POVERTY IN SANTO DOMINGO. This is my presentation.

Santo Domingo, or Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. Its metropolitan population was 2,084,852 in 2003, and estimated at 2,253,437 in 2006. The city is located on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River. Founded by Bartholomew Columbus in 1496, it is the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the Americas, and was the first seat of Spanish colonial rule in the New World. It lies within the boundaries of the Distrito Nacional (D.N.; "National District"), itself bordered on three sides by Santo Domingo Province

I went to the Ozama River, and I recorded by myself the poverty of this place. The are people living in the river, not in the side of the river, on the same river and I have proof, because I have a video.

Santo Domingo is provided with a variety of informal transportation systems. These include motoconchos (motorcycle taxis), guaguas/voladoras (public buses that are known for their generally bad conditions and the drivers' reckless driving), and carros publicos/conchos (shared taxis that stop at certain intervals or wherever there are passengers on a street). There are however several bus services, such as the government owned and operated OMSA, which has a fleet of air conditioned buses with regular stops. OMSA operates long routes that traverse the metro area and are very popular with poor and middle class people. Efforts are being made to modernize the fleet and to complement the new subway system. However, due to the long hours of operation, long routes and high demand, coupled with high parts costs, these buses' lifespans are usually less than ten years.


Santo Domingo. - The three days of relentless rains over most of the country again reveal the threats and vulnerability to the lives and meager belongings hundreds of families who live in the barrios north of Santo Domingo, especially along the Ozama and Isabela riverbanks.
The recurrent flooding affects thousands of families who for years have squatted on lands in the National District barrios La Zurza, Capotillo, Simon Bolivar, Las Cañitas, Gualey, Los Guandules, Guachupita and La Cienega.
The rains also bring calamity to the poor families of Santo Domingo East, where its sectors Los Tres Brazos and La Barquita succumb to the Ozama’s swells.
The mud, land and rockslides, and the frequent floods often cause irreparable damages for the people of those communities. On Tuesday a rockslide in La Barquita blocked its only access road and put a halt to community’s normal traffic.
In Capotillo meanwhile the swollen Isabela river forced many families to grab what they could carry and head to high ground, whereas the rising waters damaged several houses in Gualey.

"Casa el Jefe" means "House of the Boss". They say every man's home is his castle so I guess he must feel like the king here or he wouldn't have painted it next to his front door.

His castle is next to the river in the poor kingdom of Gualey. This shot is taken from the bridge above this crowded riverside community. Since the river floods regularly this land is undesirable to all but the most desperate, but anyone who is desperate enough can set up a shack near the riverbank. (During Hurricane George the flooding was severe along the river. The police went door-to-door trying to warn the people that there would be a dam release in order to prevent the dam from breaking, but the people thought it was a ploy to get them to leave their homes so they could be robbed. The wall of water from the dam release killed thousands.)

The closely spaced homes crawl up the hill and cling to the steep hillside above the river and increase in value, size and desirability the farther away from the river one goes. Many homes line the open sewers carrying waste into the river. Any little perch on the hill will have a home built on it, and many perches are dug by hand out of the metal-hard coral rock. Being close to the river also means that during the rains all the trash flows down the hill, so the incredibly polluted river is rising into the homes while the trash, dead animals, and bodily waste flow down from above. (A mass spec test done at the geology lab at CU on water from the Ozama river showed, in addition to harmful bacteria and organisms, many heavy metals which are highly toxic, eg. Thallium. The presence of Thallium is an indicator that there are other metals such as Uranium. Anyone drinking this water, or eating fish from it, will suffer severe consequences. Even eating off of dishes washed with it is dangerous.)

Gualey has a reputation as being one of the two worst barrios in the country for crime. Drugs are a major factor in the violence and gang activity here however that issue isn’t unique to Gualey, just more severe. Gualey is known in the DR as a “barrio caliente”, which literally means a hot neighborhood, but actually means a rough neighborhood. The town is considered ideal for committing crimes and for hiding in because of narrow twisting alleys, paths and streets with many dead ends. For years, virtually every afternoon, Gualey was filled with gang violence, mostly shootings over drug turf wars. The violence was so extreme the police could not control it. The locals say, “Tough guys run the town, not the police.” Attacks by “Tigres” throwing stones and shooting at the police station (the policemen can usually be found sitting out front) spill over into the community and many, even children, have been shot in the crossfire.