Dominicans in Puerto Rico

[Tordok]

I just visited Puerto Rico for few days and would like to briefly mention about the impact of Dominicans on that island. Its a mixed bag.

I was not on research-mode, but it is impossible to miss the omnipresence of Quisqueyanos driving cabs, as fast-food workers and other blue-collar roles.
I also detected the unexpected presence of inter-island families from the upper-middle classes that have roots on both DR and PR, enjoying the perks of affluence and global trade. Others are established physicians, professors, lawyers, and engineers of Dominican descent who are visible in public life and contribute to local life. There are prominent Puerto Rican and Cuban-American doctors that went to medical school in the DR. Many local business people have interests in Dominican affairs, and do the name dropping thing very well in reference to Dominican entrepeneurial figures. The two winter leagues for the first time recently played a DR vs. PR ALL-Star Winter Baseball game. Merengue is played before a vals at local high societywedding!! Also All major local newspapers carry several dedicated pages to Dominican news.

Still can appear as scapegoats of jokes and at times linked to local crime gangs. All of the expected stereotypes about a minority immigrant group, are played out here just as with Haitians in the DR and many others in many Western nations. But I noticed that Puerto Ricans are largely welcoming of the Dominicans and see them as working hard to improve their lot. There was a piece on one of the local newspapers about how the long-neglected town of Río Piedras is experiencing a minor economic revival in large part thanks to the Dominicans that have made it their community. So its a mix of good and bad. I try to focus on the good.

- Tordok

[NALs]

Originally Posted by Tordok

I just visited Puerto Rico for few days and would like to briefly mention about the impact of Dominicans on that island. Its a mixed bag.

I was not on research-mode, but it is impossible to miss the omnipresence of Quisqueyanos driving cabs, as fast-food workers and other blue-collar roles.
I also detected the unexpected presence of inter-island families from the upper-middle classes that have roots on both DR and PR, enjoying the perks of affluence and global trade. Others are established physicians, professors, lawyers, and engineers of Dominican descent who are visible in public life and contribute to local life. There are prominent Puerto Rican and Cuban-American doctors that went to medical school in the DR. Many local business people have interests in Dominican affairs, and do the name dropping thing very well in reference to Dominican entrepeneurial figures. The two winter leagues for the first time recently played a DR vs. PR ALL-Star Winter Baseball game. Merengue is played before a vals at local high societywedding!! Also All major local newspapers carry several dedicated pages to Dominican news.

Still can appear as scapegoats of jokes and at times linked to local crime gangs. All of the expected stereotypes about a minority immigrant group, are played out here just as with Haitians in the DR and many others in many Western nations. But I noticed that Puerto Ricans are largely welcoming of the Dominicans and see them as working hard to improve their lot. There was a piece on one of the local newspapers about how the long-neglected town of Río Piedras is experiencing a minor economic revival in large part thanks to the Dominicans that have made it their community. So its a mix of good and bad. I try to focus on the good.

- Tordok

I have noticed the samething on my trips to PR, which are multiple times during the course of the year.

It's important to note that much of the upper class of Puerto Rico consist of Cuban migrants and intermarriages between Cubans and PRs. In fact, very few upper class Puertoricans don't have a connection to either Cuba or DR, though Cuba is more obvious than the Dominican connection, either through blood lines or acquaintances.

In the 1980s, there was a report written on the impact of the Cuban and Dominican migration to Puerto Rico from 1960s onward. If you would like a copy, send me a PM with an email accessible to you (yahoo or hotmail) and I'll send the info via an attachment, if interested.

-NAL