Former Foreign Minister under the government Jovenel Moïse assured that the accusations were motivated by an “ultranationalist and racist” discourse, explaining that the neighboring country had already used eleven taps of the river, which is a shared water resource is regulated by the treaty of 1929.
“This Treaty of Peace, Perpetual Friendship and Arbitration stipulates that these resources must be used in a fair and equitable manner. Why do they easily take 11 from the Dominican side? “Why only one from the Haitian side?” asked the politician.
He pointed out that the purpose was to prevent Haitian farmers from using the river to irrigate about three thousand hectares of land in the Maribaroux plain, and denied that the works would divert the flow of water.
“It has been clearly demonstrated with evidence that the water collection structure to be built on the two-kilometer stretch of the Massacre River that crosses Haitian territory between border terminals 13 and 15 cannot in any way be considered a diversion of the watercourse,” said the leader of the Committed to Development (EDE) party.
The project began during the Moïse government and was stopped shortly before the assassination due to talks between the two governments.
A few weeks ago, farmers took the initiative and Santo Domingo “urged the Haitian authorities to immediately stop the resumption of the construction of a canal built by individuals,” according to the Dominican Foreign Ministry.
For his part, Joseph insisted that Haiti would not have to stop work on its territory at the request of a foreign government.
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