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00:00 This is the life of many vendors in Haiti, lining up and crossing from one side of the
00:05 border to the other, attempting to make a living in the Dominican Republic before returning
00:10 home in the evening.
00:13 But this constant flow is about to come to an end after Dominican President Luis Abinader
00:18 announced he'd be shutting the border with Haiti.
00:23 All of our borders, land, maritime and air will be closed.
00:28 And this until they stop their provocative actions.
00:35 At the centre of the dispute are works by a Haitian farming group on a canal that the
00:40 Dominican Republic says will divert water from the Massika River.
00:44 The river serves as a natural border and President Abinader says the works pose a threat to Dominican
00:49 farmers and the environment.
00:51 In the meantime though, the country's closure is worrying Haitians.
00:58 It's bad, bad for us Haitians.
01:00 We need the canal because there's nothing in Haiti.
01:02 We need the work.
01:04 The Haitian government doesn't appear to have any plans of halting the works on the canal
01:08 for now, despite the Dominican Republic saying that they violate a treaty dating back to
01:13 almost 100 years ago.
01:18 The two countries have a long history of conflict and tension on their border.
01:22 The Dominican Republic last closed it after the assassination of Haiti's President Jovenel
01:27 Moise in 2021.
01:31 Since then, it's begun building a 200-kilometre wall, while tens of thousands of Haitians
01:37 and people of Haitian descent have been expelled in recent years.
01:42 The border closure is set to be yet another blow to Haiti, which remains one of the world's
01:47 poorest nations as it struggles to contain a major rise in gang violence.