New Blog on Dominican-Haitian Relations under COVID-19

In May 2012, Dominican author Junot Diaz published Monstro, a science-fiction story portraying the post-apocalyptic scenario of a mysterious viral outbreak in Haiti and its repercussions for the island of Hispaniola as a whole, and the Dominican Republic in particular. Because Diazs dystopian future fiction resonated with readers in 2012 and anticipates aspects of our current predicament, we use it to take a snapshot of life as we know it, a life to which post-COVID-19 Hispaniola neither can nor should return.

Regardless of all the challenges the pandemic presents, it also offers opportunities to improve cross-border relations and finally address the hardships faced by segments of the population living in situations of precarious legality, such as Haitian migrants and denationalized Dominicans of Haitian descent. The social protection mechanisms launched by Dominican authorities for humanitarian assistance and for people unemployed by the health crisis do not cover people who live and work in the country without a Dominican ID card. In order to be effective in the Dominican Republic, which has the worst mortality rate in the insular Caribbean, the response to COVID-19 must include these people, who have long been marginalized and routinely overlooked.

The full blog is available at the following link: https://hrcessex.wordpress.com/2020/07/08/stranger-than-fiction-opportunities-for-a-new-narrative-in-dominico-haitian-relations-under-covid-19/