On Monday, there were comments among students and teachers about something that happened in Bávaro, an area that is not close to where we are in Puerto Plata, but where many Haitians go to work construction. It’s right next to Punta Cana, the largest tourism spot in the Dominican Republic.

Dominican teachers and students were saying that Haitians in an area called Friusa, which has a very high Haitian population, had declared the territory as theirs. Upon hearing this, I immediately doubted the truth. This is an area on the complete opposite end of the island as the border. Deportations continue to be at a record high. Haitians move around with much caution. Declaring territory in this area, at this time, would be ridiculously unsuccessful, to the point that I doubted anyone would try it.

Luckily, my son had been assigned to research the situation for homework by his Spanish teacher. We did so together and found that there had been a march on Sunday, March 30, 2025, held by the Antigua Orden Dominicana, which basically translates to the Old Dominican Order. The march was held on March 30 as that is the date that a battle was fought in 1844 where Dominicans fought against Haitians for their independence.

In anticipation of the protest, the government sent police to ensure that the protesters stayed on the planned upon route. At one point, protestors violated the boundaries and tear gas was used by the police. The group was protesting illegal immigration, feeling that the government wasn’t doing enough to combat it. It’s important to note that allmost all immigration from Haiti these days is illegal since the Dominican government stopped issuing visas to Haitians over a year ago. You can read more in this Dominican Today article.

What was most interesting about situation was the varying information students and teachers were reporting. Ironically, the high school social studies teacher was called to a Ministry of Education meeting the next morning with literally no prior notice. Therefore, I subbed for her from 8am to 10am and was able to meet with two different classes.

I first taught the 9th graders, of which the majority are Dominican females. They were also under the understanding that Haitians in Friusa had declared the territory as theirs, and this is why the protests were held. When asked what proof they had, they said a Haitian man had shared a video on social media where he declared Friusa for Haiti. I asked if he was a single individual or representing a group. They thought he was a single individual. I told them that even if it was true, it could potential hold no weight. One girl believed that there was more than one video. No one offered to send a link. We ended up having a great conversation about the topic, and I asked them to check their resources again to be sure they were not repeating misinformation.

After that class, I went upstairs to be with the 7th graders, which is a class where Haitian females are the majority. The teacher came after just twenty minutes, so I didn’t get to talk with them as much, but they had heard a completely different story. One very articulate young woman explained that there had been an incident, not in Friusa, but about a half hour away, where the general contractor had refused to pay his construction workers. This, unfortunately, has been a common complaint throughout the years, and justice is sometimes never served.

She went onto say that the contructor shot and killed one of the workers that was seeking his pay, and there were revolts in the aftermath. She said that videos were shared on social media of the chaos with Dominican narration that was not actually what was happening. This is where the rumor of Haitians declaring territory in Bávaro had come from.

Another student went onto say that we (Haitians) are the black sheep. We get blamed for everything and have no value. No justice was served because his life was treated like that of a dog. I asked what consequences they think there are in the community when someone doesn’t get punished for their crimes. They answered that the person who committed the crime would flee to avoid revenge of the victims’ family. In the absence of justice, the family members of the criminal could be in danger as well and violence could continue.

They also realized that the criminal could likely go commit crimes somewhere else. A society that would ignore a crime like that because they potentially don’t value the victim would be doing itself a disservice.

Then the social studies teacher arrived. I wished that we could’ve put the 9th and 7th graders together to share stories and resources. I simply told the 9th graders later on that the 7th graders had some very different information to share and it would be great if they could exchange resources. We never concluded what the truth was, but I hope everyone came to realize that they should check their resources a little more closely and be opened to listening to different perspectives.