Calm Prevails at Tilory Border Market Amid Violence in Haiti
As armed gangs wreak havoc across Haiti, trade and coexistence continue at the Tilory border, according to local merchants and community representatives.
Key points
- The Tilory border community, also known as Tilorí, keeps its commercial activity and peaceful coexistence between Haitians and Dominicans.
- It sits along the Carretera Internacional, in the zone linking Restauración (Dajabón) with Elías Piña communities such as Guayajayuco.
- Merchants and community representatives describe a climate of relative calm despite deterioration in other parts of Haiti.
- Meanwhile, El Salvador has deployed more than 2,000 soldiers to search for four Salvadoran aeronautical technicians missing since October 18.
At the border community of Tilory, also known as Tilorí, daily activity continues even as armed gang violence affects various parts of Haiti. Merchants and community representatives say the border market and peaceful coexistence between Haitian and Dominican residents remain in place.
The town sits along the Carretera Internacional, in the zone linking the municipality of Restauración in Dajabón province with Dominican communities such as Guayajayuco in Elías Piña. There, the border is a line dividing territories, but also a meeting point between two peoples.
The Tilory market is one of the main hubs for trade between merchants of both nationalities. Merchants and community representatives describe operations taking place in a climate of relative calm, while other areas of Haiti have reported clashes, kidnappings, and attacks attributed to armed groups.
The regional context is also tense. The government of El Salvador announced the deployment of more than 2,000 soldiers to support the search for four Salvadoran aeronautical technicians missing since October 18, after an ambush attributed to armed gangs near Port-au-Prince. As part of that operation's movements, Salvadoran military aircraft used Dominican facilities in Jimaní, Independencia province, as a logistics stopover.
The Dominican government has said its cooperation is limited to logistical, humanitarian, and transit facilities, with no direct participation by Dominican military personnel in the operations.