Ambassadors Haitian and Dominican, Jean-Victor Harvel Jean-Baptiste (left) and Faruk Miguel Castillo (right)•©️photo : MAEC
Port-au-Prince, February 27, 2026.- The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Religious Affairs, Jean-Victor Harvel Jean-Baptiste, met this Friday, February 27, the Dominican Ambassador to Haiti, Faruk Miguel Castillo, as part of the « Working breakfasts with the Chancellor », a meeting held in a cordial atmosphere that reflects the will of the Haitian government to relaunch the bilateral dialogue after several months of rupture and diplomatic tensions between the two countries.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Religious Affairs, discussions focused on key strategic issues, including border security, migration management, trade and the urgent need to reopen air space between the two countries for commercial flights. Minister Jean-Baptiste expressed the will of the Haitian government to relaunch a constructive dialogue, in a context where relations between Port-au-Prince and Santo Domingo remain marked by mistrust and the consequences of unilateral decisions taken in recent months.
This meeting also takes place on a symbolic date, corresponding to the 182nd anniversary of the independence of the Dominican Republic. The Haitian Chancellor took the opportunity to address his official greetings to the Dominican authorities and people. For observers, this diplomatic gesture is part of an attempt to gradually normalize relations, suspended since September 15, 2023, when the Dominican Republic decided to close its land, sea and air border with Haiti in response to tensions related to the construction of the canal on the Massacre River.
While this meeting paves the way for a possible resumption of diplomatic dialogue, several shadow zones persist as to the real motivations for this rapprochement. Indeed, this renewed interest in border cooperation comes in a context marked by the signing of a $572 million contract between the Haitian state and a private US company for the security of the border, on the background of issues related to the potential exploitation of strategic resources, including rare lands. This situation raises questions within certain sectors of Haitian society, who wonder whether this diplomatic revival responds primarily to the sovereign interests of both nations, or whether it is part of a dynamic influenced by external geopolitical and economic interests.
R.J.
