Dominican Republic: Fuel smugglers cash in on Haiti chaos

By MEGAN JANETSKY
Associated Press

HAVANA (AP) — As gangs in Haiti blockade and loot key fuel supplies, the fuel crisis is now trickling over to the neighboring Dominican Republic. An illicit petroleum contraband industry on the countries’ 240-mile shared border has flourished in the wake of soaring gasoline prices in Haiti. Both Dominicans and Haitians alike buy subsidized fuel for $5 a gallon in border cities in the Dominican Republic and smuggle it to Haiti, where it goes for as much as $50 a gallon. It has provoked gasoline shortages, long lines in gas stations and has caused sales of gasoline in the border city of Dajabón to at least double.