54 | Report on the Situation of Human Rights in the Dominican Republic 96. 97. 89 90 91 92 93 Haiti governed the eastern part of the island. 89 As the occupation continued and the expectations of the population were not being met, a separatist movement was established and materialized in 1844. Haiti’s occupation of the Dominican Republic still has a major impact on the Dominican collective imagination. 90 Oftentimes, the arrival of migrants from Haiti to the Dominican Republic is called the “peaceful invasion” and has contributed to having various spheres of Dominican society promoting both anti-Haitian sentiments and the need to take measures to defend Dominican national identity and sovereignty. 91 The Dominican Republic has historically been the destination of migrants coming from Haiti, a neighboring country that has for decades been in the grips of political instability and poverty and plagued by natural disasters. The collapse of Haiti’s economy, its geographic proximity to the Dominican Republic and porous, shared border, made it easy for Haitians to move into the border provinces and central Cibao in the early 1900s. 92 During those years, the sugar industry became a permanent source of employment for Haitian migrant workers, a trend that continued until the 1980s, when the Dominican sugar industry began to decline from its peak. During the United States’ military occupation of the Dominican Republic (19161924) and Haiti (1915-1934), the United States government organized and fostered the temporary migration of Haitian farm workers into the Dominican Republic. It did this by establishing a regulated contracting system93 in 1919 for recruiting Haitian VONK, Olivier W., Nationality Law in the Western Hemisphere: A Study on Grounds for Acquisition and Loss of Citizenship in the Americas and the Caribbean. Brill I Nijhoff, 2014, p. 195. Regarding this, Mr. Roberto Rosario, Chair of the Central Electoral Board of the Dominican Republic, in his address delivered to the OAS Permanent Council on October 29, 2013, stated that: “The Independence of the Dominican Republic is the outcome of a battle for the freedom of the Dominican Republic against the occupation and invasion of the Haitian State.��� See: Permanent Council of the OAS, Minutes of the regular session of October 29, 2013. OEA/Ser.G CP/ACTA 1944/13. Adopted at the session of September 24, 2014, p. 31. See articles by Vinicio Castillo, Pantaleón Castillo et al. CDN, Afirman hay una invasión pacífica de haitianos en el país [They assert that there is a peaceful invasion of Haitians in the country], January 26, 2015; Listín Diario (Vinicio A. Castillo Semán), ¿Una “natural invasión”? [A “natural invasion”?], January 5, 2015; Vinicio Castillo advierte RD debe crear mecanismos para detener invasión pacífica y masiva haitiana [Vinicio Castilla advises DR it must establish mechanisms to stop the peaceful massive invasion of Haitians], June 15, 2014; Acento, Ministro de Defensa: “Plantear un muro completo en la frontera eso es utópico” [Minister of Defense: “Installing a complete wall on the border is utopic”], June 10, 2014; Acento, Vinchito propone construir un muro para evitar el “peligro” de los haitianos [Vinchito proposes building a wall to avoid the “danger” of Haitians], June 10, 2014. CASTOR, Susy (Ed.), Migración y Relaciones Internacionales: El Caso Haitiano-Dominicano. Publisher UASD: Santo Domingo, 1987, pp. 72-73. Introduced by the United States’ military occupation authorities by Executive Order No. 259 concerning the farm workers brought in by the sugar companies, Official Gazette No. 2989 of February 18, 1919, and Executive Order No. 372 concerning the immigration of farm workers, Official Gazette No. 3075, December 16, 1919. Organization of American States | OAS