Dominican Republic closed border with Haiti following assassination of President Moise

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Dominican Republic closed its border with Haiti on Wednesday (7) following the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, a military source told the EFE news agency.

President Luis Abinader ordered the closure of the four border crossings with Haiti. According to an official from the Specialized Corps for Land Border Security (Cesfront), he ordered the strengthening of surveillance in the area.

The Dominican Republic and Haiti have four official border crossings, but most of the approximately 380-kilometer border has no separating fences.

Jovenel Moise was killed early Wednesday by gunmen believed to be foreigners who raided his residence in the Pelerin neighborhood of Port-au-Prince in the early morning hours, according to interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph.

Following the murder, the Port-au-Prince airport was closed, and airlines serving the Haitian capital suspended or rerouted flights.

Read also: Dominican Republic has built 23 km of controversial fence on its border with Haiti

“At one o’clock this morning, July 7, a group of unknown people talking in Spanish and English assassinated the president of the republic. The president died from his injuries,” said the interim prime minister.

Joseph called for calm among the population, assured that the “security situation in the country is under control,” and condemned the assassination, which he called “an act of barbarism.”

The assassination comes two months before presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for Sept. 26, in which Moise could not run. Moise had called for a referendum on the same date to approve a new constitution, a project that was not supported by the opposition or the international community.

Haiti has been in the throes of a severe political crisis since mid-2018 and experienced its most serious moment on February 7, when Moise denounced that the opposition was planning a coup d’état with the support of judges.

At the same time, Haiti is in the midst of a deep security crisis that has intensified, especially since early June, due to territorial fighting between armed gangs vying for control of the capital Port-au-Prince’s poorest neighborhoods.