Abstract
Nobody knows with any degree of accuracy how many Haitians there are at any given time in the Dominican Republic. Estimates range between a few hundred thousand and two million. Presumably, the truth is closer to the former than to the latter, but we do not know.1 No exhaustive survey has ever been undertaken and it is not even clear who should count as ‘Haitian’. Thousands have lived in the Dominican Republic for many years without any kind of identity documents. Many ‘Haitians’ were born on the Dominican side of the border and have never visited their ‘home country’.
Highlights
Nobody knows with any degree of accuracy how many Haitians there are at any given time in the Dominican Republic
Murphy concludes that as far as the legal migrants are concerned, the possibility of extra earnings is what drives the flow of people into the Dominican Republic: Braceros [legal immigrants] work the five to seven month sugar harvest to accumulate needed capital
The Empirical Evidence In Haiti in Caribbean Context, David Nicholls offers the following summary of the characteristics of Haitian emigrants: It is sometimes assumed that the Haitian migrants must have come from the poorest sections of the community. [...] On the subject of the ... recent migration to the Dominican Republic ... [Mats Lundahl] refers to ‘the poorer sections’ of the rural population of Haiti as those whom ‘we would expect to emigrate’
Summary
The indignation of the international community upon learning the fate of the Haitians was not diminished when, in addition, it was revealed that the legal part of the temporary migration was organized as a moneymaking racket by the Haitian and Dominican governments.[12] The Dominican president, Rafael Trujillo, had instigated a major massacre on Haitians in 1937,13 but as he gradually took an interest in sugar production, after World War II, he needed workers, and in 1952 the Dominican government signed an agreement with its Haitian counterpart with respect to the seasonal migration of sugar cane cutters This agreement was renewed in 1959 and 1966, and in 1971 the first of a series of contracts between the Dominican Consejo Estatal del Azúcar (CEA) and the Haitian government was signed. We will deal only marginally with those who stay permanently and not at all with the recent phenomenon of migration to urban areas across the border.[16]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: Iberoamericana – Nordic Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
