Abenader on Haiti: “If the decision is between trade and security, security comes first.”

President Louis Abenader emphasized that issues of how to protect border security, in relation to the social and political crisis affecting Haiti, will always be a higher priority than issues involving trade between the two countries.

“I’ve been working to open up (binational) markets when necessary, in the case of retail; in the other cases, because every source of limited support they might get from us toward our borders, they’ll get it, but if it’s a decision between trade and security, security comes first.” , the president said at a press conference this morning. .

Abenader made these statements after being questioned by the media about the progress of the areas under the control of paramilitary gangs in the territory of Haiti, and the possibility that this would affect the flow of trade and employment in the border area.

“My responsibility is to protect the people of the Dominican Republic and the borders are safe and we will ensure that it continues that way; we have strengthened border security by more than 3,500 men, we have all the intelligence services working in this regard and we will continue to take measures to ensure the security of our borders and territories and that the country is not affected by the instability of the Republic of Haiti,” he added Abenader.

The Dominican head of state added that the supply of materials “really” would not be affected because the country “is almost not importing anything from Haiti” and that this would only lead to personnel problems for the free zones of these border communities, but these have mechanisms for those cases.

The growing social and political crisis in the neighboring country has worsened since the assassination of its current president, Jovenel Moise, in mid-July.

Dozens of clashes took place in recent weeks due to the fuel crisis affecting that country and which paralyzed almost all public transportation; Also over the course of two weeks, a Haitian paramilitary group kidnapped 16 US citizens.

The president announced, during an activity held on Wednesday morning at the National Palace, that he will hold a press conference where he will talk “at length” about the crisis afflicting the neighboring nation.