From Barbecue Basin to Santo Domingo, a professor’s clandestine journey

An adventure on motor. But also on foot, through the tangle of forests, where Dominican soldiers have to be bribed, the main beneficiaries of trafficking on the border officially closed since September 2023.

350 US dollars.

According to the smuggler, that is the minimum cost for a trip to the Dominican Republic.

An adventure on motor. But also on foot, through the thicket of forests, where Dominican soldiers have to be bribed, the main beneficiaries of trafficking on the border officially closed since September 2023.

For the history and geography teacher in Bas Delmas — bastion of Jimmy «Barbecue» Chérizier —, it is a lifeline in a sea agitated by gang clashes with the police, kidnappings and the burning of businesses this March.

An immersion “into the unknown” that, with a little luck, will take him to the land of Uncle Sam, describes the man, also a communications student at the State University of Haiti (UEH).

It is a lifeline in a sea of troubled by gang clashes with police, kidnappings and the burning of businesses this March.

Departure is scheduled for dawn on March 20, 2024.

That day, the professor hastily leaves the bastion of Barbecue, A former police officer, now a feared gang boss, finds a way through Croix-des-Bouquets—the stronghold of another gang—to head to Belladère by bus.

For this part of the trail, the atmosphere “gives you chills down your spine,” he says.

On the bus to Belladère, the passengers look like zombies heading to purgatory. A heavy silence – interrupted only by the hum of the vehicle’s engine – descends on the passengers, consumed by fear.

“All the phones are off,” the man says.

The smugglers know the terrain. Each time, the driver pays 10,000 gourdes to pass through half a dozen checkpoints, each staffed by about twenty heavily armed gang members.

Around one in the afternoon, the professor and his traveling companions arrive at Belladère, on the border.

In this town, three Haitian motorcyclists are waiting for them to continue their route. They plan to bypass a checkpoint in Elías Piña and find a discreet path through a mountain.

The unknown motorcycle taxi drivers identified the man from Delmas and his companions thanks to photos previously obtained through WhatsApp messaging.

In order to cross the border clandestinely, “the drivers bribed a Dominican guard post with approximately 1,000 pesos,” the professor said.

Illegal payments have only just begun.

Further ahead, in the Carisal area, three dangerous checkpoints await travelers.

There, masked individuals armed with machetes and speaking in a threatening tone demand money before allowing access, claiming that they themselves dug the path through the mountain.

The drivers agree and deliver a few hundred gourdes.

In order to cross the border clandestinely, “the drivers bribed a Dominican guard post with approximately 1,000 pesos,” the professor said.

The rest of the journey will be uneventful until reaching Elías Piña, around 5 pm.

Arriving late in the city, the small group misses their bus to Santo Domingo.

As the sun slowly sets, the professor and his three classmates decide to rent a small hotel room for the night, for the price of 40 US dollars.

The establishment has a dozen narrow rooms. So narrow that some rooms can only have one bed with unhealthy bedding.

The next day, they continued their journey by motorcycle to cross the city of Elías Piña, avoiding several payment checkpoints.

The motorcyclists who transport them, visibly very young, are hired in advance by the smuggler who organizes the trip.

In some places, these motorcycle taxi drivers ask passengers to take paths through the forest to avoid law enforcement officers.

“Sometimes, they make us hide in dense forests and monitor the arrival of police or immigration agents on the roads,” explains the professor.

In some places, these motorcycle taxi drivers ask passengers to take paths through the forest to avoid law enforcement officers.

The traveler claims to have been attacked by a motorcyclist due to the annoying movements of his feet and the driver’s fear of losing balance on his motorcycle, as he was driving at high speed. In addition, one of his companions received a slap because he had not placed his feet correctly on the motorcycle’s footrests.

It is a relatively mild treatment compared to what usually happens, according to testimonies.

Migrants are murdered or brutally attacked.

Dominican drivers often beat passengers while insulting them with racist comments: “Damn Haitian devil, damn it!” testifies the teacher, who says he has received “many kicks and elbows.”

Then, they arrive at the city of San Juan.

At the site, a convoy made up of two recent cars, one of them a white Kia and the other a Jeep, waits for other Haitian migrants heading to the capital.

During the journey to Santo Domingo, one car transports seven people and the other twenty. Some passengers are piled on top of each other, while others are placed inside the trunks of the cars.

Dominican drivers often hit passengers while insulting them with racist comments: “Damn Haitian devil, damn it!”

On this route, the smuggler must pay around 1,000 pesos per person to avoid roadside checks. However, he cheats out of paying the full fares for all the people on board the two vehicles by lying about their number.

The convoy manages to cross six checkpoints, except for one last one, in a place commonly called “Ti Pilon”, known for being inflexible since the guards do not seem to allow themselves to be bribed, says the professor.

At the location, they take the motorcycles again to avoid the checkpoint, and then they meet again with the cars that are waiting to take them to Santo Domingo.

“It’s like all my life plans collapsed,” says the professor, who wanted to study communication and create digital content. But despite everything, he sighs: «At least, we are sure to stay alive. »

Hundreds of other Haitians, perhaps thousands, also choose to take this difficult route.

Smugglers know the terrain. Each time, the driver pays 10,000 gourdes as he passes through half a dozen checkpoints, each with about twenty heavily armed gang members.

The situation in Haiti remains explosive.

Since February 2024, a coalition of gangs called « live together »directed by Barbecueregularly attacks public and private institutions, forcing the population to flee.

Last March, some 95,000 people fled the capital to seek refuge in the south of the country, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The Dominican Republic continues its mass deportations despite the widespread paralysis.

In March 2024, according to IOM data12,598 people were forcibly deported to Haiti at the border points of Ouanaminthe and Belladère.

Despite the turmoil in Haiti, the Dominican Republic continues with a policy considered hostile, xenophobic and racist towards its neighbor, according to human rights defenders.

The country has closed its consulates and repatriated its personnel. On March 5, 2024, the Dominican Civil Aviation Council suspended passenger and cargo air operations to and from Haiti.

Within the country, racial profiling intensifies with arbitrary arrests and expulsions, as well as reported cases of rape.

Contacted by AyiboPost, a Haitian smuggler asked for 42,500 gourdes to facilitate a trip to the Dominican Republic.

She indicated that she was due to return to Haiti on Wednesday, March 27.

According to her, the passenger should also have 2,500 gourdes to ensure their transfer from Port-au-Prince to the border, with additional costs.

Travelers should minimize their luggage to avoid suspicion, according to the smuggler.

Edwin Paraison, coordinator of the Zile Foundation, confirms the existence of this trafficking and emphasizes that it is a chain of complicity from Haiti to the Dominican Republic. He also highlights that authorities on both sides benefit from this situation.

By Jérôme Wendy Norestyl

Spanish translation by Jérôme Wendy Norestyl.
Review: Jean Rémy Dorcéus.

Cover image edited by AyiboPost to illustrate the clandestine journey of a man from a Port-au-Prince neighborhood controlled by gang boss Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier. It should be noted that the man in the image is not the teacher mentioned in the story.

Watch this AyiboPost report on the violence in the Haitian capital by the “Viv Ansanm” gang coalition, led by former police officer Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier: