There is nothing in the world that Haitian sugar cane cutter Norberto de la Cruz wants more than a Dominican Republic identity card. Even more than his left index finger, which he lost in an accident with a machete.

Mr de la Cruz, 39, arrived in 1995 from Jacmel, a town in the south-east of the volatile neighbouring country that occupies the western half of the island of Hispaniola, with a promise of work and dollars.