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Dominican Republic Haitians
Modern Haitian migration to the Dominican Republic
dates from
the late nineteenth century, when increasing North
American
capital boosted sugar production. Dominicans have never
welcomed
these immigrants. Their presence resulted from economic
necessity
borne of the reluctance of Dominicans to perform the
menial task
of cane cutting. The 1920 census listed slightly under
28,000
Haitian nationals in the Dominican Republic. Successive
governments attempted to control the numbers of Haitians
entering
the country; the border was periodically closed in the
1910s and
the 1920s. By 1935, however, the number had increased to
more
than 50,000. Trujillo ordered a general roundup of
Haitians along
the border in 1937, during which an estimated 20,000
Haitians
were killed
(see Dominican Republic - The Era of Trujillo
, ch. 1).
Since the 1950s, a series of bilateral agreements has
regulated legal Haitian immigration. In the late 1970s and
the
early 1980s, the government contracted for 10,000 to
20,000
temporary Haitian workers annually for the sugarcane
harvest.
Observers believed that an equal number of Haitians
entered
illegally. The 1960 census enumerated slightly under
30,000
Haitians. By 1980 estimates suggested the total number of
Haitians residing permanently or semipermanently was on
the order
of 200,000, of whom 70,000 were workers.
During the 1970s and the early 1980s, some Haitians
rose into
higher positions in sugar production and in other areas of
the
economy. They continued to account for the vast majority
of cane
cutters, but roughly half of all labor recruiters and
field
inspectors also were Haitians. In addition, Haitians
worked
harvesting coffee, rice, and cacao and in construction in
Santo
Domingo. By 1980 nearly 30 percent of the paid laborers in
the
coffee harvest were Haitian; in the border region the
proportion
rose to 80 percent. A reasonably skilled coffee picker
could
nearly double the earnings of the average cane cutter.
Overall,
however, Haitians' earnings still lagged; their wages
averaged
less than 60 percent of those of Dominicans.
Data as of December 1989
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