At the border with Haiti<\/span><\/span>, the Masacre River<\/span><\/span>\u2014a vital 55-kilometer water resource\u2014is increasingly affected by intensive sand extraction activities on the Haitian side.<\/a><\/p>\n Since 2021, operations have expanded significantly, involving dozens of trucks and workers in near-continuous activity. Recent observations point to ongoing extraction in the La Sal area, Los Miches.<\/p>\n Experts warn of accelerated erosion, increased water turbidity, disruption of groundwater systems and a gradual loss of biodiversity. The lack of regulation, linked to Haiti\u2019s ongoing political and security crisis, complicates intervention efforts, while the environmental consequences risk affecting both countries.<\/p>\n On the political front, major opposition parties\u2014including the Dominican Liberation Party<\/span><\/span>, the People’s Force<\/span><\/span> and the Dominican Revolutionary Party<\/span><\/span>\u2014have rejected economic measures introduced by President Luis Abinader<\/span><\/span> to mitigate the impact of rising oil prices linked to the conflict in Iran<\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n Opposition leaders are calling for structural reforms, including reduced public spending, cuts to the state wage bill and improved resource management. They also highlight perceived weaknesses such as reliance on subsidies, the absence of an integrated transport policy, insufficient energy planning and vulnerabilities in the agricultural sector.<\/p>\n The government, however, continues to defend its strategy centered on public investment and support for productive sectors.<\/p>\n At the same time, the Dominican Republic<\/span><\/span> has strengthened its international security partnerships. On March 23, 2026, an agreement was signed with the United States<\/span><\/span> to enhance border security and combat organized crime.<\/p>\n The partnership includes the development of biometric capabilities aimed at facilitating legal travel while improving the identification of criminal networks.<\/p>\n This initiative follows regional coordination efforts such as the Escudo de las Am\u00e9ricas summit and builds on joint operations that have led to major drug seizures. Authorities from both countries reaffirmed their commitment to addressing transnational threats through closer cooperation.<\/p>\n Soraya Ades.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Environment: sand extraction threatens the Masacre River ecosystem At the border with Haiti, the Masacre River\u2014a vital 55-kilometer water resource\u2014is increasingly affected by intensive sand extraction activities on the Haitian side. Since 2021, operations have expanded significantly, involving dozens of trucks and workers in near-continuous activity. Recent observations point to ongoing extraction in the La Sal area, Los Miches. Experts warn of accelerated erosion, increased water turbidity, disruption of groundwater systems and a gradual loss of biodiversity. The lack of regulation, linked to Haiti\u2019s ongoing political and security crisis, complicates intervention efforts, while the environmental consequences risk affecting both countries. Politics: opposition challenges Abinader\u2019s economic response On the political front, major opposition parties\u2014including the Dominican Liberation Party, the People’s Force and the Dominican Revolutionary Party\u2014have rejected economic measures introduced by President Luis Abinader to mitigate the impact of rising oil prices linked to the conflict in Iran. Opposition leaders are calling for structural reforms, including reduced public spending, cuts to the state wage bill and improved resource management. They also highlight perceived weaknesses such as reliance on subsidies, the absence of an integrated transport policy, insufficient energy planning and vulnerabilities in the agricultural sector. The government, however, continues to defend its strategy centered on public investment and support for productive sectors. Security: Dominican Republic deepens cooperation with the United States At the same time, the Dominican Republic has strengthened its international security partnerships. On March 23, 2026, an agreement was signed with the United States to enhance border security and combat organized crime. The partnership includes the development of biometric capabilities aimed at facilitating legal travel while improving the identification of criminal networks. This initiative follows regional coordination efforts such as the Escudo de las Am\u00e9ricas summit and builds on joint operations that have led to major drug seizures. Authorities from both countries reaffirmed their commitment to addressing transnational threats through closer cooperation. Soraya Ades.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":31522,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_crdt_document":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"4","parallax":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"topbottom","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"1","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_inline_post_related":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":"Environmental damage at the Masacre River, political tensions over economic policy and strengthened security ties with the United States highlight mounting challenges in the Dominican Republic."},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_post_split":{"post_split":[{"template":"1","tag":"h2","numbering":"asc","mode":"normal","first":"0","enable_toc":"0","toc_type":"normal"}]},"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3221],"tags":[3546,3646,4630,3463,4899,3502,4722],"class_list":["post-31521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dominican-republic","tag-dominican-republic","tag-economy","tag-environment","tag-haiti","tag-politics","tag-security","tag-united-states"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lequotidien509.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/an-13.webp?fit=1366%2C768&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lequotidien509.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lequotidien509.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lequotidien509.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lequotidien509.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lequotidien509.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31521"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lequotidien509.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31521\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31523,"href":"https:\/\/lequotidien509.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31521\/revisions\/31523"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lequotidien509.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lequotidien509.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lequotidien509.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lequotidien509.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Politics: opposition challenges Abinader\u2019s economic response<\/h3>\n
Security: Dominican Republic deepens cooperation with the United States<\/a><\/h3>\n