Dominican Republic's government to close all borders with neighboring Haiti

The Dominican Republic's government has announced that it is closing all borders with neighboring Haiti. The closing of the border started today in a dispute over a canal on the Haitian side that would use water from a river along their frontier.

President Luis Abinader said that air, sea, and land borders would remain shuttered until necessary, as last-minute talks between the countries had failed to head off



the closure. It is a rare move for the Dominican Republic and could hit economies in both countries, though it will be most acutely felt in Haiti.

The closure is a response to the excavation of a canal by a farming group on the Haitian side that targets waters from the Massacre River, which runs along the border shared by the two countries on the island of Hispaniola.