recently demonstrated its ability to act amid the dangers. A report from the organization stated that: “agency workers on the ground are forced to balance the imperative of helping others with the grim reality of personal risk.” This is also demonstrated by the poorly trained, under-trained, under-numbered, and ill-equipped Haitian police who have successfully fought some battles against bandits in the vicinity of the presidential palace.

ANTI-DR REACTION
Amid the increase of violence in Haiti, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, published a document hurtful to the Dominican community with the insistent discourse that the country should welcome indiscriminately and as refugees the Haitians fleeing because they suffer “important humanitarian needs including medical attention, food, clothing, and temporary lodging.”

With the support of national sectors, President Luis Abinader has firmly reiterated that his government will not establish camps to receive refugees even in the face of accusations that the country is “repatriating Haitians with little respect for human rights.” Including claims that “extremely harsh” repatriations have been carried out. A 106-page report with “serious allegations” was released underwritten by UNHCR.

However, representatives of more than 20 countries of the Ibero-American region recently recognized “the enormous efforts of the Dominican Republic and other countries in search of a solution to the difficult situation in Haiti, which generates “deep concern for the progressive deterioration of public and humanitarian security” in the neighboring country.

THEY POINT THE FINGER ELSEWHERE
The frustrating delay in installing a peacekeeping force in Haiti led by the hesitant Kenya recently prompted the Organization of American States, OAS, to call on all countries in the region to support Haiti’s own security forces to restore the security lost to group violence. The entity took a step forward against the tendency to make the Dominican Republic the basic component of a rescue.

The OAS called on member states to provide immediate and adequate support to Haiti’s law and order forces to the greatest possible extent and “based on their national legislations.” It called for “the dismantling of criminal gangs and gangs” and the urgent delivery of appropriate humanitarian aid. He also called on the international community to support Haiti in a democratic transition through financial assistance, technical expertise, and the presence of a multinational security mission already approved by the UN Security Council.

Earlier, President Abinader insisted that the only way to act with results in Haiti is to alleviate it. “I want to say with all the firmness and respect that the Dominican Republic deserves” that the international community must not continue to allow the situation of chaos and deaths to reign in the neighboring country. “The poor Haitians suffer while the rich of that country are safe in Miami.