At the Dajabón border crossing, between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, there are a constant flow of trucks carrying undocumented Haitian immigrants, who are being deported to their country of origin.
They are sent back to a nation mired in its humanitarian crisis acute since the devastating 2010 earthquake, which killed hundreds of thousands of people.
“I was in the Dominican Republic for three years,” shouted construction worker Michael Petiton. “They broke into my house and took me out of my house.”
He worked hard, he insisted, taking jobs that most Dominicans did not want. He is now back in Haiti with only the clothes she was wearing and some tools that he managed to salvage in a backpack.
The already precarious situation of Haiti has deteriorated rapidly in recent weeks, as criminal groups launched coordinated attacks on key facilities in the country to force the prime minister's resignation.
It is estimated that More than 350,000 people have been internally displaced in Haiti. Of that total, more than 15,000 in the last fortnight.
And here at the border crossing, Dominican authorities have been returning hundreds of undocumented Haitians every day.
Dominican soldiers open the wrought iron gates, order them out by the dozens, and send them across the Masacre River toward Haiti.
Some of the immigrants are furious and shout indignantly in Spanish and Creole. Others are resigned, with their children or some possessions in their arms.
The message that the Dominican Republic seems to be sending is that, No matter how bad things get at home, Haitians should not seek refuge in Dominican territory.
A humanitarian catastrophe
Last month, the country's president, Luis Abinaderdemanded in an appearance before the United Nations Security Council in New York that the international community intensify aid to Haiti and deploy a multinational force there.
He urged the UN to “fight together to save Haiti”but warned that if help does not arrive, his country “will fight alone to protect the Dominican Republic”.
Questioned last week about the possibility of receiving Haitians fleeing the unrest, Abinader categorically ruled out accepting refugee camps on Dominican soil.
The current situation in the capital, Port-au-Prince, is a humanitarian catastrophe for its three million inhabitants
Those returning to Haiti face real uncertainty.
“The current situation in the capital, Port-au-Prince, is a humanitarian catastrophe for its three million inhabitants, and more specifically for women and girls“said the representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Haiti, Philippe Serge Degernier.
Widespread gang violence has forced many hospitals to close, while others are out of business as criminal groups withhold fuel and medical supplies essential to continue operating.
Degernier told the BBC that only one of the 15 hospitals his organization supports is currently operating.
“They are overwhelmed”, said. “We have estimated that around 3,000 women will not have access to maternity wards to give birth unless the situation calms down soon.”
A power vacuum
There was hope that some degree of calm could be restored after embattled Prime Minister Ariel Henry finally resigned following diplomatic pressure and bloodshed.
While the violence has subsided somewhat since Henry resigned on Monday, few have any doubt that it could flare up again at any time.
Haiti's crisis is much deeper than the resignation of one man. Earlier this week, the US State Department said it expected a presidential transition council in two days.
There are still few signs of it coming to fruition.
Rather, there is a power vacuum where the Haitian government is supposed to be, and deep divisions over who should sit in an interim administration.
So while most people in the capital, Port-au-Prince, welcomed the former prime minister's resignation, many lament the lack of a clear successor.
“Henry's resignation is a good thing, he was not doing anything good for the country,” stallholder Mrs Benjamin told the AFP news agency. “Now we must come together to get Haiti out of this impasse.”
“Ariel Henry was the biggest obstacle we had. He had to go,” added Emmanuel, another resident. “But we should have had a proper plan to replace it.”
Rape as a weapon of war between gangs
The main leader of the criminal groups operating in the country, Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier, would have criticized the agreement that establishes the creation of a transitional council and there is speculation that the gangs will ask for an amnesty for the violence they have carried out.
Jimmy Chérizier may well have plans to become Haiti's leader himselfas well as many others with criminal pasts and questionable credentials.
However, for the representative of the United Nations Population Fund in Haiti, a horrible aspect of the violence has been largely overlooked in the current crisis: criminal gangs are increasingly using rape and sexual abuse as weapons of war.
More than 5,000 women were raped or victims of sexual abuse
They often attack women who live in areas controlled by their rivals or even in their own territory as a way to sow fear.
“Last year, More than 5,000 women were raped or victims of sexual abuse and, unfortunately, this is a very small part of the iceberg,” explains Degernier.
Most of the time women do not dare to go to the hospital for treatment, she says, for fear of reprisals, which “sometimes can even include murder.”
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