Some 200 to 300 Haitians are waiting for authorization to cross the border. Most are traders coming to buy supplies from the binational market.
The river has had this name since the 18th century, when Spanish colonists massacred several dozen French buccaneers. 20,000 to 30,000 Haitians were murdered by Dominican law enforcement in 1937 and thrown in this river. In The Goat Party, Mario Vargas Llosa says: "Haitians in the Dominican Republic have a right to be here"